The Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice was a women-only
peace camp
Peace camps are a form of physical protest camp that is focused on anti-war and anti-nuclear activity. They are set up outside military bases by members of the peace movement who oppose either the existence of the military bases themselves, the ...
formed to protest the scheduled deployment of Cruise and Pershing II missiles before their suspected shipment from the Seneca Army Depot to Europe in the fall of 1983.
The camp took place mainly during the summer of 1983, from July 4 through
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
, concluding with a Labor Day Action honoring workers and highlighting the inflation and job loss that militarism brings. Thousands of women came to participate and rally against
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s and the "'patriarchal society' that created and used those weapons."
The encampment continued through till 1994 when it "transitioned" into a "Women's Peace Land." Through its entire existence it continued to make the same principled philosophical connections between
militarism
Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
,
patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
, racism, high rates of
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
,
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
and global
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
, sexual & physical violence, addiction, oppression, & abuse in its many forms, and global
environmental destruction
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined ...
. As it evolved the first summer, it became a living expression of all women's skills & empowerment, as well as a visible celebration of a joyful lesbian sub-culture. The encampment continued as an active political presence in the
Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...
area for at least five more years, supporting
anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...
education and the connections between
ecofeminism
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
,
nonviolence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
, the need for
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
and ideas of
permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...
and
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
.
Name
The encampment has also been referred to as: Seneca, the Encampment, the Women's Encampment, the Women's Peace Camp, the Peace Camp, the Seneca Peace Camp and the Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice.
Vision Statement
The following statement was taken from the back cover of the encampment handbook:
"Women have played an important role throughout our history in opposing violence and oppression. We have been the operators of the Underground Railroad, the spirit of the equal rights movement and the strength among tribes. In 1848 the first Women's Rights Convention met at Seneca Falls giving shape and voice to the 19th century feminist movement.
Once again women are gathering at Seneca – this time to challenge the nuclear threat at its doorstep. The Seneca Army Depot, a Native American homeland once (nurtured?) and protected by the Iroquois, is now the storage site for the neutron bomb and most likely the Pershing II missile and is the departure point for weapons to be deployed in Europe. Women from New York State, from the United States and Canada, from Europe, and, indeed, from all over the world are committed to nonviolent action to stop the deployment of these weapons.
The existence of nuclear weapons is killing us. Their production contaminates our environment, destroys out natural resources, and ... our human dignity and creativity. But the most critical danger they represent is to life itself. Sickness, accidents, genetic damage and death. These are the real products of the nuclear arms race. We say no to the threat of global holocaust, no to the arms race, no to death. We say yes to a world where people, animals, plants, and the earth itself are respected and valued."
History
Romulus is located within fourteen miles of both
Seneca Falls, which is the birthplace of
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
, and
Waterloo, the birthplace of
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
. The area was a station on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
and home to
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
.
The encampment patterned itself on the
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began on 5 September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life on ...
in England.
Other camps were set up in Italy and the Netherlands. In June 1982, many people met in New York for the largest U.S. antinuclear demonstration to date (with half a million people participating) and for the Conference on Global Feminism and Disarmament that preceded it. After 1983, only a few women lived on the campground, but their annual demonstrations were still large gatherings of nearly 800 women.
By 1990, however, camp leaders responded to dwindling numbers by holding a "transform or die" discussion about the future of the Women's Encampment for Peace and Justice, which went on to establish the non-profit land trust Women's Peace Land.
Chronology:
February, 1983 – local officials first alerted to peace camp through Buffalo newspaper
April – formal camp name chosen
May 23 – camp land purchased
– peace camp organizers held first press conference
Early June – women invited to local churches
June 9 – Local resident offers American flag to the camp (rejected on June 13)
July 4 – camp opened (activities include slow walk to depot)
July 17 – New York City women's letter to Seneca County sheriff gave notice of plans for a march from Seneca Falls to the encampment by way of Waterloo on July 30
August 1 – central demonstration involving approximately 1500-3000 people
September 5 – camp closes for the year
Participants
There were many different people and organizations involved in the planning and running of the encampment. Both local and outside women alike participated. The policy of the encampment was to not single out any specific women for their efforts in the organization or running of it. Rather, it was a collective effort and its organizational and political strategies have been analyzed.
The main organizations involved were the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
, Catholics against Nuclear Arms, the
War Resisters League
The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States.
History
Founded in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I, it is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International. It continues ...
,
Women Strike for Peace
Women Strike for Peace (WSP, also known as Women for Peace) was a women's peace activist group in the United States. In 1961, nearing the height of the Cold War, around 50,000 women marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate aga ...
, Women's Pentagon Action, Rochester Peace and Justice, and the Upstate Feminist Peace Alliance.
Some participants wrote about, photographed, or otherwise documented their experiences at the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice. Mima Cataldo participated in the summer of 1983 and documented the encampment through her photography. Leeann Irwin was an early organizer of the Women's Pentagon action and an active participant in the Encampment, having committed to live at the Women's encampment for a year before it opened, and later organizing a speaking tour of Europe in 1984 on the peace work being done at the camp. Sybil Claiborne collected correspondence, meeting notes, mailing lists, clippings, and leaflets of the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice. Cynthia Butler (Cynthia B. Costello) wrote a 13-page document, "Report from Seneca" with Amy Stanley, describing the history of the encampment and providing an analysis of related issues.
The encampment attracted thousands of women, from many different places and with different political views, sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds. Although a significant number of men shared interest in the encampment's cause, they were neither allowed to join the encampment nor participate in the protests. Any male over the age of twelve was not let onto the main grounds, though there was a place in the front lawn where they could stay. This decision was highly controversial. Many women argued that the group was being exclusionary by not allowing men into the encampment, and mothers argued that sons over the age of twelve who were firm believers in the anti-nuclear cause should be allowed to come.
Community and Media Reactions
The encampment did not integrate well with the surrounding conservative community.
Damage was done in an early publication by the encampment which denigrated the educational level of local residents and was seen by many to be patronizing and condescending.
Regular counter-protests took place at the encampment's events. The civil unrest also caused resentment by law enforcement agencies because of the extra work associated with monitoring the protests and managing traffic problems which resulted from the events.
Events from July 30 to August 3 led to more than $100,000 in additional policing costs; although they were a local expense at the time, the money was later reimbursed by the federal government.
In November 1984, articles titled "Witches of Seneca" were published in the
Syracuse Post-Standard
''The Post-Standard'' is a newspaper serving the greater Syracuse, New York, metro area. Published by Advance Publications, it and sister website Syracuse.com are among the consumer brands of Advance Media New York, alongside NYUp.com and ''Th ...
.
The articles characterized the participating women as "
lesbians
A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fem ...
" and "
vegetarians
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetarianism may ...
" and noted specific information about their witchcraft and feminist practices. At the time the activities at the encampment were declining and while the articles did not have a major impact, they did confirm for many their assumptions about the movement's supporters.
Ritual
The encampment utilized a number of different techniques in their protests to bring their causes and issues to the attention of the outside world. They used many
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
elements. The women would protest in large circles, holding hands, and weave webs of yarn around each other and around the fence of the Army Depot, with objects of meaning also incorporated. They performed slow walks, where they would walk in slow-motion; twisting, turning, and pulling each other along. In one protest they tied themselves to the fence with ribbons and yarn, and moaned and screamed. There was a 'zukes not nukes' week where they stormed the fence and filled it with zucchinis. Other demonstrations featured singing, dancing, masks, costumes, makeup, and signs. Sometimes
die-in
A die-in, sometimes known as a lie-in, is a form of protest in which participants simulate being dead. Die-ins are actions that have been used by a variety of protest groups on topics such as animal rights, anti-war, against traffic violence, hum ...
s were performed, to imitate war casualties. There was even a laundry ritual, in which women hung up signs in a local laundromat while doing their laundry.
The Waterloo Bridge Incident
Preceding their march on the Saturday, July 30, 1983, several women from the NYC Women's Pentagon Action wrote a letter to the sheriff of Seneca County to inform him of their plans. They intended to walk from Seneca Falls, through Waterloo to the peace camp in Romulus at the Army Depot, stopping at historic sites regarding the women's rights movement on their way. There were no local laws requiring a permit and so none could be issued.
The walk was without incident until its path was blocked at a bridge on Washington Street in Waterloo.
A large group of local residents blocked the road and refused to leave. The marchers responded to the situation by sitting down on the road in an effort to reduce the confrontational atmosphere.
The standoff lasted for some time as the sheriff tried to convince the marchers to give up their march. Although many of the marchers had not yet been to the encampment, the sheriff sent to the encampment to have leaders brought to the scene in an effort to resolve the situation. When many women continued to refuse to leave the road, they were charged with disorderly conduct and taken into custody; some marchers did clear the road and were not charged. One local woman, the wife of a bank president, felt that those blocking the road, not the marchers, should be arrested and she joined the marchers and was charged as well. A total of 54 women were detained; nearly all refused to identify themselves, and so they were held in lieu of bail which they refused to post.
They were taken by school bus to the Seneca County Jail where they were arraigned. They were then taken to the South Seneca Elementary School in Interlaken where they were held until the following Wednesday.
The largest protest at the depot organized by the encampment took place on Monday, Aug. 1. The peaceful event, which did involve many women climbing the depot's fence, took place while the women were still in custody.
On August 3 the women were transported to the Seneca County Fairgrounds in Waterloo where a makeshift court room was set up so the women could appear before the village justice. After several hours of individual court proceedings, the justice called a break in the proceedings. When he returned, he called all the defendants into the building and dismissed the charges against them in the interest of justice.
Legacy
Another anti-nuclear weapons protest occurred at the depot in October 1983, which was not sponsored by the Women's Encampment, although some encampment participants did participate.
After the main encampment ended in the summer of 1983, several smaller demonstrations occurred at the depot the following summer. While a token presence at the encampment continued for a few years, the activity declined each year. In 1986, the
Window Peace project in New York City paid tribute to both this encampment and the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp.
[Kleckner, Susan. ''For Immediate Release: Window Peace.'' Press Release. 30 April 1987. Interference Archive, Brooklyn New York.]
In the early 1990s, the Special Weapons area at the Seneca Army Depot, which is where the protesters believed the nuclear weapons were stored, was closed and the Army acknowledged that the base's Special Weapons mission had ended. Not long after the base was listed for closure under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. The depot was finally decommissioned and shut down on September 2000.
Since the mid-1990s, the base has been undergoing redevelopment for non-military purposes. Among those now in place is a state prison (Five Points Correctional Facility). For a time the former troop housing area was used as a program for troubled teenagers by Kid's Peace and then by the Hillside Children's Center. That area has been sold by the Seneca County IDA and is vacant. Depot land also has been re-utilized for a Seneca County Jail, and various buildings at the base are being used for warehousing.
See also
*
Women Strike for Peace
Women Strike for Peace (WSP, also known as Women for Peace) was a women's peace activist group in the United States. In 1961, nearing the height of the Cold War, around 50,000 women marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate aga ...
*
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began on 5 September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life on ...
*
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...
*
List of anti-war organizations
In order to facilitate organized, determined, and principled opposition to the wars, people have often founded anti-war organizations. These groups range from temporary coalitions which address one war or pending war, to more permanent structured ...
*
The Ribbon International
The Ribbon International is a United Nations non-governmental organization that created a large decorated cloth promoting nuclear disarmament and care and protection of the earth. In an event held on August 4, 1985, panels were connected in an l ...
*
Goddess movement
The Goddess movement includes spiritual beliefs or practices (chiefly Modern Paganism, Neopagan) which emerged predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the 1970s. The movement grew as a reaction to perceptions ...
*
Women-only space
A women-only space is an area where only women (and in some cases children) are allowed, thus providing a place where they do not have to interact with men. Historically and globally, many cultures had, and many still have, some form of female sec ...
*
*
*
References
External links
Records of the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and JusticeSchlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice Collection 1977-1997
W. E. B. Du Bois Library
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Women's Peace Encampment online archive: oral histories, photos, videos, news clippings
PeaCe eNCaMPMeNT HeRSToRy PRoJeCT
* Joan E. Biren
Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seneca
Women's organizations based in the United States
1983 establishments in New York (state)
Anti–nuclear weapons movement
Anti-nuclear protests in the United States
Peace camps
Feminism in New York (state)
Pacifism in the United States
Organizations established in 1983