Daily Women's Vigil for Gaza in Galway

by Perplexed Woman Sat Jan 10, 2009 17:28

Congratulations on having a daily women's Vigil for Gaza in Galway; but I was somewhat perplexed as I passed by, to hear the chants, "We support the women in Afghanistan, we support the children in Afghanistan, we support the men in Afghanistan." The men? Does that mean supporting (for example) the men in the Afghan security forces which have been responsible along with NATO and the USA for the deaths of 700 civilians? Hundreds of Afghan women have been arbitrarily arrested and jailed, they don't know why, they don't know if they will ever be brought to court , they can only get out of jail by paying bribes. There are aggressive night searches of women's houses, coupled with abusive behaviour, etc. Surely if we want to support women under imperialist occupation, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan or amid the dreadful slaughter in Gaza, we should be loudly invoking Resolution 1325 that was passed by the UN Security Council in 2000, whereby women should be on all negotiating teams for resolution of conflict -- in particular we should demand that a majority of each team should consist of women, women who have been at the centre of conflict and have suffered from the conflict; that resources should be made available for them; and that all money for the reconstruction of the damaged society should be in their hands. It is only when 1325 is taken seriously and given its proper weight can global conflict ever be resolved.

by Maggie - Global Women's Strike Ireland Sun Jan 11, 2009 18:44

Do we mean that we support the security forces in Iraq or anywhere when we say we support men? Are all the men the security forces? And if we have women ‘on all negotiating teams for resolution of conflict,’ does it mean we will not get Livni? Or Condoleeza Rice?