United States of America

State of the Nation: Women's views and actions

The war on Iraq and the costs of war

" War affects everyone, not just those directly involved in the fighting. This webpage is a simple attempt to demonstrate one of the more quantifiable effects of war: the financial burden it places on our tax dollars." Look at this site to see what the war on Iraq is costing Americans now -- in terms of dollars and what we could have instead...

Cindy Sheehan: one mother's stand

Life Reflections of a Gold Star Mom on Mother's Day 2006: by Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Army Sgt. Patrick R. McCaffrey, Sr., killed June 22nd, 2004 in Balad, Iraq

An Army of None
If counter-recruiters succeed and enlistees flee, a draft could be next.
By Sarah Ferguson, November 17th, 2005, Village Voice

..."From San Francisco, where voters just passed a measure aimed at kicking recruiters out of public schools and off college campuses, to East Harlem, where about 75 people gathered on Monday to protest the opening of a new recruiting office on East 103rd Street, recruiters are finding themselves in the crosshairs of the anti-war movement.

Buoyed by falling enlistment rates, peace activists of all stripes now see draining the supply of new soldiers as a more hands on way to stop the war in Iraq..."

Make Levees, Not War
Liza Featherstone comments on the weekend of actions in Washington, DC, for US withdrawal from Iraq
The Nation website, 25 September 2005:

"... Luckily, huge numbers of Americans--at least 100,000, maybe more--did seize that opportunity, traveling to the nation's capital from places as divergent as Louisville, Kentucky, and Orange County, California. Marchers included many more African-Americans than a typical DC antiwar march, as well as more people in their 30s and 40s with children. Despite the event's lack of support by any major Democratic party leaders, clean-cut suburban liberals still proudly affiliated with the Kerry and Dean campaigns were also well-represented..."

The Eyes Wide Open exhibition is a multimedia journey through the words, images, and sounds of the Iraq war. Each pair of boots represents an American soldier killed in Iraq. The hundreds of pairs of shoes at one side of the exhibit represent the unknown thousands of Iraqis who have died as a result of the war.

Counting the human cost of war
See the latest estimates of Iraqi war victims at: http://www.iraqbodycount.net

Photo gallery of American soldiers killed in Iraq: The "Not Just Names" Project

Interview with Colonel Janis Karpinski, 26 October 2005, on Democracy Now.
Col. Janis Karpinski, former Head of Abu Ghraib, admits she broke the Geneva Conventions but says the blame "goes all the way to the top.” She has just published a book about her experience: "One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story."

The World Court of Women on US War Crimes
The Asian Women’s Human Right Council and El Taller International in partnership with several regional and international organisations held the World Court of Women on US War Crimes on January 18, 2004 during the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India. The Court that drew the support of more than 140 organisations and networks from all over the world, was the nineteenth in the series of Courts of Women being held since 1993 in different regions - Asia, Africa, the Arab world, Pacific, Central America and the Mediterranean. As Corinne Kumar, the International Coordinator said in the opening session when sharing the vision that informs the Court “The Courts of Women are an unfolding of a space, an imaginary: a horizon that invites us to think, to feel, to challenge to connect, to dance, to dream. It is an attempt to define a new space for women, and to infuse this space with a new vision, a new politics. It is a gathering of voices and visions of the global south, locating itself in a discourse of dissent: it is in itself a dislocating practice, challenging the new world order of globalisation, crossing lines, breaking new ground: listening to the voices and movements in the margins”
Read full report here.

For information on the war on Iraq: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/

Women taking action for peace

Open Letter to LGBTST Communities Opposing War
(first released: 1/27/03, current endorsers thru 2/25/05)

"As Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, and Transgender (LGBTST) organizations and individuals of conscience in the U.S., we stand in opposition to the strategies, policies and practices of the U.S. government's "War on Terrorism". While the U.S. government prepares for an escalated, public and pre-emptive war against Iraq -- and declares the doctrine of pre-emptive military strikes central to the national security strategy of the U.S. -- we call on LGBTST communities to join with other peace-seeking communities in opposing war, and struggling for peace with justice. As residents in this country, we recognize our special responsibility to speak and act out against unjust and immoral U.S. government action (both within and outside the borders of this country)..."
From the Audre Lourd Project

A Proud History of Women Advocating for Peace
By Sarah V. Safstrom, Communications Intern
From the National Organization for Women, Spring 2003

"Women have a long history of taking a stand against militarism and the culture of violence. Many women have spoken up and influenced the war machine by founding organizations that encourage peaceful demonstrations and pacifist philosophies. While the legacy of women's peace movements over the last century is inspiring, it is not well known or well documented. The NOW Times presents here a piece of that history..."
http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2003/peace.html

Amy Swerdlow on the Peace Movement: Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History

"Acting both as concerned citizens and as "the mother half of humanity," U.S. women have played a central role in movements against militarism and for peace since the early nineteenth century. Confined almost entirely to the role of foreign policy outsiders, women nevertheless have petitioned, lobbied, demonstrated, and participated in individual and collective acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to oppose this country's wars and military interventions..."

Women's peace organizations (national)

WILPF: The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
"The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was founded in 1915 during World War I, with Jane Addams as its first president. WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all. WILPF works to create an environment of political, economic, social and psychological freedom for all members of the human community, so that true peace can be enjoyed by all..."
See the organization's website for extensive resources on women and peace and justice issues, in the USA and internationally.

CODEPINK began in the United States in 2002 as a women's effort to stop the war in Iraq. The women held an on-going vigil in front of the White House in Washington, DC from November 2002 through March 8, 2003, International Women's Day. The call of CodePink begins below: find out more information on their groups around the country and their actions at the CodePink website.
"We call on women around the world to rise up and oppose the war in Iraq. We call on mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters, on workers, students, teachers, healers, artists, writers, singers, poets, and every ordinary outraged woman willing to be outrageous for peace. Women have been the guardians of life-not because we are better or purer or more innately nurturing than men, but because the men have busied themselves making war. Because of our responsibility to the next generation, because of our own love for our families and communities and this country that we are a part of, we understand the love of a mother in Iraq for her children, and the driving desire of that child for life..."

The Feminist Peace Network
"The Feminist Peace Network is dedicated to building an enduring peace, with the ending of violence towards women and children as a first priority. This group is dedicated to the urgent need to immediately work towards providing shelter, food, education, and a safe environment for women and children in all parts of the world, as well as creating economic conditions to ensure these rights in the future. A strong bias towards matriarchal thinking is assumed. F.P.N. is a global network, open to pacifists and feminists of all denominations, nationalities, and persuasions willing to share ideas and work together across borders and cultures to achieve these goals. At the present time, the group is open to women only." Find links to other women's peace groups at:
http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/Friends.htm

ARCHIVE

2004

Some reports on the Republican National Convention, NYC, 28 August - 2 September 2004

2003

"Democracy is under Attack - Let's Take it Back"
Cynthia McKinney, Harlem, NYC - July 31, 2003

“I can't be calm when I drive through sections of Atlanta that look more like Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo than America. I cannot be calm. Dialogue must be followed by swift and deliberate action to root out racism at its very core. From a California gas station to a Mississippi Lockheed plant; from Cincinnati, Ohio to Benton Harbor, Michigan; to New York City, New York. And in Belle Glade, Florida where a young black man was found hanging from a tree, with his hands tied behind his back and the authorities call it suicide. In the 21st Century, America's trees still bear Strange Fruit.

How much injustice can any community absorb before an eruption of extraordinary proportions occurs? …
To this day that I know of no one in any decision-making position in the whole of this Administration has accepted responsibility for failing the American people. Instead, from this Administration we have obstruction, obfuscation, dissembling, and deception.”

2001

11 September 2001/USA: Tragedy, Terrorism -- but War?

A Call for Peace: Diverse Women for Diversity
...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 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...

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..."

The Time to Grieve
Mary Zepernick
"Cape Cod Times", Massachusetts, USA, 21 September 2001

"My grief swings between anger and anxiety, sorrow and depression. I grieve for the victims and for my country, poised to engage yet again in the cycle of retaliation rather than justice. As a widow I was counseled not to make far-reaching decisions too soon. I grieve that our leaders have reflexively trumpeted war, with no attempt to initiate a national dialogue or even allow us time to mourn. Who benefits?"

U.S. Students Mourn, Move Together: September 20, 2001
More than 100 different campuses were expected to participate in the Sept. 20 National Day of Action for Peaceful Justice. This action began at Wesleyan University when a group of students got together to respond to the danger of war. They reached out to friends and relatives at schools across the country. More than 100 schools - colleges, universities and high schools - signed on to have some form of activity on Thursday, Sept. 20.

Building a Progressive Response to the Crisis
By Yifat Susskind, Associate Director, MADRE

"Throughout the United States, people are feeling shock, grief and anger after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, DC. But even as we struggle with these emotions, we must continue to think critically, to move beyond the buzzwords of the mainstream media and to work with others in our communities to formulate progressive responses to the crisis…

In the thousands of corporate media reports that have aired since the first explosion hit, a most fundamental question has been largely ignored: Why would people want to wage this attack against the United States? The question goes unasked by mass media because it suggests that there might be reasons for the rage and resentment that must have fueled these acts. Reasons do not imply justification, but in the US, even posing the question is taboo.

Instead, we have been bombarded with buzzwords and ideological nonsense. President Bush informed us that we are under attack "because we love freedom and prosperity." In all likelihood, we are under attack because US policies have denied freedom and prosperity (and even subsistence) to millions of people around the world..."