What we've done:

Highlights of our past actions and events       Visit our photo gallery      Read our one-page handouts

Read reports from Israel/Palestine         Read our statement of solidarity

November 22, 2007:  BAWIB held its seventh annual day-after-Thanksgiving vigil on Union Square in San Francisco.  Our witness was, as always, eloquent and powerful. Passers-by thanked us for our silent presence reminding shoppers of all the women, children and families both here and around the world who are trying to survive under the weight of poverty, war, occupation and violence.

November 4, 2007:  November 4 BAWIB hosted MELANIE KAYE KANTROWITZ who read and talked about her new book: The Color of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism.  Her book examines the historical and contemporary views on Jews and whiteness as well as the complexities of African/Jewish relations, the racial mix and disparate voices of the Jewish community, contemporary Jewish anti-racist and multicultural models, and the diasporic state of Jewish life in the United States.

September 23, 2007:  BAWIB joined the march sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Contra Cost County protesting the arson against the Antioch Islamic Center.

September 13, 2007:  BAWIB sent a formal letter of support to the San Diego Women's Film Festival, currently under attack from the Israel lobby.

August 28, 2007:  BAWIB joined Move On in a community demonstration at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, the site of our weekly vigils against the US occupation of Iraq and continuing military and economic support of the Israeli occupation of the West bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, to urge Congress to end funding for the Iraq War.

August 18, 2007:  BAWIB co-sponsored "Under the Radar, Israelis and Palestinians Working Together Against Occupation and for Human Rights", a report from two Jewish-American women activists living in Israel.

June 10, 2007:  BAWIB joined the historic March on Washington to End the Israeli Occupation

June 7, 2007:  BAWIB sponsored "What Peace Could Look Like, a presentation by Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, a Jerusalem peace activist, and Mr. Husam El Nounou, a Gaza peace activist, held at Kehillah Community Synagogue, Oakland.

May 19, 2007:  BAWIB members participated in a non-violence training given by Pace Bene in order to better practice non-violence in response to street harassment.

April 28, 2007:  BAWIB members presented a workshop "What's Feminism Got To Do With It?: Reframing Resistance" at the Jewish Voice for Peace Conference.  The session examined the role of feminist anti-militarist theory and practice in anti-war activism.

April 7, 2007:  BAWIB began to hold weekly vigils on Saturdays from 12-1 in front of the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland.  Our silent witness and one-page hand-outs are designed to both draw attention to and educate passers-by about the linkages between the U.S. Occupation of Iraq and the U.S. financial and diplomatic support of Israel's Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

April 1, 2007:  BAWIB hosted "Creating Collaborative Resistance to the Israeli Occupation:  From Bili'n to the Boardroom, a multimedia presentation and talk by Dr. Dalit Baum, Israeli peace and justice activist.

March 10, 2007:   BAWIB provided lecture/presentation to students at Berkeley City College

March 8, 2007:  BAWIB co-sponsored with the Women of Color Resource Center a presentation on Women and Militarism.

March 7, 2007:  BAWIB participated in the creation of a Middle-East Peace Petition as a part of the East Bay Peace Congress.

February 4, 2007, 5:30 PM, Berkeley Jewish Community Center: BAWIB  again co-sponsored the Tu B'shvat seder hosted annually by Trees of Hope. We participated in a ceremony honoring the life-giving properties of trees and helped support a fund raiser for Rabbis for Human Rights.  In the current intifada, thousands of Palestinian olive trees have been destroyed, and during the harvest this past year olives were stolen. Only by working to prevent the destruction of these trees and protect the right of Palestinian farmers to gather their olives could we fully celebrate this holiday.

February 4, 2007, Noon to 2 PM: BAWIB attended a presentation at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland by Combatants for Peace brought to the Bay Area by Brit Tzedek v'Shalom. The "Combatants for Peace" movement was started by Palestinians and Israelis who had taken part in the cycle of violence between the two peoples. After brandishing weapons for so many years, these former combatants decided to put down their guns and instead fight for peace. Their hard-won understanding of the need to struggle for peace is both moving and filled with hope.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007.  Bay Area Women in Black stood in vigil at 55th St. and Martin Luther
King on January 2, 2007, to mourn the 3000th American service person dead, the tens of thousands more physically and psychologically shattered, and the over 600,000 Iraqis dead and wounded. Our signs urged Pelosi to use her power to cut funding for this disastrous war and to support our troops by bringing them home now! The response from passers-by was uniformly supportive, the cacophony of horns a steady backdrop to our presence.

December Saturdays, Noon - 1 PM.  Bay Area Women in Black joined the international call from Israeli peace activists to educate, demonstrate and mobilize to end the siege of Gaza during the month of November.  Click here to see the flyer for these vigils.

Friday, November 24, Noon - 1 PM.   Bay Area Women in Black assembled in Union Square for our 6th annual Walking Vigil for Peace. We walked single file, dressed in black, and in silence around Union Square on this busiest shopping day of the year. We gave thanks for the devoted and unrelenting work of peace and justice activists and challenged ourselves and our elected officials to honor the voices and the votes of their constituents.  Click here to see the handout for this event and here for the announcement flyer.

Saturday, October 28, 2006, 7:30 - 10 PM.   BAWIB co-sponsored Yehuda Shaul, founder of Breaking the Silence, as shared his testimony and that of other Israeli soldiers through a slide presentation as they expose their crimes against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Their stories challenge Israel’s claim that such abuses are an exception and shatters Israel’s myth that the occupation is self-defense. Breaking the Silence offered a unique vision of the accountability necessary for justice and transformation. Yehuda was born in Jerusalem, grew up in an ultra-orthodox family, and served first as a soldier and then as a commander in the Israeli Occupation Forces in Hebron, Bet-Lechem, and Ramallah.

Thursday, October 12, 2006, 7-9 PM.  BAWIB sponsored a presentation at Kenilla Synagoge in Piedmont by Margo Okazawa-Rey who is currently working and living in Palestine and brought us her compelling perspective on the daily experiences of Palestinian women living under Israeli Occupation, the impact of US- and Israeli-led boycott of Hamas leadership and of the recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon, and the responsibilities of US-based progressive feminist activists in addressing the conflict. The program included a short documentary video about the impacts of the Isolation Wall on women and photographs of the transformation of Dahiya Al- Bareed, formerly a vibrant neighborhood in East Jerusalem, into a near ghost town.

Sunday, September 24, 2006, Community Tashlich Observance, 3 pm, Emeryville Marina
BAWIB held it's fourth public Tashlich ritual at the Emerville waterfront.  Using music, poetry and ceremony, we gathered to discard that which holds us back from our immense potential as peacemakers: our fears, isolation and silence, and to re-new our commitment to work for peace and justice.

Saturday, August 12, 2006. 11:15 AM  BAWIB stood in silent vigil on the steps of the San Francisco Main Library, in support of the national emergency day of protest organized around the country by ANSWER in response to the war in Lebanon and continued bombing of Gaza. Women in Black vigils were held in communities around the world to protest the horrors of this and all wars. Our presence adds to their numbers and insistence on diplomatic not military solutions to the real problems in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.

Monday, July 17, 2006, NOON, ISRAELI CONSULATE. BAWIB joined a protest against the siege of Gaza by the Israeli army. We demonstrated to expose and to challenge Israel's brutal attack against the people of Gaza. Israel’s bombing of  power stations and bridges and cutting off fuel supplies in Gaza is depriving people of electricity, refrigeration, pumped drinking water, and sewage disposal. The relentless deadly attacks by the Israeli military are compounded by the threat of epidemics and starvation.

Sun, June 4, 2006, 11:45 AM until 2 PM  Bay Area Women in Black joined for the second year with Jewish Voice for Peace to silently vigil outside of the annual Israel in the Gardens at Yerba Buena Gardens in SF. This is the largest Jewish community family event in northern California.  Despite an angry response from some participants to our message, our silent presence felt once more like a powerful way to affirm our Jewish tradition of making justice and peace.  Click here to see the flyer prepared jointly by BAWIB and JVP for this event.

Wed, May 31.  BAWIB presented Rauda Morcos, co-founder of ASWAT, and her partner Nisreen Mazzawi, who spoke to about 40 supporters about their experiences as activist feminist Palestinian lesbians living in Israel.   Rauda co-founded ASWAT, a groundbreaking organization that provides a safe space for Palestinian lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender or inter-sexual women to break their individual silence through dialogue, self-education, healing and activism.  They both spoke movingly and openly about what it means to be public as a Palestinian lesbian, to challenge the status quo of gender and sexuality, to work with women in unrecognized Palestinian villages, and to address the complex everyday conflicts they experience.

Sat, May 13 Mother's Day, 1-2 PM.   BAWIB joined in a coalition vigil with Code Pink and Raging Grannies in Union Square, San Francisco.  Long before Hallmark, balloons and flowers, Mother's Day was a day of anti-war activism begun after them Civil War by women who had lost their sons. In l870, Julia Ward Howe proclaimed an anti-war Mother's Day message that is a timeless reminder of the profound loss and pain war creates for all mothers. From such loss can come a fierce determination and power within all mothers to join each other and give rise to the birth of peace. We stood as allies with the mothers of Israel and Palestine, Iraq and America who are losing their sons and daughters to violence and war.

Apr 15  Do you know where your tax dollars go? BAWIB vigiled on tax day with a graphic one page handout illustrating the ways that taxes of the average household in Oakland are spent. This was a great opportunity to educate citizens about the chilling disposition of their hard-earned tax dollars.
The informational material we prepared emphasizes the effects of the Bush administration budget on the lives of women and girls, which has left catastrophic cuts in social services, education and health programs.

Mar 16  BAWIB joined the third annual Memorial to remember American ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie.

Mar 8 Bay Area Women Black joined with cosponsor Women Say No To War on International Women's Day.  We gathered front of the military recruitment station in downtown Oakland, our presence saying NO to War. We marched to the first Unitarian Church for a program at the Women of Color Resource Center which included a documentary and panel discussion by women of color veterans from the Gulf War and Iraq War.

Tuesday Feb 14.  On Valentine's Day, BAWIB joined with Grandmothers for Peace outside the Oakland Army Recruiting Station as we said, "Take us Instead!" As an act of love, Bay Area grandmothers will try to enlist in the military to replace our young people in Iraq.  BAWIB stood with our puppets in silent witness for all the lives that have been lost to this unnecessary and brutal war, As some women attempted to enter the recruiting center to sign up for active duty, others sang and spoke the words and music of peace and justice.

Sunday, Feb 12, 2006.  BAWIB again cosponsored the Tu B'Shvat Seder organized by the Trees of Hope committee at the Berkeley Jewish Community Center. We celebrated the Jewish holiday as we planted seeds of hope with our words and song and helped raise funds for the Olive Tree Project of the Jerusalem based Rabbis for Human Rights.  The Olive Tree Campaign is one of many of the projects of RHR. bringing international and Israeli volunteers from all religious backgrounds together to participate in protecting and replanting olive trees that have been uprooted by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Saturday, Dec 24, 2005.  "There is no peace in Bethlehem"  BAWIB joined with the Jewish Palestinian Solidarity Committee of Jewish Voice for Peace, the Middle-East Children's Alliance, International Solidarity Movement- NoCal and friends of Dier ibzi'a to co-sponsor our second annual Christmas eve vigil on Union Square in San Francisco. Our presence reminded holiday shoppers that there will never be peace in Bethlehem while Palestinians are living under Israeli occupation.

Fri, Nov 26.  Day After Thanksgiving Vigil.  BAWIB held its fifth annual vigil walking through Union Square in downtown San Francisco on "the busiest shopping day of the year" once again reminding shoppers of the power of silence and the need for peace and justice in the world.

Monday, Oct 17, Noon  At 12:00 noon, women all over the world followed the sun around the earth in an action called 24 hours of feminist solidarity. This was an opportunity for women to say loud and clear that we are marching together to build another world based on the principles of freedom, equality, solidarity, justice and peace. Click here to see the flyer BAWIB emailed to women everywhere for them to hand out at noon.

Sunday, Oct 2, 2005  Report Back from the International Women in Black Conference in Jerusalem, Five Bay Area Women in Black reported on their intense and fruitful meetings with over 700 women from 44 countries who gathered in Israel/Palestine for the 13th International Women in Black Conference. The meeting was held at the same time as the Gaza disengagement where feelings were running high and fault lines acutely visible. We traveled through divided Israel/Palestine for a week following the conclusion of the Conference and shared our life-altering images, feelings and reactions with our larger community.

Saturday, Sep 24, 2005  Peace March in San Francisco:  BAWIB joined the San Francisco demonstration in support of the massive rally in Washington, D.C. against the policies of the Bush Administration, both internationally and here at home.

Sunday June 5, 2005  BAWIB joined Jewish Voice for Peace in our first collaborative vigil. We stood outside the Israel in the Park celebration at Yerba Buena Center for several hours. Our signs and one-pager quotes were almost entirely in the language of Israeli peace activists. The response to our presence was mixed, with some participants becoming angry and argumentative. But most were curious, happy to take our materials, and startled by our solemn and sorrowful witness at the 38th year of Occupation being transformed into a celebration of Israeli independence. Being part of a vigil of opposition felt like a powerful way to affirm our Jewish tradition of making justice.

Friday, June 3, 2005  Bay Area Women in Black was pleased to bring Belgian peace Activist Lieve Snellings and the film "Song of Silence" to an enthusiastic audience of activists from Women in Black, JVP, Crabgrass, the Labor Chorus, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, Nonviolent Peace Force and ISM. This video collage of Women in Black vigils around the world was made by WIB India for the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, January 2004, and highlights the actions of Women in Black in the southern hemisphere with footage from India, South Africa, Beijing, India, as well as Iraq, Palestine and Israel, Italy Argentina, England, Scotland and Wales, and more.

Saturday, May 7th, 2005.  Bay Area Women in Black gathered in Oakland at Mandana and Lakeshore and walked along Lakeshore though the Farmer's Market. Our focus was on "activist mothering." Long before Hallmark, balloons and flowers, Mother's Day was a day of anti-war activism begun after the Civil War by women who had lost their sons. In 1870, Julia Ward Howe proclaimed an anti-war Mother's Day message that is a timeless reminder of the profound loss and pain war creates for all mothers. It also recognizes that from such loss can come a fierce determination and power within all mothers to join each other and give rise to the birth of peace.  See our flyer for this event.

Friday, April 15, 2005.  Bay Area Women in Black held a noon vigil at the Federal Building in downtown Oakland. Our focus was How are Your Tax Dollars Being Spent? Our one-page information sheet provides information about who pays tax dollars and where they're going, including the effects of the Bush administration budget on the lives of women and girls, with its catastrophic cuts in social services, education and health programs.

Saturday March 26, 2005.  We were proud to vigil at the American Friends Service Committee's powerful ceremony of witness, Eyes Wide Open, focusing on the human costs of war. The exhibit was a silent prayer service in the midst of the city, one with the possibility to allow a shift in consciousness about the use of military solutions to international conflict. BAWIB stood in our usual resolute, silent, disciplined presence and were thanked by all who passed us, as well as by the organizers of the event.  Eyes Wide Open for more info on the exhibit.

Saturday March 19, 2005:   BAWIB demonstrated on the second anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq. The anti-war demonstration was a large and energetic gathering, as the world-wide peace movement continues to grow, coalesce and take to the streets.

January 20, 2005, Inauguration Vigil:  We stood in front of the Federal Building in Oakland, then silently walked through the civic center food and shopping courtyard, creating quite a powerful image.  There were about 40 of us including more than a dozen women joining us for the first time. With us were a grandmother, mother and her infant daughter swaddled in a pink blanket with our Salaam/Shalom button pinned prominently in its center. Passers-by were grateful for our presence and read our one-pager with great attention.   Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Fourth Annual Busiest-Shopping-Day-of-the-Year Vigil in San Francisco's Union Square, November 26, 2004:  The day after Thanksgiving, Bay Area Women in Black held our largest ever silent walking peace procession in and around Union Square with 100 participants.  Click here to see the flyer for this event including BAWIB's own list of moral values.

September 11, Vigil, 2004:  On the 3rd anniversary of 9/11, BAWIB held a vigil in downtown Oakland on September 11th. We gathered to mourn all the lost lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, the United States, Palestine and Israel. Our mourning was designed to honor the dead and to re-dedicate our activism in all their names.  The ritual where we read the names of those who have died in the U.S.,
Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, followed by reciting the mourners' kaddish felt a fitting, respectful and moving tribute, as well as a challenge to our government. Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Mass Peace Demonstration, San Francisco, June 5, 2004:  We joined the mass demonstration  held in San Francisco on June 5th, part of the national emergency protests taking place around the country.  At this event, we were given a handwritten note written exactly as follows:

"Bay Area Women in Black                                                                                                          You brought a Viet Nam veteran to unashamed tears for the needless killing of our brave youths. Blessed Be, Saalam, Shalom"

Mothers Day Peace Vigil, May 8, 2004:  On the day before Mothers Day, BAWIB held a vigil at 51st and Broadway in Oakland. We expanded that historic tradition by standing as allies with the mothers of Israel and Palestine who are losing their children to violence and war. Click here to see the flyer for this event

Vigil in Solidarity with March for Women's Lives, April 25, 2004:  Bay Area Women in Black held a silent walking vigil in San Francisco in support of the massive March for Women's Lives on April 25th in Washington, DC.  On the day of this historic gathering for reproductive freedom and justice, we stood in solidarity with women in Washington and around the globe insisting that our bodies are our business.  Click here to see the flyer for this event

Third Annual Vigil in San Francisco's Union Square on the Busiest Shopping Day of the Year, November 28, 2003:  The day after Thanksgiving, Bay Area Women in Black held their third annual silent walking peace procession through the streets of downtown San Francisco in support of the Geneva Accord, a new Palestinian/Israeli peace initiative.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Day of the Dead Procession, November 2, 2003:  Bay Area Women in Black participated in the Day of the Dead procession and gathered at the powerful altars created by the Mexico Solidarity Network and dedicated to justice for the murdered and disappeared women of Cuidad Juarez. 

Community Tashlich, September 28, 2003:  Bay Area Women in Black held its second public Tashlich ritual to cast off our inaction against the horrific suicide bombings in Israel and to cast off our silence concerning the Separate Wall being erected to divide to peoples of Israel from the peoples of Palestine.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Vigil in San Francisco's Union Square on the Busiest Shopping Day of the Year, November 29, 2002:  The day after Thanksgiving, Bay Area women in Black held their second annual silent walking peace procession through the streets of downtown San Francisco.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Non-traditional observance of Tisha B'Av, July 21, 2002:  Combating a growing sense of despair and loss of hope, Bay Area Women in Black gathered on Tisha B'Av, a traditional day of lamentation and mourning.  The event was dedicated to the memory of June Jordan.  We gathered to mourn the horrific losses and our own loss of hope and optimism about an end to the Occupation and a peaceful future for both Israelis and Palestinians.  We gathered to honor those Israelis and Palestinians who have worked tirelessly for a negotiated agreement and to honor our own seemingly endless toil to keep the vision of peace alive.  And we gathered to express our grief, to lament for the past and present, and to strengthen our resolve to bring about a different future.  Click here to see flyer for this event.

Silent walking vigil, Mission District of San Francisco, June 8, 2002:  On the 35th anniversary of the Israeli occupation, Women in Black in Israel called on chapters worldwide to hold vigils of protest.  Bay Area Women in Black participated by holding a silent procession through the streets of San Francisco preceding Anne Bluethenthal's "Tears of Rock" dance performance.

Counter demonstration at the San Francisco Pro-Israel Rally, April 14, 2002:  With a large banner proclaiming FOR THE LOVE OF ISRAEL, END THE OCCUPATION, Bay Area Women in Black were a sizeable presence at the San Francisco pro Israel rally.  Responses from rally attendees ranged from spitting on Women in Black vigilers to quietly asking for literature.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

A Report from Jerusalem, March 31, 2002:  Marcia Freedman, former member of the Knesset, Israeli peace activist, and founding member of Bay Area Women in Black spoke to an overflow crowd.  Marcia lives half of each year in Jerusalem and spoke of her unique experiences in the preceding several months.  She was joined by Tamir Sorek, a member of Courage to Refuse and one of the more than 300 Israeli army reserve officers who signed a declaration refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Tu Bishevat, January 2002:   Tu Bishevat, the 15th of Shevat in the Hebrew calendar, the biblical day for assessing the age of fruiting trees, is a sweet day of celebration for modern Israelis, but not so for their Palestinian neighbors.  Bay Area Women in Black gathered to [need words here!!!].  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

A Day of Possibility, December 28, 2001:   On this date, Women in Black groups around the world were holding vigils in solidarity with those women attending an international conference in Jerusalem protesting the immoral occupation of Palestinian lands.  Bay Area Women in Black held a silent walking vigil in downtown Oakland.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.  [NOTE:  The correct flyer needs to be inserted.]

Community Chanukah of Reconciliation, December 16, 2001:  Bay Area Women in Black hosted a Chanukah ritual to explore and affirm the meaning of peace in a time of war.  On Chanukah, we remembered our ancestors, the Macabbees, who sought to overthrow an oppressive regime.  But, in the thoughtful, interior days of winter, we gathered together to reject the use of force itself as a means to justice.  Click here to see the flyer for this event.

Community Tashlich, September 23, 2001:  Still reeling from 9/11, Bay Area Women in Black held its first public event, a communal Tashlich.  (Tashlich is a ceremony that takes place on the first day of Rosh Hashana when Jews symbolically cast off the sins of the past year.)   The event was well attended and enormously emotional for all.   Click here to see flyer for this event.