ANN Women in Action Introduction Affinity Groups experiments, innovative action, leadership development and the challenge of a lot of people making their best contribution were all amongst my aims as became involved in organising the Benalla Women's Peace Camp. I had been associated with several "national" camp actions over the last six years - Nurrungar '89, '93, East Gippsland and Skyrail forest blockades and the horrible AIDEX '91. I had listened carefully to the history and I had read of other camps and mass actions overseas- Clayoquot Sound1 the Clamshell alliance, the disarmament camps of the Omega bunch in Sweden. All of this contributed to a gradually clearing vision for this sort of event. Even though the camp was not an Australian Nonviolence Network initiative, I felt there was an opportunity for us ANN women to both make a useful contribution and to try some things out. Events like these are great short term for participants to learn various organising and leadership skills. One of the problems at past events has been the relationship of the ANN groups with the organisers. Often this has been characterised by lack of communication with unclarity resulting in confusion and bad feeling. For example at Nurrungar 89 and AIDEX 91 nonviolence groups had arrived with completely unrealistic expectations. The Organising Collective This time I had an opportunity and decided to be a member of the organising collective - which facilitated much closer, respectful and understanding relationships. From this position I was able to keep ANN groups informed of the intentions of the organisers as well as contribute to setting up an appropriate space for ANN initiatives. It also suited my medium term aims of building closer relationships with women in the wider peace movement. The organising collective met every month or so by phone link up supplemented by written material distributed through a central point. Some of us also communicated by email. Together we made some good decisions. For example, I think it was good that we decided to camp in a safe recreation reserve away from the Australian Defence Industries (ADI) site. This removed the urgency that people often feel when camped by a symbol of real oppression. We had a separate space that was very private, with running water, was great for kids, and good for cultural events such as song, drumming and dance. It was good that we decided together exactly what the organisers wanted from the camp. We put together a set of guiding principles representing this, printed them in the handbook and posted them up around the camp. In the final version these principles included two controversial decisions. (The problem was exacerbated by having to meet and organise by time-limited Phone Link Up). Some organisers were loathe to set limits on participant's behaviour at the camp - to be "prescriptive". Apart from the vague notion of "nonviolence" (or is it non-violence?) boundaries for political action should not be set. Others felt some behaviours (particularly screaming and abuse) were in themselves excluding and inappropriate. I for example felt that the organisers' expectations and vision needed to be articulated clearly so that the camp would be what we wanted - after all we organised it. Finally we agreed to add the following: "We ask women to refrain from property damage at ADI and in Benalla unless it is done openly and full responsibility is taken. Because of the recurrent effect on women who live in Benalla, local women have requested that this includes graffiti in the township of Benalla. We ask you to respect this request. And for actions during the period of the camp, we ask women to refrain from gratuitous abuse aimed at any person. We have had long and complicated discussions about this with varying opinions and lots of feelings. This is the resulting request. We feel that gratuitous abuse would not be in the spirit of creating a culture different from that of the war-machine. We are open to discussion and further defining what this means..." Some women I know felt relieved and more secure when they read the guiding principles. But principles such as these need to be widely distributed and publicised well before the event. For some participants the camp would have been better if this had been so. Women could have had clearer expectations about what they were coming to and decide if it is really for them. And in turn women would know what was expected of them. Clarity of expectations and preparation for involvement are probably the main issues I see that need to be further addressed by organisers. How can people attend with much clearer and better matched expectations and more prepared to use the space provided - either culturally (for example contributing music or theatre) or politically (contributing organised, focussed nonviolent action)? Unrealistic expectations meant that many women at the camp came hoping that someone else had organised something. Some asked for workshops on how to get a group together and how to organise an action. These are skills that take much time and experience. It is not appropriate to teach these skills in this environment. It is a great place, however, to try things out or to learn through experiencing the fruit of something pregrown and find out where you can learn to grow something yourself, in your own garden, over time, in the future. How to do it even better It is still my feeling that a larger proportion of organisers' time should not go into just getting people there but toward facilitating or preparing other women to make their best contribution. I would much rather see a camp with fewer women, all coming in affinity groups, better prepared for cultural or political action. Given the amount of organising energy, the organising group would need to think more about the balance between providing infrastructure, getting people there (as individuals) and preparing people. Having said this, however, it is clear that there is still a vast need for skills in group forming and action preparation. The appropriate base has not been entirely laid yet to create this event exactly how I imagine (will it ever be?). Alternatively, these events to some extent attract ungrouped individuals - and maybe the solution lies in encouraging more established groups to be involved? As a member of the organising collective, I took on a number of tasks that helped set up the camp as the organisers envisaged. Firstly, alongside Chris Coles and Elena Tauridsky from Benalla, I did some local work : checking out the ADI site, looking for somewhere to camp, face to face negotiating with the Shire officers, leafletting and LISTENING to the local people. Secondly, I spent some time building relationships with the police on behalf of the organisers. This included meetings (cups of tea!) with the divisional inspectors, the local police and the Special Intelligence group and phone calls with the Special Reponse Unit. Thirdly, I sent letters telling ADI what we intended and built a relationship with the General Manager of the ADI Benalla plant (more coffee shop chats!). A lot of this work didn't feel particularly glamorous. But it all contributed to setting the tone for the camp and gave a better chance for groups attending to carry out exactly what they wanted. We got what we needed from the local council in the form of a recreational reserve for camping; the police seemed more ready to respond to our requests for privacy at the camp and lines of communication remained open and functioning for actions; local people remained tolerant and respectful. ANN Women Show their Stuff I was really pleased with the work we did with listening to and leafletting local people. This is fairly skilled and rewarding work yet often gets skipped in the urgency and distance of these sorts of events. We leafletted (with listening) in the main street twice in the weeks before the camp, as well as distributing a specially prepared "locals leaflet" to 400 houses in Benalla. We asked people about how they felt about having a women's peace camp near their town, whether they had "any concerns that we should know about." I feel that this contributed to the issue being opened in the community in a positive and unpolarised way. People expressed an understanding for what we were doing. Even in depressed economies, ammunition factories are a bit suss. The ANN contribution to the camp was strong. There were four ANN women on the organising collective including two local women. And there were five ANN (associated) affinity groups each contributing significantly. At the 1993 ANN Gathering, just two years ago, we all pledged to experiment with affinity groups. The Women's Peace Camp was certainly a move in this direction with the five groups, each with six to ten women, being set up in different ways, with different time scales, involving different sorts of participation and leadership. Ages ranged from five to fifty. We spend our time as activists and community development workers, as cooks, facilitators, farmers, players and learners(!), housing workers, as parents, potters, secretaries, social workers, students, teachers, waitresses and weavers. We were a diverse mob. The five groups were: 1. The Ongoing Melbourne Women's group - organised an action (a large group fence weaving) on Saturday 2. The Meriama Action Group (7-10 week experiment) - organised a major arrestable action focussing on Bougainville on Sunday 3. The Boat and Fairy action group (5-12 year old girls) - organised an inclusive action and demonstrated how young people can be involved in political action. 4. The Three Day Preparation Workshop Affinity Group (formed from the three day preparation2) - Supported the Meriama Action Group by preparing part of the action and - Carried out a listening post in Benalla on Easter Saturday 5. The Thursday Affinity Group (formed from the One Day Preparation Workshop facilitated by Glen Ochre) - Contributed consciously to the communication flow in the camp through informal discussions. The five groups interacted in a special way. The first two organised actions for the Saturday and the Sunday. These actions were major focussing and empowering events for the camp. The Sunday action was especially important because of its unique and creative perspective. It was the only arrestable action held during the camp. The children's group organised a highly creative and inspiring theatre that was placed nicely inside the adult's Sunday action. They dressed and acted as workers at the Benalla factory and outlined the relationship between Australia, Papua New Guinea and Bougainville. The two "preparation" groups played significant roles in making sure these actions went well by playing peacekeeping roles, by directly organising part of them and by helping watch, maintain and direct the energy. I enjoyed immensely being part of the Three D(ay) group. We decided carefully before hand where we would put our energy for the camp. Sticking to this and staying committed to this group meant that I had enough time and focus to enjoy myself and not run around like a chook with its head cut off! Perhaps the most significant interaction between the groups was in the area of arrests. We had set it up so that there were different opportunities before the action for women to explore feelings about being arrested. The three day preparation workshop considered this in some depth; Anita McKone and myself ran a two hour discussion group at the camp; and we discussed implications and feelings again at ADI immediately before the action. Ten out of seventeen women in arrestable roles had never been arrested before. I was keen that it should be as safe as possible so that fears could be raised and moved through even during the arrest process. I think that in this way many fears that we have about challenging State and authoritarian institutions can be overcome. Of seventeen arrested, fourteen came from the four adult ANN groups. People found the action extremely empowering. (Some would even say we were responsible for whipping up a mini-tornado that came through). There was lots of feelings with the arrests but lots of closeness and thoughtfulness to deal with them as we sat in the brawler van. The group that was arrested have stayed in contact and are planning a collective court case and ultimately collective fine resistance with collective jail... My contribution to this project was very much Network business. My contribution - which became our contribution - couldn't have happened without the base community that has been built in Melbourne and throughout Australia for the past six years. There were many invisible players offering logistical and advisory support without the upfront acknowlegement and fun that we women got. Special thanks to Bryan Law, Rob Burrowes, Peter Stewart and the men of AHAB and Commonground; to Glen for the preparation workshops and to the parents of the children especially Kate, Sue, Chris and Elena for helping make it all happen with wisdom and spirit. Guiding principles for the camp * We acknowledge that we are on Aboriginal land, the land of the Yorta Yorta and Bangarang people. We will be paying the rent for use of this land during the camp. * The Organisers of the Benalla Women's Peace Camp have spent many months organising this event, and we ask participants to respect the organising structures we have established. * We intend this camp to make steps toward a culture of respect, empowerment, equality and care. This culture is of and for our planet Earth. This camp provides an opportunity to act, as best we can, in ways that express this culture. * We are also here to oppose the dominant and destructive part of the culture of violence - with its patriarchal, oppressive structures, militarist processes and disempowering exploitative relationships. * The culture of violence has encouraged passive acceptance for an ammunition factory such as this. The new culture creates aware action that overturns violence. The camp promotes nonviolence as ACTIVE resistance to violence. * We wish the camp to be a safe space where women will support each other, and encourage all kinds of perspectives, exploration and activities while we are together. * We encourage respectful recognition of the differences between us. * We encourage respect for people and the environment. At the time of writing Benalla is in drought. Please use water with consideration for the local people's needs. * We acknowledge anger as a legitimate and valid emotion. However, we ask that women take responsibility for the expression of their anger and use it productively and creatively. Margaret Pestorius Footnote: 1. Clayoquot Forest Protest Camp, Chrystal Kleinan, NvT #38, pp 11-12. 2. Peace Camp Preparation, Marina Brown, NvT #44, pp 3-4.