PEACE IN PATRIARCHY IS WAR FOR WOMEN
More and more women are beginning to ask questions like, whose peace are we marching for? Who benefits from peace in a male-dominated society? In Germany many women have been finding so many difficulties and frustrations when they have tried to work with men that they have begun to organise separately. The following article has been taken from the July 1982 issue of Outwrite (Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London E2, ENGLAND). Translated by Heidi Schaefer.
Angry German feminists stood before the centre stage platform in Rheinauen Park, Bonn, West Germany from 9 am to 12 pm demanding their rights to speak on the platform along with other speakers for that afternoon of the European Nuclear Disarmament Peace Festival.
Their anger had been growing over the past few weeks as disputes arose between them and the organisers, who were not recognising the importance of feminist politics in the
disarmament campaign but instead male organisers triviaiised and patronised feminist argument.
The feminists, including Women for Peace from Hamburg, had submitted a paper three weeks before the festival which they intended to read on the platform. The paper criticised the Left peace movement illustrating that it is no real peace movement as long as it ignores that men continue to use force against women, and reminds us that 'Peace in Patriarchy is war for women'.
Finally, after the feminist protest came the patronising response, "OK, if you're going to be silly about it, you can speak for 5 minutes, you'll only make fools of yourselves
anyway."
With the tail end of the march filtering into the Rheinauen Park on the East side of the city, the speeches began. The march had been banned from crossing the river to the West side because Reagan was there speaking in government. In total approaching 500,000 crammed themselves into the park, a space about four times the size of Hyde Park, painted faces, banners, puppets and slogans wafted and wilted in the afternoon heat. Germans, English, Belgians, Dutch. I saw no black faces.
At approximately 4 pm the following paper was read:
Our official request to the co-ordination office for a feminist to speak on the 10th of June was turned down. We refuse to beg for time to speak. We will take it for ourselves.
Women have always fought in uprisings and revolutions. When they came to an end, women always returned to the kitchen to serve their men again. Nothing had changed in their oppression — they had fought only for the freeing of men. Their part in the victory was promptly forgotten in the reporting. The triumph was not theirs. We must learn
from this history.
If women today once more lay down arms in their daily war, and once again support and put their energies into the Peace movement — a movement whose goals have been set by men — this will end in a new defeat for us women. For us, the fight for peace must always go hand in hand with the fight against male domination.
When the rulers talk of peace — war is at hand. War is the subjection of the weak by the strong. War is the attempt to establish new inequalities. Wars are made to establish power and lack of power. To redistribute the powerful and the powerless.
These are world-wide power relationships. These accepted patterns of powerful and powerless are mirrored in the daily hierarchies of work, political parties, unions, relations
with foreign countries, in relations with all minorities. And above all in relation to women. Behind all these runs the same idea — the idea of subjection. A peace movement that does not recognise this is worth nothing, is ineffective, is not radical, and does not recognise the roots of war mentality. Instead it stays within the mentality of the rulers and only takes half-hearted steps forward. It tries only to save its own privileges and calls that total freedom. It keeps the ground moist for the roots of later wars. Thanks a lot! We shudder at this kind of peace. We've got that already. Peace within the patriarchy is war for women. It's what we call our every day war. Here is inequality between men and women, here in the demeaning of housework. It is in the rules about the "weaker" and "stupid" sex, it is about whether a woman can go out alone, or take care of her own money. It means beatings and rape... Power and powerlessness determines the relationships between men and women. And this is the nature of world politics, of war and peace.
A new share out of the world is at hand. The plans for this have been around for a long time. For each of us the Nth death is already here — even for us women. Our daily war is also a fight against imperialist war. Our future holds death from bombs or from stab wounds. Injuries from exploding buildings or from beatings. Lifelong suffering from schrapnel or from rape.
When we fight for freedom, we are fighting for ourselves.