Women in Black against Violence, for PeaceAs part of the global Women in Black Movement against wars and violence initiated by women’s peace groups in different parts of the world, Vimochana initiated the Women in Black- India in the city of Bangalore in 1993 to protest the razing of the mosque in Ayodhya and the subsequent communal conflicts that spread throughout the country. From then on we have stood against the myriad forms of wars and violence and for peace within our homes and in the world; against cultural nationalism and fundamentalism, linguistic chauvinism; against nuclearisation of Nation States; against the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
The Global Movement
The Women in Black is a movement that has inspired groups of women in different parts of the world to stand in their own towns and cities, at street corners, in market squares and other public places – for one hour every week – dressed in black, silently protesting the many forms of violence which are increasingly becoming intrinsic to our everyday realities in our different cultures and communities. It began in Tel-Aviv, in Haifa, in Jerusalem..Palestine and Israeli Women together, speaking of a homeland for the Palestinians together protesting the politics of hatred that was wrecking their homes, breaking their lives. Grief stricken Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina walked in the market squares with photographs of their disappeared and dead sons. The Women in Black Movement then spread to other women standing in Brazil, Philippines, Germany, Netherlands; women demonstrating on the streets of Belgrade every Wednesday from the beginning of the war in 1991; women speaking for all nationalities who are victims of rape and torture of the wars; women demanding that war rape be treated as a war crime.Women in Black - India
We, in Vimochana initiated the Women in Black in the city of Bangalore in 1993 protesting the razing of the mosque in Ayodhya and the communal conflicts that spread throughout India. From then on we have stood sharing with all women an anger; an anguish – against the myriad forms of violence increasingly becoming intrinsic to our everyday realities – both within our homes and outside. We have stood against the consuming violence of dowry, wife battering, against bigamy, against husbands who desert their wives refusing to own responsibility for their wives and children, against child sexual abuse. Apart from standing against all forms of violence against women, the action has in the last few years, since 1996 become an integral part of our Campaign on Unnatural Deaths of Women where we have used this to protest and highlight the horrifying reality of women being killed, burnt to death, driven to suicide almost everyday but which is being passed off as ‘stove burst’ or ‘unnatural deaths’.
Together with AWHRC, we have held several Women in Black actions on specific occasions like the Courts of Women held in different regions of the world, including India and during international meetings like the IV World Women’s Conference in Beijing, China, the Asia Social Forum in Hyderabad and the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India. In solidarity with the protests held worldwide we have held Women in Black actions on the U.S. wars again Afghanistan and Iraq.[ Link with AWHRC website]
The Women in Black action, in our experience, perhaps because of its silence and stillness, has been far more effective in reaching out to the people, women and men on the street – than any other public protest like processions and dharnas. The purpose of this form of action is not only to make a statement or create public awareness of the kinds of violence of women face today but also invite those watching to dialogue.
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