Many thanks again to a lovely volunteer for picking another document of the month and even more so for taking the time to write an article to go with it! Do you have a favourite you want to be featured as a DocOfTheMonth? Just get in touch.
Summary
For this month’s DocOfTheMonth, I’ve chosen the 1982 summer edition of Women for Life on Earth magazine. Women for Life on Earth (WFLOE) were a campaign group, most famous for their 120-mile march from Cardiff to Greenham in 1981, protesting nuclear weapons. The cover art for this special BUMPER Solstice issue quickly sets the tone with the faces of two women being born from the ground, joined to a tree through its roots and branches.
Full of photos, art, songs, poetry and politics, WFLOE’s magazine drives home the connection between women, providing a space for them to reach out and speak up. It provides a glimpse into topics that still connect us today such as community, war and saving the planet from ourselves.
Women for Life on Earth #1982/Summer
For this month’s DocOfTheMonth, I’ve chosen the 1982 summer edition of Women for Life on Earth magazine. When I first came across this document, the sun was shining away letting me know that summer had finally arrived, there were talks of Glastonbury Festival everywhere and I had just been looking at photos from Stonehenge as people gathered for the solstice. Though I only write this a few days later, the sun is hiding behind the clouds, but Women for Life on Earth takes me back to that hazy glow of last week.
Women for Life on Earth (WFLOE) were a campaign group, most famous for their 120-mile march from Cardiff to Greenham in 1981, protesting nuclear weapons. The cover art for this special 'BUMPER Solstice issue' quickly sets the tone with the faces of two women being born from the ground, joined to a tree through its roots and branches.
One article of note details a 600 hundred strong protest against sexual violence and the turning of a disused airport in Comiso, Sicily, into a NATO site. On one day, over 100 women staged a sit-in, linking arms and throwing balls of wool to each other, weaving a colourful web that stood for their “vibrant solidarity”. Two days later, soldiers fired shots to intimidate the women who they would later accost and threaten with bayonets.
The web theme continues in an article called 'Arachne Rises', it notes that as 'the art of spinning and weaving has been an integral part of women’s cultural heritage since ancient times', the Greek myth of Arachne and Athena is still as relevant today. However, a new tale is spun as they add that 'Athena... is losing hold, as spinning spinsters everywhere are coming out of their dark corners and weaving webs of life with threads of hope and love'.
Full of photos, art, songs, poetry and politics, WFLOE’s magazine drives home the connection between women, whether through roots or web, providing a space for them to reach out and speak up. For us, it provides a glimpse into topics that still connect us today such as community, war and saving the planet from ourselves.
