Brief naar aanleiding van het niet nomineren van de 1000 vredesvrouwen It has been almost 4 weeks since the decision was made in Oslo. We were disappointed about the Nobel Committee not being courageous enough to acknowledge the peace work of the 1000 women with this important prize. We were disillusioned by their choice and for the international team it was not difficult to distance itself from this decision. Nevertheless, we feel encouraged as we have reached many of the projects goals: the visualisation of women's work for peace, justice, security and sustainability. It became visible that for example 36 women of those who were nominated have a background in the anti-nuclear movement and especially women from the Pacific region are now fighting against the disposal of nuclear waste after enduring nuclear testing in their region for so many years. Such efforts clearly show that there's another side. By the
way, we have (from an unconfirmed source) heard that the nomination of
the 1000 women was on the short listIn the past four weeks, a lot has
happened: Another
equally important moment for us was holding the book 1000 PeaceWomen Across
the Globe in our hands for the first time. It is very heavy (1.5kg) and
its very hard to put it down once you start looking through these portraits,
every picture, every story is touching, and you just want to keep reading.
We will send you a copy as soon as possible, but it is quite expensive
to send 1000 books to women all over the world. The shipping costs would
amount to approx. 50'000 Swiss Francs, which we don't have at the moment.
Furthermore, we would like to get to books to everybody at the same time
to not favour somebody or some region. Wherever possible we are trying
to give the books to people travelling to your region. We are looking
for sponsors at the moment and if you have any idea in this regard, please
let me know! There are two additional possibilities: I will be in Klagenfurt/Austria
on 1 December and I will bring the books for the Austrian women with me.
On 5 December I will be Berlin/Germany for a book presentation and it
would be great to know in advance who will be able to come to Berlin so
I can bring enough books. The scientific research group has reached their goals, too. A first evaluation of the 1000 nomination forms has been done, and their report will be available as of December 2005. They applied for research funding for another two years, and in November it will be decided whether they get this support or not. Scientific research in the respective regions will be intensified in collaboration with coordinators and scientists among the 1000 women. We heard a lot about what was happening in all the regions this project covers. Many peace women have networked locally and regionally, have established statements, there were movies made about them, there were readings at cultural events and lectures at universities, and they have commented upon the decision of the Nobel Committee. The secretariat will collect and compile these documents. Please do send us anything you would like to include in our archives. The secretariat is facing some changes ˆ at the end of the year, our two assistants Regula Kueng and Barbara Mangold will leave us. Rebecca Vermot and myself will keep working at the secretariat. I look forward to the new perspectives and objectives of the new association 1000 PeaceWomen Across the Globe, and to a close collaboration with you. With cordial
greetings from Bern |