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September 11th: Listening to Women
Speak Out
For Human Rights, Peace, and Justice
Like many of our friends and colleagues, the staff of the Center for
Women's
Global Leadership has been deeply affected by the terrorist attacks
in the
US and by the developments that have followed. We were in various
stages of
finishing our work at the UN World Conference Against Racism in South
Africa
and beginning a new semester here in New Jersey on the Rutgers campus
when
terrorism hit home. We are all safe, but the events have disrupted
much of
our normal activity, and we have shared in the grieving of our neighbors
and
friends of friends who were more directly affected by the attacks.
We have
watched with great apprehension as the US government has threatened
massive
bombing and retaliation and as some in the US have acted in racist
ways
toward people from the Middle East, Muslims in general and those of
dark
skin who they perceive to be Muslim. We have cried, prayed, talked,
and
marched for peace, for justice, for respect for the human rights of
all and
for a saner world.
In the midst of all this, we have been particularly moved by the personal
expressions of concern, outrage, solidarity and love that women from
around
the world have sent us through emails, letters, and phone calls. We
have
been reminded of the friendships as well as the ethical visions that
sustain
the women's human rights community. We cannot say enough about how
much this
personal caring has touched us and enabled us to move on with our
work and
the work of responding to this crisis. The response from our sisters
outside
the US has reminded us again that terrorism is a terrible thing that
women
in many parts of the world have been experiencing since long before
these
attacks and that we can learn from them in our current situation.
As women's human rights activists, we share the sentiments and commitments
expressed by many of our colleagues and partners around the world
and in the
US: to seek justice for this crime against humanity through international
law and cooperation not by war and revenge; to challenge the racism
and
threats to civil liberties that this attack is being used to justify;
and to
continue working to end political economic and social injustice that
feeds
such actions as well as the many injustices that women face in all
parts of
the world. We find ourselves involved in even more intense discussions
of
the complexity of questions that women have been discussing for some
time
but that are brought to the forefront by these events. We talk about
the
manipulation of patriotism and nationalism, of how to counter the
various
forms of fundamentalism that have grown stronger around the world
this past
decade and particularly threaten women's rights, of how forces of
globalization have both deepened poverty and sanctioned greed, about
racism
and the lessons learned from the World Conference, and of how to achieve
justice more effectively through international law and UN mechanisms.
We have discussed writing our own statement and plan to continue adding
reflections on these questions here as events evolve. However, at
this time,
we feel that there are so many good statements already written by
other
women's organizations both in and outside of the US that we decided
instead
to share several of those here.
As we face a more intensive need to resist the fundamentalist and
nationalistic tendencies in the US which seek to wage war and silence
debate
by declaring that one is "either with us or against us,"
we can learn from
women who have faced such moments, whether in the former Yugoslavia,
Algeria, Colombia or other places. We are sharing here in particular
the
statement of the Network of Women Living Under Muslim Laws with whom
the
Global Center has worked closely since our founding and of Medica
Mondiale
in Kosovo which has worked to end violence in that region.
In looking at what we must do within the US, we think it particularly
urgent
to look at racism as it manifests itself in both domestic life and
foreign
policy and to address in a profound way why these actions occur or
"why they
hate the US." We are sharing two statements from the US that
we find
particularly helpful in this regard - that of the Women of Color Resource
Center in California and of Madre in New York.
We also include here the statement of the Women's Caucus for Gender
Justice
that looks at how UN institutions could address these questions more
effectively.
Finally, we recommend that those who want to know more about what
women are
saying, go to www.whrnet.org for perspectives from human rights
organizations and to www.peacewomen.org for statements by peace groups.
We
will also be doing a program with Women's Studies on campus on October
24th
that addresses both issues of the World Conference Against Racism
and the
recent attacks.
We hope that you will join us in working to ensure that all governments
insist on a measured response under the rule of law and not use this
crisis
as an excuse to curtail freedoms and ignore other oppressions anywhere
in
the world. Please stay in touch and let us know your ideas about how
women
can be mutually supportive of each other and more effective in our
efforts
for peace around the world.
Staff of the Center for Women's Global Leadership
www.cwgl.rutgers.edu
October 1, 2001 |
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