By Carly Salzberg            

Every Saturday afternoon between the hours of 12:00 and 1:00 pm, Buffalo’s Women in Black (WIB) stand vigilantly on the corner of Elmwood and Bidwell to advocate for peace and justice across borders, opposing the funding and participation of militarism, war and other forms of violence that are corrupting the world.

Patricia Shelly, representative of this particular Women in Black group says, “Since our first vigil, after the U.S first began bombing Afghanistan back in October, 2001 we have only missed one Saturday vigil on account of bad weather.” These activists stand together in line, silence and strength, dressed in black and holding signs bearing with anti-war messages such as: “Study Peace”, “Bring our Troops Home”, and “Women in Black Stand for Peace”.

This history of Women in Black dates back to 1988, in Jerusalem where Israeli Jewish women stood together in silent vigils, often with pictures of their “disappeared” or sons or husbands who have been murdered after Israel occupied the West bank and Gaza and the Palestine Intifada began. As the war progressed, the mothers and sisters of both the Palestinian and Israeli men organized peaceful protests to put an end to the brutality. The women lined the streets wearing black to mourn their deceased loved ones and stood silently, holding placards that illustrated messages of peace, most reading “End the Occupation.”      Although passerby in the open streets received the women’s message, both Palestinians and Israelis often perceived it negatively as acts of treason. The women retained their dignity despite some men who displayed their anger by heckling and abusing them, often labeling them as “whores” or “traitors” for aligning with their enemies. In a persistent dedication to acquire peace, the women arrived at the same busy sites, at a timely and consistent fashion to encourage others to display their political and moral stance as well as to encourage others to join in this active rally for peace and harmony between the opposing parties. 

However the question consistently lingers before us of the obvious nature of this peace group. Why women? Certainly before the Intifada began there were several peace organizations within Israel advocating for social justice. Peace Now, which was created in 1978, was and is currently the largest peace organization in Israel and many of its members were in fact women. Yet before the Intifada women rarely publically displayed their desire for peace, let alone held any kind of power within these organizations. In its early stages women rarely gave public speeches, or signed off on letter protests to the government because other members believed a female presence would jeopardize the integrity of their letter. These incidents of female discrimation gave rise to the first Women in Black groups in Israel that included many dedicated feminists.

Even today the Women in Black groups that continue to grow in number across the globe are mostly women, mainly to retain the tradition of the feminist spirit. However as times are changing and the equality between sexes has proved itself to be distributed fairly most prominently in the U.S., men have joined and are accepted in the movement.

Charley Bowman, a male member of the Women in Black group in Buffalo and a weekly participant of the silent vigils on Elmwood has been active since the summer of 2003 and believes his sex doesn’t detract from his role which  “is the same role as any other person standing at WIB: to bear witness to the insanity of our war against Iraq, and Afghanistan, the occupation of Palestine by Israel, and to advocate for social justice.”

Another local male member of this group is Milton Rogovin, a famous photographer and political activist from North Buffalo whose work “speaks of the humanity of working people, the poor and the forgotten ones.” His images have been published at museums and galleries throughout the country as well as here in Buffalo. Now ninety-nine years old, Milton continues to express his political activism in the community through his participation with the WIB, attending nearly every Saturday smiling and gesturing signs of peace.

The Buffalo members of the WIB include men and women who are dedicated to creating awareness of the international injustices, focusing on a wide array of global issues in Iran, Afghanistan, and in Israel and Palestine. Therefore their signs are updated weekly as the number of innocent lives rises.

This particular WIB group may be nontraditional in that it is insensitive to same-sex members and protests on much broader scale of so many issues rather than the original goal to end the occupation in Israel. However the WIB spirit is still very much alive.  Their peaceful presence when Bidwell Market is open in the may not be heard by market-goers, but they are diffidently not ignored.

When I asked Charley what he thought one of his most memorable experiences had been through all the years he had been active with the WIB black, he said, “one time a mother was walking her young child and they stopped to read each of our signs. The mother read the signs and discussed each issue with the child. If only all parents had the sense to do these kinds of things...”

Women in Black meets every Saturday from noon to 1pm. All concerned members of the community are invited to attend to stand silently against the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.