Mujeres de Negro Madrid

PEACE IN COLOMBIA IS THE PEOPLE'S PEACE After 50 years of war – though never declared as such – with more than 250,000 dead and 6 million displaced, peace in Colombia must belong to the people. Achieving peace is a long and difficult process that must not stop any step of the way. Among the steps is to reconsider the referendum that NO to peace was won by a very scant margin. And the process should also keep in mind the suffering and violence experienced by the civil population, especially by defenders of human rights and activists for peace who have been the victims of threats, kidnappings and assassinations. We want that the voices that emerge from the civil population be taken into account, activist groups, communities and individuals who have been working for peace for many years with a feminist and antimilitaristic perspective: ♀ The peace process cannot be left only in the hands of those who have promoted the war (the various guerilla groups and the government; ...

WE DON'T WANT FORTRESS EUROPE! OPEN THE BORDERS! REFUGEES ARE WELCOME! Gathered in Belgrade, on the 25th anniversary of Women in Black of Belgrade, activists of the network from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, as well as from the countries of the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, We express: ♀ A request to stop the war in Syria and elsewhere - because the responsibility for the war, suffering and destruction shall be borne also by the European countries that are exclusively lead by their geostrategic interests and profits from the sale of weapons; ♀ The deepest indignation against the closure of the borders - wire fences, persecutions, deportation, humiliation of refugees fleeing from war, poverty, repression; ♀ Opposition to shameful decisions and agreements of the EU and other European countries - Turkey and some African countries - because it is a flagrant viola...

SECURITY AND DEFENSE? #ForShame! Women in Black of Madrid want to denounce the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union and also the foreign policy of Spain. At this time, we wish to be mindful of the causes for human displacements such as the wars favored by our governors in various countries of the planet for the clear interests of control and dominion, as well as the policies they carry out in support of governors who do not respect human rights. We believe that the real and definitive solution for conflicts must come from a change in the values in policies at all levels, including international, and from the essential participation of civil society, a belief that is clearly confirmed and reinforced in the wake of the disaster of military interventions that have taken place up until now. We denounce the war economy and the economic interest in the conflicts. To tolerate the suffering of millions of people so that a few companies become even richer is both una...

Facing the painful and shameful situation that we are living through in Europe because of the response of our governments to the drama that refugees are experiencing, The third Sunday of the month 19 June 2016 in the Plaza Mayor (next to the horse statue) at noon Women in Black of Madrid invite you to a vigil in black and in silence for a Europe without wire fencing, walls or encampments. NOT IN OUR NAME Women in Black of Madrid, Padua, Torino, Fano, Alba, Ravenna, Rome, Leuven, Copenhagen, Belgrade, Majorca, Santander, Sevilla and Valencia Declare that: ♀ The WARS backed or provoked by Europe generate death, destruction and the obligation for thousands of people to flee. ♀ We do not know the INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF WOMEN WHO ARE REFUGEES, especially from Syria, but also from various countries in Africa. Often the women refugees come from a history of violence and mistreatment and on the way they confront more violence, harassment, blackmail, economic exploitat...

Commemorating 24 May, International Day of Women for Peace and Disarmament We want to say that we are against war and all militarism because it perpetuates the established patriarchal order that maintains a system of domination that generates injustice and does not guarantee just and sustainable human development. We do not believe in armed struggle because it perpetuates the law of the most powerful. Militarism transmits and exalts macho values which in no way favor equity and equality of opportunity. It feeds the “naturalization” of violence and devalues caring for life in all its integrity, maintaining a dichotomous vision of the world. This is why we have always opposed the idea of presenting the incorporation of women into the armed forces or their participation in combat as some sort of advance. From our feminist viewpoint, this constitutes an acceptance of patriarchal values and one more step in the continuing social militarization. The feminist-antimilitarist position a...

WITHOUT REFUGE Political and social crises always present themselves to us as matters that are difficult to understand and to resolve. They tell us that all conflicts are “complicated” and all wars “inevitable”. It is a strategy to silence the voice of the civil population. No one, no government nor parliament in Europe is listening to the opinions and sentiments of their people. The upper echelons do not represent us. Our “Western” governments (in Europe as in the USA, Russia…) have always been involved issues relating to the Middle East. Let us not forget the responsibility of our government for the invasion of Iraq. They have supported, and even installed, mercenary or dictatorial governments. They have supported various political factions, even armed groups. They have established their businesses and interests there, including petroleum and weapons. Our governments have intervened with impunity without measuring the consequences of their actions on the people of those count...

ADVANCING ON THE ROAD TO DEMILITARIZATION AND PEACE This past 20 February marked the 27th year since the beginning of the movement for refusal to do military service ( insumisión ). On that day in 1989, 57 persons refusing to do military service presented themselves at courts to declare that they were not disposed to render service to the Servicio Militar Obligatorio (compulsory military service) nor to the Prestación Social Sustitutoria (alternate community service). These young people were confronting more than two years in jail, but despite this and the severe criticism that they suffered in the beginning, little by little they obtained impressive backing by the society, resulting in the Insumisión movement in Spain being unique in all the world. This campaign of civil disobedience would continue until 2002 when the last of the insumisos were freed from jail. Military service was no longer obligatory but this resistance sought to highlight the ultimate objective of re...

30 January, School Day of Non-Violence Today we remember Gandhi and the values he represents. Women in Black of Madrid, as feminists and anti-militarists and based on our ideology of non-violence wish to say that the celebration of this day in schools must be continued in an education that involves all peoples throughout their existence. We yearn for a society where the utopia of universal human rights becomes reality. We seek a continuous learning in which we recover the acts and initiatives of all the people who have preceded us and who considered injustice, violence and war the cause of the evils of humanity, which is also our historic memory. We espouse a school that will help to form people with a critical spirit who understand education for peace as a permanent process, tools that will contribute to the disappearance of militarism, patriarchy and nationalism, an education in which non-violence is a transformative force both individual and collective. School should be a p...