The Anti-Nuclear Struggle
The women's anti-nuclear movement is perhaps the fastest growing force within the women's movement in the world today. The piece which follows summarizes briefly some of the initiatives taken in different countries with emphasis on Australia. It is by Women for a Nuclear Free World taken from Women's News Service /Vo. 35, Oct /Nov. 1981. It is available from WNS, 207 Lygon Street, Carlton, 3153 Australia.
The second piece gives details of the newest anti-nuclear campaign initiated in Finland by Women for Peace.
"When I speak to a general audience about nuclear war It's the women who move immediately. You can see the women who have never even heard of liberation suddenly become tremendously powerful." Helen Caldicott.
Women are playing a large and prominent role in the antinuclear movement. All over the world women are responding to the escalating threat of nuclear war and nuclear power.
Not since the post World War 1 Peace Conferences have women come together in such a world-wide movement. Women who have previously have had little or no political
involvement are working together politically to stop the push towards nuclear war and nuclear power.
The peoples of Europe are outraged about the shift from the idea of "Mutually Assured Destruction", in which nuclear war was impossible because of its global implication to the notion of "theatre" or regional warfare — with Europe as the battleground for war between the superpowers. President Reagan's decision to produce the neutron bomb, which is meant to kill people while minimizing the damage to buildings, is seen as escalating the nuclear arms race and commits the U.S. to first use of nuclear arms weapons in the event of conventional war in Europe or the Middle East. Worse still, the introduction of this new weapon promises to turn any limited conflict in Europe or the Middle East into an all-out nuclear war involving the whole globe.
Women's groups have mobilized across all of Europe. Some 10.000 people marched into Paris on Hiroshima Day this year. This march, initiated by three Norwegian women from the organisation "Women for Peace", began in Norway as a women's march of 60 people. As it wound across Europe through West Germany, Holland, Belgium and into France, it gathered thousands more, men and women.
The people of the small Micronesian island of Belau have recently won an important victory. In three separate referenda they voted for a Constitution which forbids the use of the land for nuclear power or nuclear weapons. The Belauans have been under tremendous pressure from the U.S. government which wants a naval port facility in Belau for their new Trident missile launching submarines, and air base facilities. It was the women who drafted the constitution and organised anti-nuclear candidates. In Tahiti, Dorothy Levi is campaigning against the build up of nuclear weapons in the Pacific region and the dumping of nuclear wastes in the ocean. She is also investigating the relationship between French nuclear testing and the colonisation of the Tahitian people.
In Australia women's groups across the continent have started organising around specific issues.
Women in Perth's "Campaign Against Nuclear Energy", are particularly concerned with the threat presented by the establishment of a Trident submarine support base at Cockburn Sound. Trident will be the most destructive weapon in history. It is the Navy's plan for updating the sea leg of the strategic U.S. nuclear triad : the submarine launched balistic missiles. Trident will be composed of a new fleet of submarines, two generations of missiles, and an exotic communications system. Not only does the presence of the base lock Australia into the worldwide defence network, making Perth a nuclear target, but women in Perth must contend with a succession of "invasions"
by sailors, up to 6.000 at a time, on R and R leave.
The decision by the federal government to allow the B52s to land in Darwin has lead to the formation of a group called "Women Against the B52s". The Darwin women are suspicious of assurances that the B52s are unarmed; this does not mean that they are not carrying nuclear weapons, but rather that the weapons are not primed. Whether the bombers are carrying nuclear weapons in normal flight or the bombs are on the ground, the purpose of the B52s is to be employed in bombing attacks which may include conventional, theatre, nuclear and strategic (all-out) nuclear war. The establishment of a B52 landing base is part of an option being developed by the Pentagon
to launch a limited nuclear strike in response to hypothetical Soviet intervention in the Middle East or South West Asia. The people of Darwin are faced with being a nuclear
target in times of nuclear war and also must contend with the possibility of a plane crash, given the B52s appalling accident record. Darwin Women Against the B52s have organised local opposition to the establishment of the B52s base. They have organised a petition calling on the government to withdraw their offer of Darwin or any other location in Australia as a base or depot for American 852 bombers.
Similarly throughout the rest of Australia women have taken initiatives on the anti-nuclear movement.
In Australia over the last year there have been two national anti-nuclear conferences. The first in January in Melbourne, the second in June in Sydney, and on both occasions the women attending the conferences got together to discuss their special problems and approaches to the issues. They are now in contact and communicating on an on-going basis.
Arising out of these conferences was the feeling by some women in Victoria's Movement Against Uranium Mining and Friends of the Earth that a women's group should be
established to encourage women to participate in the antinuclear struggle. This group has become known as "Women for a Nuclear Free World". The group has the aim of holding meetings in an informal supportive atmosphere — a chance to exchange information on the issues, develop skills and organise activities which demonstrate women's opposition to a nuclear future and which also reach out to the many women opposed to the nuclear threat but who have not become active.
The thoughts and actions of women have always contributed much to the anti-nuclear movement in Australia. Women have always been at the forefront even though men have appeared to be taking the lead.
Throughout the world-wide movement of women, there are a variety of reasons for taking an anti-nuclear stance. Women from many varied backgrounds and differing levels of political awareness are beginning to participate in anti-nuclear campaigns. By doing so more women are gaining the opportunity to question the economic and social structures leading to nuclear war, which in turn leads to questionning traditional roles imposed by a patriarchal society. Through gathering and sharing ideas and skills, women can gain confidence in their capabilities to take control of their futures.
Whatever the approach by various women, we are able to find a common ground in our opposition to a nuclear future.
Women For A Nuclear Free World.
WOMEN FOR PEACE IN FINLAND A PROPOSAL FOR A DISARMAMENT STRATEGY FOR WOMEN AND OTHER CITIZENS.
Women for Peace in Finland have launched a new Campaign for Peace and Disarmament, especially against Nuclear Weapons. The background of this Campaign was the Petition for Disarmament which last year collected more than 500.000 signatures in the Nordic countries, and the March from Copenhagen to Paris for Disarmament which took place this summer.
BASIC FACTS
1. Nuclear weapons are an appalling threat to the security of all people.
2. There is no defence against nuclear attack. Therefore, even the major powers concentrate on consolidating their counter-attack.
3. It Is impossible to protect the civilian population in the event of a nuclear attack.
4. No country is protected against nuclear disaster, irrespective of whether it has nuclear weapons itself or not.
5. Those countries that have nuclear weapons are in the greatest danger, because they will certainly be the targets of their opponents.
6. If the big powers use nuclear weapons, the biggest disaster will take place in Europe because both sides will attack their opponent's bases in Europe first.
7. The Soviet Union and the United States are responsible for the continuation of the arms race. Both also force their allies — the members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact — to participate in the arms race.
8. No country can protect its citizens by national measures any longer.
9. The only way to avoid a nuclear disaster is to prevent the use of nuclear weapons.
The Finnish women write :
"Why we need a strategy"
"In disarmament negotiations between governments so far most of the proposals discussed have been complicated and partial, serving more as bases for continued negotiations than as real plans seeking tangible results in stopping the arms race. In recent years negotiations have even concentrated mainly on controlling the arms race rather than slowing it down or stopping it.
"Such plans do not satisfy those people looking for tangible results. The "civilian angle" — the fate of civilians in the event of modern weapons being used — has been totally forgotten and attention has focussed on estimating and maintaining the balance of power, on assuring the ability to counter attack if the other side attacks first.
"In each country, the general public can influence its own government. Our demands must therefore be addressed to our own respective governments and in each case such demands must be based on the situation and status of the particular country in the world structure. Popular movements can, however, support and encourage one another across national frontiers."
THE AIM
The aim of the Campaign is to make everyone realize the basic facts, and to encourage strong protest against the present trend and the continuation of the arms race. It is also to create political opinion which refuses to live under such a threat and which will force governments to take action to abolish it.
WHAT TO DO
Finnish Women for Peace are initiating the Campaign by writing letters to women in all the major countries concerned : NATO countries (Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Greece, Portugal and Turkey), the Warsaw Pact countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Germand Democratic Republic, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria), the USA, the Soviet Union and the European neutral countries (Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Yougoslavia). The letters make the basic facts known und urge women in these countries to make specific demands of their governments (see below). Each letter also encourages the receiver to send it on to an additional ten people. In this way there will be
100.000 recipients on the fifth round, and the sixth round would encompass one million.
"The letters will assure us that each of us can do realistic work for peace and against nuclear weapons, each of us can make a contribution towards decreasing the risk of nuclear war, and everyone can do something tangible for the survival of their children and for their future," write the Finnish women.
"WE ARE CONVINCED THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD TODAY AND THAT THE IMPACT OF WOMEN WILL BE DECISIVE IN THIS MATTER ."
Write to : Women for Peace, c/o Unioni, Bulevardi 11,00120 Helsinki 12, Finland, for model letters or for further information
SPECIFIC DEMANDS
1. The women of the European neutral countries (Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Yugoslavia) can demand that their governments will — stop increasing their own stock of arms because such stocks do not increase anybody's security, — protest against the arms race between the great powers and
their allies and against the arms trade, — prepare a plan for a nuclear-free zone throughout Europe, from Poland to Portugal, and devote all their political power to promoting such a plan.
2. The women of NATO countries (Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Greece, Portugal and Turkey) can demand that their governments — refrain from increasing their arms according to the demands of the United States,
— call for the withdrawal of American troops, weapons, bases and military stockpiles from their countries, because these are targets and threaten their people with a holocaust, — demand that the government of the United States stop the development and production of arms and agree with the government of the Soviet Union on ways of disposing of existing weapons.
3. The women of the Warsaw Pact countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria) can — refuse to be protected against the threat of the United States and NATO by weapons which threaten themselves, — demand that Soviet troops and weapons be withdrawn from their countries, as their presence will make them targets and threaten them with a holocaust, — demand that their governments put pressure on the Soviet government to stop the development and production of weapons and agree with the government of the United States on the disposal of existing weapons.
4. The women of the United States can — refuse to pay taxes to finance the arms race which their government is conducting, and encourage others to do likewise,
— demand that their government stop the arms race because it merely accelerates the stockpiling of arms in the Soviet Union and makes them a target threatening the people of the United States with a holocaust, — demand that their government agrees with the government of the Soviet Union on stopping the arms race and on the
disposal of existing weapons.
5. The women of the Soviet Union can — refuse to believe that the American people are their enemies, — demand that their government stop the arms race since it
only accelerates the stockpiling of arms in the United States and makes them a target threatening the people of the Soviet Union with a holocaust, — demand that their government agree with the government of the United States on stopping the arms race and disposal of existing weapons.
6. We, the women of Europe, together will — devote all our strength to supporting our American and Soviet sisters in their demands from their governments, — force our governments to disarm.
USEFUL ADDRESSES
Resistance Internationale des Femmes a la Guerre B.P. 52 94210 La Varenne France.
A group which began at the beginning of this year and which now has members throughout France and also in Belgium, Switzerland, England, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, India, Algeria, USA and USSR. They are particularly concerned with peace education, and all public initiatives to stop the arms race. They are very anxious to be in contact with other groups for pace and against war.
Les Femmes et I'Armee Bull-Infos 3, place de la Croix-Rousse 69004 Lyon France. 1981. FFr. 31.30.
This is a collection of articles concerning women and the military, which have appeared in the French, German and English press. It covers : conscription of women in NATO countries, the relationship of feminism and militarism or feminism and anti-militarism, speeches of resistance, and a bibliography, resources, addresses.
Women Oppose t h e Nuclear Threat c/o Box 600 Peace News 8 Elm Avenue Nottingham England.
WONT is a network of women's groups campaigning throughout Britain for nuclear disarmament. The network was set up partly in reaction against the generally male-dominated hierarchical structure of the disarmament movement, but the women of WONT also see the nuclear threat as a specifically feminist issue. They publish a newsletter, Womenergy, available from Hackney WONT, c/o Sisterwrite Bookshop, 190 Upper Street, London N1.