10e. Women in Black and CODEPINK

The white head scarves of the Mothers of the Disappeared became a powerful symbol of their movement, one that they adopted and utilize widely today. Two other women’s peace movements that I find really interesting use colours as symbolic of their activism and communication. 

Women in Black, 2020

Women in Black (WIB) is more of an international network than an organization. Their simple tactic is to wear black and stand in silent vigil in public spaces, to speak out for peace on an issue of conflict. Their silence indicates wordlessness in the face of war’s horrors (though they are not always silent). Black symbolizes grief and mourning.

They began in Israel in 1988 as both Israeli and Arabic women protested Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In 1991, women in the former Yugoslavia began weekly vigils to protest the ethnic conflict and violence in that region. It has spread to many other parts of the world.

They are committed to nonviolence and say this about their ideological base:

Women in Black groups do not have a constitution or a manifesto, but our perspective is clear from our actions and words. It is evident for instance that we have a feminist understanding: that male violence against women in domestic life and in the community, in times of peace and in times of war, are interrelated. Violence is used as a means of controlling women. In some regions, men who share this analysis support and help WIB, and WIB are supporting men who refuse to fight.¹

Debates have emerged over whether men can participate at all. As well, the WIB vigils frequently are harassed and taunted.

Schumin, 2006

At a difference place on the colour spectrum is CODEPINK. This is a grassroots peace movement that makes great use of media of all kinds – twitter, facebook, pinterest, instagram, listserves, etc. – to spread its message. As the reading "Code Pink" by Linda Milazzo indicates, their movement is disruptive and in-your-face and grabs attention with sensational tactics – not unlike the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. It reacts almost immediately to current events, as in January 2020, when it responded within hours to a potential new conflict with Iran. 

CODEPINK was founded in the United States in 2002 to oppose the U.S. war on Iraq: 100 women set up a four-month all-day vigil in front of the White House. On March 8 of that year, over 10,000 people encircled the White House in pink. The colour pink had a number of meanings. First, it played on the former U.S. President George Bush’s homeland security alerts (yellow, orange, red) that signaled terrorist threats. While the alert emerged from fear and justified violence, pink was meant to signal peace. The organization also wanted to issue Bush a ‘pink slip’ – a term used when people are fired from a job.

Like many other women’s peace movements, CODEPINK is committed to nonviolence. They say:

• We will use no violence, verbal or physical, toward any person.
• We will maintain an attitude of openness and respect toward all people we encounter in our actions.
• We will not destroy any property.
• We will carry no weapons.
• We will exercise personal and collective responsibility to ensure all participants adhere to these commitments.²

Even so, an important tactic of CODEPINK is to disrupt events, especially when public figures are speaking. This tenth anniversary video, Hot Pink Ladies in Action: 10 Year Anniversary of CODEPINK Creativity, gives you a good sense of their issues and actions: