DWF
donnawomanfemme
Roma, Editrice coop. UTOPIA, 1986-

Without peace, 2001, n. 4

CACIOLI Patrizia, Introduction, pp. 2-5

This issue reflects on what happened after September 11, 2001 from the point of view of women's politic. In dialogue with the writings, reflections and practices developed after those traumatic events the proposed articles are organised in two main perspectives: the reasoning around the concept of disloyalty as a figure of the women's reactions to any state politics which turns out to be oppressive against them; the meaning and the effectiveness of women 's political practices against the war.

BONO Paola - FORTINI Laura, Disloyal lovers, pp. 6-14

With reference both to Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas and to Adrienne Rich's "Disloyal to Civilisation", in this dialogue Bono and Fortini propose and explore "disloyalty" as a position for women of different culture, race, ethnic group, class, religion. Being disloyal each to one's own culture, race, ethnic group, class, religion, while recognising their relevance to one's life, is a way of underlining sexual difference without cancelling the differences between women.

STELLA Rosetta, God and the flat roof of the Kabul's houses, pp. 15-24

A lecture for a Seminar on the "feminine question" for Muslims and Christians, held in Modena (16 November 2001) and organised by ACLI, is the occasion to question the meaning of faith, tolerance, God for women and men of different religions after the events of September 11, 2001. The author dismantles the opportunistic interpretations of a war between religions. Since it is impossible to justify of any war by the fundamental texts of any religion, the traumatic events of this war question our every day life of women and men and represent an extraordinary occasion, kairós, to revive politics. The asymmetric condition of women in western culture - always 'an imperfect belonging', infidels to father's law - gives them the possibility to build a new perspective, to conceive the unknown, the transcendent in every day life.

LUKIC Jasmina, Otherness as a moral choice, or three stories on disloyalty, pp. 25-31

The article investigates several cases of female oppositional activity, and the way they were treated publicly. The first is the case of so called "Croatian Withces", accused to be the public enemies because of their critical writings against nationalistic regime of Franjo Tudjman. The second is the case of Serbian group "Women in Black", who systematically opposed war policy of Slobodan Milosevic, and called for dialogue with Albanian people. Thirdly, certain aspects of feminist protests against the war in Afghanistan are discussed. In all the cases, the author argues for women's rights to be disloyal to any state politics which turns out to be oppressive against them.

RICCIARDI Cloti, It is totally a different story, p. 32

The author, an artist, suggests an emotional voyage through her creations as a possible answer to the traumatic events of September 11, 2001.

CAMPT Tina - GREWAL Inderpal - KAPLAN Caren - MOALLEME Minoo - TERRY Jennifer, Feminist and International perspective against the war, pp. 33-40

A declaration of several american feminist first published in http://www.action-tank.org/pfp

CIGARINI Lia, There is no other way, pp. 41-45

Starting form her own experience, the author discusses the political meaning of women's protests and reactions to the war and explores their effectiveness. The most original and autonomous part of the women's movement shun from simplified positions. Some women believed, and indeed believe, in 'starting from herself', from her own intimate experiences or subjectivity, as the only way to keep alive the feminine difference. A narrow way still covered. The events of September 11, 2001 show that the revolt is not only against the exclusion from western wealth, but against the technological and mediatic power of the western symbolic capital. Hence, the calls and the declarations against the war are not able to change the rule of the game; they are useless, mainly because they send back the impression of impotence, an unbearable minoritism.

MASI Paola - GIARDINI Federica, From the voice of other women, pp. 46-55

The authors propose a dialogue with two contemporary women (Sontag and Roy) who intervened immediately after the events of September 11, 2001, with the aim of showing the political usefulness of starting (and not ignoring) the voice of (some) other (living) women. Going further the analysis of Roy on the twin male leaders of terrorism and war, the concept of disloyalty is proposed in three perspectives: the possibilities to openly investigate the scared emotions to the events; the deep roots of openness to other, and hence to other cultures; the differences among war, conflict and duel. Deriving from Sontag' s claim against the reduction of policy to a bad psychotherapy, the authors readdress "the war against terrorism" as a chance to critically understand and change the arrogant and forgetful political horizon which is one of the worst aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001.

BRUNO Giuliana, Fragments of the city, pp. 57-100

The author, an Italian cultural theorist who lives in New York, writes about her experience of the city after the traumatic events of September 11, 2001 changed the landscape of downtown Manhattan. Choosing a subjective, microhistorical perspective in the face of this over-spectacularized event, she chronicles the life of the city in a diaristic, open letter that observes the tangible effects of the attack on daily life. What emerges from this haptic point of view is not only a police state but a state of mind. As we watch a new social geography take place, we are also led to see how the exterior scar extends into the very fabric of the city's interior landscape. The author takes us on this imaginary walk through her wounded city, recording sounds and smells, feeling the depth of silence and the need for touch. In observing material signs of distress at every street corner, she maps a ruined streetscape while mourning the missing body of a vibrant cityscape. This affective mapping of a metropolitan trauma ultimately charts an emotional topography, one in which writing itself becomes a form of memorial.

GIANNESI Belinda, Between generations, pp. 100-104

One of the most important things in recent feminism is the question of intergenerational shift. I totally agree with the young feminists who wrote in "Genealogies of the present " (DWF 2001, n. 1) suggesting a redefinition of the fundamental points of the movement in order to make it more broad and general. However, as to the use of nicknames, I believe that it is a way to avoid one's own responsibility perpetuating traditional woman social status. Consequently, I would have rather preferred signed letters to anonymous ones, so to give, in my opinion, a practical start to the role of the feminist movement within cultural and social areas.

CAPUANI Monica, Amélie Nothomb, pp. 106-110

Taking the occasion of an interview, the author sketches the biography of the young Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb, born in Kolbe (Japan), who is becoming a legend in the francophone literary circles (in the last five years her books sold 1.300.000 copies only in France and have been translated in 31 countries). After the success of her first book (Hygiène de l'assassin), Nothomb won the Grand Prix of the Académie Française with a novel based on her work experience in Japan (Stupeur et tremblements). Following her family in several oriental countries, she practised the difficulties and the paradoxes of a true cohabitation of different cultures, which often represent the incredible and sometimes exhilarating materials of her novels, like the wonderful Le sabotage amoreux and the recent Métaphysique des tubes.