Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Women Say No to NATO

wibinfo@gn.apc.org (Cynthia Cockburn) | 22.11.2010 15:22 | London

Women of four antimilitarist networks went on the London streets on Saturday 20 November 2010 to tell the Heads of State assembled at a NATO Summit meeting in Lisbon: Disband this aggressive war-fighting nuclear-armed alliance now. Military security does not mean security for women. Read more below.


If those T-shirts look a bit size XXXL, well, they had to cover up a lot of warm undies. Even then it was chilly. But we think we got the message across. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a Cold War dinosaur. It's an aggressive, ever-expanding, war-fighting and nuclear armed alliance clearly intent on world domination in the economic interests of the USA, the UK and other relatively rich nations. Far from being a source of security it's a menace to peace.

We took to the streets on Saturday 20 November to send a message to the NATO Heads of State assembled in Lisbon, Portugal. As women of four antimilitarist networks, Women in Black, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares, we wanted to tell them: ‘No to your new Strategic Concept. No to revamped Missile Defence. No to upgraded nuclear weapons. It's time to disband NATO and disarm Europe'.

Why women? Acting in partnership with women in Italy, Germany and elsewhere, we were making a feminist case against NATO. Military expenditure steals money from the education, health and housing services badly needed by women, who carry the main burden of domestic life in NATO member states as they do worldwide. In war, women suffer displacement, rape, loss, injury and increased responsibilities. NATO's war in Afghanistan is a case in point. Military installations and factories, like the base planned for Vicenza in Italy, are a source of social stress in neighbourhoods, of toxic pollution, sexual exploitation and violence.

To women ‘security' means something very different from military security. It means livelihood, well-being and freedom from violence both in war and everyday life. Marie Walsh had travelled from Wales to take part in this action. ‘Guns and bombs and wars don't make me feel safer,' she said. ‘They have the opposite effect. It's ironic that NATO troops are called security forces when what they create is just the opposite.'

Marie-Claire of WILPF feels ‘Women's voices aren't heard enough. Things might be different if they were part of decision-making on policies that set agendas globally'. Angie, of Trident Ploughshares, added ‘I want NATO to end now so our society can move beyond violence, war and enemies, and encourage non-violent conflict resolution. I'm here to demand a return to our lost humanity and the rule of international law.'

We would be happy to end our set of T-shirts to any group of feminist antimilitarist women who would like to mount an action with them. Contact us at <wibinfo@gn.apc.org>

 

 


wibinfo@gn.apc.org (Cynthia Cockburn)
- Original article on IMC London: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6076

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech