Lydia Alpízar (AWID), CSW59
Lydia Alpízar was one of the speakers back in 2007 in the New Volunteers Institute of Women Living Under Muslim Laws Solidarity Network. She was inspirational then and still. I am glad she is referring to culture as a source of violence against women - A reminder that we need to reclaim our culture as women and better as Feminists.... She concluded her presentation by saying "Another way of being free and human." a line from a poem by Rosario Castellanos. This line and the quote from WLUML Aramon Plan of Action, 1986, “We have been led to believe erroneously that the only possible way of "being" is the way we currently live in each of our contexts. Depriving us of even dreaming of a different reality is one of the most debilitating forms of oppression we suffer.” have stayed with me since then, and echoed in my head through the hard times we face as women’s and human rights activists not only in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East but in many places. The speech by Lydia the Executive Director of AWID summarizes a lot of what we want for this world and a reminder of when working as Feminists transnationally.
by Doaa Abdelaal, WLUML New Volunteers Institute (2007), WLUML Board Member (2012-present)
