Mujeres de Negro Madrid

25 November: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women On 25 November, women and men from all over the world go out into the streets to make their voices heard and for violence against women to end. Today we join this global voice. We want to remember that the violence that we women suffer begins with symbolic, cultural and structural violence of the patriarchy that historically has limited and oppressed us, stripping us of rights, severing aspirations, eliminating our self-esteem and capacity to react, even life itself. As anti-militarist women, we also want to denounce that the women and girls in conflict zones are those who suffer the greatest violence: they are victims of sexual violence, trade, exploitation and prostitution and see how their sons are militarized and assassinated. In addition to the hardships of war, responsibility for rebuilding relationships and the torn social fabric falls upon them. It is essential that women be provided with se...

Policies to Achieve a Better World The arms sector is an industry that doesn’t stop growing. It is a capital investment dedicated to generating death. Millions of people suffer daily the consequences of wars which no longer seem to surprise us, but who benefits from this business, this Spanish industry in armaments produced, among others, by Navantia, Airbus, Indra…? The military industry of Spain, protected under the law of official secrets, functions in a fashion that is inefficient and opaque, with very high cost overruns and precarious employment. The majority of its production is dedicated for export, as in the case of Saudi Arabia, a country now pointed to for supposedly destining the arms it buys from Spain for war and the slaughter of civilians in Yemen. There is a need in this world for peace and cooperation among the peoples who today, more than ever, are raising their voices. The cancelation of foreign debts is necessary, along with investment in strengthening the sys...

“The Power of Shame to Change the System: Shaming the World into a State of Peace” This phrase is one of the proposals that emerged from the XVII International Gathering of Women in Black against War, which took place in March of 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Under the title of “Displaced Lives”, the objective being to confront the inheritance of racism, hate and class. Women have been displaced by the patriarchy and now it’s a matter of returning this shame to the patriarchal system – shame that extends to all the injustices of displacements. The violence of displacement is a situation in which we refuse to see ourselves. South Africa welcomes refugee families arriving from Ethiopia, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Nigeria, Malawi… In Mandela’s time, the country welcomed those who solicited asylum fleeing from dictatorial and corrupt regimes, a country with unemployment at 45% and in which one-fourth of the people receive subsidies. South Africa has a multitude ...

Neither the Land nor Women are Territory for Conquest Commemorating 5 June, World Environment Day , Women in Black of Madrid against war, focus our attention on the relationship between environmental destruction and violation of human rights. We are adamant that the causes for war are bound to the exploitation of natural resources. Even without declared wars, armies and paramilitaries use violence to defend the interests of transnational enterprises above those of the security of the planet. The Environmental Justice Atlas lists more than 2400 socio-ecological conflicts around the world. In 2016, 200 persons were assassinated for defending their habitat, 60% in Latin America . In 2017, 312 defenders of human rights were assassinated . In the last decade, global warming has increased, placing us in a scenario of unstoppable climate change, and at the same time increasing various types of contamination. Economic inequality is on the rise ( 1% of the world population has amass...

Peace, Rights and Social Justice for Nicaragua The student demonstrators shouted “They are spewing out real bullets!! It is not 1926 when Augusto Sandino began a revolution against the North American occupation and the presidency of Anastasio Somoza Garcia. It is not 1972 - 1991 when in Nicaragua there were 65,000 dead, owing to the intense civil war between the Sandinistas and the Somocistas . These are 2018 bullets, at a time when there is a right to demonstrate, where 85% of the people are poor and will no longer be able to cope with just their social security payment, and retirees will lose 5% of an already miserably low amount, which is the only income for the family. The Movimiento Campesino Anticanal (Peasant Anti-Canal Movement) has also suffered their right to demonstrate regarding the wrongful expropriation of land and repression of the government. The number of dead is over 60, among them the disappeared and found dead and tortured, yes, tortured by the Ortega ...

DISARMAMENT: Transform the Military Expenditure This past 7 September 2017, in a United Nations conference, 130 countries approved a new treaty with a view to achieve and maintain a world free of nuclear weapons. The new Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is open for signature and has as its objective to prohibit the possession, use, threat to use, and support for the installation or production of nuclear weapons. This new multilateral treaty promotes nuclear disarmament. Its predecessors, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , in force since 1970, which restricts the possession of nuclear weapons, or the treaties on Partial and Complete Ban on Nuclear Testing have not contributed to world disarmament, as opposed to what has happened regarding chemical and biological weapons and others that have been prohibited globally and universally. It is necessary to work towards world disarmament and for that reason we actively support all initiatives and campaigns to eliminate ...

URGING A NEGOTIATED SOLUTION TO THE ALARMING ESCALATION OF THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA Women in Black are very worried about the dimensions that the war in Syria is developing, more than half a million dead, the majority of whom are civilians, and the destruction of cities like Ghouta at the hands of the regime, which, in contrast to the rebels, possesses and uses its air force indiscriminately, including the infamous explosive barrel bombs (IEDs) fired from helicopters. Repression by the dictator Al Assad against the civil population, which arose non-violently against the corruption of his government in the spring of 2011, was followed by an increase in violence, spurred on by the intervention of external factors which, instead of seeking a peaceful solution, provoked a civil war with many actors of international dimension. In previous communiqués * , we reported that the supposed guardians of democracy might arise as saviors of this country supporting the insurgents militarily, whe...

WORLDWIDE WOMEN’S STRIKE 8 MARCH On March 8, 1909 one hundred twenty-nine women died in the fire of a New York factory. In 1910 Clara Zetkin and Katy Duncker proposed the idea of “An International Women’s Day” or “Day of the Working Woman” and that it should be celebrated every March 8th to commemorate the death of these women. The first international strike of women took place on March 8, 2017 with the shout of Argentine feminists “not one fewer, we want ourselves alive.” In this year’s March 8th strike, we want to make visible in the broadest way possible our strength, anger and pain, and at the same time our shared joy in knowing that we are strong and we are right. We are part of a process of the radical transformation of society and culture, the economy and relationships. We want to reassert the political force of women and preserve the planet we live on, in addition to making clear that the economic system would collapse without our daily work as caregivers. We are involve...

JERUSALEM, CITY OF DISCORD This past December the government of the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has announced that the U.S. Embassy will be located in that city. The official version says that this is a way of giving impetus to the negotiations for peace in the area and to give support to the member parties. This has created a long list of consequences and one of the most serious is the trail of blood and violence that it is generating in Palestine. The United Nations has approved a resolution against the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, said resolution backed by 180 countries along with 35 abstentions and 8 votes against. This resolution took place after the Security Council did not pass it because of the veto of the United States. Jerusalem, sacred city for the great monotheistic religions, has always been at the center of conflict. For a long time, Israel has systematically not complied with the resolutions of the U...