REPORTS

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Fontaine d‚Espoir pour Filles et femmes is based to Lubumbashi the largest second town after Kinshasa, the capital city of Democratic of the Congo. Congo is French-speaking country.

Your message reached us at the eve of the event. In regard with few minutes remained to hold the International Women's Peace Action, we were been obliged to plan and go ahead with the project.

Yesterday, 11 April, from 15 hours to 20 hours (local time) we met with 24 women in our prayer. We discussed and prayed for the peace on behalf of the all women in the world and especially for whom are in war‚s zone such as: Iraq, Ivory cost, Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire).

This morning, 12 April we met again at our vigil and we were 172 women and 34 children the prayer was successful. From 05 hours to 10 hours (local time).

The Fontaine d‚Espoir pour Filles et Femmes, which is means Œ‚Hope's Fountain for Girls and Women‚‚ remain committed with the International women‚s Peace Action and believe that this is just the beginning of our partnerships.

Irène Martine Ndaya Nabote
Executive Director
Fontaine d‚Espoir pour Filles et Femmes.
irenenabote@feff.kabissa.org

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

From: Hebard or Peggy Olsen

Dear International Women's Peace Action,

Today, April 11, in Monterey, California, 25 members of our peace coalition dressed in black and stood at rush hour at a busy intersection for a silent vigil. We held two banners, one saying "We mourn the loss innocent lives," and the other saying "we deplore the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium."

We also had a member dressed as the Grim Reaper, with scythe and white death mask. Four others carried a coffin and with the grim reaper, they walked across the intersection and back.

Peggy Olsen, co chair, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Monterey County Branch

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

We had worked really hard, had 45-50 people there. One third were Women in Black, and were totally silent. A lot of the other two groups
also wore black.; Lower Manhattan Peace Coalition and the World Trade Center Witnesses United for Peace .

We had 4 TV cameras, and two still cameras come to film us. We sent faxes to Reuters, BBC, Associated Press ( they listed it in their national "day book") plus many others, including newspapers, magazines, etc.

REPORT BY DONNA HENES FROM GROUND ZERO, NEW YORK

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

In Asheville, NC, Women in Black has stood silently in the central public square for the last 16 months on Fridays from 5-6 PM.

Our group was usually only 6-12 women, but when the bombs began falling on Iraq, the group swelled to 50 or so, with many other supporters of both sexes.

The Asheville police closed the public square March 28 and most of the Women moved across the street but 10 Women in Black reclaimed the right to stand there, moving behind the baricades. These 10 were arrested as they stood in silence and were charged with trespassing and locked up for about 3 hours.

More about Asheville Women in Black, with a photo of the group's banner can be seen on our site: http://www.main.nc.us/wib

http://chapelhill.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/3795.php

Saturday. We had our regular one hour silent vigil (every Saturday under Quaker guidance)with about 40 people. After that - led by WIB who drummed a solemn beat - a group of about 30 walked to the Courthouse steps where we stood another 15 minutes. WIB meets every Wednesday on the Courthouse steps for a 30 minute silent
vigil. We are thinking of and planning many activities that promote peace in this city, including DANCING FOR PEACE, DRUMMING FOR PEACE, A PEACE GARDEN, ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENCE EDUCATION, PEACE FAIR, etc... We hope to eventually make this city that is still so "war oriented" into a city of PEACE. May it guide the whole United States.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, Women In Black reports
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 13:13:46 -0400

Richmond Women In Black has been holding a silent, walking vigil since December 2002. Our numbers often reach over 100. On April 12th, about 50 Women In Black walked for one hour in solidarity with women peace groups an peacemakers worldwide. Our participants usually use this time to meditate and pray. We walked along a busy city street dressed in black whilst carrying a sign that read "Learn Peace." We hope that this symbolic act will inspire others to engage peace and mourn for those who suffer from the tragedies that war and hatred bring.

Some local artists in Richmond wrote a song and created a video about Richmond's Women In Black: It can be viewed on our website along with other photos and testimonies at www.richmondwomeninblack.net

In Peace and Solidarity:
Kimmy Certa
Richmond, Virginia
U.S.A.

.We stand on Thursdays, so we had our regular vigil on April 10. There are usually 30 to 60 of us present. Since many of us plan our schedules in order to be free on Thursdays, and there is a major peace march of a coalition of anti-war groups in Seattle today (April 12) few of us were available on Friday as well. But a small group of us did stand in our usual place and time of day, and our flyer this week highlighted the April 11 women's peace actions round the world. http://www.scn.org/~wibnn

BLUE MOUNTAINS, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

FROM glivston@pop.pnc.com.au as posted to the Cosmogen listserv

Last night, in response to Ruth’s notice, a group of women and men in the Blue Mountains near Sydney did the following ritual in a local Town Square as people passed in all directions shopping and going home from work. (Despite what we are being told is the main news story, there is horror and wailing in the hospitals and homes of Baghdad. Before going to our public ritual action, i read Robert Fisk’s article - at the Independent newspaper site - about the hospital and got names of people there whom we could speak of.)

Following is more or less what we did:

PEACE ACTION RITUAL - 11TH April 2003 5pm EST SPRINGWOOD TOWN SQUARE
Setting: A centre candle on black cloth. Participants dressed in black, wearing black scarves or veils. Those familiar with the grief process of Equinox ritual brought their ritual wheat. People brought candles and signs.

Click HERE for details

FREMANTLE, WEST AUSTRALIA

We had a lovely gathering last night in the rain in St John's Square Fremantle. About a dozen women came, we lit candles and had a sharing circle about how we have been feeling about this crazy war, and all the suffering it has entailed. We moved closer together and wailed, it felt really good to do that - a good women's sound. We finished by reading the\ poem by Judith Hill, WAGE PEACE, and then went for coffee - as you do in Fremantle! Over coffee we decided to start a Women in Black group in Fremantle, feeling bouyed by the connection with other women all over the world. It was a gentle sorrowful evening, in the company of mostly older women and mothers. It was good to stay with our feelings and our sadness - especially just now with the mad cresi of victory and triumph echoing around us.

LISMORE, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

Here, in the small city of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, we walked in threes down the street following a vehicle that played war sirens and war sounds intermingled with the music from the film Baraka...plus our wails and even the occasional scream. The city of Lismore came to a standstill as shopkeepers stepped outside and passers by had a variety of reactions from grief to anger. After the walking circuit, we had a beautiful circle together. It is hard to describe in words; it was profoundly moving to collectively feel our sorrow and solidarity with the women and men and children in Iraq and other parts of the world where war is an every day reality.

COFFS HARBOUR, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA Click here for Photos

Media Release

Peace Protest Delivers Its Message

A gathering of peace advocates in Coffs Harbour on Saturday morning gave the public a forceful reminder of the human costs of war. In a procession through the city streets, black-clad members of the Northern Peace Network carried a child-sized coffin while the names of civilians killed in the Iraqi conflict were read through a megaphone. In the centre of the city mall, the group stopped for a brief, eloquent remembrance ceremony in which they silently encircled the flower-draped coffin.

Anne Simpson, one of the event organisers, said she was pleased with the level of support. ŒWe understand that people are feeling a sense of relief that the War in Iraq seems to be over. That‚s why it was important to get our message across now, to keep people from becoming complacent about the human cost and the necessity for it.

ŒWe want to remind people of the apparent justification for the Iraq war, and to continue to question it. The speed of the American victory doesn‚t seem consistent with the image we‚ve been given of a ruthless, well-armed menace but rather a disorganised tin-pot dictatorship like numerous others around the world. So why attack Iraq?‚

ŒThe statistics speak for themselves. 600 additional oil refineries are now under US control. In less than three weeks it has cost over twelve hundred civilian lives, many of them children. In the longer term it will cost hundreds of thousands of others. If greed was the real reason for this conflict, was it worth it?‚

Anne said she expected the momentum for peace actions to continue as public disquiet and resistance to Alliance objectives in the Middle East and elsewhere grew.

ŒThe Northern Peace Network is letting people know that the war isn‚t really over. Our troops remain in a volatile conflict zone, and will continue to be exposed to danger. People like those we mourn today will go on dying until we get to the root causes, and end the exploitation.‚

For further information contact:

The Northern Peace Network http://npn.webhop.org
Anna Bloemhard  02 66593324
Anne Simpson Phone 02 6655 5502 6655 3561

We stood in the park in the busiest part of downtown Kobe. Holding the sign, NO WAR and burning candles, we asked people walking by to write what they thought about wars and war victims. When we told them that their messages would be posted on the website of the Rainforest Information Center in Australia and would be read by members of other peace groups of the world, they were excited and willing to write. They wanted to feel connected with other human beings who were serious about waging peace. So, we could collect many messages although our group was a small one of only 6 people. (There were other on-going peace actions in the area already.)

So, please read the following messages from Kobe, Japan.

"I am sorry I could not prevent this war that took the victims' lives.   The responsibility is on all of us who live on this planet now. Let us share prayers, ideas, and LIFE."  - Shimizu Yuko

"I grew up in Nagasaki. I pray for no more nukes or depleted uranium."-Nakashima Yusaku

"Please do not destroy nature any more in the name of war." -Uehara Satoshi and Yuri

"Is it not murder to kill innocent civilians? Why can't we demand the legal responsibility of a country that wages wars to force its ideas or to gain economic control over others?" -Ishigami Tomoaki

"The people who were killed were just like your neighbors or friends." -Kumazawa Sachiko

"War creates new hatred. The US military attack can not be justified. "-Fujishita Sachiko

"It does not make sense. Why did the victims have to die? What is democracy that the US advocates?" -Yoneda Yuki

"When a country's budget for education and/or social welfare is greatly reduced due to the increased  military budget, the country's future is victimized."- Yoko Chase

"I am suffering, thinking of the war. May the best policy be found and the conflict be over soon." -Nonomura Tomoyo, Miyawaki Hiroko, and Tanaka Masaya

"American people as well as Iraqui people must know the pain of losing one's family members, friends, or loved ones. It is deplorable to kill others, knowing the pain. -Araki Kana

"You must not kill others. I don't want to be murdered. Americans should think of other people." -Honda Nozomi

"I don't want any more people to suffer from a terrible war as we did in Japan." -Fujisawa Yohei

"Innocent people suffer most in wars." -Yasuda Shunsuke, Kishimoto Misuzu, Miyake Megumi, Matsumiya Wataru, Charlie King, Jayne Lloyd, and Tanaka Masaya

"I don't want to see children suffering."-Matsumura Yuri and Sayaka

"No war for oil or money! "-Kris and Eriko

"War destroys lives and creates a lot of sorrow. " -Nitta Kenta

"Let's not allow the US to victimize many women and children to pursue its own benefit." -Jinno Saki

"Do not abuse people's lives. Stop this war now so we don't have to see any more victims." -Mizoguchi Maki

"Anybody who has paid the price for Sadam's and Bush's childish family feud, I hope people can take a minute to reflect on the fact that they are only icons in a political game. War is bad." - Stephen Henderson

"Give them food instead of missles." -Kanbe Makoto

"War is over, if you want." -Hayashida Akihiro

"Peace does not come out of anger.  Let's do what we can do today for a better tomorrow."-Daisuke

"May those who have died rest in peace. May we make peace so we can live." -Madoka Chase

"Why war? Go for peace!" -Matt and Claire

"Peace is best."-Rui Kumon, Yamamoto Nao, Yurie, and  Kakita Masahiro

"I pray for everybody to be able to live happily!" -Reiko, Kaori, Yuki, and Kamu

"Let us create a world of peace." -Yamamoto Masatoshi

"Love and Peace"-Hide

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Our action was not exclusively a Women in Black action. Women, dressed in black, made up a group in a larger demonstration; the Easter Week, starting with Palm Sunday, had already started on Saturday and the city was quite empty. So there were only about 200 people near the American Embassy on Saturday, with various groups making speeches. Vienna is a terrible city for demonstration and I was amazed that a few large ones did take place in February and on the day the "war" began and on 22 March. Unfortunately, I do not know of photographs which were taken of us as a group.....Sorry not to be of greater help but we were there, in any case.
Paula Abrams-Hourani, Vienna, Austria

ATHENS, GREECE

In Athens we had a successful public demonsration, not silent and not in Black. We had two antiwar banners, ont saying "Eliminate war from history" (the most successful slogan, "stolen" from the Women in Black Belgrade), and many pickets which we wore. Participating were the Feminist Centre of Athens, the World March of Women group and women from other organisations. We certainly must continue, and make the Women's anti-war discourse heard in society.

BYRON BAY - SAT 12 APRIL, 12 NOON

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN FOR PEACE &
WOMEN IN BLACK

An article called "Hell's Grannies" by George Monbiot (first published in UK‚s The Guardian in 2001 and can be viewed @ http://www.monbiot.com/ was my first introduction to Women in Black. I felt so inspired and moved by their bravery, I wanted to form a WIB group here in Byron Bay, Australia. Ruth Rosenhek‚s invitation for women worldwide to participate in a silent and wailing vigil was an ideal opportunity for women here to gather, in black.

Firstly, I made a big circle of sand in the park. This symbolic enclosure marked out our "sacred space" and was there for our protection. A table was set up with leaflets, posters and anti-war material. I had borrowed a doll, bandaged its head and body and put red paint on the bandage. Women began to arrive, bringing posters, pictures of Iraqis, and someone brought another large, broken doll, with gruesome wounds.

We introduced ourselves, and it was beautiful to feel immediate closeness with women who otherwise would have been strangers. Some stood on the outside of the sand circle, facing inwards, while others arrived gradually. I used the time-honoured ritual of passing a burning sage "smudge-stick" around each woman as they approached the circle. The purpose of this is to cleanse the aura of any negativity, and in preparation for entering the sacred space.

Holding hands, we stepped into the circle together, and stood in silence. After a while, I explained that traditionally in Africa the purpose of women wailing is to help the spirits of the dead to reach the other side, and to transform their suffering. However, in the case of the Islamic faith, this may not be appropriate ˆ so our focus in wailing this day was an expression of our feelings of grief, anger, and despair in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Iraq. In the sharing of our emotions, perhaps our own pain could be transformed into positive action. Our interconnection with all beings goes back since the beginning of life on this planet, four and a half billion years ago.

I started wailing. A drunk somewhere in the park echoed my cry. Some of the women wailed quietly, and some of them cried. Sometimes a woman spoke of how she was affected by the war in Iraq, and sometimes we were silent. Whatever anyone said was truly heard by all present. It felt as if we could each share our inmost feelings, and these were accepted and validated by the women.

There was however, an awkward moment when someone pointed out a sign that had been brought reading "Women Create - Men Destroy" and several of the women said that this was not a fair comment. A little while later, the woman who had brought the sign quietly slipped away with the offending placard.

We sat down, and a women who was wearing a black skirt and a red blouse explained that because we were women and we go on living, bleeding and creating, she felt it more appropriate for her to wear some red. She shared with us a beautiful chant about women going to the well, and their spirits being a living flame.

When we had relaxed a little and felt complete, we drank water and ate some pieces of orange and some fruit and nut balls, as it is traditional for people to feast after mourning. This gave us an opportunity to converse with each other on a different level, and make connections.

After tidying up, I realized that I had forgotten to make a list of everyone's names and addresses. So our first Women in Black meeting was anonymous! However, I know that they are there, and look forward to meeting them again soon.

With love, and in peace
Deborah Lilly

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA

Photo of the peace mandala made in Sydney as part of the women's peace actions