Welcome to Women in Black, Melbourne, Australia

A brief history: The first Saturday of every month, a group of women, called Women in Black, stand in front of the Old GPO in Melbourne, Australia, protesting the Israeli occupation of Gaza specifically and the use of military force against civilian populations around the world. Women in Black came into being in 1987 in Israel as a protest against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. From this first silent vigil in the center of Haifa by seven Israeli women sprang what is now a world-wide grassroots network of women committed to peace with justice, actively opposed to war and other forms of violence. The Israeli women, soon joined by Palestinian women, held their silent vigil to show their resistance to the occupation of Palestinian lands and the rise of unprecedented violence against women and children.


Women in black vigils were soon being held in Italy and Belgrade, and then in other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South American and Australia. in 1989, 5,000 women, Palestinian and Israeli, marched in Jerusalem, demanding a two state solution where the human rights of women and children were protected. Sadly, this international grassroots movement is as important now as it was in the start of the Intifada over 20 years ago.

Vigil sites around the world: Haifa, Jerusalem, Israel; Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide, Armidale, Melbourne, Australia; Naples, Turin, Padova, Rome, Italy; Athens, Greece; Oxford, London, England; Belgrade, Serbia; Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Germany; Edinburgh, Scotland; Goteberg, Halmsted, Sweden; Kitchner, Calgary, London, Ontario, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Canada; Valencia, Spain; 20 states in the United States of America; Amsterday, Netherlands; Malmo, Stockholm, Pitea, Sweden; Marseille, Strasbourg, Paris, France; Oslo, Norway; Switzerland; Vienna, Austrai; Pune, Marashtra, India...

From the Archives
Melbourne's Women in Black vigil has a long history, beginning in 1989. From Melbourne's Women in Black Newsletter No.3 (November 18, 1989):
"It is now six months since June 3rd when Women in Black inaugurated itself with a successful vigil if rather wet vigil which attracted lots of media coverage. Since then we have kept up regular vigils on the GPO steps in the Bourke Street Mall. Sustaining regular monthly vigils has been an achievement in itself. The WIB faithful and other women who attend have generally agreed that the vigils are worthwhile and very consciousness raising--both for members of the public with whom we engage in discussion and for the vigilers themselves.

Hellen, Alex, Marg, Sue, Sandra, Sivan, myself, Joan, and others welcome you to this site and to our vigils.