Women in Struggle

. fs : ae os Bene:
Striking African workers from a sweet making factory in Johannesburg
on the march. The strength of women living under colonial and fascist
hey in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cyprus, the Middle East, Uruguay,
tazil and Chile is the solidarity of the women of the world.

FHeESR ERTS
Fee e RR RT

___ Women sugar workers in Guyana protest police brutality against women
/9n March 8. :

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The women of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia face the tremendous task of
rebuilding their countries. Their education and development is an integral
Part of their country’s advancement.

ie Be Ae at se ee : #

yotiles are once again returning to the faces of the women of Angola,
SZambique, Guinea Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands. Freed from the
me of colonial rule and recognized for the key role they played in the

ration struggle they are now free to chart their own course.
te 5

Women in the Third World

Latin American women — to win
equality is to fight imperialism

PANAMA — “‘Sovereignty,
Independence and Democracy
for Latin America and Caribbean
Countries’ was the theme of a
seminar of women held here at the
end of January. Canada was rep-
resented by Marge Ferguson,
delegate from the Congress of
Canadian Women at the meeting
at which 26 Latin American and
Caribbean countries, Vietnam,
Finland and the United States
participated.

The seminar, initiated by the
Women’s International Demo-
cratic Federation (WIDF) and or-
ganized by a sponsoring commit-
tee, examined the affects of U.S.
imperialism and the multinational
corporations on the people and
economies of the region.

The Panamanian government
was Officially represented and its
delegate made the opening and
closing speeches in the House of
Representatives where the ses-
sions took place. The government
of Dometrio Lakas has drawn up
a new constitution on the prin-
ciples of Independence,
Sovereignty and National Libera-
tion which is supported by the
people of Panama. It is currently
involved in a struggle for control
of the Canal Zone which, since
the late 1800’s has been under
U.S. control.

The Canal Zone, occupied by
15,000 U.S. troops, has become
the central step in Panama’s liber-
ation struggle. Its unused land is
also needed for housing and ag-
riculture for the people. At pre-
sent the Zone is a U.S. base on
which Panamanians are not per-
mitted except to work — and even
here they are exploited, receiving
about one-third the wages paid to
Americans. The Zone is also an
atomic experimental base outside
the control of the Panamanian
government.

The seminar revealed figures =

of the population of Latin
America and the Caribbean re-
ceives more than 33% of the total
income; about 54% receive an in-
come of between $100 and $500
per year, and half the people re-
ceive less than $60 per year. Of
320 million inhabitants, 100 mil-
lion are poorly nourished and
36 million (15 millions of whom
are children) suffer from acute
malnutrition. The UN Children’s
Fund puts the child mortality rate
at one million each year.

The Pan American Health Of-
fice reports 7.5 million children
have died in Latin America in the
past decade due to lack of medical
assistance. During a conference
of pediatrics held in Brazil in 1975
it was revealed that one child less
than five years of age dies from
malnutrition every 30 seconds.

An ILO report in 1973 indicated
that unemployment is rampant in
Latin America and, if present
trends continue, within 20 years
there could be more jobless than
active workers. Data shows that
cloaked or partial unemployment
amounts to 40% of the labor
force. Similar figures were quoted
at the seminar about illiteracy,
housing and inflation.

The seminar reiterated the
spirit of cooperation with the Un-
ited Nations that marks the work
of the International Women’s
Democratic Federation, their de-
sire to further promote the work
of the national organizations and
to achieve the implementation of
all international. instruments on
the equality of women and the
protection of infants:

vividly portraying the exploita- j*

tion of Latin America by the
multinationals: $4,000 per minute
is bled out of the economies and
more than 80% of foreign invest-
ment comes from the USA. At
present more than 3,000 com-

_ panies are operated by the Mor-

gan, Dupont and Mellon con-
cerns. United States’ statistics
show that these countries pay 83
cents toward amortization and in-
terest for each dollar received as
loans. :

The U.S. is also the chief
supplier of arms and UN experts
estimate that from three to 20% of
the budgets of Latin American na-
tions are earmarked for arms pur-
chases. Thousands of signatures
to the Stockholm Peace Appeal
have been collected showing the
desire for peace of the Latin
American people.

The main document at the
seminar charged that five percent

J
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=

This photo summarizes the plight of the vast majority of Latin American

Within the framework of the
UN Decade for Women, the
seminar contributed toward
stressing the cooperation of the
democratic women’s movement
regionally and nationally, with
agencies such as,the Latin Ameri-
can Economic Commission
which are drafting their own plans
for the decade, the regional and
national UNESCO committees,
as well as the International Labor
Organization, UNICEF and the
World Health Organization.

The seminar will be an effective
means of support for the incorpo-
ration of new women forces into
this decade of women. The pro-
gram until 1980 — when a world
conference on the problems of
women will be held — has just
been drafted by the Committee on
the status of Women of the
Economic and Social Council and
submitted for approval by the UN
General Assembly which closed
in December.

It was emphasized that the
delegates take back to their coun-
tries the message of the role of the
multinationals in the world and
the effect they have on the lives of
millions. In its presentation to the
seminar, the Congress of Cana-
dian Women stressed this role in
Canada giving facts about the
ownership of major sections of
the economy by foreign firms.

The closing session pointed out
that the seminar, with its organi-
zational structure, become an ac-
tive force of women to popularize
its decisions and sharpen the
struggle against the control exer-
cised by the giant multinationals.

~

women. The poverty caused by the multi-national corporations which
pillage their countries is the main enemy. Nearly 80% of the population
is illiterate, 36 million suffer from malnutrition and one child under five

dies every 30 seconds.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 11, 1977—Page 7