STATEMENT

The peace group "Women in Black" from Belgrade together with the "Women's Center" from Leskovac and the "Committee for Human Rights" from Vranje, is organizing on Saturday July 14th in the center of Bujanovac, a feminist anti-militarist performance against war:

We go slowly so as to arrive safely

Women in Black has been recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This demonstration is part of their activities against violence and war, which until recently threatened us here in southern Serbian and now is raging in Macedonia. Women activists of different ethnic origin and nationalities and from many cities in Serbian and Macedonia will take part in this performance. Because of the importance of this peaceful, multiethnic public demonstration against war and killing, we are asking you to announce and report on our actions.

On Saturday, July 14th, at 7 p.m., in the center of Bujanovac, in front of the Cultural Center, the peace group "Women in Black" from Belgrade is organizing a peaceful multiethnic performance against violence and war - "We go slowly so as to arrive safely."

Participants are Serbian, Macedonian, Albanian, and Roma women from Serbia and Macedonia.

Let's walk together towards peace!
July 13th, 2001.

"Women Center", Leskovac
"Committee for Human Rights", Vranje
"Women in Black", Belgrade

The movement Women in Black is suggested for the Nobel Peace Prize

We have the pleasure to announce that eight Danish and Norwegian parliamentarians (four women and four men) have nominated the movement "Women in Black" - represented by the Israeli and the Serbian group - to the Nobel Peace Prize 2001.

The movement Women in Black is nominated as a representative of the grass root peace movement including all the groups now active in Balkan and the Middle East.

In the nomination letter the Norwegian parliamentarians briefly describe the history and work of Women and Black, and they argue:

• In Serbia, Women in Black was the first group to reach out a hand to the Kosovo-Albanians when the conflict grew severe.
• In Israel, Women in Black with impressing endurance has insisted on dialogue and reconciliation for many years. Along with other courageous voluntary groups they represent a stripe of hope in this hard time in the Middle East.
• Both groups consequently reject the hostile images made of their neighbouring people.
• The movement Women in Black has proved to have the potential of spreading to many countries. Their calm and dignified, but still visual and telling, way of protesting has inspired peace activist in many countries.
• The movement Women in Black presents a vision of peace which comprises non-discrimination, anti-sexism and anti-racism.

The one hundred years of the Nobel Peace Prize will rightfully be celebrated by honouring the grass root peace movement. And this peace movement will rightfully be represented by one of the many courageous women³s groups in many countries around the world. This will be justified both by the history of the peace movement and by the fact that the United Nations eventually has recognised women s important contribution to peace building.

Women s engagement is often under-reported and under-estimated, and is often neglected in the composition of delegations for negotiations and in building of post-conflict political institutions.

The Nobel prize for Women in Black will give an occasion to focus on the civil society and to thank all the thousands of calm peace- and democracy demonstrators who contributed to the relatively peaceful revolutions in many European countries during the last decade.

WOMEN IN BLACK

Women In Black New York stand in silent vigil to protest war, rape as a tool of war, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses all over the world. We are silent because mere words cannot express the tragedy that wars and hatred bring. We refuse to add to the cacophony of empty statements that are spoken with the best intentions yet may be erased or go unheard under the sound of a passing ambulance or a bomb exploding nearby.

Our silence is visible. We invite women to stand with us, reflect about themselves and women who have been raped, tortured or killed in concentration camps, women who have disappeared, whose loved ones have disappeared or have been killed, whose homes have been demolished. We wear black as a symbol to mourn for all victims of war, to mourn the destruction of people, nature and the fabric of life.

Women in Black is an international peace network. Women in Black is not an organization, but a means of mobilization and a formula for action. Women in Black vigils were started in Israel in 1988 by women protesting against Israel³s Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Women in Black has developed in the Italy, Spain, United States, England, Azerbaijan and in FR Yugoslavia, where women in Belgrade have stood in weekly vigils since 1991 to protest war and the Serbian regime³s policies of nationalist aggression. Women in Black New York have been standing in solidarity with the women of Belgrade since 1993.

We stand in silent vigil in front of the New York Public Library at 5th Avenue and 41st Street the last Wednesday of every month from 5:30 Õ 6:30. Come join us.

For information, please visit our website at http://balkansnet.org/women
Tel: Indira at 212 560-0905.
E-mail: 074182@newschool.edu to get on our mailing list.
Donations may be sent to P.O. Box 20554, New York, NY 10021, and should be made payable to RACCOON, Inc., with WIB in the memo line.
See also http://wib.matriz.net.