From the Archives--A Woman in Black Confession

"I confess

to my long time anti-war activity;



that I did not agree with the severe beatings of people of other enthnicities
and nationalities, faiths, races, sexual orientation;



that I was not present at the ceremonial act of throwing flowers on the tanks headed for Vukovar, 1991, and Prishtina, 1998;


that I fed women and children in the refugee camps, schools, churches and mosques;


that I sent packages for women and men in the basements of occupied Sarajevo in 1993, 1994, and 1995;


that for the entire year, I crossed the walls of Balkan ethno-states, because solidarity is the politics which interests me;


that I understand democracy as a support to anti-war activists/friends/sisters--Albanian women, Croat women, Roma women, stateless women;


that I first challenged the murderers from the state where I live and then those from other states because I consider this to be responsible political behaviour of a citizen;


that throughout all the seasons of the year, I insisted that there be an end to the slaughter, destruction, ethnic cleansing, forced evacuation of people and rape



that I took care of others while patriots took care of themselves.


from a Women in Black in Belgrade statement, October 9, 1998

Bibliography on Women in Black--An On-Going Project

To enable a deeper understanding of the history and actions of Women in Black as an international grassroots movement, we will post here a continuing bibliography of articles about this movement. Please send us any titles you want to add to the list. If you would like a copy of any of these that are missing further bibliographical information, please write to Joan Nestle on this website. Also these are papers that have made their way into my hands; many more materials can be found through traditional periodical searches.


Helman, Sara and Rapoport, Tamar. "Women in Black: Challenging Israel's Gender and
and Socio-Political Orders," The British Journal of Sociology, 48, no. 4: Dec, 1997,
pp. 681-700. with bibliography.


Nissen, Alex. "Israel/Palestine: Crimes Against Humanity," New Matilda, 19 July 2006.


Sachs, D., Saar, A., and Aharoni., S. "The Influence of the Armed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on
Women in Israel," 19 pages with bibliography.


Sachs, D. and Safran, Hannah. "Equal Representation in a Divided Society: Feminist Experience
in Israel," 2005, Haifa, 18 pages.


Safran, Hannah. "Fighting Against Multiple Opressions: Lesbian-Feminist Peace Activism in
Israel," Vienna, 2007. 4 pages.
___________. "Captive in the National Discourse: Immigrant Women and the Struggle for
Women's suffrage for Jewish Women in Palestine in the 1920s." Paper presented at the
conference of the Association for Israel Studies, Ra'anna, 2007, 12 pages, a draft.


Ulasowski, Nina. "'It's a Hard Row to Hoe, Girl'"*: Feminist Solidarity in Women's Antiwar
Activism: Women in Black and the Dilemma of Difference," 51 pages with bibliography.
*Maria, Women in Black, USA

The Tragedy of Israel, of All Our National Violences

To the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer Community of Tel Aviv and Israel.

We are standing with you in solidarity in this time of great sadness and mourning. We join thousands of queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transpeople around the world who refuse to let hatred destroy the beauty of human love.

From Joan Nestle and Alex Nissen of Women in Black, Melbourne, Monday, August 3, 2009

I want to say that I carry with me always in my heart the young gay people I met in Israel in 2008. I saw your beauty of body and heart, and to think that such courage and hope should be so endangered deeply saddens me but I know our collective strength.

Joan

Women in Black understands that societies that use violence against civilians they deem unworthy as an every day expression of national policies, as the Israeli government does, open their own streets to brutal enactments of punishment of the unwanted. We stand, as queer and straight women, against homophobia, racism and the daily deaths of Palestinian lives and dreams.

Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

(23-29, July 2009)

7 Palestinian civilians, including one child and one woman, wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the West Bank

IOF conducted 21 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and one into the Gaza Strip

IOF arrested 14 Palestinian civilians, including two children, in the West Bank

IOF arrested 200 Palestinian workers from Barta's Village, which is isolated by the Annexation Wall

IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world

IOF troops arrested at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested one Palestinian civilian.

IOF troops have continued measures aimed at evicting Palestinian families from their traditional homes in East Jerusalem

Israeli settlers seized a Palestinian house in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood

From the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Gaza (PCHR, http://www.pchrgaza.org)-

-and this is only one week's report. We stand because we cannot endure the ongoing nationally ordained suffering of a people day after day. I stand as a 70 year old American Jew, now an Australian one, as a queer woman to say to the sky above us, I see, I see and I will say no. Join Us.

Joan