Some wars, only some, enter our homes as part of the television show. The horror of the images of war and destruction coming from Ukraine and the exodus of thousands of people fleeing destruction have shaken the consciences of many people around us. The “direct war” moves us and scares us, but, as we have denounced women against war for some time, this disaster is the bread of every day. With a few exceptions, we seem to be getting used to horror and we are absorbing as sponges both the official manipulative discourse of war and weapons and militarization as an acceptable scourge.

Just as the Ukraine hurts us, there are also 65 other wars in the world that hurt us: Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Sahara, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Kurdistan… These are wars that pursue the imperialist power of the world, natural resources or fossil energies. Wars for the benefit of insatiable arms manufacturers who benefit from the macabre death market.

We, antimilitarists and feminists, do not want war. Savage capitalism is the only beneficiary of wars, a bloody arms trade and an expoliation of resources. On the contrary, for most people it only involves death, suffering, mass migration, misery and increasing inequalities. We have long learned that war is the ultimate expression of patriarchal violence. That capitalism and patriarchy need wars to survive and continue to tread. All wars must be ended.

That is why, together with women elsewhere, we have signed the Manifesto of Feminist Resistance against War, and we reject the attitudes that deepen the war in the environment with the excuse of protecting Ukraine, the decisions to add weapons to the conflict and to increase the budgets of the war. Not on our behalf.

We are concerned about the acceptance and normalization of the military industry in Euskal Herria in broad social fields. The death industry assisted by the Basque Government, universities, banks, etc., prevents us from taking responsibility for our military production. We close our eyes to the relationship between wars, the looting of other countries and the material well-being of enriched societies, including Basque society.

The Women against War group believes that it is time to address the issue in depth: we feed war with military production and we are beneficiaries of the economic order that give birth to those wars, enjoying material well-being that cannot be universal. This difference kills more than war itself.

Deepening militarism immerses us in a malicious and dangerous dynamic. Armies and the accumulation of weapons are intended to make us believe that they guarantee the security of peoples, but feminists do not believe in peace and security. In Ukraine, the Basque Country, the Middle East, Africa and anywhere in the world, security can only be based on social models that guarantee the well-being of all citizens. Feminist security policies are based on care and policies capable of achieving equity and a dignified life for all people.

We have to work for a culture of dialogue and non-violence. We must make progress on non-violent conflict resolution. We must demand effective steps in the demilitarisation of states. Transformation of the military industry. Disguise traders from death and their political, economic and intellectual accomplices. Put life in the center. Disarm the world and care for life. And here also in the Basque Country.