Women in Black silent vigils continue in Adelaide.
WILPF SA Branch continued their Women In Black vigils in 2012 with a message for Australia Day. Comments from some passersby were revealing. One teenage boy looked at us standing with our banners and said “Why are only women against war – why isn’t everyone? His friend turned to look at us with our banners and said “Yes, that is a very good question, I’m against war as there are never any winners.” Another man stopped to talk to Cathy Picone who was handing our leaflet and spontaneously donated $20 toward our printing costs! We usually hand out about 500 flyers in one hour, so this is an excellent way to get our message across. Each month we have a different topic.
Adelaide Women in Black Vigil
Silent vigil against war, violence and militarism
Parliament House steps, Adelaide
Wednesday 25th January 2012, 5 – 5.45pm
On Australia Day, we have much to be proud of: we live in a very beautiful land. People have come here from many lands to contribute to our multicultural nation. As a people, we like to think of ourselves as open, friendly, warm and welcoming – and there’s some truth to that.
We live in a very wealthy country. We have a good universal health care system and as yet we still provide some welfare support for those who can’t find jobs, or who live with disability or in other inequitable situations. We can also celebrate our sense of the “fair go” – although it appears to be fading under modern capitalism.
Yet, there are some aspects ofAustraliaof which we cannot be so proud:
* our participation in wars;
* our ongoing mistreatment of our land, rivers and surrounding oceans;
* our failure to observe undertakings we’ve made as a nation under the United Nations Refugees Convention.
In recent years, we’ve failed to give their due rights to people who’ve come here fleeing oppression in their countries of origin and seeking protection under the Convention;
* whiteAustralia’s history of mistreatment of the First Peoples of this land. To this day, despite national prosperity, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders still have a life expectancy 17 years less than other Australians, and infant mortality rates three times higher. Indigenous peoples still have reduced access to health, employment and educational opportunities.
While we celebrate tomorrow as we should, Women in Black believe that we need to change and grow so that our Australian society will work more fairly for all of us.
Women in Black is an international anti-war movement.
Vigils are held in approximately thirty-one countries around the world -countries such as Italy, USA, Canada, Germany, India, Palestine and Israel.
More information: 08 8296 4357