‘Women should resist wars of globalisation’

Women should resist globalisation wars and violence against themselves while trying to find new roads to peace through justice, said participants at the World Court on Women on Thursday.

‘Women’s Resistance to War, Wars of Globalization and Wars Against Women’ was the theme of the court, which was arranged by the Simorgh Women’s Resource and Publication Centre in collaboration with the Asian Women’s Human Rights’ Council and Women’s Action Forum (Lahore), at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Dorab Patel Auditorium. Participants from Pakistan, India, Iraq, Indonesia, Kenya and Bangladesh presented their papers and commented on women’s resistance to war.

‘Single woman — Single Witnesss’, ‘Think Globally — Act Locallyy’ and ‘We Stand for Peace’ were some of the slogans displayed on banners, highlighting the theme of the court. Issues of brick kiln workers, bonded labour and women; land issues; globalisation and poverty; globalisation as genocide; displacement and dams and globalisation and food security were the first session’s main topics, while violence against women; rape survivors; trafficking and globalisation; war of occupation; war in Iraq and fundamentalism and state terrorism were the main topics of the second session. Justice (r) Nasir Zahid (Pakistan), Wahu Kaara (Kenya), Fareeda Shaheed (Pakistan), Ita Nadia (Indonesia), Najma Sadeque (Pakistan) and Khawar Mumtaz (Pakistan) made up the jury, which said the struggle against women’s violence and wars against globalization should be organised. The jury criticised governments for not dealing with women’s issues seriously.

The objective paper of the court said that the 20th century had seen much violence while politics and cultures had been militarized. The court condemned violence against women and said that civilians were being targeted while the war against terrorism had legitimised the terror of a racist war to an unprecedented degree. Neelam Hussain, coordinator of the SWRPC, said the court had been held to educate people on women’s issues.

SOURCE:www.dailytimes.com.pk