A CONSCIENTIOUS

I AM A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR…

- Because I respect life
- Because conscientious objection is a fundamental human right—the right of choice
- Because conscientious objection is my political and cultural choice, and not a part of my feminine role, to care for others
- Because I am a conscientious objector to the whole of patriarchy and especially to militarism as a an armed patriarchy
- Because I support conscientious objectors who demand a civil posting for their military service.

- As a woman, I am tired of wars, “heroes,” “soldier’s leave”….mobilization to violence, friends hiding, family deserters of the war;
- As a woman, I reject all wars, believing every war unjust. Therefore I want to stop the incitement of hate, violence, and war.
- As a woman, I demand that at every opportunity I be treated as a civilian, and that I never be bound to any military or police institution.

I AM A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR because…

- I refuse to participate in all military formations. That is not equality between men and women, it is not emancipation of women, and it is not "democratization" of the army—it is a military society.
- I express my disobedience to all forms of military society, and I do not want others to make decisions in my name, I want to obtain control over my own life.
- I urge that the money spent on the armed forces be invested in the raising of personal and societal standards in education, health, and culture.
- I [urge, instigate] the process of de-Nazification, conscious confrontation with the past, and collective moral responsibility for war and war crimes committed "in the name of the nation."
- I do not want war and violence to be the "natural state" of the Balkans.
- I actively advocate for education in peace and non-violence.
- I actively advocate against war for any reason.

Belgrade, May 2001
WOMEN IN BLACK