Dear John,

War disproportionately affects women and girls. In conflict, existing inequalities become magnified and social networks are broken down, making women and girls more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and violence. Yet, we don’t often hear about the women working for peace.

This Sunday is International Women’s Day. World BEYOND War is celebrating women dedicated to abolishing all war and replacing it with a security system based in feminism and peace. Leveraging frameworks like the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1324—which requires parties in conflict to prevent violations of women’s rights and to support their participation in advocating for peace—we work not only to affirm the critical role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflict but also to encourage and facilitate the role of women in abolishing all war.

This May, an international coalition of activists and organizations will be heading to Ottawa to shutdown CANSEC—Canada’s largest international weapon’s expo where close to 12,000 government representatives, military officials, decision-makers and influencers will convene to perpetuate and profit from war.

Help shutdown CANSEC by sponsoring #NoWar2020

These are just a few of the women we’ll be hearing from at #NoWar2020:

Mary-Wynne Ashford, MD, PhD. was Co-President of the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War for four years, and President of Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) for four years. Her award-winning book, Enough Blood Shed: 101 Solutions to Violence, Terror, and War, has been translated into Japanese and Korean. Doctor Ashford and Dr. Jonathan Down received the 2019 National Achievement Award from Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, an organization of 1000 Members of the Order of Canada who support the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
Mia Beijer is a 16-year-old Social and Climate Justice activist who founded Future Rising Ottawa and started striking weekly in front of parliament in Jan 2019. Mia is concerned with the increasing militarization and intensifying aggression of our local police and RCMP in response to marginalised and indigenous front line communities. She is also concerned with the disproportionate resources being devoted to militarization and the military industry.
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years. Described as “one of America’s most committed — and most effective — fighters for human rights” by New York Newsday, and “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide.
Shannon Chief, from the Anishnabe Nation of the Ottawa River Watershed (Algonquin), Wolf clans are known for good memory in carrying indigenous knowledge. Shannon has been involved with the people’s intent to protect the land, animals and traditional way of life with the land, from land defending, to restoring Indigenous Governance, to building a Land Based Curriculum, to Anishnabe Odinewin Camps and taking part in Climate Change discussions in her homelands.
Kathy Kelly co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89), and spent three months in prison in 2004 for crossing the line at Fort Benning’s military training school.
Peggy Mason is a former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the UN, Peggy Mason is now the President of the Rideau Institute, an independent, non-profit think tank focusing on research and advocacy on Canadian foreign and defence policy. She brings attention to issues ranging from the imperative of nuclear disarmament to the centrality of UN conflict resolution.

These women and others have dedicated their work and lives to taking on the war machine in the hopes for a more secure and sustainable planet and equitable global community.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, you can recognize and support women peace activists by sponsoring #NoWar2020 in their honor. When you sponsor, you help reduce costs affiliated with bringing women from all over the world to speak about the devastating effects of global militarism. Your sponsorship supports their travel and stay in Ottawa.

“War is not women’s history,” says Virginia Woolf. “War is only an invention, not a biological necessity,” affirms Margaret Mead. It was once said that it was impossible to abolish legalized slavery and dueling. Once deeply embedded in societies of their time, these practices are now, if not fully in the dustbin of history, universally understood to be eliminable. Now, let’s make war a thing of the past!

In peace and feminist solidarity,

Alex McAdams
Development Director, World BEYOND War

Prefer to donate by mail? Make a U.S. check or international money order to: World BEYOND War/AFGJ (You have to add AFGJ or we can’t deposit it!) 513 E Main St #1484, Charlottesville VA 22902, USA.

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for the abolition of the very institution of war. Our success is driven by a people-powered movement – support our work for a culture of peace.

World BEYOND War 513 E Main St #1484 Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA