A Gathering of Women Peacemakers

Some 270 women of different creeds from seven countries held a conference in Manila Sept. 22. The women delegates committed themselves to an international women’s movement for peace and were one in condemning U.S. wars of aggression throughout the world.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

More than 270 women of different creeds from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Canada, Germany, the United States, Japan, and Bangladesh gathered Sept. 22 on the rooftop of the Shalom Center of the United Council of Churches of the Philippines in Manila for an International Solidarity Forum. Under the theme “Women’s Voices to Overcome Violence,” the participants shared views and experiences of terrorism.

At the entrance to the hall where the forum was held was an exhibit of photographs depicting acts of terrorism  carried out by the United States throughout history. Short textual narrations accompanied the photographs.

There were photos depicting the atrocities committed by U.S. troops against Filipino civilians more than a hundred years ago, when they were occupying the newly liberated Philippines.

There were also photos that captured the effects of U.S. aggression against Cuba, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Laos, Palestine, Iraq, and other countries. Of particular power were the many pictures of women bruised and battered and children famished as a result of these aggressions.

Voices

The forum’s opening was highlighted by voices of children weeping. An ensemble of boys and girls from Kairos Philippines dramatized the sufferings of those preyed upon by terrorism.

In her keynote address, Aruna Gnanadason of the Justice and Peace Unit of the World Council of Churches condemned the U.S. war propaganda against terrorism. She noted how the images of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, and abductions of American tourists by the bandit group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines were being played again and again to justify war before the eyes of the American public.

 “War cannot end terrorism,” she said. She also called on international women’s groups to pressure the United States to stop its anti-“terror” drive. Under conditions of modern war it is “impossible to avoid civilian casualties,” she said.

Denouncing globalization and the “terrorism of poverty” that it causes, Gnanadason said that “it kills more people than any war can.” She scored the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for demanding governments of debt-ridden countries to cut back on social services as conditions for financial aid. She also revealed that 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. government against Iraq for its resistance of the inroads of globalization on its economy.

The United States, she also said, has been playing a mockery of human rights in the name of “democracy” through the arrests of Islamic and Arab persons throughout the world, and its refusal to be placed under international treaties. Among treaties which the U.S. government has refused to sign are the Kyoto protocol on the use of toxic substances, and the International Criminal Court Treaty, which seeks to punish those guilty of genocide, torture, and other human rights violations committed in war. Yet, she said, Bush has issued which restricts the U.S. bill of rights and calls for the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists.

She also condemned the 200-year involvement of the United States in terrorism through its conquests of lands such as Mexico, the Philippines, and Hawaii, and its support for authoritarian countries such as Saudi Arabia, and urged international women’s groups to say “’No’ to state terrorism.”

Why wage war?

During a break in the program, I was able to talk to a woman who lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Aling Gloria, 77, was a high school student when the Japanese invaded Manila. She lived in Manila through all three years of the Japanese occupation.

She related how the Japanese soldiers often slapped women in the marketplaces, and how they hurled infants in the air to be stabbed with bayonets.

“War is difficult,” she said. “I don’t know why some leaders are so excited about going to war.”

Women and U.S. terrorism

Meanwhile, in her paper on “Women and U.S. Wars of Aggression,” Dr. Kathryn Poethig, an American university professor, explained the patriarchal nature of American society, and how its patriarchal tendencies were being raised by the militarization that comes with war.

“Bush as a Texan patriarch from the South effects an attitude of chivalry towards a victimized public,” she said. “Chivalry acts to honor the purity and chastity of womanhood, and as the stronger sex, protects her from violence that others might inlfict on her or that she might inflict on herself. In the South with its history of slavery, it was an ideology based on the counter-intuitive racist logic that white women had to be protected by white men from black men, their former slaves. I say counter-intuitive because the aggression of white men against both male and female slaves was not considered violence but a legitimate way to protect capital and discipline unruly workers. In other words, the patriarchs had the power to define what counted as violence. Their own violence was punishment—or self-defense.”

She ended by calling for a universal “sisterhood” of women. “We are here because we need sisterhood in imaging a culture of peace through laughter, honesty and prayer; we need to hear each other,” she said.

In her moving response, Bayan Muna Rep. Liza Largoza-Maza further expounded on U.S. terrorism and its impact on women, with emphasis on the Philippine experience.

She shared some of the findings of the Bayan Muna-organized fact-finding mission to Basilan which intended to investigate the impact of the Balikatan military exercise on Basileños. She said that the Muslims there “lived in fear” during the military exercise, what with women being clandestinely brought to military camps at night and children running away upon seeing soldiers.

She also pointed out that violence against women is rampant in times of war. Citing the crucial role of women in the community, she said that violence against women is tantamount to violence against the entire community.

Terrorism for world power

Maza then proceeded to explain the motive of the United States for its involvement in terroristic activities. She explained that all this was for the goal of being the world’s lone superpower.

She then cited historical instances of U.S. terrorism—the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed countless civilians; the war in Vietnam, in which two million people were killed; its declaration of war against Cuba after the revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista and the economic sanctions it imposed on the said nation; its invasions of Iraq and the Balkans; the war in Palestine, in which thousands have died fighting against the intrusions of U.S.-based Israel; and its continuous atrocities against the Philippines: the inhumanities committed by U.S. troops during the Filipino-American War, in which at least one million Filipinos were killed; the rise of prostitution in areas around the bases, the further surge of prostitution due to poverty caused by U.S.-imposed globalization, the sexual abuse of women and children by US soldiers, the violations of Philippine sovereignty by the Visiting Forces Agreement, and the toxic waste left in former U.S. bases.

The United States, she said, cultivates a “war economy” as a way out of crisis and amasses wealth through its military-industrial complex. She then cited data on the U.S. war economy: its being the largest military spender, with a war budget of $343.2 billion; its having more than one-third of its scientists, engineers, and technologists in war-related jobs; and its being home to the largest defense corporations.

Women as peacemakers

The day’s activities were summed up in a theological reflection on “Women as Peacemakers”. The reflection stressed that “the struggle for peace is a struggle for life,” and that women have a prominent role to play in the promotion of peace.

The message was so strong that no one noticed the raging rain that fell during the last hours of the program.  Bulatlat.com

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