Beneath the praises sung of the virtues of the global economy by corporation CEOs, governments, and the media the price women have to pay is not surprisingly troublesome. Women’s labor is exploited; women are sexually exploited as victims of international sex trafficking rings, and the international debt crisis has created the added burden for women to provide food, education, health care because governments won’t cover these services. Added to this is the destruction of rural and indigenous communities by agribusiness and corporate polluters in which women are forced to migrate to cities or across borders where they and their children face hunger and illness.
    The Holocaust resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews in four years. Today, according to Njoki Njoroge Njehu of 50 Years Is Enough, 7 million children of Africa die per year because of international debt. Njoki recently quoted historian, Howard Zinn, as saying: “Everyday we hear on radio or TV news about the Dow/Jones averages. Imagine if we heard the UNICEF fact that 34,000 children die daily of curable diseases.” Imagine.
    Women in communities across the globe are not taking these attacks lying down. They are organizing in creative and brave ways to defend their rights, the rights of their children and the environment. One such group of women will be honored at the UN for their courage. May the following story lift your spirits and remind us all to hold firm to our convictions.

Women of Courage in Colombia

In the midst of the worsening armed conflict in Magdalena Media Region in Colombia the women from the popular women’s organization, OFP, say NO to War and Fear! For their courage they will be in New York City on March 7 receiving an award from the United Nations for their work for Peace and Social Justice.

Since January 27, 2001, the women of OFP have faced direct threats and intimidation from right-wing death squads. Paramilitary personnel arrived at the work centers of this organization demanding the women surrender the keys in order to occupy the installations. To this day, the women have declined to do so, despite ongoing intimidation.

OFP's resistance and fortitude is admirable: the women have continued their work in the midst of the barbarism carried out by repressive groups disputing the territorial control of Magdalena Media at the expense of the civilian population.  Not having run away, not having closed their doors, and instead, having continued with their struggle for peace and justice, the OFP has remained working in Barrancabermeja "for a nation where everyone fits." Consequently the women of the Organización Femenina Popular have restated their principles of civility and autonomy:

“We will not surrender our centers; we will not associate with illegitimate groups; we will not leave our work sites."

ACTION:
Check the web-site of 50Years Is Enough www.50years.org or any of 8th Day’s web links to read other facts about International Debt that are NOT told on the evening news.