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[NAGRAJ ADVE]

WOMEN OPPOSE WAR
"AS A WOMAN I HAVE NO COUNTRY. AS A WOMAN, MY COUNTRY IS THE WHOLE WORLD."
 With most of the world, we the undersigned women's organisations, condemn
both the tragic events of September 11 and the war unleashed by the US on
the people of Afghanistan as deplorable acts of terrorism. We condemn the
slaughter of thousands of Afghans, the destruction of cities,  the bombing
of hospitals and old people's homes, and most of all the trauma,  horror and
suffering caused by this war to ostensibly avenge the crimes committed by
Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. Victimising thousands of poor ordinary
people who have already suffered 23 years of the destruction and devastation
of war in no way can wipe out the roots of terrorism.
 It is common knowledge that the terrorist groups the US is trying to
eliminate were its own creation. In addition, the US has trained, supported,
and supplied with arms various groups, invasions, and dictators all over the
world. The millions killed in Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia, in Israel's
invasion of Lebanon, the 200,000 Iraqis killed in Operation Desert Storm,
the thousands of Palestinians who have died fighting Israel's occupation of
the West Bank, the millions who died in Yugoslavia, Somalia, Haiti, Chile,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Panama - are all victims of
such state terrorism. Nor has the US been alone in this, for in Afghanistan,
if the killing squads were financed by the US, the Russian occupation too
was responsible for colossal death and destruction.
And it is well known too that wherever fundamentalism has taken root, women
are among its first victims. In Afghanistan, after the Taliban came back to
power with CIA support, it unleashed a reign of terror whose fist victims
were its own people, particularly women. It closed down girls' schools,
dismissed  women from government jobs, and enforced Shariat  laws under
which women deemed to be "immoral" are stoned to death, and widows assumed
to be guilty of being  adulterous are buried alive.
OPPOSE RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM ACROSS THE GLOBE 
Religious fundamentalism and military aggression are two sides of
patriarchy, that aim to seek control and wield power over women and other
oppressed sections. The struggle for abortion rights by women in the US and
other parts of the western world is a struggle against such fundamentalist
governments and policies. The denial of education to women in Afghanistan,
acid throwing attacks on young women to impose the burkha in Kashmir, the
attacks by the Hindu Right in India on films depicting lesbian love or the
travails of widowhood are all part of the same orchestrated campaign of
religious fundamentalists to terrorise and control women. The women's
movement opposes the forces of religious fundamentalism whether they are
from the US or Afghanistan or from India or Pakistan because fundamentalist
forces in essence trample upon all democratic and women's rights and seek to
reverse the gains made by women's liberation movements.
WAR IS PATRIARCHY
 We see the violence, death and destruction caused by wars as an extension
of the violence we confront daily within the family, in the community, and
by the state. We have seen the aftermath of war and related crimes;
thousands of women have lived through the burden of bearing the "honour" of
the community and nation in war after war. Bruised minds and battered
bodies:
that is all war achieves. In 1992, more than 20,000 women and girls were
raped in the Balkans followed by 15,700 in Rwanda. The disruption of normal
life in military situations adds additional burdens and dangers to women's
continuing responsibility for subsistence and household provisioning. The
militarisation of our societies has made brutalisation a way of life. War
films, war toys and video games, and daily violence in films and on
television have created a militaristic chauvinistic macho culture. For
women, this means an increase in violence within the home and by the
"custodians of law". As women, we are deeply concerned about the increased
regional hostility, fanning of communal hatred and violence, and the
deepening of inequality and prejudices being caused by this war.
THE POLITICS OF MILITARISATION
The increasing communalisation of politics can lead to more violence and war
and in both India and Pakistan. In the name of 'security', the state is
already becoming more repressive and intolerant of dissent in both these
countries. National security is being used as an excuse for both Pakistan
and India to increase their levels of militarisation. National and religious
chauvinism built on mutual hostility becomes the binding force to maintain
the nation state. It becomes possible, even commendable, to kill, humiliate,
maim and threaten citizens of another country, religious or ethnic group, or
nationality in the name of preserving the unity of one's own country. The
existence of any manufacturing base for armament production in India creates
a demand for more and more wars and lays the material basis for Indian
dominance in the South Asian region. In the 1980s, India's defence
expenditure shot up from Rs 4, 329 cores to 14, 500 crores in 1989-90.
It is 66,382 crores (2000-2001) today, which is more than what the central
government spends on health, education, women and child "welfare" and other
social services put together!! This is also 89% higher than the entire
country's expenditure on primary education!! The doubling of the defence
expenditure in just the last 5 years in India, the biggest ever increase
since independence, shows the priorities of our war mongers in a country in
which people continue to die of starvation deaths.
The global arms export market is valued at 54.2 billion dollars of which US
controls 50% while Britain, France together control 30%. Russia, China,
Germany, Israel, South Africa, Belgium etc control the rest. Only because
weapons of war, huge military machines exist everywhere that genocides/war
take place. If organised violence, terror, genocide, wars have to end, the
military establishment and also the monstrously big police  and torturing
apparatuses have to be  abolished from the face of this. But can one hear
even faintly about any such measures from the US and other big powers or any
states anywhere?
WHOSE FREEDOM, WHOSE JUSTICE, WHOSE DEMOCRACY ? 
While claiming to fight for freedom, justice and democracy, the USA is
itself behaving in the most unjust and undemocratic manner. Their President
has the audacity to threaten the world at large with the words, "If you are
not with us, you are against us." No nation, organization, or individual has
the freedom to even express a contrary opinion, let alone act on it.
The USA seeks to avenge the tragic loss of 5,000 lives through bombing
Afghanistan. But if the rest of the world were to live by the same logic,
then who shall  we destroy for the 16,000 who perished at the hands of the
US multinational  Union Carbide in Bhopal, the 500,000 Iraqi children who
died due to US sanctions, the thousands killed in Vietnam by the US
military....? Even after victory was already assured for US in the 2nd World
War they dropped the horrific nuclear bombs on the people of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki to demonstrate their awesome killing power to the world.
Generations bear the torture and the scars of such irreparable damage.
And yet, if this were a concern about peace and democracy, it should start
by  destroying its own monstrous stockpile of nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons. All peace loving people will welcome such a move. But in
spite of tens of millions of people around the world, especially in western
Europe demanding total nuclear disarmament, the US and other nuclear
countries have turned a deaf ear to this. Western powers and US have used
every violent means to keep their stranglehold over all resources of the
world, particularly oil. Often they have used the weapon of economic
blockade to starve people to death, to strangulate them economically. This
is almost like a permanent class war waged by the rich and the powerful
against the poor and the powerless. Hundreds of millions died and are dying
in just over five decades after the 2nd WW due to hunger, disease, wars,
genocide, violence and due to the poisoning of the biosphere and ecological
disasters.
Large sections of the media everywhere are of course part of the apparatus
to manufacture and force consent for the war  in the name of democracy, to
spread misinformation, to wage campaigns for the rulers, to whip up war
hysteria, rabid nationalism, and hatred of the 'OTHER'. To speak the truth
is to invite the wrath of the local global rulers.
We believe that armed conflict can never be and will never be a substitute
for dialogue. The failure to pursue democratic dialogue is to betray the
aspirations of millions, to jeopardies the future and to put into question
the very existence of democratic institutions and mechanisms.
If we want to end terrorism we need to address all the structured sources of
injustices that are increasingly widening the gap between the rich and the
poor, men and women, nature and humans and create the pauperization and
hopelessness that leads to terrorism. The women's movement seeks to
challenge the structures of oppression that people all over daily face:
* the fear of domestic violence within the home
* persistent poverty and the desperation it leads to such as to the sale of
body and  life organs
* the loss of our children to a culture of violence and to all kinds of
conflicts and wars
* the loss of jobs, home, homeland, family and community and becoming a
refugee
* the invisibility and violation that comes along with being lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered in a predominantly homophobic and patriarchal
society
 * the fear of enforced prostitution as a means of survival
 * the fear of living in a society where rape, molestation, female
infanticide, widow burning and witch hunting are daily realities
 * the authoritarianism of having our voices silenced when ever we dare to
protest 
THIS IS NOT OUR WAR. WE REJECT IT UNEQUIVOCALLY. WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN THIS
WAR FOR IT SNATCHES AWAY FROM US THE MOST BASIC RIGHT: THE RIGHT TO LIVE.
We represent forces that are engaged in struggles and processes based on
respect for human life, on yearnings, desires, and dreams for a pluralistic
peaceful egalitarian world. We raise our voice for peace and freedom against
repression, war, terrorism, and pogromist politics to make the world a
better place to live in. We are protesting against this war along with
thousands and thousands from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Pakistan,
Indonesia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and India.
FOR LOVE PEACE FREEDOM EGALITARIAN VALUES AGAINST DEATH, TERROR AND WAR!!!
ANKUR, ACTION INDIA, CALERI, FORUM AGAINST SEXUAL HARASSMENT (D.U.), JAGORI,
KALI FOR WOMEN, SAHELI, SANGINI, STREE ADHIKAR SANGATHAN