Women for Peace in Sudan
International Women’s Day, 8th March 2024 with Waging Peace in Westminster, London
“Courage calls to courage everywhere and its voice cannot be denied”
Above, statue of Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, (1847-1929), Parliament Square, London. A towering figure in the moderate British suffrage movement, Fawcett served as president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Her statue holds aloft a banner bearing the epic rallying call for women’s suffrage historically but controversially attributed to her.
On International Women’s Day this year, members of Waging Peace and their supporters gathered in London to call for an immediate end to the war in Sudan. Shamefully forgotten by the world’s media, the war, now entering its second year, has plunged Sudan into the worst humanitarian crisis in decades.
Waging Peace chose to walk in the footsteps of British women campaigners for the right to vote, in recognition of the sacrifices women throughout the world have made in their battle to be heard.
Learn more about the Suffragettes in:
Guide to London’s landmarks for Suffragette and Suffrage history
The Suffragettes – Museum of London
“Sudanese women are the core of both their families and their communities and when they take the initiative, when they believe in a cause, they will act. It only takes two or three courageous women to lead. It’s time for women to take the front seat and call for the end of the war. The pain of war is felt so keenly by women and peace can be restored by women; every wife, mother, sister, daughter, grandmother and aunt has a part.” Liela Medani
Above, Liela Medani, one of many inspiring Sudanese women across Britain who came together to make the beautiful Peace Toub pictured above and which formed the heart of the International Women’s Day procession. Liela proudly marched with the toub on 8th March.
Read more about the Peace by Piece toub and Liela’s personal experiences of the war in
Highlights
Suffragettes would gather at Caxton Hall before mounting deputations to the Houses of Parliament.
The march began at Caxton Hall, with the unfurling of the Peace Toub by members of Waging Peace and their supporters. “Wrapped with this majestic beauty”, despite the immense pain of war, “we march through the heart of London”, Sonja Miley of Waging Peace said, addressing the gathering. Our day began by paying homage to the profound role of grandmothers in Sudanese life and the generational continuity of tolerance and strength, passed down by grandmother to mother to daughter, by woman to woman, sister to sister. We mourned for all the grandmothers lost, all those who, while wrapping their toubs about them, urged “patience and forgiveness”:
“She wraps it so well you would think it was sewn on her skin.”
Like the River Nile, Grandmother “molded my mother like clay…”
Words by the Sudanese poet, Enas Saeed, pictured right above, and recited so powerfully by her at Caxton Hall.
Above, Liela and others supporting Waging Peace calling for peace in Sudan at the Suffragette Memorial in Christchurch Gardens, Victoria. Below, fearless voices reminded us that the struggle to be heard is a long and painful one but one that ultimately will prevail.
“Sisters, can you hear us? You’ll be stronger by the hour.”
“We passed by Westminster Palace, The Houses of Parliament and I felt the rage, the anger, the hope and anticipation. I want to deliver my voice and my message to all members of Parliament through these thick walls. I want to paste my message on all the stones and corridors inside this building, the symbol of global democracy. Perhaps some of them will hear me and work hard to stop the export of weapons, tools of death and mass destruction to Sudan and the whole world. My voice rises stronger, gently the air raises the giant toub of peace in our hands….”
Liela Medani
Maddy Crowther reading a message from the Sudan and South Sudan All Parliamentary Group
Below, top left, the Peace Toub at The Emmeline Pankhurst Monument, by the Houses of Parliament, our procession through Parliament Square, bottom right, where we happily coincided and briefly joined forces with an Afghani march for women’s rights, middle left, Maddy Crowther of Waging Peace reading the Sudan and South Sudan All Party Parliamentary Group letter of support and bottom left, where the march ended, at The Southbank Centre.
“To all the golden hearts who supported the call for peace, who walked the distance without hesitation, marching in solidarity and love and for peace and justice for humanity and Sudan and especially for the men, our guardian angels on the day, to all of you I send my respect, gratitude and and appreciation.
God bless us all! God save and bless Sudan!”
Liela Medani
Women's literacy in Sudan 