Today is International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament.
It may seem excessive to dedicate a day to celebrate something so specific, even unnecessary. Why else? The UN already recognises 8 March as Women's Day and 21 September as International Day of Peace. Five days later there is the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and there is even a Disarmament Week every year in October…
If we look only at the data and results of wars and the arms trade, which are shocking, there is nothing to celebrate. But by focusing on the contribution of women who are examples in these contexts, to make visible their protagonism in conflict resolution, civil struggles, and revolutionary and democratic movements so that they inspire, make us accomplices of their dreams, and infect us. So, this is a celebration of hope. Of believing in Women, believing in Peace, believing in Disarmament. It all sounds wonderful and monstrous at the same time, doesn't it?
Since the First International Women's Congress during the First World War, the role of women as active and visible agents in the construction of peace in the world has been unstoppable. Later, in the 1980s, driven by European and American pacifist women's groups against NATO and the nuclear arms race, the 24th of May began to be celebrated as a women's day.
In war zones, women live a double face of violence; that of the conflict itself and that of being women, which leads to even more inequality if that is possible. However, women's role in wars is not limited to their status as victims. They play a powerful role in the development of peace in their communities, for they are both monstrous and marvellous. The list of humans, anonymous and, thankfully, resonant names is endless.
Today, seventeen Nobel Peace Prize laureates are women. The first woman was Baroness von Suttner in 1905. The most recent, two years ago, was Nadia Murad, for her efforts to eradicate sexual violence as a weapon in wars and armed conflicts, an Iraqi abducted by the Islamic State and a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. Among them is also Jane Addams (1931), author of "Peace and Bread in Wartime" and the admirable Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1979). The first African to receive this prize was Wangari Maathai (2004), a biologist and politician in Kenya, creator of the Green Belt movement, not only a model of action against deforestation but also for women's emancipation. This is a great example of sustainable development, democracy, and peace. At different times but next to each other, the Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchú (1992) in favour of ethnocultural reconciliation and the defence of indigenous peoples and Malala Yousafzai (2014) a faithful defender of education as a pillar of society and egalitarian progress. Also exemplary are Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakel Karman, who share the Nobel in 2011 and nonviolent struggle for security and the right of women to participate fully in peacebuilding.
Their actions also speak for them. They are Irena Slender, a Polish nurse and social worker who saved more than 2,500 Jewish children victims of the Holocaust. And Maj Britt Theorin, Sweden's Ambassador for Disarmament and chair of the UN Nuclear Weapons Commission in the 1980s, the time when Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan broke ground as Prime Minister of a Muslim country. Let us not forget the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Palestinian rights activist Rachel Corrie and Aminatou Haidar, the Sahrawi people's living peacebuilder.
This wonderful three-headed monster called Woman, Peace and Disarmament is also bad company. Although sometimes more discreet, these creatures also exist in our most ordinary lives. Another way of being is by telling, for there are women who make peace because by listening they become accomplices of those who tell their stories. Ana C. Herreros is one of them because she is dedicated to giving a voice to the voiceless. In her efforts to give voice to the stories of African women who have been silenced, she reminds us that in Africa there is culture and literature; through her passion for oral tradition, she has met people who live and sing, make peace, show solidarity, and also tell the same stories as any other person in any corner of the world. She has experience in researching folkloric sources to use stories as arguments in international mediation with the Centre for Peace Research.
At the end of the day, living together in peace is as simple as accepting differences and having the ability to listen, dialogue, recognise, respect, and appreciate others. Happy 24th May, to wonderful women and to those who are complicit in it. It is time to pay tribute to the women who have been rewarded and those who have been punished. Women who act. Women who are silenced. Women who listen, who gather, who tell. Women, old women, and girls who share their stories, and so make a better world. And who are monstrous and bad company because they make people uncomfortable, point out injustices, and speak of dreams, of the future, of Peace and Disarmament.
Victoria Pellegero Terán
