Women In Black

Last night I happened to walk past the Edith Cavell statue opposite the National Portrait Gallery in London as the Women In Black were holding their weekly hour-long vigil against militarism the world over. I first came across them one evening just after I moved to London nearly three years ago and I recognised some of the faces. They are hard to ignore. Dressed in black, usually in long skirts or overcoats, they look rather imposing and theatrical standing there in silence, billboards hung around their necks, as the pavement spotlights around the statue light up their faces and their (mostly) silver hair. I imagine the suffragettes would have had a similar aura.

I stopped and had a read of a flyer I was handed.

This week they were protesting against the war in Iraq and how women had been disproportionately affected by the war. That is certainly something I would want to protest about too. But there were a couple of sentences in the flyer which made me feel uneasy. A quote from the Basra Chief of Police in Dec 2007: “The UK has left behind murder and chaos. Basra has become so lawless in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being ‘immoral’ because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock.”

I protested against the war in February 2003 and I believe that war is atrocious. But I fail to swallow the corollary that it is the UK’s fault for women being murdered for not wearing the hijab. That is a massive jump to make and it means you have to believe a whole number of things before you get to that conclusion. The UK is not responsible for Islamic laws. But it IS responsible for its military intervention and for providing security in the wake of its intervention. It can’t withdraw its troops until it has ascertained that pulling out will not lead to more chaos than staying. Obama is not saying he will pull his troops out tomorrow. He is saying he wants to pull out as soon as possible because he knows he has a responsibility.

There was another line in the flyer that caused me worry too: “Despite some improvements in the overall security situation, women are now more at risk of sexual violence and their lives more restricted than during the Saddam regime.” So, does that mean Women In Black are pro-Saddam? I asked the woman who handed me the flyer. “No,” she said, “We are not pro-Saddam.” Just a couple of extra sentences in the flyer clarifying that point would have avoided misunderstanding.

Aside from those few caveats, I supported all the action Women In Black were asking people to take, such as asking the government to investigate crimes against women, take measures to safeguard personal freedoms and improve the conditions of women.