A Call for Peace

Diverse Women for Diversity

We women in all our vibrant and fabulous diversity, have witnessed the increasing aggression against the human spirit, human mind, and human body and the continued invasion of and assault upon the earth and all her diverse species. The events of September 11, which took thousands of innocent lives, are simply an extension of the ongoing violence against the earth and all its diverse species.

The people who planned, financed and carried out these attacks are criminals. This was a crime against humanity and those responsible must be found and held accountable under the rules of international law. It is imperative for all of us to put our voices behind peace and justice and to stop the untoward rush of the U. S. government to armies and weapons. This is not a time for a John Wayne cowboy response it is a time for nonviolent responses. It is a time to commit ourselves to reason and justice.

We are once again faced with decisions that are made not by us, not by the people, but by the representatives of the corporate conglomerates which rule the world. Not the least of which will be the escalation of military spending, the demand for more fossil fuels to fuel the war machine, the end of any consideration of the environmental effects, and the extinguishing of civil liberties.

We have watched economic globalization destroy third world economies and privatize in the hands of first world corporations the resources, environment and labor of the countries of the global south. Increasing polarization, inequality, injustice and suppression of democracy is the ground from which terrorism and extremism grow. The only response to
terrorism is justice and democracy and the empowerment of people.

We as women from diverse countries, religions, classes, and ethnicities reject the use of violence by any group for any reason. Violence against people is never justified. We call for peace as an end and as a means.

Vandana Shiva
Research Institute for Science and Technology
New Delhi, India
email vshiva@vsnI

Jean Grossholtz
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, MA USA
jgrossho@mtholyoke.edu

24 September 2001