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2 Encountering Latin American and Caribbean FeminismsIn November 1999, nearly 1,300 women from virtually every country in Latin America and the Caribbean journeyed to the coastal town of Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, to take part in an event that many of the region's activists have come to regard as a key arena for collectively reimagining feminism and its relationship to a wide range of struggles for human dignity and social justice. Since the first such gathering was convened in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1981, the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encuentros [Encounters] have served as critical transnational sites in which local activists have refashioned and renegotiated identities, discourses, and practices distinctive of the region's feminisms.The eighth in this series of biannual or triennial meetings, the Juan Dolio event-billed as "the last Encuentro of the millennium"-aimed to "take stock" of the past three decades of feminism in the region. Dominican organizers proclaimed the gathering's objectives to be threefold: (1) to produce a balance sheet of the last thirty years of "el quehacer feminista" (loosely, feminist action) in Latin America and the Caribbean; (2) to create spaces for dialogue that would further feminist analysis of and political positionings vis-à-vis "new" and "old" forms of oppression; and (3) to identify the mínimos comunes [lowest common denominators] that 3 would foster the creation of links and alliances within the Latin American and Caribbean women's movement. 2 As participants in this as well as past Encuentros, and as analysts of Latin American feminisms with diverse and extensive links to activists and scholars throughout the region, 3 we recognized that the Juan Dolio meeting's agenda also offered us a unique opportunity to reflect collectively on the past and present dynamics and future prospects of feminisms in the South of the Americas. 4 Our shared interest in bringing Latin American experiences more centrally to bear on recent debates concerning the "internationalization" or "globalization" of feminisms served as a further inspiration for this collaborative essay. While much of the recent literature on transnational feminist organizing has focused on how "official" international public arenas, such as the UN women's conferences, have fostered transborder links among feminists, 5 scholars largely have overlooked the rich history of "extra-official" processes, such as the Encuentros, by which feminists have come together within world regions to build solidarity, devise innovative forms of political praxis, and elaborate discourses that challenge gender-based and sexual oppression. Moreover, the prevailing focus on UN-related conferences often misses how these alternative transnational linkages affect movement dynamics on the national and local levels. In analyzing the Latin American and Caribbean Encuentros, we wish to draw attention to movement-centered, intraregional feminist processes and their local effects, thereby underscoring the dynamic and mutually constitutive ...

The Sanctuary movement of the 1980s combined religious faith and social activism to provide refuge for Central Americans fleeing violence and persecution and to raise awareness of the responsibility associated with U.S. policy in the region. Features of the Los Angeles area, such as its large Latino population, provided support and a sense of community; in this sense the city itself was a sanctuary. The presence of many Central Americans who brought their experience and skills in organizing in their home countries to the development of solidarity and refugee organizations in Los Angeles were also an important resource for the Sanctuary movement. The development of the Sanctuary movement was characterized by the interaction of spiritual ethics and religious practice with activism in raising consciousness and providing legitimacy. The strength of the movement lay particularly in the profound experiences and narratives of refugees, shared through personal connections that spanned cultures and countries.Sanctuary began because people were responding to a human material need. But you very quickly discover, in the process, that it can't stop there. You're just putting on a band-aid if you don't address the total situation. -Rev. Donald SmithYou cannot be witness to human suffering and not be convinced of the condition of social sin. We are all responsible unless we take a stand and speak against it. -Father Luis OlivaresThe Sanctuary concept was to confront, as well as to help.

R R R R Resumo esumo esumo esumo esumo: Este artigo examina os Encontros Latino-Americanos e do de 'inclusão' e de 'expansão' do movimento; e (3) debates centrados nas diferenças, desigualdades e desequilíbrios de poder entre mulheres em geral e entre as feministas em particular. P P P P Palavras-chave alavras-chave alavras-chave alavras-chave alavras-chave: ativismo feminista, movimentos feministas latino-americanos, feminismos transnacionais.

While discussions of dissolving the hyphen between Marxism and feminism were put on the back burner in the United States and England in the 1980s, the author argues that changes in Latin America during the same decade favor a possible convergence of contemporary Marxist and feminist theory and practice. These conditions include the emergence of a second-wave feminist movement in many Latin America countries, the central role of women in contemporary social movements, and an internal critique within Latin American Marxism. Key issues pointing toward a convergence of thinking include a reevaluation and redefinition of democracy, the concept of “a plurality of social subjects” or potential revolutionary actors, the importance of autonomy for popular movements in relation to political parties and the state, and a new understanding of the importance of daily life in the struggle for socialism.