[sacw] Email Empowerment in Indonesia

[Harsh Kapoor]

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/

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