Theme at National Organization for Women conference: 'We Won't Go Back!'

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and LINDA THOMPSON To commemorate its 25th anniversary, the National Organization for Women (NOW) held a Global Feminist Conference in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9-12. Approximately 1000 attended. The conference was marked by a spirit that could be best expressed in NOW's assertion, "We won't go back."

At NOW's invitation, participants came together from 45 different countries to share their experiences building the women's movement. Two plenary sessions were held in which women leaders from ABORTION ERA were women. With its closure, women's enrollment in higher education in the country has dropped to 25 percent.

Ashwari urged American feminists, "Stop sending military aid to Israel. Stop paying for the deportation of our people." She was heckled and booed after these remarks and several other times during her speech (the only speech of the conference to be attacked in this way) by the newly formed Jewish feminist caucus.

Patricia Ireland then accepted the demands of the caucus that the program include a speech by Dr. Alice Shalvi, head of the JOSEPH RYANSOCIALIST ACTION Israeli Women's Network—in addition to Tamara Gozansky, the scheduled speaker and a member of the Israel Knesset. The caucus members charged that Gozansky is a Communist and a member of the Israeli Peace Party, and would be unlikely to oppose Aswari's views.

For a New Party The second plenary session was titled "A Capitol Briefing; Overview of the Agendas and Action Plans of Traditional Allies of the U.S. Feminist Movement." It included speakers from most of the major U.S. organizations that had collaborated with NOW on the national hearings for a New Party organized by the Commission for Responsive Democracy. Once into the agenda, it was clear that the plenary was actually a rally to announce the New Party. (See accompanying article.)

Many of the speakers expressed their growing anger and frustration with the Democratic Party, as did Patricia Ireland's opening remarks and comments to the press. Ireland was quoted by The New York Times as saying, "I am less than interested in playing with the boys in the Democratic Party anymore."

Unfortunately, Ireland failed to draw the necessary conclusion of making a complete break from support to Democratic Party candidates. Instead, she stressed the importance of defeating George Bush in the presidential elections.

Ginny Montes, the new national secretary of NOW and a native of Honduras, spoke about the assault on the voting rights of Black people and the undemocratic redistricting of voting districts to insure white rule. Susan Holleran, from AFSCME and vice-president of the Washington D.C. chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) pointed out that the unions that are most successful today are those that are aggressively organizing women.

Other speakers included Urvashi Vaid, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Peter Bahouth, executive director of Greenpeace; Carol Fennelly of the Community for Creative Nonviolence; Ann Caspar of the Campaign for Women's Health; Daniel Sheehan of the Christic Institute; Lisa Navarette, director of public relations for the National Council of La Raza; and a representative from Amnesty International.

Discussions at the conference reflected the breadth of the issues confronting women today. Working groups met throughout the three days of the conference on topics such as violence against women, race and culture conflict, health and reproductive rights, political empowerment, and

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