Women In Black
Conference
“I am the only Armenian woman here”, I was thinking during
the five day conference in Valencia, Spain.
More than 400 women participated in the peace conference organized by
Women In Black in August of 2007.
Women In Black is a grass root peace group that started by
Israeli women in Jerusalem in 1988. It was a reaction to the violations of
human rights by Israeli soldiers in the Occupied Territories. The women decided
to hold a vigil every Friday in central Jerusalem, wearing black clothing in
mourning for all victims of whatever side and holding signs with the slogan
"Down with the Occupation". Later many Jewish women who felt critical
of the policies of the Government of Israel formed their local Women In Black
groups. Such groups took up a variety of local social and political issues, and
the idea spread fast. It has now become an international movement. Women In
Black has many active members in Belgrade. In the 1990s they were confronted by
violence from nationalists and persecution by police. They were called "witches" among
other negative names. The worldwide Women in Black keep in regular contact via
e-mail and the Internet and hold international conferences every two years. The
movement has been growing in the United States since the war in Iraq, which is
an important issue for many members of the movement. Some chapters of the
movement also encourage men to participate; though the movement still consists
mostly of women. Standing together in complete silence is a main activity of
the group.
The first night, on the evening of August 16th,
all the participants got together in the Valencia Polytechnic University’s
auditorium for a cultural program. The
women stood up as they heard their countries’ names. When they said “Armenia” I waved and everyone
cheered. It was an exciting moment for
me that I was representing Armenia by my participation. There was one young
woman from Turkey. Later she played
santour, an Iranian instrument. I
approached her and told her that I was Armenian from Iran. I asked her about Hrant Dink. We exchanged just few sentences but we felt
connected through Hrant’s peace spirit.
During the following few days I met very interesting
women. The Italian women were informed
about the Armenian Genocide by the book and the movie “Lark” by Taviani
brothers. One of them talked to me in
Italian and told me she went to Armenia in 2005. When I gave her one of my postcards with the
Ararat on it, she said “Khorvirap” and used words in Armenian “Matenadaran” and
“Tirdad”. Another Spanish woman wanted
to take a picture with me because I was the only Armenian she had ever
met. She knew many facts about Armenia.
On Sunday afternoon all the women wore black and went to the
beach for a silent vigil. They held the
quilts and banners they had made. Later
the Turkish woman played her santour and I danced an Armenian dance. Then the other women joined me in a circle
dance. It was so touching to see
Palestinian and Arab, Croatian and Serbian, Turkish and Armenian we were all
united and connected by our desire for world peace.
During the conference simultaneous translation was
available, just like United Nations. The
translators were members of Women In Black.
Many people spoke several languages.
During the small group sessions, we waited patiently for translations in
Italian, Serbian, Spanish, French, and English.
There was no pressure that everybody has to speak English or
Spanish. Our differences were not a hindrance
but an acceptable fact of our lives.
After the conference, I spent ten hours with the Turkish woman. We went to the center of Valencia to walk and
take pictures. Then we had dinner
together. I told her that I had gone to
Istanbul and Izmir in June of 1998 for a Turkish friend’s wedding. I left Spain with a deep sense of
satisfaction. Hrant Dink’s peace spirit
was in the air. We need to be proactive
to create peace.
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