Feminists transforming democracies . . .

That's the title of three day conference, also known as The Feminist Dialogues (FD), I'm participating in prior to the start of the World Social Forum (opening ceremonies tomorrow). The FD brings together feminist activists and scholars from all over the world to share strategies and visions for a future feminist movement. Many of the conversations--ranging from militarism, neolieralism, space & leadership, feminist organizational structures--have been really interesting, but I don't know how much they've actually informed my own work or the way that I think about global feminism(s). To be a part of large forums such as these can often provide a great space within which stories can be shared, personal and organizational efforts highlighted, but alternatives and solutions remain few. Which isn't to say there's a lack of individual or collective imagination for creating solutions, but rather that the systems against which we're all fighting in our various parts of the world are the same and different. The World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and other institutions are global in their oppression, but the consequences of their practices range from region to region. From landlessness to violence against women to HIV/AIDS, the issues that women mobilise around are a great many and while they are inarguably interlinked and connected (particularly by structures that create these systems of violence and oppression) feminist activists must narrow their activism to make it more manageable. Trying to fight so much all at once can seem unfathomable and often times, impossible. Piecemeal approaches in the meantime make successes more likely. Small structural, cultural changes can have huge implications on subjectivities of communities and women. All of this is to say that systems of oppression--governments, institutions, cultural modes of knowledge and access to power--form a complex web of interlinked and tangled lines. To imagine untangling even one third of that in a three day conference with nearly 200 feminist seems insane. So I'm trying to figure out what I'm to take out of The Feminist Dialogues. I will recall the amazing women I've met. I'll try to re-tell their stories so as to spread the word of their work and their lives. I will try to push my imagination beyond it's current limitations so as to use what I've learned to create new feminist visions of a future. And I will encourage those I know to do the same.