The tyrannies of Silence

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That the speaking profits me, beyond any other effect.
Audre Lorde The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action

As far as I can remember words have comforted me, they vindicated me, they empowered me. Audre Lorde reminds us in her essay that it is our duty to reclaim a language that has been made to work against us. I would add that expressing ourselves in a language that is our own is a monkey ranch thrown in the machinery of patriarchy.
I am exited about web 2.0 because it allows women from all over the world to have their voices heard; it is a place where they can tell their stories, convey how they feel, what they need, where they are coming from. Web 2.0 is bridging the void between cultures, social barriers, racial divides, cultural inequities. A forum that allows a multitude of voices to be heard is changing the way we relate to each other. The deforestation of the Amazonian Forest becomes my loss when it has a voice, and it ceases to be thousands of miles away when it has a face, a presence, and a breath.
We are so busy with our jobs, our families, our obligations to both; with the cooking and the cleaning and the rearing of children, with the shopping and the driving and the paying of our bills and the staying alive and healthy, that it is easy to lose sight of what is important; but web 2.0 is putting things into perspective. When I hear directly from women the reality of their daily lives, I am acutely aware of my actions, and of the ramifications of the foreign policies of the US and Europe. Women everywhere living under patriarchy are being oppressed, and there is nothing an oppressive power wants more than to isolate us, and make us see our otherness rather than our alikeness. Web 2.0 is breaking the silence of isolation that is keeping women separated.
Web 2.0 is inspiring, it is giving me strength. By so powerfully being who they truly are, revealed and vulnerable in their words, the women on the web are giving me permission to be who I am. By connecting us to each other, web 2.0 is helping me playing the vital role in the transformation I want to see in the world. For, as Audre Lorde tells us: where the women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives.”