Gaza War – Every life is precious, you cannot wipe out resistance to injustice

EVERY LIFE IS PRECIOUS. YOU CANNOT WIPE OUT RESISTANCE TO INJUSTICE

The crude, brutal power of men, left unchecked, destroys so much. The wisdom and determination of womanhood is urgently needed.

Some of us are old enough to remember times when it has shown its incredible strength to further the causes of peace and justice – The Derry Peace Women who broke the restraints of sectarianism to stand united for peace in Northern Ireland.

The mothers of the disappeared who relentlessly demanded the reappearance of their ‘disappeared’ children in Argentina – The ‘Headscarf Revolutionaries’ of Hull who saved countless lives when they ‘achieved more for safety at sea in ten days than politicians and the trade unions had in a hundred years’.

They all stood against formidable opposition but the world underestimated the sheer strength and resilience of women united to fight injustice.

We live in times when many women are unaware of the formidable nature of their sex. Removed from the communities that they themselves had built and put into workplaces where systems are totally male designed, women were left with no other option than to play the men at their own game in the world of aggressive competition where previously women had ensured community strength by co-operation. The monied have always found it easy to excuse and justify the suffering of others.

Those with least are renowned for giving more and judging less, or at least they have been. Since women have been taken out of these communities, the mortar that held them together through thick and thin has gone and the cracks have become ever wider and deeper leaving division at every turn.

Mothers up and down the land, indeed around the world are stunned and heartbroken

to witness the killing of innocent children in Gaza and Israel.

The result of division is always painful and women are needed as never before to build the bridges the geopolitical world seems determined to destroy. It isn’t just across borders or religious groups.

Everywhere we look we are caught in divisions, trapped and helpless – Brexit, the Trans ‘debate’, immigration, the list is near endless.

We need women to stand together, united in the knowledge that ‘Peace is the only battle worth waging’ (Albert Camus).

Arm yourselves with cake and conversation and talk about the things that truly matter, the only things that truly matter, our families, our communities, our memories, our hopes for our children and a desire for an end to suffering and injustice.

Somebody needs to start the conversation because it’s not the one the world’s ‘powers’ are having and it should be. If they aren’t talking of such things, they have no right to power of any sort. People matter, the planet matters.

A new women’s group, ‘Spiral’ will be launching shortly and I encourage all women to jump aboard and change the direction of the narrative. Julie Speed