NetAction Notes Issue No. 48 April 30, 1999 Email Empowerment in Indonesia The "simple power of a humble email list" is credited with bringing hundreds of women together to confront state-sanctioned violence and violations of women's human rights in post-Soeharto Indonesia. Moderator Nani Buntarian helped Indonesian women launch the perempuan egroups list in July of 1998 to provide a "clearing house tool" for the numerous women's organizations that emerged after the resignation of former president Soeharto. (Perempuan means "woman" in the Indonesian language.) The sudden surge in women's activism prompted a group of activist women to form the Indonesian Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy, which held weekly planning meetings to capitalize on the momentum for change. "We wanted our fair share of voice in the changes made for the country," Nani explained in a recent email message to NetAction webmaster Judi Clark. "A lot of information needed to be shared. We needed a mechanism to quickly disseminate information and circulate feedback to create parity of awareness between the women in Jakarta (the capitol) and our peers elsewhere in the vast archipelago." Nani was able to establish an email list because many of the women's organizations scattered among the islands were already online. Not everyone involved had access, but with at least one email address per province, she established "local hotspots" from which information could be forwarded to other women's organizations or groups in the area through more traditional methods of communication. The list proved to be an effective means of generating awareness among the groups of each other's activities. This helped to foster coordinated action and commitment to common positions on such issues as human rights violations and violence. The importance of the list was increasingly evident as women's groups were preparing for the Indonesian Women's Congress, which took place in December. Invitations to the conference were circulated to about 60 list subscribers. With only one week's notice to register, the organizers anticipated about 150-200 participants. Instead, they received more than 500 applications in just seven days. "All this is due to the simple power of a humble email list," Nani told NetAction. "I dream of greater IT empowerment in the local women's movement that will give us greater independence in controlling our information access and distribution." The perempuan egroups list has now grown to more than 100 subscribers. "The added beauty of it all is that it has contributed a lot in our 'bonding' process," Nani wrote when we contacted her about sharing this story with NetAction Notes readers. "If the Indonesian women's experience could be shared for a meaningful value, then I take this as a blessing." Much to our delight, Nani expects NetAction's Virtual Activist website to be helpful to the women's efforts. "We earnestly believe that NetAction will be very much part of our next action in making the dream come true," she said. Stories such as Nani's illustrate the Internet's potential as a powerful tool for activism and organizing. But growing numbers of women are also using the Internet for more ordinary pursuits, as well. Judi shared examples of how women use technology at a "Women and the Internet" workshop which took place during the Fourth Annual Women's Leadership conference held recently at Mills College in Oakland, CA. In addition to political activism, women use the Internet to network with peers, conduct research, archive women's history, and support women's business ventures. Among the thousands of women-oriented web sites, NetAction found the following to be noteworthy: WomensNet at IGC http://www.igc.org/igc/womensnet/ Online Women's Business Center http://www.onlinewbc.org/ The Backyard Project http://www.backyard.org/ The Role Model Project for Girls http://www.womenswork.org/girls/ ---------------------------------- Send mail for the 'huridocs-tech' list to 'huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Mail administrative request to 'majordomo@hrea.org'. For additional assistance, send mail to: 'owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Archives of previous messages posted to the list can be found at: http://www.human-rights.net/huridocs-tech.
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