September 16, 2020 

 By : Robyn E Blumner

 Hello! Over the past couple weeks, we have seen clearly the devastating results of the denial and obfuscation of science, as climate change exacerbates disastrous wildfires on the West Coast, and COVID-19 deaths in the United States approach 200,000. In both cases, the acceptance of science and reality, much earlier on, could have prevented much needless suffering and destruction.

 The proliferation of fake coronavirus cures makes clear that now is the time for the wholesale rejection of pseudoscientific medicine of all stripes, but unfortunately some megaretailers don’t agree. We have new developments this week on our ongoing legal battle with Walmart over their deceptive hawking of homeopathic fake medicine.

 What a breath of fresh air it is to hear from someone like Dr. Seema Yasmin, the latest speaker for our Skeptical Inquirer Presents online series. This week we’ll get some refreshing doses of reality as she helps us navigate the tsunami of “viral B.S.” in health and medicine.

 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has suffered a defeat in her latest attempt to siphon public funds to private religious schools through COVID-19 relief measures, which is just one part of a battle we are deeply invested in winning. Meanwhile, parents who have turned to homeschooling during the pandemic are very often finding that the resources available to them are steeped in conservative Christian teachings. We have some answers to that too

We’ll also get a look at the historical factors that led Bangladesh to become a place where religious doubt can be met with state persecution or vigilante violence. We’re doing what we can to help secular dissidents who are fighting every day for their most fundamental human rights.

 Amid all this confusion and crisis, science has just offered up a mind-blowing possibility: the planet Venus, the super-heated “morning star,” might actually harbor some form of life.Even more remarkably, it’s a possibility once posited by one great mind closely connected to our organization fifty-three years ago to this very day.

 Robyn E. Blumner, 

CEO and President, Center for Inquiry Executive Director, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science

60-MINUTE SPECIAL #10 | Cirque du Soleil | LA NOUBA, VAREKAI, QUIDAM

I totally share this note
Sylvia.

Newsletter
June 10, 2020

Hello!
A global exercise of the fundamental human right to free expression is too often being met with violence intended to silence that expression. We are also suffering through a worldwide pandemic, which is undermined by the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation. In both cases, we see society being poisoned by false beliefs—whether it’s justifications for racism or conspiratorial opposition to science-based disease prevention. For things to change, courageous people need to stand up and speak. And they are.

Javed Akhtar is one such person of courage. A well-known figure in India for his work in screenwriting, poetry, and social activism, he has been an outspoken proponent of reason, secularism, tolerance, and equality for all. It is fitting that at a time when these values are needed more than ever, Javed Akhtar has been honored with the 2020 Richard Dawkins Award.
Readers of this newsletter will no doubt be familiar with, and likely an admirer of, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Among the greatest communicators of science living today, this week he gives us a personal look at who he is outside the planetarium, as he opens up about his experience as an African American working to overcome the limitations he refused to accept.

There are positive developments regarding religious institutions’ efforts to undermine public health measures, and they come from what has become the unlikeliest of places: the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, we’ll see how within two very important institutions, the Democratic and Republican parties, Christian identification is receding at a remarkable rate.

We’ll also take a closer look at the rush to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and learn why we cannot necessarily hang all of our hopes on it. Plus, Bill Nye the Science Guy will give his perspective on the pandemic, reminding us that prevention is not just about protecting ourselves but everyone around us. Illustrating the necessity of vaccinations as only he can, Nye says, “You are not allowed to dump your garbage on my porch.”
I hope that we will come through the challenges of this highly fraught moment buoyed by people such as Javed, Neil, and Bill, who say what needs to be said in a way that makes people listen.

Robyn E. Blumner,
CEO and President, Center for Inquiry
Executive Director, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science

Literatura en tiempos de pandemia

HOY 8 DE MARZO UN EJEMPLO DE CHILE PARA EL MUNDO!!!

“La marea humana abarcó este mediodía desde el sector de Los Héroes, subió por Alameda (o Gabriela Mistral) hasta Plaza Dignidad y siguió varias cuadras por Providencia y calles aledañas cual Vicuña Mackenna y Bustamante. Los registros aéreos dan cuenta de esta magnitud, nunca antes vista en esta ciudad.” Periódico el Clarin

Mujeres de América Latina I

Ya no hay mano - Resisters

"Un violador en tu camino" by feminist collective Lastesis during the pr...

BILBAO 8M Picture by Fernando Domingo A

BILBAO 8M REMOLINO CULTURAL

BILBAO (UN VIOLADOR EN TU CAMINO)

"El violador eres tú" senior Estadio Nacional, Toma Aérea, 4 Diciembre S...

LATIN AMERICAN CONTINENT TODAY !!!

Dafne Valdes, Paula Cometa, Sibila Sotomayor and Lea Casares are the four Chilean women to whom we feminists embrace their performance contribution that was developed in Chile. They are part of a collective called Latesis and have created this hymn which has spread throughout Latin America and Europe, and in less than hours, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, France, Argentina, and Spain. This performance has been the culmination of the celebration which took place on November 25, the day against violence towards women.

The mobilizations of women throughout the Latin American continent today continue to multiply. We are growing in quantity, and especially in the recognition of the impact that our mobilization, unity, and joint work achieves. That impact generates reflection and a denunciation of the patriarchalism that permeates our daily living within our countries.

It is important to note that the performance has a lot of symbolism and hidden meanings, such as when the women crouch it symbolizes when women are detained without justification by the Chilean police. They put them into exercise after ordering them to take off their clothes. The act of being blindfolded makes them more vulnerable and exposed to danger, and finally the penultimate stanza "sleep innocent girl, sleep quietly without worrying about the bandits, for your police lover watches over your sweet dreams" these verses belong to the police anthem From Chile. The title of the song also refers to the Chilean police who for a time had as a slogan "A friend on your Way"

Sylvia.

25N PERFORMANCE El violador eres tu.

PARIS

CHILE

COLOMBIA

BILBAO

Intervención del colectivo Las Tesis en Santiago #25N

VIOLENCIA DE GENERO Y FEMICIDIOS

Dafne Valdes, Paula Cometa, Sibila Sotomayor y Lea Casares son las cuatro mujeres Chilenas a quienes las feministas abrigamos su aporte performance desarrollado en Chile, ellas quienes hacen parte de un colectivo llamado Latesis denuncian con creatividad este himno que se ha extendido por todo Latinoamérica y Europa, en menos de horas, México, Colombia, Bolivia, Perú, Francia, España este performance ha sido la culminación de la celebración del 25 de noviembre jornada contra la violencia hacia las mujeres.
Las movilizaciones de mujeres a lo largo del continente Latinoamericano hoy 2019 se multiplica, estamos creciendo en cantidad y sobre todo en el reconocimiento que la movilización, la unidad, el trabajo conjunto, el encuentro entre nosotras logra impacto, ese impacto que genera reflexión, denuncia del diario vivir del patriarcalismo en nuestros países.

Foto: tomada de LA CIUDAD DE LAS DIOSAS.

Sylvia

HOY DIA INTERNACIONAL CONTRA LA VIOLENCIA DE GENERO

Nos vemos en las calles!!!

El despertar de Chile

Incarcerated People Deserve the Dignity of Menstrual Equity

MORE THAN A MAGAZINE A MOVEMENT

Incarcerated People Deserve the Dignity of Menstrual Equity
11/15/2019

By:
KIMBERLY HAVEN

I’m an activist and advocate, but sometimes people simply call me a “tampon queen.” I got this moniker because, while I was incarcerated, I learned how to make my own tampons out of the subpar menstrual products I was “given” while incarcerated. I am now the Coalition Coordinator for Reproductive Justice Inside and lead directly impacted a advocates on this issue.

Incarcerated women are typically provided with a very limited number of subpar products you would never buy outside of the carceral system, and menstrual products are no exception. Access to pads and tampons is closely restricted, and they sometimes run out, leaving women without any solutions except to beg for more from the guards. Acceptable to standard pads and tampons are available in the commissary, but you have to pay for them, which is often out of reach for many incarcerated women.

Along with many of the women I was incarcerated with, I used my own homemade products rather than beg for more from an unconcerned correctional officer or risk bleeding through my clothes. As a result of my creativity to survive with some modicum of dignity, I ended up needing a hysterectomy when I got home.

My experience is not unique. I offer it as a reason why the new ACLU x Period Equity Menstrual Equity issue brief—designed with input from me and other women who have been impacted by the system—is critical to ensuring menstrual equity for all.

Despite being the fastest growing incarcerated population, women and girls are correctional afterthoughts. We as a society treat them no differently than men. I use my experience to make sure that the people we incarcerate in women’s facilities are also provided equity and, more importantly, dignity.

Pads and tampons have become weaponized in the carceral system. They are withheld in order to get certain behavior, and they are doled out in whatever amounts and at the convenience of correctional staff, when they are distributed at all. There is no dignity, no humanity, no compassion in a system that makes a person have to beg, borrow or even make her own basic hygiene items.
I know women who made products out of shreds of clothes or stuffing from inside their state-issued mattresses. The health risks that people take to provide for themselves the most basic of products are incalculable. Toxic shock, infection, infertility—it is a game of Russian roulette and not a price that anyone should have to pay.

I have seen women call their families and tell them not to come. I have seen women turn down visits from their attorneys when they are menstruating. You are not allowed to have personal property when going on the visits, and if you go, you are stripped naked and made to spread your butt cheeks, squat and cough. Imagine stripping and there is a bloody pad—afterwards no woman is going to want to put that back against her body. Once your visit is over, you have to walk back to your housing unit or job or school assignment and risk bleeding through your clothes. The humiliation of either situation is the very reality that plays out in our prisons and jails.

Incarcerated people deserve no less than dignity when it comes to managing a normal bodily function—yet 38 states have no law requiring the provision of menstrual products to incarcerated people. States and local jurisdictions must be required to provide essentials to those in their “care, custody and control.” Free and accessible access to menstrual products is simply something that must be provided.

We passed Menstrual Equity legislation in Maryland in 2018, but one year later, we still have problems. People are still not getting what they need: they still receive subpar products that they are forced to make into usable ones. Worse, when good legislation is passed, resentful leadership too often weaponizes it, replacing the quality products in the commissary with the subpar ones being given freely to incarcerated people.

We need to start thinking about what happens to people incarcerated in women’s facilities and demand action and accountability. It is unfathomable to me that we even have to have this conversation, and that we must use legislation to ensure that those we incarcerate have what they need, in the quantity they need, and that no one has to make their own tampons.
I am no longer going to accept being a “tampon queen.” Now, I am the “tampon bitch”—fighting for menstrual equity and dignity for all.

Kimberly Haven.

FEMINISTAS EN CHILE POR UNA NUEVA CONSTITUCION.

Por Hazel Zamora Mendieta
Fuente: Cimac

NOVIEMBRE 16, 2019
Feministas en Chile pugnan por plasmar derechos de las mujeres en nueva Constitución

En el probable debate de una nueva constitución para Chile el movimiento feminista es una piedra angular para que se recojan en el proceso los Derechos Humanos de las mujeres ausentes en la actual Constitución.

El gobierno de Chile anunció este viernes que celebrará un plebiscito en abril de 2020 donde la ciudadanía se pronunciará si quieren o no una nueva Constitución que reemplace la 1980 heredada del régimen militar de Augusto Pinochet.

El acuerdo trata de ser una salida a las protestas sociales que estallaron en Chile el pasado 18 de octubre por el alza a la tarifa del transporte Metro, y luego de que el presidente chileno, Sebastián Piñera replegó en las calles a militares al decretar al país en estado de emergencia. De acuerdo el Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos (INDH) unas 5 mil 629 personas fueron detenidas y otras 2 mil 9 resultaron heridas en estas semanas de álgidas manifestaciones.

En este proceso que podría ser histórico para Chile, pues se trataría de la primera constitución en un régimen democrático, las feministas chilenas ven una oportunidad para articularse y tratar de incorporar la perspectiva de género en la redacción de la carta fundamental.

“Al hablar de la nueva Constitución, que es una demanda amplia, ahí las mujeres jugamos el rol de poder darle esa perspectiva donde nos incluyan, porque hemos sido relegadas por mucho tiempo”, dijo la estudiante Deyanira Maulén Gálvez, invitada del Movimiento Chileno en México en el conversatorio “El feminismo en las aulas universitarias: obstáculos para la visibilización de las violencias”, que se realizó este 14 de noviembre en la Escuela Superior de Economía del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN).

La sociedad chilena actualmente reclama derechos sociales y bienes que no son reconocidos o garantizados de forma adecuada en la actual Constitución a pesar de las múltiples reformas que enfrentan. El texto constitucional establece un “Estado subsidario” por lo que no provee servicios en ámbitos de la salud, educación o seguridad social, así tampoco del agua o la vivienda. Esta provisión queda en manos privadas.

En este sentido las feministas han abogado en las movilizaciones actuales a “visibilizar la precarización de la vida”, externó Maulén Gálvez. Pero también apuntó a que exigen en la redacción de la nueva Constitución se incluyan derechos fundamentales de las mujeres como la igualdad, el reconocimiento al trabajo doméstico y de cuidado, derechos sexuales y reproductivos, derecho a una vida libre de violencia, y una educación no sexista.

Este último es un reclamo especial de las jóvenes, una nueva ola del feminismo que en 2018 paralizó, en el llamado “Mayo feminista”, una veintena de universidades a raíz de los casos de acoso y hostigamiento sexual del profesorado contra las alumnas. El movimiento nació “desde la rabia desde la impotencia. Dijeron tenemos que hacer algo”, contó Deyanira.

Pero las demandas y preocupaciones de las chilenas han sido relegadas en otras discusiones como las que se suscitaron en el anterior periodo presidencial de Michelle Bachelet, quien inició en 2015 un proceso constituyente.

Si bien entonces se abrieron cabildos para el debate del contenido de la Constitución, las voces y demandas de las mujeres fueron enterradas señaló la estudiante de la Universidad de Chile. Esto las ha obligado a crear cabildos feministas donde intentan visibilizar las necesidades y derechos de la población femenina.

En paralelo de la creación de una Constitución para la sociedad de Chile, Deyanira Maulén advirtió que el movimiento feminista debe exigir justicia por las violaciones a Derechos Humanos perpetrados desde que el presidente Sebastián Piñera anunció el estado de excepción del 18 y 28 de octubre.

Maulén presentó en el conversatorio los reportes del INDH que contabilizan al 10 de noviembre a 5 mil 629 personas detenidas (861 son mujeres y 634 niñas, niños y adolescentes), y 2 mil 9 personas heridas en hospitales.

Entre ellas se encuentran 42 personas heridas por disparo de bala, 643 con disparo de perdigones, 345 por arma de fuego no identificada, 41 por balines, 938 por golpes, gases entonces otras agresiones. Resalta entre los datos 197 personas con heridas ocular, una agresión característica de las represiones que están cometiendo agentes del Ejército, subrayó la estudiante.

En su última actualización –del 14 de noviembre- el Instituto de Derechos Humanos también reporta 57 querellas por violencia sexual (que contempla desnudamientos, amenazas, tocamientos y cuatro violaciones) y 236 querellas por tortura y tratos crueles. Además de cinco homicidios, de los cuales tres fueron cometidos por funcionarios del Ejército y también se presentaron ante el Instituto siete casos por delito de homicidio frustrado.

“El movimiento feministas estamos demandado que existe una violencia sistemática de los Derechos Humanos en Chile” MAULÉN GÁLVEZ

Las mujeres han sido las primeras en denunciar estos casos, el primero de noviembre salieron a las calles de Chile ataviadas de negro en protesta de los asesinatos y violaciones a Derechos Humanos cometidos por los elementos del Estado.

Después de más de 20 días en los que Chile ha vivido debates constitucionales relacionados no sólo al contenido de la Constitución también su origen, en la consulta de 2020 la ciudadanía también dirá qué tipo de órgano tendría que redactar la nueva Constitución: una “convención mixta constitucional”, compuesta en un 50 por ciento por parlamentarios y otro 50 por ciento por ciudadanos electos para la ocasión; o una “convención constitucional”, en la que todos sus integrantes serán electos para este efecto.

Por Hazel Zamora Mendieta
Fuente: Cimac Tomado de: LA CIUDAD DE LAS DIOSAS

FOTO BY CIARA MACMULLAN

DIBUJO: LAURA FLORIS