Books

Our Human Rights: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education is the first comprehensive training manual that addresses many aspects of women's human rights in an ´interactive format' which is suitable for many audiences, from school teachers, to advocates for women's rights, to general human rights groups. The manual combines development of rights awareness with problem-centered action, and includes substantive information about the human rights of women in such areas as violence, health, reproduction, education, the global economy, workplace, family life, as well as exercises that employ role plays, discussion, songs and audio-visual materials to deepen the understanding of this information. The end of each chapter connects the discussion to provisions of CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and other international agreements, and also engages women in a discussion of follow-up strategies.

Our Human Rights provides tools for women and men to examine critically the framework of human rights, to define their own issues and needs, and build strategies and campaigns to further their human rights. The manual encourages a holistic perspective that not only identifies the connections among different sets of human rights (for example, the connections between health and violence) but also the connections between different constituencies (such as the connections between women of majority communities and refugee women).

The author has waived copyright to non-English versions. The manual has been translated into Russian, Serbo-Croat and Albanian (funding pending), and plans are underway for French, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Armenian and other languages. If your group would like to sponsor a version (coordinate it, fundraise for publication costs, etc.) and/or connect with other groups (both inside and outside the country) that are working on or wish to work on Our Human Rights, please contact: Julie Mertus, Mallika Dutt and Nancy Flowers, The Center for Women's Global Leadership, 27 Clifton Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA. Fax +1 908 932 1180, tel. +1 908 932 8782; email: cwgl@igc.apc.org

Insight and Action: How to Discover and Support a Life of Integrity and Commitment to Change by Tova Green and Peter Woodrow with Fran Peavey (160 pages, 1994, US $12.95). This is a very practical and inspiring manual on how to give and receive support in lives dedicated to social change; how to use clearness groups to help get clarity on an issue; and how to deal with fear and discouragement by strategic questioning. It is engrossing reading, full of personal stories and examples of healthy group processes. Includes a resource section on group process and dynamics, and a bibliography. New Society Publishers, 4527 Springfield Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143, US.

Fighting for Their Rights: Chinese Women's Experiences Under Political Persecution (1995, 46 pages) is a collection of 12 contemporary women's stories and personal testimonies. Mo Lihua describes survival in a Chinese women's prison, while Tong Yi explains about her ´reeducation' through torture. As frequently happens with women, some of the women suffer persecution by the current Chinese regime not so much for thier own acts, but because of their relationship with other dissidents: Xin Hong is a political hostage because of her son's work for democracy, while Li Guoping lost her license to practice law because of her husband's alleged ´crimes'. A companion work, Caught Between Tradition and the State (1995, 102 pages), is a detailed examination of the violations of Chinese women's human rights, complete with an overview of current Chinese law and recommendations for change. Both publications are by Human Rights China, an international group formed in 1989 to empower China's human rights movement. Human Rights China, 485 Fifth Avenue, 3^rd floor, New York, NY 10017, USA. Tel. +1 212 661 2909; fax +1 212 972 0905; email: hrichina@igc.org

Crossfires: Nationalism, Racism and Gender in Europe is the proceedings of the 1994 conference of the European Forum of Left Feminists. Eight essays look at coalition building, gender and racial violence, young people and nationalism, racism and gender, and more. Writers includes Gloria Wekker, Tatjana Djuric and Natalya Kosmarskaya. Paperback cost £9.75, hardcover £29.25, from Pluto Press, 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA, UK.