Women and peace

Off Our Backs, Jan/Feb 2002 by Henry, Alice

commentary

London Peace March

I went to the big anti-war demo in London on Sunday, November 18, in which about 50,000 people marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. The march was organized by the Stop the War coalition (generated by the Socialist Alliance and funded by the Socialist Workers Party [SWP], a member of the Socialist Alliance) to "Stop the War. Defend Civil Liberties. Resist the Racist Backlash." Many Muslim, as well as Kurdish, Turkish, and Pakistani groups were present.

Although the war in Afghanistan was the most critical problem addressed by the march, other problems addressed included the fact that Tony Blair's government has been using the threat of "terrorism" to.slip in new prison-style detention centers for asylum seekers. Also, the British government is planning new asylum legislation which may.enable snatch squads to arrest and detain "illegal" immigrants and "overstayers." And they want to suspend part of the European convention of Human Rights to allow them to intern any suspect without trial.

At the march, I was struck by how many women were there. Although there were a few predictably all male groups-the banner of the Maritime Union was held aloft by three men, for example-many women were integrated in the contingents from SWP, the Communist Party of Britain, teachers' and students' unions from many cities in England, dozens of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) peace groups from all over Britain, Muslim groups from many cities, Green and environmental groups, and the antiglobalizers and anarchists. There were also some all-women groups, the biggest being Asian Women Against the War. There were also two small groups of Women in Black. Notably, Women Against Fundamentalism probably was not there (and they don't seem to be meeting anymore). Several of us who wished they were did not spot them. And where was the banner for Greenham Common? Someone, somewhere must have one in mothballs.

Also missing at the protest was any coherent pamphlet on the ins and outs of women's position vis-A-vis the Taliban. Sue O'Sullivan, who worked on the British feminist magazine Spare Rib (when it existed) and now works with "Positive Women," worked with a group of women who met several times and tried to organize a flyer-writing group to address those issues. Women Living Under Muslim Law, Women Against Fundamentalism, Southall Black Sisters and Women's League for Peace and Freedom attended, along with many unaffiliated women. But the final meeting to put together the pamphlet just did not happen. Since it could not be a group statement, they decided it would be better to print a leaflet by RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan)but found it so expensive that they could not do it. The women's groups will put out a call to meet again in the New Year, perhaps to organize a teach-in.

By far the funkiest group of all at the march were the anti-globalization protestors and anarchists, who were accompanied by a hopping good percussion band. The band was massively guarded by police, three deep on either side. In the park, before the band agreed to depart, six handsome, prancing police horses were lined up facing the dancing band. Both sides were beautiful, strong, controlled, packed with energy. I thought that, on both sides, it is too bad (some) of that attractive energy is linked to destruction. Horses working with mounted police officers have killed people, and the anti-globalizers include some who have provoked trashings and street fighting in Seattle and Milan during protests against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization. This day, they did try to stop off at the US embassy but were thwarted by the police.

During the march I began to feel: "I don't want to be doing this," and I began to wonder why. On the one hand, it's nice to see a goodsized march and once more debate its pros (there has to be an anti-war protest, just to let people know dissent exists) and cons (marches seem to have very little impact on policy). And I certainly hate all sorts of war, although I see some wars as more justifiable than others. (For example, once someone like Hitler is chewing up countries like Spain and then the rest of Europe, something must be done.) And I have a history of being anti-war: I joined CND in 1960, just being generally anti-nuclear war, and sure, I marched against the Vietnam war. But on the other hand, at this point, I can't put my heart or time into organizing against this or any war. Is this because of despair? I just slog along in the huge anti-war march like a foot soldier. It feels a bit like we are starting from scratch, inventing a feminist way for women to protest war. Why do I suddenly want to join the anarchists and throw a rock at the US Embassy?

Perhaps it was some elements that I thought were missing: Although I agree that it is nice to see women totally integrated into this anti-war march, I still wondered if there needed to be a women's element speaking out against fundamentalism, whether it be US style fundamentalists ranting against a women's right to choose abortion, or Islamic fundamentalists railing against Western values.