News from the Field Fall 2003 Battered by incessant wars and rapes since Bronze Age, females are in deep shock and have amnesia regarding female culture and female humanity. Imbedded from thousands of years of genocide practices, fear, generations long, has become this amnesia and female silence. 2003 was a crisscrossing of the globe. In January and February I was in Sri Lanka the exact time a peace treaty was signed declaring an end to 22 years of war. However, I have witnessed as other women have that the war never ends. In June and July, I was in Bombay/Mumbai India and back to Bosnia. In Bosnia, I facilitated the annual “Peaceful Dimensions Against Gender Violence,” conference in Novi Travnik, Bosnia. Again, I witnessed how the war never ends for women despite having multinational troops stationed in Bosnian cities for over 8 years now. Mumbai had female beggars with children so thin that I thought I was looking at sticks. My kolo (Bosnian for circle or to dance) work in these places allows females to remember their wisdom so that they become self-sustainable not only economically but also emotionally. The kolo work ennobles females to deal with their traumas by tapping into our inherent female culture and roots. Battered by incessant wars and rapes since Bronze Age, females are in deep shock and have amnesia regarding female culture and female humanity. Imbedded from thousands of years of genocide practices, fear, generations long, has become this amnesia and female silence. The Bosnian women, called ‘Sumejja Kolo,’ have been in the kolo program since March 1999 and ten of them have become certified kolo advisors. The women become empowered once the amnesia is broken. How? The Sumejja Kolo marched for garbage pickup in their town of Novi Travnik, and facilitated kolo meetings with war crimes survivors in Vittez-Amijca, Jayce, Zenica and Sebrenica. To facilitate a kolo gathering the necessary ingredients of coffee cups, coffee cup readings and other women’s divinatory arts such as the Slavic 41 white beans and first person stories are strongly present. The shock triggers memory when hearing other female’s first person story. More climatic then a massive earthquake, bearing witness to the Bosnians and in Sri Lanka first person stories one becomes conscious at how universal and how webbed we really are to each other. Tamils, Hindus, Singhalese, Bosnian Muslims, all females spoke in exact detail the same war crime the world over. The hatred of anything female is murdered, assaulted, denigrated and made invisible. At one of the kolo meetings in Bosnia, an elder white haired woman with huge reading glasses sucked up her crying to state how she just realized her mother could not show her love as she has done with her children. Wringing her tissue she declared the war never ends. Do females blame the war for not being able to love their children especially their daughters? Often the Bosnian women remark how it was better during the war then now. I always wonder with that remark if that is why we have incessant wars. Countless times, my soul inquires where are the women, the earth wide sisterhood? How is it that we as females are in denial of catastrophic rape statistics, murders and global wars declared not on countries, armies or ruling male governments but on homes (wombs archetypal), families and children? More money was spent in developing a tank that shears homes in half for the Israeli army then for humanitarian aid efforts there. Female culture and Female humanity embraces solidarity usually only in times of war, traumas and crisis. The kolo work allows for solidarity and support to occur in times of need, advocacy and concern for all sisters earth wide. If you are interested in collaborating for solidarity and to break the amnesia -female silence please consider a donation or your services for the kolo work and the nonprofit ‘The Kolo: Women’s Cross Cultural Collaboration.” The annual “Peaceful Dimensions’ Conference,” held annually in Novi Travnik, has international female visitors from other countries bearing witness to Bosnian female’s war and first person stories. Join me for that work/study tour and make a difference in your life and the earth. Become visible. Check the Baba Yaga Section of this website and read first person story accounts of the Sumejja Kolo. Your donation to them will be heartfelt. A fund towards a ‘safe place’ for females in the town of Novi Travnik is one dream. Air miles for the Bosnian certified kolo advisors and for myself to provide more training is very needed. Donations can be tax exempt through the nonprofit The Kolo: Women’s Cross Cultural Collaboration. Even $10 goes such a long way if each of us donated. Women can heal the earth and stop the war that never ends. Feminine Matrix is requesting articles from females who are advocating, bearing witness to the war that never ends. We will publish the article that proclaims and understands the depth of bearing witness, solidarity and support for female culture and female humanity.
UN PeaceKeepers Involved in Congo War Atrocities
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The mass rapes in Congo DRC continue unimpeded by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. “YOU WILL BE PUNISHED” – REPORT Attacks on Civilians in Eastern Congo This 183-page report documents in detail the deliberate killing of more than 1,400 civilians between January and September 2009 during two successive Congolese army operations against a Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. The UN writes its own report and barely outlines in detail which of its PeaceKeepers committed the war atrocities with Congolese army operations against a Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. Link to Full Human Rights Watch Report UN peacekeepers made important efforts to protect civilians in this complex and difficult terrain, Human Rights Watch said. But the peacekeeping force’s role as a joint player in the military operations, providing substantial support to the Congolese army, has implicated peacekeepers in the abuses and undermined the mission’s primary objective, which is to protect civilians. Some victims were tied together before their throats were, according to one witness, “slit like chickens.” The majority of the victims were women, children, and the elderly. The FDLR first raped the mother and inserted a large stick in her vagina causing serious injury which led to her death. When the young girl cried out in distress, the FDLR raped her as well. Commentary Many UN Security Council ambassadors have visited Congo and expressed outrage at the massive sexual violence,” said Van Woudenberg.” Faced with another UN proclamation and with what constitutes torture, gang rape, enforced sexual slavery of Congolese females, the UN provides a 183 page document that tries to distance the useless organization from any possible repercussions of its involvement and lack of involvement. In fact the UN spokesmen stated in the report: “”Many UN Security Council ambassadors have visited Congo and expressed outrage at the massive sexual violence,” said Van Woudenberg. “Yet rape is increasing – not decreasing – in eastern Congo. That outrage needs to be translated into bold and effective action to help protect these women and girls.” The 183 report by the UN is titled UN peacekeepers made important efforts to protect civilians in this complex and difficult terrain. Nothing can be so far from the truth. I have been in the Eastern part of the Congo and witnessed the world of the Congolese female and children. Fear does not shed light on the violence. Moreover, it is not a test of truth: false ideas, faking humanitarian efforts such as the UN are rolled into the rule of law, UN charters and so-called UN Peacekeepers who participate or are bystanders to the most violent sexual abuse towards women and children. January 2009, under the supposed UN expert group called peacekeepers- an oxymoron- with the Congolese and Rwandan government are doing a joint military operation known as Umoja Wetu and Kimia II is still being conducted. But the report itself states: “”The Security Council needs to provide UN peacekeepers in Congo with clear and concrete direction,” Van Woudenberg said “Sending a group of experts and making clear to the Congolese army the conditions under which the peacekeepers will work with its troops can play a crucial role in ending abuses and ensuring that UN peacekeepers are not implicated in future atrocities.” The inhumanity by the UN chartered to prevent and help the affected populations which are mostly women and children needs to be center point of our outrage. The amount of paper declaring whatever needs to be declared so as to look like they are earning their high salaries, elaborate environments or what is mostly covering their butts from any legal repercussions constitutes an extraordinary example of unconscious hatred towards women and children. It is incomprehensible for Van Woudenberg to appeal for the need of the security council to have a clear and concrete direction in ending abuses and ensuring Un peacekeepers are not implicated in future atrocities. I ask where was this clear and concrete direction before the brutalities committed and point to the infinite abyss of UN proclamations, charters, councils, to UNIFEM sections of the UN. The violence dynamics show up not only at the macro-level of the species-mind but in the smaller, transient groups or sections of the UN. Please lodge a protest to the UN Security Council and appeal to know the names of each individual peacekeeper involved and ultimate head of the operations to learn if any consequences were given. Write a letter to the International Criminal Court and ask for an investigation of War Crimes. Danica Anderson http://www.hrw.org/node/87151 CONGO – “YOU WILL BE PUNISHED” – REPORT Attacks on Civilians in Eastern Congo This 183-page report documents in detail the deliberate killing of more than 1,400 civilians between January and September 2009 during two successive Congolese army operations against a Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda Source: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/12/un-act-end-atrocities-eastern-congo December 13, 2009 ( New York ) – The United Nations Security Council should urgently act to protect civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from further atrocities by government and rebel forces and ensure peacekeepers are not implicated in abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. The 183-page report, “‘You Will Be Punished’: Attacks on Civilians in Eastern Congo,” documents in detail the deliberate killing of more than 1,400 civilians between January and September 2009 during two successive Congolese army operations against a Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The report is based
Her political activities define her radical nature
Wahu Kaara and Danica Anderson, Female Solidarity Wahu Kaara, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee/Winner 2005, board member of the Kolo: Women’s Cross Cultural Collaboration is a leading advocate for social justice in Kenya. She says: “African women are not dying for Africa anymore; they want to live for Africa.” She works for the Kenya Debt Relief Network (Kendren), the African Social Forum and the Kenya Social Forum. Her political activities define her radical nature and instead of her name or stereotyped roles females play, Wahu’s identity is the community she keeps. A 53-year-old widow, describes herself as a global social justice activist. The former history and Kiswahili teacher says she has been radical from an early age, having been involved in promoting social justice and economic democracy for 30 years. Despite the repression from the government and the hard times she experienced when her husband was forced into exile, the mother of four relentlessly worked locally and is today involved internationally in the African Social Forum and the Kenya Debt Relief Network, and she is also one of the main leaders of Katiba Watch, the main lobby group spearheading the ongoing mass mobilization in Kenya around the demand for a new constitution. We can learn more about Wahu through a series of quotes and pieces from conversations I had with her in Toronto, Canada for the Genevieve Vaughn sponsored (M) Otherworld Conference. This is Wahu’s voice and identity: All movements we do must know how to connect making what we know. Refuse to be a victim. Stand up in your power. Fertility of Women’s Spirituality Women are being dislocated and disoriented. We need to stop the unending re-inventing and re-engineering of women, who we are. The matriarchy is the heartbeat of the community. The waking up of the people…. How matriarchy is a community not a system. We have to show how it works. We get lost when we do not connect all.