Panel: WMW vision on peace and demilitarisation

Peace has been a matter of concern for the World March of Women from its beginnings. But it certainly has gained increasing importance within our movement over the past few years. Peace is one of the five values in our Women's Charter for Humanity that was at the center of our 2nd international action in 2005. And the action area „Peace and demilitarisation“ has been at the core of several national and regional actions of the World March of Women during this 3rd international action.

• In March, women in Mali demonstrated in Gao, an area of armed conflict. Women in Greece protested the persistantly high military expenditures in a time when public spending is being cut dramatically.
• In May in Manila in the Philippines women from 10 asian countries demonstrated against the military presence of the United States in Southeast Asia.
• In June women from 23 countries gathered in Istanbul and marched through the city center under the slogan „Women, Peace, Freedom“.
• In August the World March of Women joined the Women's Social movement against War and for Peace in Columbia to protest in front of one of the military bases where the United States intends to set up operations.
• And now in October, we are in Bukavu in solidarity with the women from Kivu to demand an end to women's bodies being used as weapons of war and an end to impunity.

Our vision of peace, how we understand it, the preconditions it has, the demands and committments we've formulated, were among others inspired by the results of a seminar held in Goma in 2004 by COCAFEM, a regional collective that was created in the context of the WMW in 2000. The seminar united women of the Great Lakes Regions and women of all corners of the world.

At the center of our vision is our conviction, that peace is much more than the mere absence of armed conflict. Although of course this is the first prerequisite. But peace also contains several additional elements, like for instance

• not to be in need for protection: that women can go out in their fields to cultivate their crop without fear of being beaten, raped and killed;
• it means to have economic and social rights, guaranteed for everyone, without discrimination;
• our vision of peace includes selfdetermination of peoples but also of individuals, especially of women.

In order for peace to prevail, we need a culture of peace. And this culture needs to be present in all spheres of life, children need to learn it in school, adults need to practise it amongst themselves. For this strong and community based institutions of education are necessary. And not the least a strong civil society with autonomous women's and other social movements is necessary that lives and promotes this culture of peace.

Women are the main protagonists in promoting this culture of peace. Not because women are more peaceful by nature, but because of their experiences, because they have suffered the harms of wars on so many levels – psychological, social, economic, physical –, because in so many armed conflicts their bodies become battlefields.
From ancient times to the present the massive rape of women has been an inherent part of war. Women and their bodies are considered spoils of war, as an exchange currency, are considered a ressource and fought over like natural ressources – that are often at the core of conflicts –, their bodies are being considered as enemy territory, they serve as soldiers’ entertainment. In all these cases women are relegated to a level of object and regarded as the property of men. But women are not jewels to be extracted from the earth, to be sold on the market and to be presented as a status symbol or a cherished possession.

The same way we don't consider women the peaceful sex by nature, we don't consider men the bellicose sex by nature. But we see war, conflict and militarisation as expressions of violence made natural within the patriarchal and capitalist systems, and the means used by these systems to maintain their dominance. Militarisation reflects the division of roles within patriarchy: the concept of masculinity is associated with violence and arms, which is reflected in the idea that women need the protection of men and of the army. But no army will ever be able to really protect women from violence, because of its inherent patriarchal characteristics.

It is the military institutions that contribute in various ways to the training of young men to occupy the dominant position in society. The army can be considered one of the most patriarchal organisations of any society and one of the most revealing with regards to the inequality that characterise men-women relations: hierarchy of power, the “chief” cult and his domination, obedience, physical violence, absence of critical spirit, a closed circle of “boys”, etc. This model of masculinity associated with strength and aggressiveness is a growing reference for young people, and often unites with racism in the formation and joining of gangs.

An increasing militarisation can be observed in many countries and societies, not only in those leading wars or wanting to defend themselves against wars. But also in societies where the probability of war and conflict on their soil is very small. And it is definitely not only limited to countries of the South. Northern and western societies also experience this development, for instance through increases in military budgets, the increasing business of private security and mercenary companies, the criminalisation of social movements.

Therefor the WMW's call for demilitarisation includes but goes far beyond disarming rebel groups or the bans for small weapons. It includes replacing a culture of violence and the patriarchal models of masculinity and femininity with a culture of peace.

For an active vision of peace to become a reality, we need to struggle for the complete active recognition of women’s rights, an equal participation of women in the processes of establishing peace, the eradication of poverty, violence and exclusion, the promotion of solidarity and the recognition of rights, the existence of an independent legal system and an education that does not valorise violence or sexist behaviour.

The WMW supports the rights of people to defend themselves and the sovereignty of states. Therefor one of the demands of the Congolese women the WMW is supporting with this action, is the progressive and negociated withdrawal of the MONUSCO, the UN military mission to the DRC. The financial ressources of the mission should instead benefit the population of the DRC.

Some of our congolese sisters call for the money to be used to reinforce the Congolese National Army in order for the soldiers to receive a decent salary, in order to continue the integration of rebel forces and thereby to end pillage and violence. Others, for instance women from remote rural say they are being violated by all armed groups, be they army or rebel, whatever nationality or ethnicity. They believe the money should be invested in post-conflict construction, in public structures like educational institutions and health services, infrastructure, communication and transport.

As WMW we think that key to the construction of sustainable und just peace is to find regional solutions. The women of the Great Lakes region in the context of the World March of Women created a regional collective following the 1st international action,  in order to seek such regional solution. They adopted a platform of demands, that speaks of women's role in the pursuit of peace in the region, that speaks of instruments to prevent the arms trade in the region, that denounces economic interests of countries outside the region, that calls for the establishmennt of apporporiate mechanisms to end impunity, that calls for a debt cancellation without conditions.

We remain convinced, as we have already affirmed in our Women's Charter for Humanity, that a solution to conflicts is only possible through negociation, dialogue and reconciliation. Peaceful and just solutions must be found on local, national, regional and international levels. Women must be not only partners, but leaders in building these solutions, based on the values we've affirmed – equality, freedom, justice, solidarity and peace.