181. Telegram 5479 From the Embassy in Mexico to the Department of State, June 21, 1975, 2245Z.1 2
TELEGRAM
Department of State
MEXICO 5479
O R 212245Z JUN 75 ZFF-4
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC NIACT IMMEDIATE 8411
MEXICO 5479
E.O. 11652: N/A
TAGS: IWY, OCON
SUBJECT: WCIWY - USDEL “ENCOUNTER” WITH NGO’S AT CHANCERY USDEL NO. THREE
SUMMARY: THREE TO FOUR HUNDRED PERSONS TOOK PART IN “ENCOUNTER” SATURDAY MORNING AT EMBASSY WCIWY HOSPITALITY CENTER BETWEEN USDEL MEMBERS AND NGO AND OTHER NON-OFFICIAL PARTICIPANTS IN IWY ACTIVITIES. INITIALLY ACRIMONIOUS AND CONFRONTATIONAL, ATMOSPHERE OF THREE HOUR MEETING WAS EVENTUALLY TURNED TO ADVANTAGE THROUGH PATIENT EFFORTS AT PERSUASION BY VIRTUALLY EVERY USDEL MEMBER. IN THE END, FREE AND UNINHIBITED EXCHANGE PROVED TO BE VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND CONFIDENCE-BUILDING WORTH REPEATING AS WCIWY PROGRESSES. END SUMMARY.
1. MEETING BETWEEN NGO’S AND USDEL TO WCIWY BEGAN WITH TYPICALLY RADICAL CONFRONTATION BY REPS OF CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY (CORE) WHO ATTEMPTED TO PREVENT AID ADMINISTRATOR DANIEL PARKER FROM SPEAKING. CHANTING AND YELLING, THEY CHARGED HIM WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR AID PUBLIC SAFETY PROGRAM AND POLICE OPPRESSION ABROAD AND ACCUSED AID OF COLLUSION WITH CIA. PARKER, REMAINING COOL THROUGHOUT, EXPLAINED ROLE OF AID IN ADVANCING INTEGRATION OF WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT, A BASIC THEME OF IWY. HIS ABLE PRESENTATION WAS FREQUENTLY DROWNED OUT.
2. HEAD OF DELEGATION PATRICIA HUTAR TOOK MICROPHONE FOLLOWING HIS DEPARTURE FOR AIRPORT AND INITIALLY RECEIVED SAME TREATMENT. CORE REPS STRIDENTLY CHARACTERIZED US DEL AS ILLEGITIMATE AND NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF AMERICAN PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY MINORITIES. APPARENTLY THINKING THEY COULD PROVE THIS ALLEGATION THEY DEMANDED THAT EACH MEMBER OF USDEL STAND UP AND GIVE HIS OR HER CREDENTIALS. HUTAR ACCEPTED THIS CHALLENGE. AS EACH MEMBER TOOK MIKE AND REVEALED LONG AND PRODUCTIVE CAREERS IN WOMEN’S MOVEMENT OFTEN FROM UNDERPRIVILEGED BEGINNINGS TIDE OF OPINION TURNED IN FAVOR OF DELEGATION.
3. DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL JEWEL LAFONTANT, THIRD RANKING MEMBER, CITED HER PRIDE IN BEING BLACK AND HER LONG ACTIVIST CAREER IN BEHALF OF RACIAL EQUALITY. SHE STERNLY REMINDED CONFRONTATIONISTS THAT SHE HELPED ORGANIZE CORE BEFORE THEY WERE BORN. HER STATEMENT, TOGETHER WITH THAT OF GILDA GJURICH, MEXICAN-AMERICAN, AND DELEGATES BELONGING TO OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS, TO WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS (WOMEN’S EQUITY ACTION LEAGUE, FEDERATION OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL WOMEN, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS) AND TO ORGANIZED LABOR /AFL-CIO (BRAC)/CONFOUNDED CHARGE THAT USDEL WAS UNREPRESENTATIVE OF WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND OF MINORITIES.
4. HUTAR THEN AGREED TO GIVE NGO REPS OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK PROVIDED THEY DID SO IN ORDERLY MANNER. FORMAL STATEMENT OF CORE REP WHO TOOK MIKE FIRST SEEMED ANTI-CLIMATIC. LEADERS OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN MINORITY ORGS PLAYED PROMINENT ROLE BUT THEIR STATEMENTS WERE DIRECTED PRIMARILY TOWARD NATIONAL ISSUES RATHER THAN TO THEMES OF WCIWY. THIS TENDENCY CHARACTERIZED MANY OTHER SPEAKERS. TONE BECAME INCREASINGLY POSITIVE AS SPOKESPERSON FOR UKRAINIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (BECK) RECALLING THAT HER FATHER WAS ILLITERATE IMMIGRANT REMINDED CRITICS OF GREAT OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED BY AMERICA, CHIDED THEM WITH ABUSE OF CHERISHED FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND TOLD THEM THAT THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND OPPRESSION UNTIL THEY HAD LIVED IN COUNTRY LIKE SOVIET UNION (LOUD APPLAUSE). THIS VIEW WAS REITERATED BY AMCIT FROM YUGOSLAVIA WHOSE PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF OPPRESSION THERE COMPARED WITH FREEDOM IN U.S. MADE POWERFUL IMPACT.
5. OTHER STATEMENTS REVEALED WIDE DIVERSITY OF OPINIONS, E.G., COURAGEOUSLY SELF-ADMITTED LESBIAN WAS ANSWERED BY BLACK WOMAN LEADER AND PROFESSOR PROMINENT IN NGO AFFAIRS WHO PROCLAIMED HER PRIDE IN BEING BLACK AND A WOMAN AND A GRANDMOTHER. TOWARD END OF SESSION TWO MEXICAN AND ONE SALVADORAN PARTICIPANT SPOKE, GIVING MEETING LESS PURELY NATIONAL FLAVOR, AND REPS FROM MANY NGO’S PRAISED USDEL AND ITS COMPOSITION. FOLLOWING SESSION WHICH LASTED THREE FULL HOURS, MANY NGO REPS CONGRATULATED HUTAR AND OTHER USDEL MEMBERS ON TURNING POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE SITUATION INTO CONSTRUCTIVE MEETING FROM WHICH U.S. GOVERNMENT REPS EMERGED WITH HEIGHTENED PRESTIGE FOR WAY IN WHICH THEY CONDUCTED THEMSELVES AND FOR HAVING IMPROVED RAPPORT AND UNDERSTANDING WITH NON-GOVERNMENTAL SECTOR AT THIS CONFERENCE.
6. AMBASSADOR’S COMMENT: DELEGATION’S HANDLING OF INITIALLY TENSE “ENCOUNTER” SITUATION WAS SUPERB, EFFECTIVELY DEFUSING COMPLAINTS OF VOCAL MINORITY AND BRINGING ABOUT IN THE END A VALUABLE EXCHANGE OF VIEWS AND IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING. MR. PARKER, WHO AS LEADOFF SPEAKER ABSORBED MINORITY’S HEAVIEST FIRE, WAS SUPREMELY COMPOSED AND PATIENT. MS. HUTAR HANDLED STREAM OF MOST DIVERSE AND SOMETIMES DIFFICULT SPEAKERS AT MICROPHONE WITH POISE AND CONFIDENCE. OTHER DELEGATES OBVIOUSLY IMPRESSED ENTIRE ASSEMBLY WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL STATEMENTS AND CREDENTIALS AND THEIR CLEAR DEDICATION TO COMMON INTERESTS OF WOMEN. AS NOTED ABOVE, SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF DELEGATES LAFONTANT AND GJURICH EFFECTIVELY DESTROYED ARGUMENT THAT DELEGATION FAILED TO INCLUDE REPRESENTATION OF U.S. MINORITIES AND THEIR INTERESTS.
7. I PERSONALLY BELIEVE (AND MS. HUTAR SHARES MY VIEW) THAT “ENCOUNTER” SERVED A VERY USEFUL PURPOSE IN HELPING TO BRIDGE THE INEVITABLE GAP BETWEEN OUR DELEGATES AND NGO REPS. INDEED, IT WAS AN IMPRESSIVE AND PERSUASIVE EXAMPLE OF U.S. PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY AT WORK, AND I WAS DELIGHTED THAT IT OCCURRED WITHIN THE PARTICIPANTS’ OWN EMBASSY. IF ARRANGEMENTS CAN BE MADE, WE HOPE TO OPEN VISITORS INFORMATION CENTER AGAIN NEXT WEEK TO GET-TOGETHERS OF THIS SORT IN SUPPORT OF USDEL OBJECTIVES AND FULLEST POSSIBLE PRIVATE AMCIT INVOLVEMENT. JOVA
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Unclassified. Niact; Immediate. ↩
- Jova reported on an “encounter” between members of the U.S. delegation to the World Conference of the International Women’s Year and participants in the non-official activities surrounding the Conference, held at Mexico City from June 19 to July 2, 1975.↩