WUNRN
Women's Refugee Commission Voices of
Courage Award
LIBERIA - NOBEL LAUREATE
LEYMAH GBOWEE - GRASSROOTS WOMEN PIVOTAL FOR PEACE ACTIVISM
Leymah
Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for her role in ending the civil war
in Liberia. She continues her peace and human rights activism through the
Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa.
Leymah Gbowee: "We are tired of war. We are tired of running. We
are tired of begging for bulgur wheat. We are tired of our children being
raped. We are taking this stand to secure the future of our children, because
we believe, as custodians of society, tomorrow our children will ask us, 'Mama,
what was your role during the crisis?'"
Interview: What was it like growing up in Liberia?
I grew up in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, in a
middle class neighborhood. Our family is from the Kpelle people, the
largest ethnic group in the country. My community was very diverse, and
had thirteen of Liberia’s sixteen ethnic groups. People coexisted very well. There
was a respect for religious differences. People supported each other.
Women were respected. As a child, I saw men stand up to other men who were
known for battering their wives. Children belonged to the community—anyone
could discipline you. But everyone loved you or showed you some form of
affection. Growing up, my socialization was basically one of a peaceful world.
It was the Liberian civil war that showed me the contrary.
How did the Liberian
civil war and your displacement change your life and the life of your family?
The [first] civil war [1989 – 1996] brought many
years of terror. Every day people were murdered before my eyes. Boys as young
as seven or eight were recruited as child soldiers either by force or out of
desperation and hunger. A common scene was a mother watching her young one
being forcibly recruited or her daughter being taken away as the wife of
another drug-emboldened fighter. One bloodbath took place in a church. The same
pews where we once sang and prayed had turned to the scene that the soldiers
used to rape, slash, shoot and hack. I fled with my relatives from one shelter
to another, and many days we went hungry. We lived for a time in a
mosquito-infested refugee camp in Ghana. I returned to Liberia in 1991, after a
new interim government had formed, and saw utter devastation. Everyone had fled
leaving their homes to the fighters, and anyone who returned to find their
possessions gone went through the homes of others, taking whatever was left to
grab. My life was smashed to nothing.
Why do you believe
that it is women who suffer most during conflicts?
In my work as a social worker, I worked with the
war-wounded ex-child soldiers of [President] Charles Taylor’s army. During my
engagement with these boys, it became very clear how patriarchy first
influenced their decision to join the rebellion. The other side to their
stories is that while they proved their maleness by joining the rebellion, they
also had to prove their maleness by taking in a wife or two and bringing her to
a state of total submission. Many of the wives of these young men were forcibly
taken, raped and beaten into submission. But the situation is not unique to
Liberia. This is the everyday story of girls and women in conflict situations.
Sexual violence is a norm and unfortunately, young boys and men trying to prove
their maleness has become the status quo in conflict situations. Women are
often the first victims of conflict. Besides rape and sexual violence, a lot of
them are forced to flee the countries in which they live.
Why do you believe
that women working together can create an unstoppable force?
The Liberian women’s peace movement demonstrated to
the world that grassroots movements are essential to sustaining peace. I
strongly believe that women in leadership positions are effective brokers for
peace. I also believe in the importance of culturally relevant social justice
movements. Liberia’s experience is a good example to the world that
women—especially African women—can be drivers of peace.
Tell us about the early
days of the Liberian Mass Action for Peace coalition.
In 2003, a group of women from Christian and Muslim
backgrounds gathered in a makeshift office to discuss the [second] Liberian
civil war [1999-2003]. Armed with nothing but our conviction and a few United
States dollars, the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace Campaign was born.
When women were reluctant to join the coalition, we asked them, “Can the bullet
pick and choose? Does the bullet know Christian from Muslim?” I called upon
every able-bodied woman, regardless of her religion, social status or ethnic
group. We campaigned outside mosques on Fridays, in the markets on Saturdays
and outside churches on Sundays. The women carried banners and handed out
flyers that read, “We are tired! We are tired of our children being killed! We
are tired of being raped! Women, wake up – you have a voice in the peace
process!” We also created flyers with simple drawings to draw in women who
could not read.
You called on women
to refuse to have sex with their husbands. Why do you think the sex strike was
effective?
It had little or no practical effect. When we did
the strike, some of the women who lived in Monrovia gave in. Some came back to
the field [the site of protests] with bruises, saying that their husbands hit
them when they said no. The strike lasted, on and off, for a few months. While
it did not achieve the practical goal, it extremely valuable in getting us
media attention. Even today, the first thing people ask is “What about the sex
strike?”
Although the sex strike did not accomplish our goal,
it was effective in the sense that it got people's attention. Sex is an exotic
thing, and many people would say it's a taboo subject. But when someone dares
to bring it to the attention of the public, it has two results. People start
saying, "Who's this person doing this?" and they start asking why the
person is using sex to highlight an issue. And it gets men thinking. There are
a lot of good men out there! Good men outnumber evil men, but why are they
usually silent? Our strategy helps the good men because it gives them a reason
to take action. They start talking to their colleagues and beer buddies,
saying, "This war is wrong." We withheld sex from our spouses to get
attention, and our husbands obviously noticed what we were doing. We said,
"We need you to take a stand." And they did.
Why were the public
protests instrumental in leading Liberia to peace?
Once our coalition group numbered several thousand
we took our protest to the government buildings and held daily sit-ins and
protests. We began wearing white T-shirts so that we would be recognizable. We
worked daily, confronting warlords, meeting with dictators and refusing to be
silenced in the face of AK-47s. We walked when we had no transportation. We fasted
when water was unaffordable. We held hands in the face of danger. We spoke
truth to power when everyone else was being diplomatic. We stood under the rain
and the sun with our children to tell the world the stories of the other side
of the conflict. Our educational backgrounds, travel experiences, faiths and
social classes did not matter. We had a common agenda: Peace for Liberia
Now.
Soon it was no longer possible for Charles Taylor to ignore us and he agreed to
a face-to-face meeting. I told him, “We are tired of war. We are tired of
running. We are tired of begging for bulgur wheat. We are tired of our children
being raped. We are taking this stand to secure the future of our children,
because we believe, as custodians of society, tomorrow our children will ask
us, ‘Mama, what was your role during the crisis?’ ” After that, Charles Taylor
promised he would hold peace talks. That was the beginning of the end of the
war.
How has winning the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 changed your life?
I always say that I am a local girl with a global
platform. The prize has led to the recognition that women play a pivotal role
in peace-building at the grassroots level. Finally, our voice is recognized. I
am one representative of the thousands of Liberian women who stood with me in
the rain, sat with me in the sun and joined me in protest. I am deeply
protective of the mantle I carry on their behalf. One man didn’t start the war
and one woman didn’t end it. The Nobel Prize is a celebration and recognition
of Liberian women’s effort to end the war. The prize has provided me a global
platform to broaden the conversation about war, peace and stability. Women and
girls have always been affected by war. The Nobel Peace Prize has helped all of
our efforts to define true peace—one that is not only the absence of war but is
inclusive of opportunity.