Women's WG

We send you greetings on the International Day Against Violence Against Women.

We write in the name of two working groups of the War Resisters' International - the Women's Working Group and the newly-formed Colombia Working Group. As some of you know, War Resisters' International is an international anti-militarist network opposed to all war and committed to nonviolent action to remove the causes of war. WRI has affiliates in more than 30 countries, including in Colombia the Red Juvenil of Medellín.

by Shani Werner, Rela Mazali
English: Tal Haran

On 25 November, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, la Ruta Pacífica de Mujeres and the National Movement of Women Against War are organising activities in Putumayo and elsewhere in Colombia, calling for a negotiated end to armed conflict, for demilitarisation and the respect of women's rights, and for alternatives to fumigation as a means to eradicate illegal crops.

Please return by May 15, 2000 to: WRI, Women's Working Group, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK. Tel. + 44 171 278 4040; fax +44 20 7278 0444; email: infowri-irg.org.

by Shelley Anderson

The WRI Women's Working Group has had a long standing interest in women's militarization, including the role of women in militaries. This last issue can be a problematic one for feminist pacifists. Pacifists have no interest in encouraging women to join the military; rather, they support anti-militarist work that keep both women and men out of the armed forces. Conservative forces that support a restricted and traditional view of women's place also strongly oppose women in the military.

For the last 25 years women within War Resisters International (WRI) have been making women's perspectives of war and violence visible within the mixed peace movement. To celebrate this work the WRI Women's Working Group (WWG) is producing a written document of our 25 year history.

The WRI Women's Working Group met on 7 August and again on 12 August last year during the WRI Council in Germany. The women came from Croatia, Ireland, France, Germany), India, the UK and US. The meeting began with older members pairing with newer members for introductions, and sharing some of the WWG's history. An update of developments since WRI's last triennial (in 1998 in Porec, Croatia) was given.

You can't keep a good woman down....nor the WRI Women's Working Group newsletter. After a long absence, we're back. You can make sure we stay back by completing the enclosed questionnaire.

Please help us by sharing your ideas of how to make the newsletter-and communication between pacifist women from around the world-more useful.

This issue has good news about progress on a written history to celebrate the WRI Women's Working Group (WWG) 25 year history, and news from last year's WWG meeting in Germany.

After
20 years of women-political work within WRI gender issue is still not an
integrated part of WRI's political program in spite of being accepted as a
theme on its own. Why? In the beginning it was necessary to keep women's
issues as separate, only to get it on the agenda.

The International Federation for Research in Women’s History/ Federation Internationale pour le Recherche en Histoire des Femmes, in conjunction with the International Committee of Historical Sciences, invites proposals for its conference in Oslo, Norway, August/September 2000 on the theme: Conflict and Cooperation in Sites of Cultural Co-existence: Perspectives from Women’s History.

Lost in Space