Keeping the Peace: Women's Peace Handbook 1, edited by Lynne Jones, 1983, 176 pp., $5.95, published by The Women's Press, Ltd., London, England, distributed in the U.S. by: Merrimack Publishers' Circle 47 Pelham Road Salem, NH 03079 Recently I heard a lecture by a woman deeply involved in England's Greenham Common Peace Camp. Her question, "What are American women doing for peace?" echoed my own questions about global peace activities, specifically women's. This book is a wonderful chance to find out how some women's groups around the world are actively engaged in stopping the arms race. Although the focus is heavily British (the editor has worked consistently with women's peace groups in Britain), the book includes essays from women in the U.S., West Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. The essays and approaches are as varied as the groups themselves, which, in turn, are as different as the women involved. (America's new wave of motherhood may be particularly interested in a British group called "Babies Against the Bomb.") Mothers, working class women, feminists, and middle-class women all offer advice (in the form of personal experience) on everything from the basics of setting _up a women's peace group to November/December 1984 RAIN Page 19 ACCESS: PEACE planning a specific activity, which might be anything from a simple walk to a boycott of Parliament. The reports are factual and passionate; most helpful are the essays that offer an evaluation of the completed activity. I was moved by the essay on the Shibokusa women of North Fuji. Mostly in their 50s and 60s, these women believe that there can be no peaceful coexistence between the earth and the military, and they are doing everything in their power to disrupt military exercises taking place at the foot of Mount Fuji. Among other things, they have constructed a series of tunnels-to which only they know the entrance-under the training field, and they are likely to pop up like so many rabbits in the middle of training exercises. They have successfully endured harassment by their own townspeople, death threats, and the repeated destruction of their huts. Their courage in the face of great personal jeopardy is heroic; their belief is in long-term resistance. The book ends with some step-by-step notes on networking, planning an action, and nonviolent civil disobedience, and an excellent reading list. If you have ever felt that a women's peace movement is separatist and has no place in a society truly striving for equality, this book may change your mind. I was heartened to see the book subtitled "Women's Peace Handbook 1." Hopefully there will be others. -KS "Can't Kill the Spirit" 1985 Peace Calendar, $8.25 from: Syracuse Cultural Workers Project PO Box 6367x Syracuse, NY 13217 The Syracuse Cultural Workers Project (see RAIN X:6) or the Syracuse Peace Council have published and distributed an annual calendar for 14 years. The 1985 "Can't Kill the Spirit" calendar celebrates we, the people: our struggle, our power, our glory, our strength, our courage, and our free will. The calendar marks the birthdays of people through the ages who have made significant contributions to the cause of peace, and commemorates national and international peace activities, pointing to a longer and larger history of peaceful activism than perhaps any of us realize. (For example, there were war-tax resisters in 1779, and a peace rally that filled Madison Square Garden in 1917.) Months and days of the week are bilingual (English/Spanish) but the photos, drawings, paintings, collages, and fabric art transcend all language barriers. Especially beautiful is the cover photo of Karen Kerney's fabric art, · inspired by the Naomi Littlebear song that has become an international peace anthem, "Like a Mountain." The calendar also includes a four-page resource section, and it is available to peace groups for fund raising. Interested groups should contact the SCWP. -KS Shibokusa wom en on Wom en's Peace Rally in Tokyo, 1981 (FROM: The Circle (Drawing by fan Petersen; FROM: Can't Kill the Spirit 1985) Keeping th e Peace )
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