Convocations in English 2019

25th November, International Day against Violence against Women

The violence that we women suffer is a fundamental mechanism of the structural violence in all cultures. Violence is the social response given through all times to dominate, exploit, control, degrade, humiliate… and thus to impose ourselves on others. This treatment is exercised against women in their daily lives; and in war, gender violence increases exponentially.

Women, at least half of the population, have been culturally considered inferior, property of men, with the function of serving the interests of the patriarchy, the nation and militarism. Being regarded as ‘inferior’ has implied our exclusion in social spaces – exclusion internalized in both genders and exclusion which, in itself, is violence against women, both physical and psychological.

Violence has modeled our relationships, as a result of which respect, consideration and good treatment towards women has not been a part of the process of socialization. We feel that violence continues to pervade our culture, causing women to not give primary importance to our right to be persons and we do not value ourselves for who we are, rather in terms of who our partner is. In this way, we adopt the position of victim and accept degrading treatment.

The challenge is to reject the thought of being a victim and always focus on our right to be well treated.

Women in Black observe that in order to work against violence towards women, it is necessary to keep in mind that learning, utilization, socialization and normalizing of all violence throughout history is the cause for the mistreatment and assassination of so many women. To make progress towards the eradication of this violence, we think it is necessary that:

♀ Everyone must think about what violence in human relations has entailed and does now imply and redefine the changes that we must make in our conduct.

♀ Educate from infancy the right to be well treated and to treat others well.

♀ Education in school must stimulate self-esteem of both girls and boys in order to overcome the culture of domination of one over the other.

♀ Society must not tolerate degrading treatment or the assassination of women for the very fact of being women.

♀ Our governments must allot economic and all sorts of resources to ensure the safety of women who suffer violence and to facilitate their liberation from this type of treatment, so they can be free agents of their own lives and future.

We remember especially all those who have been assassinated for being women, their daughters and sons also assassinated and the orphans that this violence creates.

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain

The current model of production and unbridled consumption has increasingly impoverished the most vulnerable on the planet to an untenable level, in addition to exploiting and deteriorating the majority of eco-systems.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) already advised in 2018 that for the global temperature to not rise above more than 1.5ºC we should at the very least reduce by half the greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and have eliminated them altogether by 2050. Any future situation that does not include these reductions means a risk for the survival of human beings and a great part of life on Earth.

We want to emphasize the intrinsic relation between militarism and climate change. Aside from facts like, for example, that just the army of the United States produces more greenhouse gasses than a medium size country; the truth is, as affirmed in Trident Ploughshares(*), “there is a direct relationship between militarism and the climate emergency, as militarism is one of the central pillars of the exploitative carbon-intensive industrial system that is driving the climate crisis. Getting to net zero emissions by 2025 will require a radical social change. Challenging the militarism that underpins the fossil fuel industry will be an essential part of this process. We must redirect resources from the military to address climate change”.

Women in Black:

♀ Support the activities being carried out by social organizations to demand urgent action regarding the climate emergency we are now experiencing.

♀ Encourage people to join the mobilizations and to modify their living and consumption habits to live in a more sustainable and respectful fashion with regard to the natural environment and one’s own community.

♀ Demand that the governments take drastic and urgent measures and cease to put the profits of big enterprises above the well-being or future of the people and sustainability of life on Earth.

♀ Demand a true report on the situation we are now experiencing and its implications, especially in countries like Spain, which is one of the most vulnerable facing climate change.

♀ Demand the protection of environmental defenders, many of whom are threatened and assassinated by the interests of the large capitalist corporations.

(*) Trident Ploughshares is a British organization that works for the elimination of nuclear arms.

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain

At the origin of most armed conflicts lie objectives related to the exploitation of natural resources. It is impossible to ignore the conquest of water in the case of the occupation of Palestine; or the invasion of Iraq, in which the pollution of rivers was used as a combat weapon; or the strategic control of water resources in Syria, where war has annihilated agriculture.

The armies are excessive consumers of fossil fuels. The main objective of most military interventions in recent decades has been to secure the supply and transport of these fuels. It is no coincidence that one of the worst hit regions is the Middle East.

The effects of weapons also include deforestation, the disappearance of animal species and genetic deformations. Between 50 and 100 million animals are used each year in scientific experiments for war purposes. Weapons radiation and nuclear tests show their consequences in the increase of carcinogenic diseases and genetic changes. All this leads to the reduction of biodiversity and the alteration of ecosystems. Likewise, the pollution of air, land and water by chemical, biological and nuclear weapons has serious consequences on the health and equilibrium of the Planet.

Women in Black against the war Madrid we consider ourselves to be eco-feminist and we support all civil society groups in the world that defend the environment against the deadly action of armies and wars, for example:

♀ Latin American and indigenous women who face deforestation and pollution as much as bullets.

♀ The organizations of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria that have defended the rivers Tigris and Euphrates all these last years of wars in the Middle East.

Women in Black against the war Madrid we demand that our government:

♀ Look for solutions for the reconversion of the Spanish armament factories in other industries beneficial for the population and the environment.

♀ Gradually reduce defence budgets and reduce Spanish military personnel until their complete disappearance and invest in sustainable industry.

♀ Protect, cooperate and empower all the collectives that defend the environment, reject armies and wars and defend peace.

♀ To all governments that they guarantee the safety and health of people and of the Planet.

We invite civil society to join the alternatives of responsible consumption that promote fairer and more ecological relationships (consumer groups, ethical banks, electric cooperatives, etc.).

We defend life against economic and militaristic interests.

Collaboration with the manufacture, exhibiting and commercialization of weapons has no place in a city committed to peace. Commerce in weapons has been branded for its lack of transparency and its contribution to the intensification and chronic repetition of armed conflicts that cause humanitarian crises, including violations of human rights, in various parts of the world (*).

The increase of Spanish exports of materials for war is very much related to the internationalization of commerce favored by the international weapons fairs, some of them organized in Madrid. The people of Madrid, committed to peace and respect for human rights, have already demonstrated in March of 2017 their rejection of these death-related fairs on the occasion of the sixth edition of the HOMSEC (Homeland Security and Defense) weapons fair.

Nevertheless, far from disappearing from our city, in 2019 one of these events is going to be held in the installations of IFEMA (Madrid Trade Fair Institution). On this occasion, the International Defense and Security Exhibition (FEINDEF) will take place this coming 29, 30 and 31 May.

Women in Black of Madrid request:

♀ That in the city of Madrid there be a responsible commitment to promote dialog and negotiation in conflicts, reflecting these priorities in the selection of activities that would receive some sort of municipal financing.

♀ That there be no collaboration with events related to commerce in arms. Public spaces should be destined for activities that promote a Culture of Co-existence and Peace and not to encourage armed conflicts. We urge IFEMA to not host weapons fairs, starting this May 2019 (FEINDEF).

♀ That Madrid already a Peace Capital, be declared City Free from Commerce in Weapons.

♀ We reject any activity geared to prepare for or maintain wars, including the exhibitions of materials for war, as this contributes to legitimizing violence as a way to resolve conflicts.

We call on collectives and people to join the campaign of the Disarm Madrid platform against these weapons fairs,

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain

(*) About commerce in weapons:
Centre Delàs 2015 report
Armas Bajo Control Campain 2018 report

Pictures here

They are people who flee from wars fed by weapons manufactured in Europe, from abject poverty caused by commercial and neo-colonist policies, by the plundering of mining and energy resources, by land grabbing and environmental destruction.

Those responsible for the economic crisis are the elites who govern Europe and not the persons who are migrants and refugees. It is the European policies that generate unemployment and instability, eliminate public services and cause cuts in monies for social programs. However, the presence of migrants and refugees in Europe is positive, enriches our societies, strengthens the development of co-existence and boosts processes of solidarity and the search for equality.

Women in Black against War from several cities participate in the European Campaign Embrace of the Peoples:

We denounce the manipulation and falseness of the narrative that blames migration for the social and economic crisis in Europe and hides the responsibility of the elite.
We repudiate the policies of hate and discrimination and the institutional racism of exclusion and rejection.
We remember that we have all been migrants.
We commit to maintaining active solidarity with the persons who are now suffering in that situation and to consider them an integral part of our societies.

We demand:

♀ Compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially the freedom of movement and the same rights and opportunities as those of us who live in Europe.

♀ End to the externalization of frontiers, the manufacture and sale of arms, plundering of resources and land grabbing.

♀ The cessation of expulsions and establishment of safe passage for migrants.

♀ That solidarity with migrants and refugees not be judged a crime.

We invite you to sign the declaration of El Abrazo de los Pueblos: https://5m5.eu/en/manifest/

We invite you to the demonstration in Madrid on 5 May at noon in the Plaza del Callao Square.

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain

The Nicaraguan feminists opposed the re-election of Daniel Ortega and denounced the illegitimacy of his government. It was on that date that they became part of the feminist Articulation of Nicaragua.

It was hard to believe that the very some ones who contributed to installing the Sandinista dream would have corrupted those ideals in such a way. It was hard to believe that the much admired guerilla would be a rapist, but the feminists had the courage to support the denouncement of his stepdaughter Zoila America Narvaez. However, neither the abuse nor corruption has been sufficient to remove the guerilla leader from the government. The hero myth has remained alive in the imagination of the country for a long time. The violence exercised on the people since 18 April, more than 300 dead and around 800 political prisoners, shutting down of the media that are critical, censorship and the strict repression of those who demand their rights and liberties, has led to the present situation. Today the denouncement is unanimous. Other organizations have joined the feminist groups: farmers, students, environmentalists, defenders of human rights, etc. with the goal of overthrowing a corrupt government that impoverishes Nicaragua even more.

Despite the fear that the regime provokes with kidnappings, jailing and deaths, the people stand firm demanding free elections and the end to what many are calling state terrorism. Organizations like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights confirm that the current government committed crimes against humanity, kidnapping, torturing and killing hundreds of Nicaraguans.

Nicaragua has experience with revolutions but in contrast with the Sandinista slogan A free country or die, the feminists of the new civil movement, which unites over seventy organizations, call for nonviolent resistance: A free country in order to live. The veterans of this civil resistance ask the young people to not expose themselves, to protect their lives in order to build a free Nicaragua without more martyrs.

In this peaceful revolution, the Nicaraguan people urgently need international assistance. We think that for there to be any dialogue there should first be respect for human rights and for that reason, we request:

♀ Justice for the victims and that the crimes against humanity that have been committed not remain in impunity.

♀ Liberty for those who have been kidnapped and held in prisons.

♀ Provision of suitable conditions for free elections to take place: liberty for the prisoners, return of those exiled and the end of repression.

♀ And we ask our government and the European Union to keep in mind the violation of human rights that is taking place in Nicaragua and to take appropriate action.

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain

To those who would return us to the caverns of the patriarchy, we say not one step back. The road leading to equality has not yet ended. There is much more to do and we continue forward. Because the rights of women have repercussions in the entire society, we will not step back, not even one inch.

Because:

♀ We want a society without violence or fear.

♀ We demand dignity of life for women: without mistreatment, harassments, humiliation, inhumane treatment or psychological violence.

♀ The body of woman is not a battlefield. We must end rape as a weapon of war once and for all.

♀ Women should be recognized as protagonists in social and political life.

♀ We demand that attention be given to the most vulnerable collectives, such as migrant women and children, who are the main civilian victims in armed conflicts.

♀ We demand a welcome with dignity for the migrants, with international protection, without internment centers, illegal returns or intimidating raids.

♀ We reject war and the materials that feed it. We refute the idea that women’s being a part of the armed forces is a valid model of equality, because women do not want an equality created by the patriarchy.

♀ The economy that sustains armed defense is incompatible with an economy focused on life. An economy that makes life precarious and enslaves migrant women is incompatible with dignity.

♀ We want to build a different model of safety: care of the planet and the beings that inhabit it. Because we are diverse, we want to protect diversity.

♀ Sisterhood will jump over the frontiers of States, ethnic discrimination and religious oppression of women.

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain