The Women Peacemakers Program is unique in operating Gender-Sensitive Active Nonviolence (GSANV) as a lens to analyze conflict, and a strategy to address conflict constructively.
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Active nonviolence is a strategy to address violence and political, social and economic injustice, working from the basis of respect for human dignity and sharing power. As such, nonviolent actions refrain from deliberately harming others in the process of working for just change. It involves a wide range of techniques, such as symbolic protests, persuasion, non-cooperation and defiance. Within active nonviolence, the means and end are closely connected – if you want to establish a culture of peace, you should use peaceful actions to achieve it.
Active nonviolence can transform people from passive bystanders into creators of a just society. Within active nonviolent struggles everyone in the community – young, old, women, men, illiterate, educated, disabled or able-bodied – can participate through working together and sharing power. It is often referred to as “people power”, as it draws on the strength of the collective. It can be used from the individual to the community level, up to the national and international level, to confront systems of violence and to replace an injustice with a just alternative.
Gender-Sensitive Active Nonviolence (GSANV) ensures that nonviolent actions and strategies are gender-sensitive. For example, it highlights the importance of women’s nonviolent leadership, and underlines that any successful nonviolent strategy needs to include women’s perspectives and take into account women’s needs and concerns.
GSANV always holds a transformative agenda; as it is about uncovering the gendered ways in which conflict itself is framed and addressed in our societies, and hence offers an alternative that is about transforming the way we analyze as well as deal with conflict.
Nonviolence is not a new philosophy or tactic. It has been used by women and men for hundreds of years. You might be familiar with examples of active nonviolence, such as Gandhi’s Salt March during the independence struggle of India, the civil rights movement in the USA, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, and Aung San Suu Ki’s struggle for a democratic Myanmar. Nonviolent actions have also taken place in Europe, resulting in the Rose revolution in Georgia in 2003 and the Orange revolution in Ukraine in 2004. In the spring of 2011, nonviolent actions led to several peaceful protests demanding more democracy throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, resulting in the end of several dictatorships.
Women have played and are playing a crucial role in nonviolent organizing and movement building. Think about the protest marches of the women suffragettes at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat for a white passenger in the bus became an important symbol of civil disobedience during the civil rights struggle in the USA. In times of conflict, women have been on the forefront to cross the divides and reach out to the other side in an effort to build peace. A very recent and inspiring example is from 2003, when the nonviolent organizing of the Liberian Women’s Peace Movement managed to put an end to the bloody Second Liberian Civil War. This brave activism was documented in the film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell”.
Unfortunately, women’s important role in nonviolent peacebuilding is often overlooked and forgotten. Women activists also face many challenges in terms of actively participating in nonviolent actions. One of the biggest obstacles faced by women peacemakers is the lack of general support - as society often expects women to not interfere in political issues - and at times even the outright opposition of fellow - often male - activists. As such, gender inequalities present in wider society all over the world pervade the reality of nonviolent activism as well. For example, very recently, women activists participating during the nonviolent uprisings in the MENA region faced severe violent attacks during the demonstrations. Their efforts to include women’s rights in the post-revolution political processes also met with much opposition.
The Women Peacemakers Program started in 1997 as a women-led initiative within a nonviolent peace movement, in order to highlight and address women’s realities, and advocate for Gender-Sensitive Active Nonviolence.
GSANV guides us in every aspect of our work: From our daily work principles, to how we interact with others, set our agenda and organize our activities, and how we mobilize. It is all about walking the talk! It is more than a “tool” for change; it is a way of life that draws on core principles such as human dignity for all; people’s empowerment to work for change; thinking outside of the box to come up with innovative solutions; participatory and inclusive processes for sustainability. This stems from the deep conviction that all life is interconnected and change is possible when people stand together.
WPP finds it important to build bridges between different types of groups and movements, such as between women’s rights and peace movements; between women’s en men’s movements; between faith-based and secular peace activists; and between grassroots activists and policy makers. We believe that such connections benefit a deepening of analysis and a growing constituency of peacemakers, which we believe is the best recipe for sustainable peace.
“Nonviolence is a strategy for resisting injustice and oppression without creating new injustice.”
Suci Haryati, Freelance Journalist - Indonesia and Shakeel Abbas, South Asia Partnership Pakistan - Pakistan
