In 1988, fifty Tel Aviv feminists, revolted by the conditions of detention of Palestinians accused of involvement with the intifada, created the "Womens' Organization for Political Prisoners" (WOFPP). Subject to family and social pressures -some had to leave their work - they opposed the policy of the government, the values of Israeli society, and the repression suffered by the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.
In the Israeli peace movement and inside the moderate Zionist left, it was the first example of solidarity between Palestinians and Israelis. Three years of the intifada have provoked some fissures in the Israeli "sacred union". Tomorrow, after the war, what will remain of this solidarity? The return of nearly all progressive forces, and above all the moderate Zionist left, to the camp of "national unity", from the first hours of the conflict, has provoked without doubt irremediable fractures inside the Israeli pacifist movement. The "peace" will not bring things back as they were before. The war in the Gulf has contaminated and destroyed for the moment this fragile solidarity.
Yet, more than ever, this solidarity is necessary and the womens' movements all have need of it. In developing such links against the "new world order" we can give a bitter taste to the imperialist victory.
Like the Japanese feminists who carried placards at Haneda airport, against "sex tourism" in solidarity with South Korean women (see article p. 10), we must denounce the injustice, the exploitation and oppression of women, put a check on the will of the strong to crush the weak, and demand all the rights which are still refused to women. *
WOMEN AGAINST WAR FRANCE EXTRACTS from the first appeal of Women and Feminists against the war: "WE oppose any order founded on injustice, power, violence and exploitation. Whether this is in the family, at work, in the state or in international relations. Whether in daily life or in political life. In this war, we refuse to be the "comfort of the warrior", to give birth to cannon fodder, shore up the morale of the troops or take part in the Killing. We reluse to be take part in the killing. We refuse to be enlisted for causes that do nothing for the emancipation either of peoples or of women.
"War nourishes fundamentalists of all stripes. War is violence and injustice, legitimized, institutionalized and generalized:
• In this country, attacks on freedom of speech, the rise of racism and economic measures that aggravate inequalities and exclusions;
• There, destruction and inumerable victims; children, women and men; civilians and military personnel; people of all nationalities and origins along with the systematic rape of women in the "conquered" territories.
"We call on all women to get informed, to get organized to act and to speak out against this war in all its forms.
"We, who did not decide on this war, refuse to collaborate with it." * SPAIN EXTRACTS from the platform of Women Against War in the Spanish State: "THE famous Gulf War has passed on from blockade to massacre. Is this really the only solution to the conflict? The truth is that we are seeing demagogy and rhetoric to get people ready to make this war, whose consequences for humanity cannot be foreseen, "their own". According to its strategists, this war is to be short, but devastating.
"We, as women, want to associate ourselves in the denunciation of this war; in the Gulf conflict, contrary to what is being said, the United States and its allies are only defending the interests of the big oil multinationals and the arms industry who have found a new market.
"The fleets have not set sail in order to defend democratic ideals, but for the hegemony of the powerful - today for control over oil and tomorrow for any other of their interests that are threatened. The dominant countries do not only want a monopoly on riches, to be the arbiters of peace and war, but they also claim to be the sole source of culture and democracy. But we, as women, know and suffer from the values of this dominant culture." * BRITAIN WOMEN against War in the Gulf was founded in October. According to an arti- 3 cle by Terry Conway in the British revolu-
WOMEN AGAINST WAR tionary Marxist monthly, Socialist Outlook (February 1991):
"Socialist feminists recognized very early on the importance of the gender division within society over the question of war. Quite obviously it was correct to try and orientate the antiwar movement towards this division.
"Back in October there was a great deal of sectarianism between various different elements of the existing antiwar movement. We saw doing work on the ground as more important at this stage than allowing bickering and factionalism. So, WAWG was born.....
"In wartime, the burdens on working class women increase dramatically. WAWG is in the process of establishing links with support groups — like the Gulf Mums Support Group....
"Also important is work against conscription...Conscription papers have already been printed — they will be mainly served to young working class men....
"Another important aspect of WAWG's activity is the fight against racism... WAWG is asking for this year's International Women's Day to be a day for peace and for international sisterhood". TUNISIA A HUNDRED Tunisian women have launched an appeal to the West: "AT the end of a century which has seen humanity change its destiny through the conquest of nature, the growth of knowledge and great aspirations for liberty, was this war needed, with its vast panoply of murderous tools, to reawaken the sense of the fragility of this edifice and of the legal and moral rules we have developed to 4 safeguard our existence and ward off barbarism?
"It is because we remain profoundly attached to peace, justice and the use of dialogue as the sole means of resolving conflicts that we are against this war. It is because we believe that paths of peace are the only ones worth following, that we are for an immediate end to the fighting. For us, Arab women, who have chosen the construction of democracy, who are engaged in the struggle for our place as citizens, for human rights and the equality of the sexes, this war is a heavy threat and weighs heavily on our future. It sharpens hatred and feeds misunderstanding. It strengthens the voices of exclusion and racism.
"It is because we know that the sense of human solidarity exists with us, as it does with you, that we are appealing to you in the hope that together we can halt this war. It is because we believe that, like us, you think that it cannot be admitted that in the name of a routinely violated "international law" and at the behest of a body which is too often powerless, one can allow the bombing of innocent people, destroy their socioeconomic infrastructure and destroy the richest expressions of an ancient civilization.
"We continue to think that the only struggle worth leading is that which leads to the consolidation of human and national rights, to develop dialogue and exchange, the attachment to justice and respect for the other in their irreducible humanity. These values, which we want to defend and these human lives that we want to spare can only lead you to join us in calling for peace." *
ARGENTINA
ON September 18,1990, the Mothers of the Plazo de Mayo issued an appeal against the involvement of the Argentine government in the
Gulf war:
"WE, the Mothers, condemn every act of occupation of the territory of another country. Our struggle is based on the free determination of the peoples. We can only condemn the interference of countries which conceal their economic and political trickeries under pretext of defending peace.
"In consequence, we do not accept the sending of Argentine forces to the Persian
Gulf:
1. Because this is an issue that should be dealt with by the Arab countries, without foreign intervention, as was the case with the US and NATO during the Malvinas
War;
2. Because the only place in history reserved for the Argentine armed forces is in prison. They are not suitable as defenders of anything, because they are responsible for mass murder in Argentina;
3. Because there is hunger in our coun try, due to the dealings of these same armed forces and the politicians who have colluded with them.".