Congress lights.

The WILPF Congress recently concluded in Kungalv (Sweden) took place in one of the most prestigious "people's highschools" at a resort called Kungalv. The main aim of this type of free school in Scandanaivia is to encourage creativity in individual learning at all ages and deepen understanding and knowledge on a particular subject. The scenic beauty of the surroundings of this school inspired the WILPF participants (more than 240) to exchange new ideas for a more peaceful world than what we have currently inherited. This Congress gave WILPF members an excellent oportunity to debate, discuss, disagree and find consensus on the future visions for WILPF. They represented 38 different national sections from various regions of the world. It was in this atmosphere that the WILPF International Program for 2005-2007 was reviewed, revised and refined.

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The main theme of the Congress was an issue of immense international importance--Water, Women and Peace. The underlying concepts of these three vast subject areas are interrelated to current global challenges. The "right to water" was linked to human rights violations in general and the condition of women worldwide was considered to be an integral part of their unequal access to water resources. Several papers from different regions were presented which emphasized the urgent need for institutional structural change within society. It is clear from research results that when the ownership and management of water resources is in the hands of women, the conditions of peace are also established. The degree of violence against women is like a flood of water flowing rapidly from the international level to the national and then onwards to the household space. These scenarios prevent any conflict resolution to succeed or to leave any space for women to heal from traumas of war and violence. This leaves them very little time or energy to reconstruct communities and contribute to peace building. These were some of the thoughts expressed by the invited speakers in different workshops and plenary discussions.

It was also recognized and acknowledged that WILPF as an organization is at a turning point in history. Since 1915 it has been like a large river encountering rocks, cascades and dams. But now it has come to a bend, where its path to the ocean has become invisible. During the last three years, since the so-called "war on terror", the rule of law applied to international relations have deteriorated to the extent that ethnic and religious wars within a large number of countries have begun to erode human security and stability. Since then the world has been transformed into artificial divisions among religions, cultures and civilizations. During the first half of the twentieth century, anti-semitism has been the rule of the day in several European countries when facism dominated their political ideology. And now, the focus has shifted to Islam on which the dominant political ideology and military might has begun to concentrate. Many a lesson in the history of humankind has been forgotten. Massacres and genocides have taken place during Crusades, among Catholics and Protestants and later among Hindus and Muslims and then Tutsis and Hutus and a host of other ethnic and religious communities during the latter half of the twentieth century. There is not a single state in the world which has one religion, one ethnicity, one language and one source of knowledge. Then why the proliferation of these conflicts? There is a speck of light on the horizon when we recall one recent date in history--15th February, 2004. At that time in 1,000 cities over 15 million people came out into the streets to demonstrate and protest against the invasion in Iraq, irrespective of race, religion, culture or ethnicity. This grand protest has sown the seeds of a new movement of peace which is being built on solidarity coalitions in different communities and countries. WILPF has a crucial role to play in continuing to be on the international agenda of global peace and work towards new NGO partnerships and coalitions.

In order to meet the global external chanllenges, can WILPF adapt and adjust internally as an institution and face the necessary structural changes for this purpose?

Krishna Ahooja Patel, IPU Editor