Feminist Antimilitarism: The Case of CODEPINK

In a world full of wars and conflicts, many anti-war movements and peace activists have strived to implement political and social changes and tap basic instincts of the society they fight for. These voluntary group actions have unified and united to bring down systems of oppression and subordination, hence have led profound changes in a wide variety of contexts and societies over history. One of the most prominent challenges they have brought about revolves around women's issues in a male-dominated society and militaristic world. In a world where violence and conflicts are on the rise, human rights of women and girls are more severely affected and disregarded. Women have almost been invisible in international relations, foreign policy, political and social sphere until recently. Anti-war feminists and women who fight for peace and security consider wars and its side effects as masculine and therefore, a source of women oppression. After the Bush administration's announcement of "war on terror", new awakening took place among anti-war women and feminist pacifists in the US. CODEPINK, a women peace movement seeking positive social changes and nonviolent protest, launched in 2002 to stand up against President George W. Bush's invasion and by having pink color as their iconic representation they, in fact, made fun of the homeland security color-coded alert system. Regarding feminist anti-militarism and third wave feminism, the current paper attempts to shed light on the relation between gender, war and peace by examining COFEPINK as a feminist anti-war movement. The research tries to elaborate different aspects of the movement including girlie culture, theatrical tactics, organizational structure, coalition building and networking (in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba) in order to mobilize women nationally and transnationally to shape feminist antimilitarism in global scale and defend women's rights in a war-stricken world.

کلیدواژه ها:

Feminism ، Anti-militarism ، War ، Peace ، Gender ، Patriarchy ، CODEPINK.