Murder in the Margins: Global Systems of Exploitation
Last May, Stanford University hosted a conference, "Feminicide=Sanctioned Murder," addressing the alarming incidence of rapes and murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, Guatemala, and Canada. One of the outcomes of the conference was to establish "The Network without Borders for Women's Life and Liberty" that would, among other actions, "organize a worldwide event in Juárez with simultaneous actions in different cities, to take place the first Thursday of each month." Beginning on the first Thursday of April 2008, City College of San Francisco, in collaboration with San Francisco State University, will host three days of events:
Thursday, April 3 at City College of San Francisco (Ocean and Phelan)
- Film: Señorita Extraviada, Rosenberg* 304; 12:30-2:00 p.m.
- Candlelight Vigil: Rosenberg Library, Cloud Circle; 5:15-6:00 p.m.
- Keynote: Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, Chair Chicano/a Studies, Stanford University, Rosenberg 305; 6:15-7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 4 at San Francisco State University (1600 Holloway, at 19th Avenue; HUM 587)
- "Globalizing Femicide: Maquiladoras and Misogyny on the U.S.-Mexico Border" Naomi H. Quiñonez,1-2 p.m.
- "Global/Local Links: Contesting the Legacies of Gendered Violence and Inequalities" Panel with Sheila Tully, Jillian Sandell, Luz Ruiz and Mujeres Unidas Activas 2-3 p.m.
- "Gendered Violence Across Borders" Student Forum 3:30-5 p.m.
Saturday, April 5; Activist Workshops 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at City College of San Francisco
- "ReDressing Injustice," hands-on memorial dress adornment, with Irene Simmons. Cloud 312
- "Making the Connections Locally and Globally," planning for actions to stop the violence. Cloud 364 co-facilitated by Alma Avila and Brenda Molina
*Rosenberg Library Display 4th Floor Reference Case March 5-April 2
All events are free and open to the public. Call 415-239-3899 for more information.
To register for Saturday workshops (please specify "Redressing" or "Connections") call 415-452-5071 or e-mail MIMS08@gmail.com
Since 1993, nearly 500 young women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas, have been murdered; some of them have also been raped and mutilated. Others are still missing. Most of them are young, 15-18 years old, and many worked in assembly plants, known as maquiladoras. The police of Juárez, a city of over 1.2 million people and a center of drug and sex trafficking have yet to solve these murders. Activists where the murders have taken place and in the United States continue to speak out against these crimes. In Fall 2003, Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba organized a three-day international conference, co-sponsored by Amnesty International (AI), on the UCLA campus. AI and other organizations have criticized transnational corporations and free trade agreements responsible for maquiladora factories. Others point to organized crime and drug cartels.
Since 2000, Guatemala has also seen a pattern of similar rapes, murders, and mutilations. According to Amnesty International, "more than 2,200 women and girls" have been murdered in Guatemala since 2001, and "in 97% of cases no arrests" have been made. Over 100 indigenous women in Canada have been murdered in a similar manner. The Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) estimates that "over the past twenty years more than five hundred" native women may have been murdered or gone missing under "circumstances suggesting violence."
Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba. "The Maquiladora Murders, or, Who Is Killing the Women of Juárez, Mexico?" Latino Policy and Issues Brief, No. 7 Aug. 2003
Martha Burk, "Getting Away with Murder,"Ms., Spring 2006
Mireya Navarro,"Who Is Killing the Young Women of Juárez?" New York Times, August 19, 2002
Ginger Thompson. New York Times, December 10, 2002
Diana Washington Valdez. The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women. (Burbank, CA: Peace at the Border, 2006)
New York Times editorial, October 21, 2005
www.amnestyusa.org/women/pdf/Juarez_Guatemala_Action_kit.pdf
ccsre.Stanford.edu/feminicide/conference.html
www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR20/001/2004
Contact: lsimon@ccsf.edu; 415-239-3899
