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WILPF Message of Solidarity with Demonstrations Against Waihopai Base

26 January 2017

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has sent a message of solidarity to activists gathering in New Zealand/Aotearoa to protest at the Waihopai electronic intelligence-gathering base on 28 January 2017:

WILPF sends solidarity and support to the activists gathering in New Zealand/Aotearoa to protest at the Waihopai electronic intelligence-gathering base. A critical node in the Five Eyes surveillance network, we appreciate your efforts in challenging its continued role in spying on citizens around the world and contributing to the US government’s manipulations of business and diplomatic affairs and its wars and military interventions abroad. At this time when human rights, peace, and justice are under threat by certain corporate and government interests, those that are committed to peace and justice must work to shut down the bases that contribute to these networks of inequality, injustice, and violence as part of our pursuit for feminist peace.

About the base

The Waihopai spy base in Blenheim. Photo- PHOTO NZ
The Waihopai spy base in Blenheim. Photo – PHOTO NZ

This base is pivotal to the Five Eyes intelligence network that spies on citizens around the world, including by intercepting civilian telephone calls, emails, and computer data communications. This network is a secretive surveillance arrangement amongst the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that began in 1946.

The Waihopai base is controlled by the US government, with the NZ government having little to no say. Documents released by Edward Snowden revealed that since a 2009 upgrade, Waihopai has been capable of “full take” collection of both content and metadata intercepted by satellite, the documents showed. The data is then channelled into the XKeyscore database run by the US National Security Agency, where it also becomes available to agencies in each of the Five Eyes countries. This directly implicates New Zealand in the US government’s manipulation of business and diplomatic affairs, its mass surveillance of civilians, and its wars and military interventions abroad.

WILPF’s support

WILPF supports the activists protesting at this base. We also participated in the protests held at the Pine Gap base in Australia in September 2016, which is another critical installation in the Five Eyes network. At this time when human rights, peace, and justice are under threat by certain corporate and government interests, those that are committed to peace and justice must work to shut down the bases that contribute to these networks of inequality, injustice, and violence as part of our pursuit for feminist peace.

 

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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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