MUJERES DE NEGRO contra la guerra
Casa de la Paz
Calle Aniceto Saenz Nº1
41003 Sevilla
mujeresdenegro@lacasadelapaz.org

PRESS RELEASE

Out of respect for the sovereignty of the Libyan civil society:

The governments which operate in the arms trade must send humanitarian aid and renounce to a military intervention

Women in Black against War, in view of the Libyan conflict and the General Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on the resisting civil population, declare that:

We reject whichever military intervention that might take place on the pretext of trying to solve the conflict on the part of NATO or any country.

We consider that no State or organization which has backed until now interventions against civil population, as in the cases of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya, etc. or has been trading arms and negotiating with dictators has no moral authority whatsoever to intend to be the “savior” of the Libyan conflict. We consider such countries co-responsible for the crimes against civil society, which is now affected by their militaristic policies.

The wave of civil resistance that is mobilizing the Mediterranean Basin, from the Magreb to Machrek is conveying the world a message that goes beyond the outcry against dictatorial regimes backed until now by the Western world. They are now shouting: “Enough with the hypocrisy and interventionism of economic and strategic interests!” For this reason Women in Black call upon European and our own government to change their peace policy, a peace policy which no army should be assigned to defend. We demand a policy that implies social justice and democracy, and that is free from the pressure of other governments or multinational corporations. It should also include the people’s sovereignty and avoid all discrimination against any women or men in society. It means a peace policy with no arms.

It is only the women and men in Libya who should play the leading role for their own present and future. They are the ones who must decide if mediators for negotiations in the conflict are required.

We know from experience that only aid without intervention can be beneficial.
For this reason, we call on every government, including the Spanish one, implied in selling arms to the Gaddafi, Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes to immediately send humanitarian aid to all the refugees who are now fleeing Libya, when required by their population.

Last but not least we demand for our mass media to show full respect and transparency when dealing with the plural reality of the civil resistance movement and the situation of the civil population. We request to avoid the tendency of presenting the news from a militaristic point of view and only from the perspective of Western interests.

Violence generates violence: let us avoid a military intervention that might generate more violence!

Wib Seville from the International Network of Wib and RANA (Andalusian Network for Non Violence and against Militarism)
Seville 4. 3 2011