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Celebrating Feminists’ Voices, Inspiring Global Peace

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Press Release: Leading Progressive Journalist and Democracy Now! Host Amy Goodman to Broadcast Live from Civil Society Conference on Women’s Power to Stop War

7 April 2015

Host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, will be broadcasting live from the oldest women’s peace organisation’s 100 year anniversary conference, named Women’s Power to Stop War.

Amy Goodman is a leading progressive journalist as well as host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news programme airing on over 1,300 public television and radio stations worldwide. Time Magazine named Democracy Now! its “Pick of the Podcasts,” along with NBC’s Meet the Press.

Goodman has co-authored five New York Times bestsellers and has received numerous awards for her work. She is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media.”

To celebrate its 100 year anniversary, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is hosting a conference on Women’s Power to Stop War. Goodman will be hosting live Democracy Now! broadcasts from the conference, as well as moderating the opening plenary, which will introduce the journey of the Conference and the role we must play together in establishing permanent peace.

“In the last 100 years, women working for peace and freedom have made an important difference in the global balance of war and peace, life and death,” says Goodman. “Through activism, organising, solidarity and with immense courage, the women of WILPF made the most noble struggle – the struggle for peace – central to their work and their lives. All too often, the corporate, so-called mainstream media denigrates peace activists, if they pay attention to them at all. But social movements, like the ones that WILPF has helped nurture over the past century, are what make history. That is why Democracy Now! is covering WILPF’s 100th Anniversary and the Women’s Power to Stop War Conference.”

The Conference is supported by organisations like Madre and Action Aid, and is aimed at coming up with a new, holistic peacebuilding agenda for the 21st century.

Alongside Democracy Now!’s live broadcast, WILPF will broadcast the Conference in its entirety in partnership with Voice Republic. Listeners are not just invited to listen to talks and debates, but also to talk to each other and get involved. The live streaming will begin at 10 a.m. CET on Monday, 27 April at http://bit.ly/1GjUiQr.

A picture of Amy Goodman can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1DZrYRF

Registration for the Conference is now open at www.womenstopwar.org. 

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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