notes from day 1
My notes from today
Morning session:
austria doesn't want to invest in. infrastructure.
Etc is very central europe
free software is feminist.
There are radio contacts here. Also in amsterdam.
Maiz presentation:
support for migrant women
eu funds it cuz austria doesn't (well, a little)
leftist political training/action
workshops for assylum seekers
consciousness raising via a chior: why do we sing this music? What does it mean?
Austria is very hard on undocumemted workers
support for sex workers
manfy afghanis in language classes
austria makes migranrs must apply for papers before arriving, even if thay are married to an austrian. Those who got married after a particular date are being deported. Many sex workers have been deported, even those who have been here for many years and paid taxes and insurance. This changed only one year ago.
Www.maiz.at
maiz was founded by immigrants.
There is campaign to outlaw sex work to stop trafficing of women, but this makes maiz's work more difficult. They don't see trafficed women very often. Most want to do sex work. They chose to come. They speaker sees it as a moral issue. She feels that the strucrure encourages migrant women to do sex work. Maiz tries to reach sex workers who are isolated. The police will deport them if they go for help. So maiz offers support and education and help women get out of brothels when they want to leave.
Some feminists oppose sex work. All want to improve the lot of women. But racism and economic pressures make sex work the best paid work option. Foreign education is often unrecognized. There is free choice, but only within structure of systematic racist opression.
Maiz offers computer courses. The women often have no experience and must start at the very beginning. Also, there is funding shortage.
Etc tools:
irc, email, drupal
somebody here seems to not know what email is. How did she get here? Oh, duh, nevermind. I'm a dumbass.
Irc- internet relay chat. Still the original, still in use. (Does maemo have a client?) yes! Gaim has a plugin. Go to chat.indymedia.org The channel is #etc.
Drupal: add stories, not pages. Everybody feeds the drupal beast. Stories are under categories. Use it to schedule/advertise BOF workshops.
Oh my lords, i'm hungry.