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War is an Unthinkable Option
Women in Black (WIB) is a world-wide loose network of women who actively oppose war and other forms of violence. WIB is not an organization, but a movement to turn despair into positive action. In the tradition of WIB protests we are women representing the power of nurturing and love. Women, as mothers and caretakers in our collective human history, have had to bear the burdens imposed due to military conflict. We stand as silent witnesses to the horrors happening in our world and wear black as a symbol of mourning. We mourn the violation and loss of life, all life, in conflict.
Our goal is to call attention to the futility of the cycle of oppression, retaliation, and escalation that plagues the Middle
East and other areas in our world. We advocate for the right of all humans to live safely on this planet. We strongly encourage our community to become better informed about world issues and to actively advocate for non-violent conflict resolution, making war an unthinkable option in the 21st century.
History and Background Women in Black’s History: WIB vigils were started in Israel in 1988 by women protesting against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, demanding peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Italian
women, supporters of the Israeli women, took the idea back to Italy, where WIB mobilizations have occurred in many cities. Contact between Italian women and the Yugoslav women resulted in the theme being taken up there.
A Worldwide Movement: It is impossible to know how many women there are who identify with Women in Black, how many groups, or how many actions have been held. Certainly, it has become a worldwide movement. Women in Black conferences and encounters have been held in Jerusalem in 1994 and in Novi Sad (Yugoslavia) each August since 1994. A WIB vigil was held in Beijing at the time of the 1995 UN Conference on Women. There was an exhibition in 1996 in New York City of photos of WIB actions around the world. The 2003 WIB International Conference was held this year 21-25 August in Marina di Massa, Italy.
Why Women? Women-only peace activism does not suggest that women, any more than men, are “naturally-born peacemakers.” But women have a particular experience of life, being disproportionately involved in caring work. Women are often at the receiving end of gender violence in both peace and war, and women are the majority of refugees. A feminist view sees masculine cultures as especially prone to violence, and women tend to have a particular perspective on security and something unique to say about war.
Women in Black, SLO
A local woman who was deeply moved by WIB actions in San Francisco brought WIB to SLO. When a dear friend of hers asked for support in his personal fast over escalation in the Middle East, she was determined to bring WIB to our area. She sent e-mails to friends and contacted peace groups. The response was so great that within three weeks, Women in Black, SLO was born. The first vigil in San Luis Obispo was held in May 2002.
The invitation is open to any individual who wishes to participate in those vigils. See Vigil Calendar on this page for upcoming dates.
Guidelines for Vigil Participation
Call for help to end the bombardment and prevent the assault on Fallujah, 14 October 2004
This is the comforting fiction: Osama bin Laden is a monster who sprang whole from the fetid mire. He had no childhood, no influences, no education, no experiences to form his view of the world. He did not exist, and then he did, a vessel into which the universe poured the essence of evil. It is a simple, straightforward story of a man who hates freedom and kills for the pure joy of feeling innocent blood drip from his fingers....(read more) When Rabbits Get a Gun, by William Rivers Pitt, Truthout, Sept 15, 2004
“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam.”
Vietnam was a chemical war for oil, permanently contaminating large regions and countries downriver with Agent Orange, and environmentally the most devastating war in world history. But since 1991, the U.S. has staged four nuclear wars using depleted uranium weaponry, which, like Agent Orange, meets the U.S. government definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Vast regions in the Middle East and Central Asia have been permanently contaminated with radiation....(read more)
Depleted Uranium: Dirty Bombs, Dirty Missiles, Dirty Bullets,A death sentence here and abroad, by Leuren Moret, San Francisco Bay Review
The US general who led the invasion of Iraq says he believes foreign troops may have to remain in the country for a further three to five years.....(read more)
Franks Predicts Long Haul in Iraq, August 5, 2004, BBC
There is increasing evidence that U.S. doctors, nurses, and medics have been complicit in torture and other illegal procedures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Such medical complicity suggests still another disturbing dimension of this broadening scandal....(read more)
Doctors and Torture, New England Journal of Medicine, July 29, 2004
So, in the end, America's enemies set the date.
The handover of "full sovereignty" was secretly brought forward so that the ex-CIA intelligence officer who is now premier of Iraq could avoid another bloody offensive by America's enemies. What was supposed to be the most important date in Iraq's modern history was changed - like a birthday party, because it might rain on Wednesday. Pitiful is the word that comes to mind....(read more)
A pitiful occasion for the people. By Robert Fisk June 29, 2004 "The Star" -- Beirut
In 1963, well before the American public generally understood where Vietnam was, a young Army captain led a South Vietnamese unit through the A Shau Valley to systematically burn villages to the ground. This was to deprive the so-called Vietcong of any base of support, and was called "draining the sea," a reference to Mao's dictum that the guerrilla is the fish and the population is the sea...(read more)
Open Season in Iraq
MAMs (Military-Age Males) Are Back
By STAN GOFF, 24 May 2004
NEW YORK – No idea excites self-styled reformers, whether liberal or conservative, more than calls to revive the military draft. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq last year, Rep. Charles Rangel (D) of New York lobbied for conscription. Last week, it was Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) of Nebraska. Both contend that a draft would spread the burden of sacrifice more justly than our all-volunteer armed forces and make jaded Americans own up to the brutal toll war exacts....(Read more)
Calls for Military Draft Create Illusions of Equality by David Greenberg (Christian Science Monitor)
April 26, 2004
On March 31, four retired Special Operations forces employed by the private security firm Blackwater Security Consulting were ambushed, killed, and their bodies mutilated in Fallujah. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, an estimated 15,000 "private security agents" are currently operating in Iraq.
With the U.S. casualty toll ticking ever upward, and its troops stretched thin on the ground, the Bush administration is looking to mercenaries to help control Iraq. These soldiers-for-hire are veterans of some of the most repressive military forces in the world, including that of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and South Africa's apartheid regime.(read more)....
Mercenaries 'R' U.S.
Private Pentagon contractors are paying soldiers of fortune from Chile and South Africa up to $4,000 per month for stints in Iraq, 2 April 2004
"The Independent" -- "The bodies were hanging upside down on each side of the bridge. They had no hands, no feet, one had no head." My old Iraqi friend had been driving into Fallujah just after the massacre, the stoning, the burning. He was shaking as he told me what he saw. "They were hanging upside down above the highway, on the old railway bridge which bridge, now a road bridge. The people of Fallujah were just driving over the bridge as if nothing was happening, right past the bodies."(read more)....
Atrocity In Fallujah, by Robert Fisk, 1 April 2004
The Army appears to have "inappropriately" deployed soldiers to Iraq who already were diagnosed with mental problems, according to documents obtained by United Press International (read more)....
Army Sent Mentally Ill Troops to Iraq, UPI, 12 March 2004
Calling on Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Authority to provide good basic services for women, seven United Nations institutions today said the health of Palestinian women, especially those who are pregnant, have been negatively affected by restrictions on their movements, military incursions and house demolitions (read more)....
Palestinian Women Adversely Affected by Restrictions, UN Agencies Say (PM) 9 March 2004
His name's Maurice. He's 26 years old with a face like an angel and a computerized prosthesis where his left leg used to be. His name's Victor and he still seems like a boy. His cherubic face, set against blond hair, is plagued by an unanswerable question every time his restless eyes inadvertently fall on the stump: "Why?" His name's Steve and you couldn't imagine a more All-American soldier -- that is to say if he hadn't lost his right arm. A real good patriot, he's always in control of himself and he has the air of an American hero. His name's Rob. Bound to a wheelchair, he's mad at the whole world and explodes in a barrage of insults at everyone and everything for the loss of his right leg and the uselessness of his left (read more)....
THE FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS OF IRAQI FREEDOM, by Greg Palast, 7 March 2004
GENEVA: Economic, social and cultural rights are the pariahs of international human rights legislation and will continue to be relegated to the second order, mostly due to US obstructionism, say activists.
The Washington delegation on Friday blocked a proposed agreement to grant economic, social and cultural rights the same status as civil and political rights (read more).....
US blocks protocol for 'neglected' rights By Gustavo Capdevila, 7 March 2004
The "progressive" community in America has always and will continue to flabbergast my perception of know-all. As one who commonly identifies with the monolithic-activist-culture, furthermore a proud son of Haiti (albeit Diaspora) striving to fulfill the prodigal Caribbean prophecy, an anomaly has manifested itself on the crown of this dualistic self-perception; grant me the luxury of expounding as to why (read more)....
Haiti, Is That One of the Tahitian Islands? The Yuppie Silence, March 3 2004
Tues., Feb. 17, 2004
On Flashpoints: Pacifica Radio
The General Council for the government of Haiti in the United States speaks out against US support of right-wing opposition in Haiti;
Robert Fisk discusses the ongoing violence in Iraq;
and Larry Everest talks about Empire and the US Global Agenda
Audio Interviews on Haiti, Iraq,the U.S.and the global agenda
UNICEF said today that the violence in Haiti has sent the country’s impoverished health and education systems into a spiral that is threatening the lives of thousands of Haitian children. (read more)....
Haiti's Simmering War Erodes Child Health, UNICEF 24 Feb 2004
President Bush's war in Iraq faces growing opposition from those who are on the front lines; soldiers, their families, and veterans, including high-ranking officers (read more)....
Soldiers, Families Oppose Bush-War Times
"Children in War," a book by Alan and Susan Raymond. More than 2 million children have died in wars in the last ten years. This is their story....
Children in War
In his State of the Union address, George Bush proclaimed that with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, “the people of Iraq are free.” He told us, ”Today our coalition is working with the Iraqi Governing Council to draft a basic law, with a bill of rights.” He then introduced Adnan Pachachi, the President of the Iraqi Governing Council and promised him “America stands with you and the Iraqi people as you build a free and peaceful nation.”
As he was waxing poetic about the freedom and rights of the Iraqi people, what he neglected to say is that just a few weeks ago on December 29th, Pachachi and his Governing Council voted in a closed-door session to curtail the rights of Iraqi women as part of that basic law (read more)....
Women's Rights in Iraq and at Home Going Backwards-Carol Norris (Code Pink)
Thousands of Women have been sexually assaulted in the United States military. Thousands more have been abused by their military husbands or boyfriends. And then they are victimized again (see more)....
Betrayal in the Ranks (A series of investigative reports by the Denver Post)
The Army's top general said Wednesday he is making plans based on the possibility that the Army will be required to keep tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq through 2006 (see more)....
The Guardian Unlimited, Jan 29, 2004
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