Take Back the News

elle

Amid allegations of corruption (and possible indictment), Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced that he will step down after the September elections in that country—for those of you like me who vaguely understand parliamentary governments, but are fuzzy on the details, here’s the Wikipedia article about Parliamentary Systems. Amidst cautious attempts at peace talks between Israel and Palestine this disruption is potentially unwelcome, and concerns have been raised about how a new PM will affect the process.

After last week’s discussion of women and violence, it is also important to recognize the gendered system of peace. When asked to define peace, most people will say something about the absence of violence, but such a definition makes no place for the lives of women in “peaceful” societies that are battered, mutilated, raped, tortured, and killed by both intimates and strangers. Peace as it is currently defined on the international scene generally means the "dead white guys" who haven't had much interest in women's lives before, sitting at a table trying to lose as little as possible for themselves. Peace activists and theorists define peace as not the absence of violence, but the presence of social justice—an unfortunately nebulous term, but one with a call to action.

For women, this call to action often takes a very different perspective than that of men. In no way am I advocating an essentialist notion that women are better suited for peace and reconciliation than men, but simply that women’s experience with violence is different, often dismissed or trivialized, and that socially construction notions of women, women’s roles, and women’s work must be taken into account as leaders such as Olmert and Mahmud Abbas attempt to hammer out an agreement. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is rightfully touted as a triumph of the peace process over retributive violence, but it is rarely discussed that of requests filed for amnesty, rape was almost never considered a crime for which amnesty would be required. Of the 823 pages of the TRC’s final report, the word rape appears 6 times (I love the find button!). Accepting, and I do, that violence is gendered, peace must be as well.

There are some fantastic examples of women throughout the world demanding and working to create a peace that includes them In Somalia a group of women came to the peace negotiations as the 6th Clan (negotiations were being held between the major clans and a coalition of smaller clans in the area) and demanded a place at the table, Women in Black has combined peace activism and performance art sometimes in the face of considerable threat, and multiple organizations of Israeli and Palestinian women have come together to discuss the ways their lives converge. I’m not the type to get all starry eyed and idealistic here, but we do share space in this world, and it needs to be safe space for everyone.

A Few More Things:

Soldier's Death and Mutilated Body Officially Deemed Suicide
I couldn’t find any regular news sources still covering this, and the military ruling appears to be recent. ACK!
Women Giving to Women
The Lost Women of Vancouver BC
When People Stop Paying Attention, the Media Will
IPV in the Military, Why Aren't We Paying More Attention?
Now Really, Was That So Hard?
I'm not really sure that the bathroom issue is what really distracts them from studying!!