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Women in Black

Ganesh

17:20 / 10.04.02

Handed a leaflet this afternoon by a very pleasant fiftysomething woman, one of several black-clad individuals standing around Charing Cross in silent protest against Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Turns out they're called Women in Black and seem to combine moderate feminism with a generally humane, liberal agenda - and they're women-only.

I'm intrigued. Does anyone have any first-hand experience of this lot?

pointless and uncalled for

17:27 / 10.04.02

There was a speaker from The Women in Black at the Palestinian Rally in Toronto over the Easter weekend.

That's as much experience as I've had beyond hearing that they are working in support of a hunger strike being carried out my members of the Palestinian community in Toronto.

From what I heard around the chanting and the litterings of invective in her speech she seemed to be well educated. Despite working to an agenda her arguments came across as reasonable.

I'm not aware of much more than that.

Cat Chant

08:07 / 12.04.02

They're lovely. I don't know a great deal about them but I'd been hearing about them for a while, and then I met a few last November at an all-women demo at Menwith Hill (the American spy base near Harrogate). They weren't that forthcoming with the details, but it seems to be a very loose, worldwide organization with each country, area, or group under the Women in Black umbrella going off and doing its own thing according to, I guess, where its border is.

Shortfatdyke

17:04 / 14.04.02

additional to the site posted by ganesh, check out: www.igc.org/balkans/wib - the site is very stark, reminds me actually of anarchist band crass' graphics. i have major respect for women in black.

Ganesh

17:23 / 14.04.02

Thanks. They certainly seemed lovely - and a pretty wide age-range too, which always adds gravitas IMHO.

BioDynamo

11:39 / 23.04.02

Maybe the scariest, showiest and bravest thing the Women in Black have been involved in is acting as human shields in Palestine. Already a long time before the current re-occupation volunteers were accompanying palestinian activists on their journeys, in an attempt to dissuade Mossad or others from asassinating the activists, the logic being that killing a palestinian might be acceptable to the international community, but killing a black-clad grandmother would not be. The method and logic received its logical conclusion and came, surely, to its limits in the volunteers who acted as observers, witnesses and shields during the easter re-occupation this year.

We can only imagine what would have happened in Ramallah and other places if they hadn't been there. It's been horrible as it is.

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