Women Overcoming Violence

It is difficult for me, as an organizer of the Fourth War Resisters'
International (WRI) Women's conference, held in November in Bangkok, to give
a clear overview or summation of the event.  I spent the week in an
organizer's daze, attending to the zillions of little (and big) everyday
problems that become one's responsibility.  But I wish to say something of
how I think the conference has contributed to the strengthening of
nonviolence networks in the region and to share some insights and proposals
for action that resulted from it.

The conference was entitled "Women overcoming violence" and 145 women from
about sixty-five countries attended.  Each day we heard four different
speakers speak about the themes "Overcoming violence", "Militarism" and
"Redefining development".  Women then shared in small groups and workshops on
a variety of different topics derived from the themes.  These topics included
religion and nonviolence, overcoming domestic violence, divided countries and
communities, women's empowerment at the community level, etc.

It was largely agreed that there was too much variety in topics and often not
enough time to reach in depth discussion and strategy.  However a number of
eloquent statements and some proposals for action were submitted.

One proposal for action came from a workshop on "Divided countries and
communities" and concerned a theme for international women's day 1993.  Women
from Serbia, Croatia, Turkey and Cyprus chose "Crossing the lines" as a
guiding and linking theme for action.  This is a clever choice of theme as it
can be easily applied to different cultures and contexts.  Another group
proposed a yearly "international day for women, to end violence against
women".  This day, the 25th November is already acted upon in Europe and some
parts of Asia and Latin America.  The proposal, included requesting that WRI
coordinate this day, organizing a committee to provide a suggestion for the
theme, and linking together women undertaking different activities for the
day.  Unfortunately, there was not enough time to agree on a theme that would
work cross-culturally.  This is a future challenge for the WRI women's
working group1.

One of the most significant and exciting parts for me was the nonviolence
educators exchange.  Educators from Asia, the Unites States, Russia, Africa
and Europe met and shared experiences and interests in this wide field of
work.  I was interested to hear about the work women are doing in
intercultural communication and prejudice reduction.  Other women had worked
with nonviolent action workshops, with conscientious objectors and with
conflict resolution for children.  Dorie Wilsnack from the US WRI was also
doing international nonviolence education, development and support in former
Yugoslavia.

Following this exchange, Natashya from Moscow and I also held a short
presentation/workshop for women who are yet unconnected with any nonviolence
networks.  We briefly explained the different areas of nonviolence education
and the context in which it is organized.  We tried to give the picture that
it comes from our activism, that it is part of our activism and that the
process and content reflects the values of the movement.  This session was
attended by women from Sarawak, Bougainville, Turkey and Pakistan.  I felt
very happy about it and I think it was a valuable part of the conference.

Working alongside the other women in the multinational WRI organizing
collective was a wonderful experience.  The bonds and trust created in
working so closely and intensely together will be a great strength and
resource in future years.

There will be many other unknown benefits and projects that I may never hear
about.  One suggestion, in the very earliest stages of formulation, concerned
sending a team of women into former Yugoslavia perhaps with some sort of rape
crisis role.  This would have the aim of connecting women in ex-Yugoslavia as
well as raising the issue of rape as a war crime with devastating and
long-reaching effects.

There were some significant connections made between women whose countries
and situations, though thousands of kilometres apart, bear terrible
resemblance: the divided communities of Sri Lanka and South Africa; dowry
issues of India and Papua New Guinea; torture and totalitarianism in Chile
and Sri Lanka.  Women from these countries were able to meet and exchange
experiences and strategies for change and empowerment.

The conference has reinforced an international perspective for our work.  I
find myself immediately thinking more of my own work in connection with other
women, both locally and internationally.  How can the work I do benefit
others?  How can their work influence mine?  How can we use and share our
resources, both physical and skilled, and ideas in a more efficient way?  And
I am thinking more about the use and value of international networks.  "If
women come together on one platform, we can change society", said Hansa
Mazgaonkar (India).

The first workshop I attended was about women's place and struggle within
mixed movements.  It was agreed that it is important for women to spend at
least part of their time organizing from women's subgroups within the larger
mixed movement.  This can empower women and give them new insight and
perspective on the overall process and the place of women in the group.  I
think the WRI women's working group has served the women of their
organization well in getting together women in this way.  And the conference
has been one large step towards incorporating the voices of the women of the
world into the broadening agenda of WRI.
Margaret Pestorius

Footnotes:
1.  To enquire about this proposal, please contact the author at CONNECT, 19
Murray St, West Brunswick, VIC 3058.