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Sun 9 Mar, 2003 09:02 am
I'm planning on joining a Women In Black group when they meet again, but I'm worried since they had extremely aggressive hecklers last week. These hecklers yelled in their faces so closely that the women were spit upon. They also had to be asked repeatedly to quit touching the women. The hecklers with small children in tow blocked traffic and held large signs which they waved in front of the women.
I feel we have a right to mourn in public and make a statement against the sad affairs of the world without being hassled in such a way by people who think differently.
What do you think?
Women In Black
I think that we have free speech in the US and that all people, who wish to mourn in public, be allowed to do so, unmolested.
I think it's a wonderful idea. And of course anyone should be able to mourn any time they feel the need. And, in any way that doesn't physically hurt someone else.
There's a group in Brookline... sounds like my kind of protest. Thanks Piffka
Is this a new movement? I have never heard of it. However if it turns you on to mourn you can do it in any color you please. There was a time when people used to hire professional mourners at funerals. Maybe the group should look into it.
Women in Black
We stand in Silent Vigil every Wednesday* in front of the New York Public Library at 5thAvenue and 41st Street from 5:30 -6:30. Please join us in our call for peace and to remember those lost to terrorism on September 11th -Please wear black- For more information contact Indira (212-560-0905).
*due to current events, we are now standing every week - please disregard other posted times
New contact list for Women in Black around the world
Statement: One year after September 11th, 2001
Cornerstone events:
The International Meeting of Women in Black will be held in Italy from 21st to 25th of August 2003.
Presentation Letter | Themes of the Meeting
Address to the Security Council of the United Nations
Gila Svirsky, Women in Black and Coalition of Women for Peace 23 October 2002.
Women in Black movement nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, June 2, 2001
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.
Report On The Tenth International Conference Of Women’s Solidarity Against War / The Network Of Women In Black Novi Sad 2001 and a call for the end of the armed violence in Macedonia
The Millennium Peace Prize, UNIFEM, March 8, 2001
Here's a thumbnail background from the New York WIB site:
Women in Black vigils were started in Israel in 1988 by women protesting against Israel's Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Women in Black has developed in the United States, England, Italy, Spain, Azerbaijan and in FR Yugoslavia, where women in Belgrade have stood in weekly vigils since 1991 to protest war and the Serbian regime's policies of nationalist aggression. Women in Black New York have been standing in solidarity with the women of Belgrade since 1993.
Au -- To me it is a poignant way for women to show their incredible sadness that the world is not at peace. I watched an episode of the WWII E Company's history last night where the Lieutenant says he prayed in thanksgiving that he was not killed that day, D+1, and also that when the war was over he could have the grace to buy a little land and live there in peace. That is what I hope for, for everyone.
Be careful, littlek!
New Haven, thanks for your link.
Piffka
You should be able to do this without being harrassed. I wish you the very best and am behind you all the way.
Piffka, that's a very interesting group. I checked their German site. There's a group in a university town about two hours away from where I live. I will look at this more closely. Thanks for making me aware of this.
Thanks, Urs, Thanks Gezzy. I admit I'm a little nervous about this coming vigil.
I'm nervous about one week from today. In Boston, it's called
Evacuation Day.
New Haven... do you mean because the two commemorations, Evacuation Day and St. Patrick's Day, are the same day this year?
Are there likely to be riots???
Don't want to seem obtuse, but what's Evacuation Day?
I had to look it up on Google -- it commemorates a time in 1776 when the "redcoats" were coming and most of Boston evacuated the town.
D'A -- What do you think of the Women in Black? Have you ever seen them in Seattle? They stand vigil on Thursdays from 5-6 PM at Westlake Park.
Thanks for the explanation re Evacuation Day, Piffka! Haven't seen the Women in Black at Westlake, because I'm rarely downtown at the hour. But now I'll make a point of looking for them...
Evacuation Day in Boston
March 17:
Evacuation Day commemorates the expulsion of British troops from South Boston by General Washington in 1776 and is observed as the de facto legal holiday.
What did the troops chant during the explusion?
Go get 'em George!
Did George Washington say that?
Today the rest of the world is yelling get George.
I didn't stand with my friends last night. I had forgotten about some tickets to an event which I'd purchased so I was only able to drive by and see how the Women in Black were doing.
They were doing horribly. A group called the Women in Red, White and Blue had arranged to make a complete mockery of their mourning stance.
The Red/White/Blue group had balloons, children and signs encouraging the president and advocating war on all four corners of the intersection where the vigil was being held. They stood in front of my friends. It felt like the were having a party at a funeral... that's the feeling I got and I was so enraged that I could not believe the depths of my anger.
I am so offended that I can barely speak of it, barely write about it.