[2139] in peace2
an idea that could catch on?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jdu@MIT.EDU)
Wed Dec 18 00:58:50 2002
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Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 00:56:22 -0500
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Women's Group Fasts in Antiwar Message
By Darryl McGrath, Globe Correspondent, 12/16/2002
ALBANY, N.Y. - Nadya Lawson was born when the war in Vietnam was raging, and
growing up in Brooklyn left her keenly aware of the toll that conflict took on
her community. As the nation moves closer to war with Iraq, she joined a growing
number of women in New York participating in a public fast to send a message to
elected leaders.
''I didn't want our congressional delegation to say, `I'm representing the views
of our constituency,''' Lawson said. ''They need to know that their constituency
is at best divided.''
This women's antiwar effort started two months ago with 20 women in New York's
Capital Region and has grown to more than 60 women who have pledged to fast for
24 hours each to protest the US position against Iraq.
Women Against War began their fast on Dec. 5, to coincide with the end of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and they hope to have volunteers fasting every day
until at least March 8, which marks International Women's Day. So far, they have
enough to reach February, and new women are joining daily, members say.
The participants are a diverse collection of longtime activists and first-time
protesters; mothers and grandmothers; state employees, clergy, and academics.
''It just mushroomed,'' said Judith Fetterley, a professor of English and
women's studies at the State University of New York in Albany and a founder of
Women Against War. ''We went from 20 women to about 250 women on an e-mail list.''
Fetterley, a tenured ''distinguished teaching professor,'' has a history of
activism dating to civil-rights voter-registration drives. Even so, she said
that protesting against the government is not without risk at a university that
critics say is increasingly under the conservative influence of its trustees.
''I've always put myself in positions of risk, even when I was untenured,''
Fetterley said. ''I think people either have the kind of courage and attachment
to principle to speak up, or they don't.''
Like Lawson, several fasting women said they were disappointed that many members
of the New York congressional delegation voted in October for a resolution
initiated by President Bush that authorizes military force against Iraq.
New York's senators - Democrats Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton - supported
the resolution, as did 20 of New York's 31 representatives. Ten New York
Democrats and a lone Republican - Amo Houghton of Corning, in western New York -
opposed it.
''I certainly respect their expression of concern,'' said Representative Michael
McNulty, a Democrat whose district includes Albany and who supported the
resolution. ''I probably know the pain of war more than they realize.'' He
referred to the 1970 death of his 24-year-old brother, William, a Marine Corps
medic killed by a land mine in Vietnam.
The bottom line, McNulty said, was that Saddam Hussein ''can never be allowed to
possess a nuclear capability.''
Representative Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from Saugerties, just south of
Albany, who opposed the resolution, said the women's protest, and others in the
area, evoked memories of the first protests against the Vietnam War.
''They started out slowly, in terms of the attention they were getting. I think
that may be what's happening here,'' said Hinchey, 64.
A number of antiwar efforts have sprung up around Albany or the Hudson Valley.
National and regional demonstrations took place on the weekend of Oct. 25,
including a rally in Washington, D.C., that drew thousands, and an Albany march
that drew several hundred. Vigils have taken place in Washington, and additional
protests are planned by groups around the country.
Women Against War members expect their fasting to remain exclusively a women's
protest. Several said it was important for a group of exclusively female
protesters to make a statement about how a war would injure, kill, or displace
thousands of woman civilians in Iraq.
''To be perfectly honest, I feel in this past year the experiences and voices of
women have not been heard, and I wanted to do this as part of a women's group,''
said the Rev. Beth Illingworth, a Presbyterian minister who joined the fast.
This story ran on page A2 of the Boston Globe on 12/16/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
