While "fundamentalism" has become something of a buzzword in the past few years, particularly in the West in connection with Islam, it in fact exists in every region and religion, and has a set of common characteristics, say activists who have studied the question for years.

FRIDAY FILE: Initiated in opposition to the exclusive World Economic Forum, the World Social Forum(WSF) has, since it began in 2001, converged as an important space for civil society movements to propose alternatives to the dominating economically and socially excluding systems, under the banner “Another world is possible”. Feminist movements have been a key force for change within the Forum, contesting gender blind policies and proposing new alternatives for women’s empowerment. In the recent WSF held in Dakar, Senegal, 6-11 February, AWID joined women’s rights, peasant and indigenous movements who gathered to discuss alternatives to the systemic crisis that is affecting women disproportionately and exacerbating existing inequalities.

His own bill will focus on poverty reduction rather than population control.

The collusion of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has led to an open declaration of war on the women of this country.

9 February 2011, World Social Forum, Dakar, Senegal: In this year, 2011, the World Social Forum joins with the peoples of Africa for the third time, following Mali in 2006 and Kenya in 2007. We, women from different parts of the world who have gathered in Dakar, recognizing that uniting our strengths will eventually bring change, confirm our solidarity and our admiration for the struggles of Senegalese women, African women, and women of the world. Their struggles, alongside the struggles of all men and women,strengthen resistance everywhere against the globalized capitalistic and patriarchal system.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23, 2011 (IPS) - The two-week Commission on the Status of Women at United Nations headquarters draws together a wide array of civil society leaders as well as policy-makers and U.N. development experts to compare notes on the many facets of women's empowerment.
Cléo Fatoorehchi interviews JOAN WINSHIP of the International Association of Women Judges

Iman Bibars, age 50, is euphoric on the phone from Cairo, “We regained our soul, our voice, our pride and now no other ruler can be a tyrant.”

(New York) - The Budapest Metropolitan Court's decision on February 18, 2011, to allow an extended route for a gay pride march was an important victory for freedom of assembly in Hungary, Human Rights Watch said today. The Budapest police had denied permission to extend the route for the march, planned for June 18.

PARIS, Feb 17, 2011 (Tierramérica) - Many aspects of gender inequality are well known and well documented. But there seems to be little awareness that male behaviour leads to greater emissions of climate-changing gases.

A bill under consideration in the Mount Rushmore State would make preventing harm to a fetus a "justifiable homicide" in many cases.