In the introduction, made by Patricia, some points were outlined, that were later taken up again by Martha, setting out the situation in Colombia from the women’s point of view:
- The women from Ruta are trying to rebuild the relationships with the Organización Femenina Popular, even while acknowledging some persistent differences in point of view: Ruta is deeply opposed to all the armed actors (military, paramilitary, guerrilla), while O.F.P. has met with men of both the guerrilla and paramilitaries.
- The former President Uribe tried to involve some representatives of women’s organizations in his politics. Two women accepted to be part of the governmental commission on the Justice and Peace Law that deals with war crimes, while Ruta refuses such involvement.
- Some women’s organizations do not want to put violence against women, practised by all the armed actors, at the core of their politics.
Martha communicated immediately that the International Encuentro will be in Bogota from 15-10 August 2011. Ruta will organize, after the Encuentro, a tour of the 9 regions in which Ruta has a presence. It will be an inexpensive tour so that women coming to the Encuentro will be able to gain a better knowledge of the country and of the places where the armed conflict most damages the lives of women and people.
Ruta wants to take advantage of every journey women make in order to prepare the August international Encuentro, to understand why, till now, the response has been so weak, and to stimulate participation.
Martha in her thanks defined Italian WiB as a pillar of the women’s movement against war. That is the reason the Colombian women expected a lot of Italian women (as also women from Spain) to participate in the encuentro planned for this November (2010). Women living in conflictual countries (Palestine, Afghanistan, Sahrawi, Congo, Colombia….) especially need support for their struggle through initiatives of political pressure and protection. The support should aim to make more visible the problems experienced by women in those difficult places (for example, we should not forget what is happening to Palestinian women) and to amplify the value of their actions.
Political pressure and initiative in our countries can give them the strength to acquire more political influence in their country and can produce a “humanitarian corridor” that gives them protection. For example, the women of Ruta, being secular, have no protection – not even by the Church. So it is important that a large number of international women will attend the Encuentro they are organizing. Their actions expose them, and increase the risk to their safety and their lives. If the number of the international participants is low, their position is weakened; if it is high, it affords them protection, strength and recognition. This is why it was necessary to postpone the International Encuentro from November until August. It is also the reason this one in August cannot and must not fail.
They hope that international initiatives will involve creative non-violent direct action against war, actions that will be carried out in different cities worldwide, every month, after we have decided together the contents and the schedule. There are some very creative young women in the Ruta to whom they give the space to do NVDA. Sometimes the young women find it difficult to understand why we fight against war and not for peace, and this can be interpreted as a feminist interpretation of war.
Martha gave two examples of non-violent direct action. One was performed by themselves in Colombia when, taking advantage of a curve in the road, they inserted into a military parade a tank covered with flowers and firing flowers, pictures of which were conveyed worldwide. Another was realized in Spain and in Belgium, in which a group of women went with children into the toy department of a big store (in a shopping centre). The children fired with a red water pistol, ‘shooting’ the women who fell on the ground.
We need to generate shared thoughts and actions if we are to give more visibility and strength to the movement. With this aim it should be possible to announce a competition of ideas for non-violent direct action and performances and to organize workshops on non-violence and its practice. We should commemorate certain historical events when freedom and dignity were won without bloodshed, incidents that are little known, especially by young people. In this way we can transmit values to them.
About the XVth International Encuentro of Women in Black, Martha stressed above all that it is the first time that the Encuentro is to be held in a country outside Europe (or not directly linked with Europe, like Israel), but rather in a Latin American country that has seen the maximum of violence and war, and where the human rights defenders suffer continuously from aggression against them.
She then set out the five thematic strands proposed for the Encuentro:
- First Strand: Militarized security, armaments and women’s protection. How feminism interprets the security politics in the current world (militarisms, arms race, wars in the global south, arms in the global north, protection of women).
- Second Strand: Justice for war crimes and human rights violations against women. Experiences in “ad hoc” Courts and International Criminal Court.
- Third Strand: Reading of actual conflicts by feminisms. Armed conflict; religious conflict; illegal economies; sexism and xenophobia.
- Fourth Strand: Transforming actions or practices of women in response to challenges. Meeting of the participants to discuss the strategies that move women and transformative actions by women.
- Fifth Strand: The challenge of Women in Black. How do we interpret ourselves and how do we answer. Balance of Women in Black.
For each strand there will be: an introduction done by a woman (for the first one they are thinking of Luisa Morgantini, who has already been informed and has accepted); then workshops; and finally a report-back to plenary.
The fourth strand is designed to help us to get to know each other, to recall different historical memories, to discover how we are each interpreting our own realities, and the external realities of other countries. We are interested in the achievements of women, and particularly of WiB, in each country. We should accord full value to our practices and initiatives. About this, Martha said that when she goes to another country, she notices the importance of WiB in that country, while the WiB women themselves cannot perceive it. She said, “Unfortunately you Europeans think Europe as a country for old people!”.
The work and related conclusions of all themes should merge in the fifth one and in the final plenary, when we will take decisions.
We must ascribe value to the non-violent actions that we undertake: war takes away dignity and freedom, while the non-violent actions can by contrast add to freedom and dignity.
Women from OFP will be invited to the Encuentro because they are members of the Women in Black network.
In preparation for the Encuentro, the Colombian women ask that we discuss, both at local and national level, the proposed five thematic strands, and send our findings out on the international e-mail network. For them, the worst thing about their initiative last November was the silence: Ruta now ask us to break this silence, to write, even as individuals, expressing our difficulties (economic difficulties, difficulties related to the relationships between the Colombian women, or any others) and to state our intention to participate.
Ruta have pinpointed twenty women whose participation in the Encuentro they consider to be very important, but who cannot afford the expense of travel and registration. They should be “adopted” by international women (indeed some already have been). Ruta are prepared to manage the money involved in that.
Deadlines:
We WiB present in Bologna decided to start a fund raising to adopt some women coming from “difficult places”; we should send what we collect to Ruta by February.
Registration for the Encuentro must be done by March and will be published on the international network in order to attract others to participate – they call this “animar la fiesta” – livening up the party.
