CHAPTER SIXTEEN. CHINA.

HUAIROU

The grubby industrial city of Huairou, chosen by the Chinese to host the Non-Governmental Organizations Forum, lacked even the charm of poverty. The Chinese had used the pretext that the facilities in Beijing were structurally unsound and couldn't accommodate the thirty thousand anticipated participants, but everyone knew that they simply did not want thirty thousand feminist activists let loose in their capital city. The U.N. had protested the change of venue, but, as with everything else, in the end, everyone kowtowed to the Chinese. The NGO forum began a few days before the actual conference.

The Chinese authorities regarded the entire assembly with suspicion and were rumored to be especially concerned about lesbian activists. They evidently had seen the C-Span coverage of a feminist rally in Washington, D.C., where feminists had demonstrated bare-breasted and, therefore, supplied the police in Huairou with blankets to protect the populace from any visually shocking displays.

The Chinese authorities made it plain that free speech and protests in support of dissident ethnic groups, particularly the Tibetans, would not be tolerated. Participants unaccustomed to real oppression complained about the rough treatment by the Chinese police. Those who hoped that holding the conference in China would be a step toward greater freedom for Chinese women found their optimism unwarranted. There was no opportunity for dialogue with ordinary women.

The Chinese did allow five thousand carefully selected and trained women party members to attend the forum. These served as another arm of the authorities. When the Ecumenical Coalition on Women and Society tried to draw attention to the lack of religious freedom in China, a Chinese woman grabbed their petitions for religious liberty and dashed out of the meeting tent ["The Lack of Liberty-An object lesson," Faith & Freedom (Winter 1995-96), p. 10].

Although the Chinese officials had promised everything would be ready on time, when the women arrived in Huairou, they found unconnected telephones and showers that didn't work. The accommodations were poor to awful. Huairou, at its best, has little to recommend it; heavy rain and wind turned it into a giant puddle. The tents set up for regional, theme, and diversity meetings flapped wildly in the September winds, providing little protection from the cold and rain. The school buildings, where the workshops were held, were dreary and cold on the rainy days, unbearably stuffy on the sunny.

Hillary Clinton was supposed to speak at an outdoor parade group, but a driving rain forced the drenched participants into a dingy converted movie theater which held only fifteen hundred. Founding feminist Betty Friedan was shoved around by the police trying to control the crowd and then left outside among those stranded in the rain -["Women fight past Chinese security at forum," Providence Journal (7 September 1995), p. 10a].

WORKSHOPS

The forum events included over three thousand workshops, on such topics as "Lesbian flirting," "Guided Meditation for the Healing of Mother Earth," "Celebrate the Goddess," "Lesbianism for the curious," "Lesbian activism from an interfaith perspective," "Women in black: a gathering of spirits" (participants were instructed to wear black and bring a lamp), "Lesbian and mother" (artificial insemination), and "How religious fundamentalism helps the spread of AIDS."

Danish and Swedish sex educators presented a workshop on their programs to a standing-room-only crowd. Women were standing around the edges of the room and sitting on the floor as one of the teachers explained with great enthusiasm how she teaches adolescents "lust and desire are a resource in people's lives" that youth should make use of. There were no references to marriage or even love. The Danish sex educator admitted that there are laws against sex with children under fifteen, but saw nothing wrong with two fourteen-year-olds having sex with one another. Audience members from the U.S. complained that repressive attitudes and the Religious Right prevent the adoption of such "progressive" programs in their country.

The sex educators distributed a booklet entitled "Sexual Rights of Young Women in Denmark and Sweden," which credited compulsory sexual education programs for the progress made in modernizing the sexual attitudes. According to the booklet, younger Nordic women now have among other things:

- a secularized childhood

- a high sexual self-esteem

- a relatively early sexual debut

- frequent intercourse-rate

- orgasm

- pluralistic sexual technique

- [written or visual] . . . sex materials. ["Sexual Rights of Young Women in Denmark and Sweden" (The Danish Family Planning Association and the Swedish Association for Sex Education, RFSU, 1995) p. 8]

Young women's sexual rights in Denmark and Sweden include the right to:

- choose a sexual partner

- control over one's body

- sexual pleasure

- safe abortion

- knowledge in general and of services and rights. ["Sexual Rights," p. 9]

In Danish compulsory sex education courses adolescents are "acquainted with their rights and protection under lawincluding their sexual and reproductive rights." Parents who protested to the European Commission on Human Rights that compulsory sex education was a violation of their religious beliefs were informed that "compulsory sex education does not per se infringe on the freedom of religion."

The authors of the booklet appear pleased that, as a result of these programs, "many children are born out of wedlock without causing any kind of stigma .... Marriage has to some degree been replaced by consensual unions" ["Sexual Rights," p. 14].

FORUM ACTIVITIES

WEDO sponsored a series of daily meetings entitled "Daughters of the Earth," which included various forms of goddess worship. A Brazilian participant declared, "The people in my community used to believe in the crucifixion, but we have decided, `No more crucifixion.' We believe in life .... We are power."

The overflow crowd responded enthusiastically. Bella Abzug led them in a passionate chant, "I am power! I am power!" ["Goddesses of Their Own Choosing," Faith and Freedom (The Institute on Religion and Democracy, Winter 1995-96), p. 7].

The World Council of Churches sponsored a seminar entitled "Gospel, Cultures and Women" at which the speaker denounced traditional Christianity as imperialistic; patriarchal, colonialist, capitalistic, egocentric, racist, and homophobic. Presbyterian church (U.S.A.) staffer Rebecca Peters, blamed "messages from the Bible, from church tradition and authorities" for "domestic violence, incest, child abuse, and sexual exploitation of girls and women by clergy" ["Church Delegates Join Attack on Faith," Faith and Freedom, p. 8].

Ecumenical Women United, an international umbrella organization which includes World Council of Churches, the World Wide Lutheran Church, World Federation of Methodist Women, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, among others, organized a workshop entitled "Religion: between Fundamentalism and Selfawareness." The first speaker discussed the need to break away from tradition. "We are worried about fundamentalism, since the traditional religions are a hindrance to the growing-together of the world." A Scandinavian Lutheran leader called for radical changes. "We must invent new ceremonies. Everybody should evolve her own form of religion." The participants applauded enthusiastically.

While feminists greatly outnumbered them, the profamily groups also set up booths in Huairou and held workshops. The booth set up by Susan Roylance of United Families promoting motherhood and family was extremely popular. One woman was so pleased to find a profamily presence in the sea of feminism that she burst into tears.

Several of the profamily workshops were disrupted by feminist protesters, who accused the speakers of wanting "to control women's sexual lives." Lesbians tried to distract the profamily speakers by lying in each other's arms and fondling each other provocatively during the sessions.

A group of Moslem women bought a bulletin board and decorated it with prolife and profamily posters. When a group of lesbians tried to tear it down, one of the women's sons defended the women and the board from their attack. However, the next morning they found it smashed to pieces.

When the Moslem women held a small demonstration singing, "Man and woman hand in hand, makes our world a happy land," a group of lesbians harassed and taunted them. The lesbians kissed and hugged one another, laughing at the Moslem women, trying to pull off their scarves and kiss them.

Claiming to speak for all the women at the forum, the WEDOcontrolled Linkage Caucus put forward a list of the changes they wanted in the platform. In particular, the Linkage Caucus demanded the deletion of all profamily references. The profamily women attending the forum were quick to respond with flyers in English, Spanish, and French which read as follows:

NGO ALERT!

WOMEN'S LINKAGE CAUCUS

DOES NOT SPEAK

FOR THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD

AT THE NGO FORUM

Delegates to the Beijing Conference should not be deceived by statements made by the Women's Linkage Caucus and other caucuses controlled by WEDO (Women's Environment and Development Organization) and Bella Abzug. They do not represent the sentiments of women around the world.

The WEDO-controlled Women's Linkage Caucus is using the NGO Forum to achieve their own agenda.

WEDO, the Women's Linkage Caucus and Bella Abzug have ignored the real concerns of the women, wives and mothers of the world.

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus think there is nothing wrong with aborting girl babies as long as you don't know they are girls.

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus think 13 year-old girls can negotiate safe sex.

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus oppose "abstinence until marriage as responsible sexual behavior."

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus want every country to be forced to accept homosexual and lesbian rights and behavior.

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus oppose mention of parents (mothers) rights. Don't they know women are parents too?

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus plan to use words like "forced pregnancy," "full respect for physical integrity of the human body," "unsafe abortion," "safe abortion," and "sexual and reproductive rights, including the right to have the information and means to exercise those rights" to deceive countries and to push abortion on demand.

WEDO and the Women's Linkage Caucus oppose the inclusion in the Beijing document of "the dignity" of women, of "religious," "ethical" and "spiritual" values, and of "maternity."

WE PROTEST THIS MISREPRESENTATION

BEIJING

Coalition for Women and the Family members warned that the accommodations in Huairou would be primitive and had made reservations in Beijing, traveling to Huairou only when necessary. It proved a wise, but expensive choice. Unfortunately, the hotels assigned to NGO's were a thirtyminute taxi ride from the site, and the buses that were supposed to shuttle participants back and forth from the conference remained parked in front of the hotels. Participants had to negotiate with taxi drivers who couldn't speak English or wait in line for thirty minutes while Chinese police rationed taxi cabs. The Chinese had doubled the prices on everything and were determined to wring every penny possible from the participants.

Luckily, Tom Minery of Focus on the Family discovered the Catic Plaza, a brand new hotel, adjacent to the conference center, which had just been opened and set aside for the press, but, which was, in spite of its convenient location, almost empty. Key members of the Coalition for Women and Family moved to Catic and set up a command center in a tenth-floor suite.

The Catic Plaza looked as though it had been ordered from the U.S. in a kit and assembled in a hurry by workers who didn't know how to use a caulking gun or cut carpet straight. Mao jackets and drab revolutionary styles had been banished. The restaurant hostesses wore full-length pink suits slit up to the thigh, and bowed gracefully. The young women at the reception desk were lovely and smiling in their matching suits, but it was impossible to communicate with them in English, Spanish, or French.

Since most Chinese couldn't speak English, the coalition was particularly fortunate that an American couple who live in a provincial Chinese city had come to Beijing to translate for them. The couple helped the coalition negotiate room rates, and acquire a copy machine and cell phones. When these were added to the computers and printers they had brought with them, they had the technology to conduct a full-scale campaign.

Some coalition members dubbed the Catic "the Catholic Plaza." A Catholic priest from Scotland had tried to say Mass in the religious center set up on the conference grounds, but when he refused to work with the break-away Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church, he was told he would have to leave. So, he moved the twice-daily Masses to a suite in the Catic. The two rooms were frequently so packed with worshipers that there was no place to kneel. A priest from the Philippines also offered daily Mass at the Catic, and there were Evangelical Christian services. The coalition members were worried at first that the Chinese might object to the religious services and the other activities of the coalition or that their rooms or phones might be bugged. However, as the days passed and nothing happened, they stopped worrying.

Beijing was not at all what the participants had expected, probably because Beijing was not at all like Beijing. Those who had visited the city only months before couldn't believe the transformation. Three million transient residents had been shipped out of town. Many Beijing residents had been given a two-week holiday. Buses had been banned from the streets, easing air pollution and allowing the visitors to breathe. Automobile use was restricted. Even the bicycle lanes were relatively empty.

Beijing was uncharacteristically clean. Flowers, previously declared bourgeois extravagances, had been planted around the city. Potted chrysanthemums were massed in the middle of the sidewalks near the complex, and while they were extremely decorative, they forced the pedestrians into the street. Restrictions on vehicle and pedestrian traffic designed to keep Chinese people out of the conference made negotiating around the site difficult, but other than that, the participants in Beijing were not harassed by the Chinese police.