As
news commentators reflect on the historic turnout for demonstrations
against a possible war, an increased participation of Arab women in
protest was clearly marked. Isabelle Humphries reports for
IslamOnline.
 |
| Palestinian
women gave their voices in Israeli protests. |
Tel
Aviv is not the first place one expects to find Palestinian women on
the podium, but in a crowd of around 1500 anti-war protestors in Tel
Aviv, Arab women made their voices heard. The February 15
demonstration was organized by a coalition of Jewish and Arab
groups, including women’s organizations. Two women activists from
Nazareth (Palestinian citizens of Israel) took to the platform.
“This
is a war for oil and for the American exploitation of the entire
world,” Haneen Zoubi was quoted as saying by Israeli daily Jerusalem
Post, “Sharon will use this war to eliminate the
Palestinian issue by installing a puppet leader and even by
transferring some Palestinians.” Perhaps the most significant
aspect of the speech was not the words, but the fact that the women,
Zoubi from the Tajammu’ (nationalist) party and Touma from Hadash
(Israeli communist), were speaking in Arabic, with only a brief
summary translation in Hebrew. For generations, Palestinian citizens
of Israel who wished to voice political opinions in mainstream
Israeli discourse were forced to speak Hebrew, and such a linguistic
step marks a significant political step forward.
Across
the Sinai to Cairo women were gathering in Sayida Zeinab Square. The
vigil was organized by members of Egyptian women’s NGOs and
expatriate women in Cairo who together formed a committee to
coordinate antiwar protest. The action is part of a series of
non-violent direct action, resulting from an appeal sent to Arab
women’s organizations across the Middle East and beyond.
Egyptian
organizations, such as the Alliance for Arab Women, the Egyptian
Women’s Legal Aid Centre and the Association for the Development
and Enhancement of Women, are amongst those who launched a world
wide petition calling for women’s action against the war:
Women
throughout the Arab world categorically condemn American-led
attempts that target the integrity of the Arab world… Arab
women, like all women of the world, act as safety valves for
the protection of humanity in general, and the children of the
world in particular… Women have always been in the front
line of calls for peace and for the protection of the
environment and natural resources. Thus, we, Arab women say NO
to the war against Iraq because we are certain that when
armies invade, only destruction will prevail… We appeal to
all the women of the world to support us, Arab women, in our
call to stop the planned American-led aggression against Iraq.
 |
| Egyptian
women demonstrating against the war |
The
development in communications technology has lent a helping hand to
the development of globally organized protest, allowing activists to
prepare in solidarity from country to country. Encouraged by
women’s movements across the globe, Beirut women gathered in the
February 15 rain to demonstrate. The demonstration led to further
action, with a visit on March 3 to the French Embassy with a letter
signed by more than 80 people encouraging the French government in
its stance for peace. On March 7, the group which called itself
“Solidarity Against the War” joined a sit-in organized by the
Arab Regional Office of the International Democratic Federation of
Women, outside a UN agency building in Beirut city center.
Member
of the Beirut “Solidarity Against the War” team Rosemary Sayigh
says that “arguments about Iraq - American and Arab - tend to
stick to the political level. Very few speakers, unfortunately, put
destruction of people and environment first. Women should, and can,
take up this message.”
“All
along the floor of the shelter you can see the marks of
incinerated bodies.” |
|
A
report on women’s activism cannot fail to note the number of
international women who are actually voicing their protest to the
war in Baghdad itself. “It’s gotten out that there are these
American women in town who are working for Peace. Everywhere we go
we get a thumbs up” writes Sand, an American woman in Baghdad.
“They are completely lacking in hostility. When we say we are from
the United States at first there is this surprise and then,
immediately a smile.”
Internationals,
both men and women, Western and Arab, are in Baghdad to try and send
personal testimony back to their own countries. “People are
beginning to come to us for medicine,” writes Sand, “A waiter
needs cough syrup for his little boy. A woman is waiting for us at
the hotel for vitamins for her children. Someone’s uncle has
pneumonia and needs antibiotics. The waiter has tears streaming down
his cheeks and you can see it is humiliating for him to ask.”
She
describes a visit to the bomb shelter hit in February 1991, where
almost 500 people died:
People
in the immediate area were incinerated on the spot. As the
inferno grew the temperature was estimated to reach 450
degrees. All along the floor of the shelter you can see the
marks of incinerated bodies. You can see the shape of the
person and sometimes even the features of the face. I will
tell you the hardest thing was to see a mother and her child,
a black blotchy outline and smears of blood, etched into the
floor. I just could not imagine it. There are photos of the
victims on the walls and you cannot help but look at the
outlines etched on the walls and floor and the photos and
wonder, “was that her?”
Isabelle
Humphries is a
British freelance journalist and Development Director at Sawt Al
Amel (Laborer’s Voice), an organization supporting Palestinian
workers inside Israel. She has an MA in Middle East Politics and is
also a freelance writer for the Cairo Times. You can reach her at innazareth@yahoo.co.uk
