Disclaimer: Please note that the views of the authors of these reports are entirely their own and do not in any way reflect the opinions of NOW, either as a group or individually.
In late May 2007 we received from Khadiga M. Safwat the text of the paper given by her at the Shanghai II World Forum on China Studies 21-22.September, 2006
13) Have both capitalism and socialism colluded in conniving at devaluing Women's labour? The comparative role of Women in Capitalist and socialist Development(WID). Whose development?
Coming soon !!
The following letter was emailed to local MPs on behalf of NOW on 8 April 2006. Any replies we receive will also be put on the website.
12) Letter to 6 Oxon MPs about the plight of Iraqi women and children
Jean Kaye (01865-771046)
jean@domu.freeserve.co.uk
Bette Jones (01865-249336) bettejones@ntlworld.com
Margaret Stanton (01865-515195) Flat 1, Charles Ponsonby House, Osberton Rd,
Oxford OX2 7PQ
Please reply to: Sarah Lasenby, 20 Tawney St., Oxford OX4
1NJ (01865-725991) sarahlasenby@breathemail.net
Copy for Members
To 6 Oxon MPs, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA 8 April
2006
(Tony Baldry, David Cameron, Evan Harris, Boris Johnson, Andrew Smith, Edward
Vaizey)
Dear XXX
On 8th March 2006, International Women’s Day, we heard from two leading Iraqi Women (Haifa Zangana and Tahrir Swift) about the conditions for women under the present occupation.
The Iraqi Women reminded us of the very highly developed medical and educational systems created when Iraq became a republic in 1958, giving women access to education, the professions and economic independence. Even under the Saddam regime, women’s access to education and wage labour continued to grow.
Since the sanctions, followed by the illegal war and occupation, all the basic infrastructures - clean water, electricity and other basic services like decent schools and health care - have been progressively destroyed to a point where everyday life is almost impossible.
As a consequence of the occupation and of conservative groups gaining tremendous power, women and children have been seriously affected. They are confined to their homes with severely restricted access to water and electricity. They are also exposed to gender-based violence. The conservative Shi’a elements are manipulating the insecure political situation, for example, women are forced to comply with the heavily veiled dress code.
The Network of Oxford Women (NOW) for Justice and Peace requests that you immediately take up this matter with our Government concerning the human rights of Iraqi women and children. Our Government’s policies have contributed to the destruction of Iraq’s economy and infrastructure. The present approach is not working; the cost for the Iraqis and the occupying forces is too great. Something else must happen. What is your response to the proposal to replace the present occupying forces by a UN Peace Force?
Please reply as soon as possible to inform us about the action you propose to take on these vital issues.
Yours sincerely,
(Sarah Lasenby, Khadiga Safwat, Ava Eyre, Bette Jones)
Iraqi Women Sub-Group of NOW FOR JUSTICE & PEACE, and NOW Members attached.
On 6 February 2006 Jean Kaye forwarded this letter on Iran from Sheila Triggs of UK WILPF (Women's International League of Peace and Friendship).
11) Iran and nuclear
weapons: 'Iran is only going down the path of
nuclear enrichment to make a bomb' (Kim Howells)
Below is the letter that I sent to Jack Straw
from the Section at the point
last week when the powers agreed to take the issue to the IAEA. It was
largely based on the material sent round in the Geneva January mailing. In
the last few days an International WILPF statement has been prepared to send
to the Permanent Members of the Security Council and to issue as a press
statement now that the decision has been agreed at the IAEA. I will
circulated it when it is finalized.
Sheila
Dear Jack Straw,
I am writing to on behalf of the Women's International League
for Peace and
Freedom (WILPF), to express our concern about the decision taken on Monday
to refer Iran to the UN Security Council. The proliferation of nuclear
weapons is possibly the single greatest threat to the world. We fear that
nuclear proliferation could through malice, madness, miscalculation or
malfunction, bring disaster. All states have a responsibility to ensure that
the number of nations with nuclear weapons does not grow; to prevent
non-state actors from obtaining them; and for those who possess nuclear
weapons to eliminate and abolish them.
Received from Jill Small and Lieve Snellings, via WiB UK
10) WiB Gathering in Jerusalem, August 2005
As you may know, NOW regularly transforms itself into the Oxford branch of Women in Black (WiB) when it holds silent vigils in Bonn Square, and as such we receive reports and information from other WiB branches.This August there was a WiB International Gathering and Conference in Jerusalem, and we have now begun to receive reports and photos of the event.
Caroline Raine contributed this report on the meeting with our MP for East Oxford:
9) Meeting with Andrew Smith, MP, and Councillor Val Smith,
September 3, 2005
At a well-attended meeting we asked Andrew and Val questions on key issues:
We reminded Andrew that before the Iraq war NOW had urged him to oppose it, in part because there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction and in part because of fears that instead of tackling terrorism, such a war would make the UK a more likely target. Andrew however had remained adamant that there were weapons of mass destruction and he did not agree with our arguments about terrorism. We asked him what his thoughts were now, in the light of experience. Andrew made clear that "I don't regret the fact we invaded Iraq" and said it was justified by the demise of Saddam Hussein and moves towards democracy. He agreed that Parliament's decision to go to war had been based on misinformation but said it was nevertheless done in good faith.
Catherine Robertson sent us this report on her return from Japan.
8. Hiroshima Peace Conference and Commemoration Ceremony,
August 2005
I visited Hiroshima this year as a representative for the Youth & Student section of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). 2005 marks 60 years since an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
On the day before the commemoration ceremony, there was an opportunity to meet people from across the world who had travelled to attend the conference. Each delegate had their own story to tell about campaigning against nuclear weapons in their own country: Movement de la Paix sent a large delegation which included around 20 young people. They spoke about their sorrow and shame as they listened to the memories of a survivor of the bombing (hibakusha) and knew that their own government was one of those to maintain a nuclear arsenal: an emotion I could well relate to.
Sarah Lasenby attended a a talk given by Leslie Lefkow of Human Rights Watch on 25th May 2005 in Magdalen College, Oxford
7. Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Darfur
Leslie Lefkow highlighted the difference between the international response to genocide in Rwanda and to the situation in Sudan, a land that was well known to the US Government and of course the UK. There is therefore less excuse for not getting involved to prevent this crisis becoming a catastrophe.
6. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Embassy Talks, May 2005
Every 5 years a conference is held at the UN in New York to review the workings of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Usually Christian CND organizes visits to embassies in London, coinciding with the conference in New York, to discuss the NPT and the need for nuclear disarmament, but this year it was the turn of the UK section of WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Friendship). Below you can find the reports on this year's visits, in the form of emails forwarded to us by Sheila Triggs, President of the British Section of WILPF. For the reports on the embassy visits, click here.
For more information on WILPF and the NPT, click here or here.
Irene Brennan was kind enough to give us the following account of her visit to Palestine and Israel from April 3-15, 2005
5. Irene Brennan's Visit to Palestine
During my visit to Palestine, I was able to experience the 'siege' of Bethlehem
and the sufferings of its people; to see the construction of the Apartheid Wall
in East Jerusalem and the beginnings of the creation of an enclosed ghetto around
Budrus and nine other villages. I was present at the Deir Yassin commemoration
in Jerusalem; saw the end of the Italian 'Peace Marathon' from Bethlehem when
it reached Mount Zion; heard the desperate cry of the muezzin during a settler
provocation - an attempt to invade the Harem al Sharif. I met Mordechai Vanunu
twice; first, during a discussion at St. George's Guest House, secondly, when
I gave him support outside of the courthouse before his arraignment. I found
my visit to Bir Zeit University during the student elections very interesting.
I was constantly astonished at the high level of militarism in Israel and appalled
at the treatment of Palestinian women at the Qalundia checkpoint.
Here are the notes of a talk given by Maggie Bremner of 'No
Sweat' on Saturday March 12 2005 as part of NOW's one day forum on 'Sweated
Labour: Women Workers in the Garment Trade' .
4. Disney
For eight long years 370 young women sewed Disney garments at the Shah Makhdum
factory in Bangladesh. Disney products formed 60-70 percent of the total output.
The women workers were beaten, forced to work 14 to 15 hours a day, seven days
a week - while living in utter misery and being paid just five cents for each
$17.99 Disney shirt they made. When the women couldn't take any more and asked
that their basic rights be respected - that they be treated as human beings
and not animals - Disney responded by cutting and running, pulling its work
from the factory and dumping the women in the street with nothing.
At this point (2002) conditions at Shah Makhdum vastly improved: Beatings and
abuse ended.
In fact the management apologized to the workers for past abuse and vows reform.
The factory was cleaned and painted, clean drinking water provided. Other reforms
were made and the owner agreed to independent monitoring once Disney's orders
were restored. But Disney did not return.
On Saturday 12 March 2005 Dr Hilda Kean of Ruskin College, Oxford, was a speaker at NOW's one-day forum on 'Sweated Labour:Women Workers in the Garment Trade'. She has kindly given us a summary of her talk on 19th century women silk-weavers:
3. The unusual circumstances of Spitalfields weavers
Silk weaving in London had had its origins in a livery company within the nearby square mile of the city. It was based here both because of closeness to imports of raw silk in the Port of London and because London was a place of consumption of silk. Spitalfields was a particular location for silk weaving since it had been protected by legislation in the 1700s covering wage levels and the numbers of apprenticeships allowed. Silk weavers working here were protected both against foreign competition and under-cutting by other areas outside London. The trade had been revitalised, however, by migrant Protestant weavers who had been forced abroad from their native France after religious persecution first at the St Bartholomew's Massacre of 1572 and, subsequently, when the freedom to practise their religion was rescinded by the Edict of Nantes in 1685. They settled in Spitalfields, the name first given to the north east area just outside the boundary of the City of London, which was the oldest industrial suburb in London.
On Saturday 19 February 2005 Sîan Jones gave a talk in the Friends Meeting House entitled:
2. Nuclear Hypocrisy: How countries are breaking the rules of the NPT
I’m going to present some of the available evidence which suggests that the UK government is preparing to develop the next generation of nuclear weapons, either in the form of a replacement to Trident or in the development of new weapons systems (probably in conjunction with the USA) which we believe would violate the UK’s obligations under Article VI of the NPT:
"Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control"
The following talk was given to a NOW meeting in Autumn 2004 by Irene Brennan
1. Brief Introduction to a Discussion: Some Thoughts on the Nature of Terrorism
Suggested definition of terrorism
Violence used against a civilian population in order to achieve military/political aims.
NB Such violence, utilized against a civilian population, is outlawed under international law
State Terrorism
At a global level, terrorism is more frequently employed by states against civilians, than by militias.This can take one or more of the following forms:
(NB These are just some forms of state terrorism - one might think of others)