Women Soldiers Betray Peace Efforts, Say Activists

By Bert Wilkinson

The women’s peace movement went on the attack yesterday, condemning military conflicts, the growing militarization of the planet and even their own sisters across the world who have joined armies.

The movement said the growing numbers of women joining the military in the name of equal opportunity was a “betrayal of efforts” by peace activists to cut back on “waste spending on military hardware”.

Speaker after speaker cited statistics showing how destructive military activities were and noting that the armed forces around the world were as guilty as multinational corporations in damaging the environment.

Jacklyn Cock, a professor of sociology at the University of Witwatersrand noted that up to 20 percent of the world’s scientists were working with the military or in related research fields.

“This represents an enormous waste of resources,” she said at an afternoon session in the Women’s Action tent.

She argued that military operations around the globe have resulted in millions of square kilometres of land being polluted or set aside for such purposes as weapons testing, lands she added, that could be otherwise used for productive activities linked to sustainable development.

Others like Anne Goeke of Global Greens USA asserted that the diversion of huge chunks of resources to the military and the intelligence community to fight terrorism would not help in the long run.

“We need more diplomacy. We need to close the gap between the very rich and the very poor. U.S. national security policy says that we have to be protective of our interests, meaning things like oil and diamonds, and if countries don’t comply they face the wrath of the U.S. This is wrong,” said the peace activist.

Meanwhile, a position paper prepared by the women’s forum says that the Johannesburg Summit provides an excellent opportunity to stimulate global discussions about military production and consumption.

The paper seeks to remind players that military production and consumption cause death, destruction and human suffering, points raised by Muborak Sharipova from Women in Europe for a Common Future and Burundi’s Fides Sinakwa.

“Women are not only dying from AIDS and other diseases, but are going hungry and are starving from the effects of war,” said Sinakwa, through a translator.

“A large number of women have been raped in wars we have had in the past,” said Sharipova, a native of Tadjikistan.

The women urged governments to cut back on military spending and encouraged civil society to do more to reverse current trends.