Call for Action at Shannon on 8th Dec

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday December 03, 2002 11:10 by Global Women's Strike womenstrike8m at server101 dot com 087 7838688

Global Women's Strike Statement

INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING! GLOBAL WOMEN’S STRIKE AGAINST OIL WARS AND ALL WARS Women in Ireland and all round the world demand that our voices are heard. We are protesting that our Shannon Airport be given over to US planes for refuelling on their way to slaughter FOR OIL. The Global Women’s Strike is joining the grassroots protest at Shannon to say: NOT IN WOMEN’S NAME! Most of those murdered by the likes of these warplanes are women and children. No one can say they didn't know this fact.

Press Release
3rd December 2002

For Immediate Release

INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING!

GLOBAL WOMEN’S STRIKE AGAINST OIL WARS AND ALL WARS

Women in Ireland and all round the world demand that our voices are heard. We are protesting that our Shannon Airport be given over to US planes for refuelling on their way to slaughter FOR OIL. The Global Women’s Strike is joining the grassroots protest at Shannon to say: NOT IN WOMEN’S NAME! Most of those murdered by the likes of these warplanes are women and children. No one can say they didn't know this fact.

In more than 60 countries round the world, the GLOBAL WOMEN’S STRIKE is demanding: INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING!

$900 + billion dollars a year now being lavished on global military budgets, with its glorification of killing, must end.
It is women in every country who do most of the work of caring for every human being and for the planet – by giving birth to and growing up our children, farming the land, fetching the water, nursing the sick, teaching and much more.
We do 2/3s of the world’s work for 5% of the income. Most of this work is done for no wages at all.
On top of that, many of us do a double day: take on another job for low wages just to feed ourselves and our families.

That is why all over the globe, from the US to Uganda, from Argentina to the UK, from India to Spain, women say: INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING!

Women the carers have been central to every anti-war movement. For every bomb dropped, it is us women who will have to:

Keep entire communities going in the face of military occupation, rape, other sexual violence and other repression, which denies us food, water and medical attention.
Nurse those gassed by chemical weapons and made ill by depleted uranium, including those of our sons and husbands who return home from war alive but with their mental and physical health shattered.
Flee to refugee camps – 80% of refugees worldwide are women and girls.
Work three times as hard to make up for the savage cuts to welfare and denial of our needs because our money goes instead to feed the murder machine.

Maggie Ronayne, point of reference in Galway for the Wages for Housework Campaign, the international co-ordinators of the Global Women’s Strike, said, ‘As we in Ireland defend the children’s allowance, health and education services from cutbacks, we are with our sisters in the US, defending welfare as our right from billions in cuts to the poorest mothers – money Bush wants to pour into slaughter in Iraq’. Essential public services such as water and other utilities, transport, health care and housing are privatised everywhere, but military budgets are protected and increased. Yet $80 billion would provide the essentials of life for everyone on the planet. ‘We don't want money spent on military hardware, murderous technology or to have our children trained to kill in any army, including any European army. We want an end to all wars, to military occupation, to racism and poverty beginning with women, the poorer sex’, she added.
Women Say No War – Invest in Caring Not Killing!

Notes:

1. The action at Shannon takes place on Sunday, 8th December @ 2pm. To organise and take action with women (men and children’s support welcome) call 087 7838688. To book seats on the Galway coach (leaves from main entrance, NUI Galway, 10.15am), call 087 9935876 or email galwaytoshannon@yahoo.com Cost: 10 euros (waged), 5 euros (unwaged) and FREE SEATS FOR CHILDREN

2. For further information/interviews with Wages for Housework Campaign, call Maggie on 087 7838688.

3. The Global Women’s Strike is Co-ordinated by the International Wages for Housework Campaign and WINWAGES (Women’s International Network for Wages for Caring Work). Payday, a network of men working with the Wages for Housework Campaign, co-ordinates men’s support for the strike. Email: womenstrike8m@server101.com Tel (IRL): 087 7838688. International Wages for Housework Campaign: Tel: 0044 207 4822496. Tel (IRL): 087 7838688 or 091 520269. Strike website: http://womenstrike8m.server101.com