WERE YOU INVITED? -- NO
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From: Tanya G.
Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 1:15 PM
Subject: Were You Invited? -- No
Reply to: 266970
ID: 266973

Judi and All,

I did not say, or mean to imply, that the UN or CSW excluded anyone. Rather it seems the Sophia group may have. Many of us had NO idea calls, emails and organizing had been taking place behind the scenes. Why do you think that is? It is definitely not the norm within other women's groups or programs.

As most people know, one has to have an NGO sponsor to attend the CSW. (Sophia group has Pathways to Peace, IPPI, maybe others?) The "leaders" apparently contacted certain people, organized their own delegation, and will be gathering in NY with pre-arranged lodging, meetings, etc, that were set up, filled up, and planned before the rest of us knew anything about it. The deadline to register for the CSW has already long passed. The last day was January 9. I contacted the CSW and they say it is now too late for others in our group to attend, unless they've signed up already.

Looking at who WAS included and who was NOT, it appears (to me) like women who asked questions before and did not go along with "the rulers," got excluded from the circle. And those who went along even when behavior was not in line with values, got included and rewarded.

I am glad you offer the view that no one was deliberately excluded -- so maybe my observation is wrong, and that is great. Can I ask, are you part of the first group that is going to the CSW, Judi? Or are you speaking as part of the 2nd group (like me and others) who did not receive any notice about participating?

If you are part of the first group, how did you know when and how to sign up this year? And if some people got left out, who decided and how was it decided? Who got to be included, and who got excluded? and Why?

I think this question is totally fair and in bounds. I did not create this situation in any way, I simply discovered it and started trying to make sense of it. I want to understand once and for all who this group REALLY is, how this group REALLY works, and what this group REALLY stands for.

So far what I see looks nothing like what I read or hear.

Tanya

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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--- On Mon, Feb 2, 2009, in msg266970, Judi Woods wrote ---

Hi, someone asked what the CSW was.. it is an event every year thru and at the UN in NYC ..Commission on the Status of Women. go to their site you will be able to get all the info No one is excluded.. Love Judi

--- On Mon, Feb 2, 2009, in msg266967, Jennifer Nielson wrote ---

No, I was not contacted or invited to participate. Other friends in the group wrote to say they have not been included either.

This is very disappointing. It seems more of the same exclusive and secretive attitudes and behaviors we saw and experienced over the past months. I would like very much to be part of the vision that drew me here, but only if the walk matches the talk. So far it hasn't.

Very sad and frustrating.

Jennifer

PS Did anything every get resolved in the previous discussions, or is it being "swept away" as some had feared? A shame for Sophia.

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