CONVOCATION 29 January 2017: SCHOOL DAY OF NONVIOLENCE

School Day of Nonviolence

Ever since 1964, the 30th of January has commemorated the School Day of Nonviolence in memory of Ghandi and the values he represents.

Women in Black, in accordance with our feminist, anti-militarist and nonviolent ideology, express that we are convinced that it is imperative to seek alternatives to learn how to bring about the result that conflicts not lead to more violence, rather to greater equity and justice for the civil society. The need for nonviolence becomes more urgent with each passing day. The number of warlike conflicts that exist today is alarming. Some of these conflicts are forgotten and others, such as the war in Syria, are better known because of their consequences: the refugees who arrive at our doors.

It is not enough to be against violence and war. One must analyze the causes that lead to war in order to avoid it. The tendency of our governments to maintain the privileges of the most favored with walls and fences; the illegal deportations of those without papers; the refusal of asylum, violating signed international laws; the refusal to provide universal health care; stigmatization of the emigrant based on the belief that they take our jobs or consume our resources; and the movement backwards in women’s rights are a way of promoting values that correspond to a social model of violence, creating fear, social control, machismo, blind obedience, power/submission relationships, resolution of conflicts through violence and force and disdain for people considered weaker and different.

We denounce the militarism of our societies that inculcate the idea of armed defense, in which war and violence are the only solutions.

Likewise, we declare our concern over the resurgence of macho values in the classrooms, the use of violence to resolve conflicts, the increase in power/submission relationships among the students and the continuing cuts in the education budget designated for public education, while that for private education increases. We are also worried that we continue without questioning the defense budget, which is greatly increasing.

Women in Black want schools that collaborate in the building of a society that struggles for peace and to that end we think that:

♀ It is urgent and necessary to strengthen Education for Peace with a gender perspective that has as its goal the formation of “nonviolent” persons and that there be a budget and support to make this possible.

♀ Nonviolence is a path, a process, continuous learning for the individual as well as human relationships; it is an ethical tool for social transformation, which strengthens those who practice it and takes power away from the violent.

♀ It is necessary to work in school and in the society for an equality that will not repeat violence or the power of the patriarchy. All and each one of us are responsible for there being increasing violence in the world or that it be disappearing.

On this anniversary of the celebration of Peace, we join the campaign of the women of the United Sates against the xenophobic and macho policies of Donald Trump. Like them, we believe that the program of this president assumes a reversal on the road to peace and achievements in human rights, one more indication of the resurgence of fascism in the world.

"A country is not stronger based on the number of soldiers it has, rather based on its rate of literacy."
"It’s true that the pen is stronger than the sword; education frightens those who employ terror."
"The best way to fight against terrorism is very simple: educate the next generation."

Malala Yousafzai
(Pakistani teenager awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014)

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain