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In the autumn of 2003, Ruth was chosen to participate as a PeaceWriter for the inaugural
Women Peacemakers Project of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Justice and Peace at the
University of San Diego (http://peace.sandiego.edu/programs/WPM/WPM_Dalit.html).
The program's goal is to record the experiences and reflections of women involved in
peacemaking.
The Women PeaceMakers Program invites four women from conflict-affected countries
around the world who have been involved in human rights and peacemaking efforts and who are
seeking ways to have greater impact in peacemaking efforts in their society to participate in a
multi-week residency at the [Institute for Justice and Peace]. Women on the frontlines of
efforts to end violence and secure a just peace seldom record their experiences, activities,
and insights as generally there is no time, or, perhaps, no formal education that would help
women record their stories.
During the program, Ruth interviewed and wrote the narrative of Dalit Baum, a radical
lesbian feminist Israeli peace activist and teacher. Working with various groups and
organizations, Dalit's focus is to end the Occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, to bring
peace and true partnership to the peoples of Israel and Palestine, to empower women,
homosexuals, lesbians and other oppressed groups, and to create equality and social justice
in her country. If there is one central issue in Dalit's political work and philosophy, it
is making visible the connections among oppressive systems in Israel - "homophobia, racism,
militarism, sexism, and national chauvinism" - as well as connections among all forms of
violence - occupation, poverty, brutality against women - and breaking down the distinctions
among the struggles against them.
Ruth later worked with Carmen Dyck, a PeaceWriter from Canada, on an article for Agenda, the
journal of the African Feminist Media Project (www.agenda.org.za). Their article was
featured in Issue #59, whose theme was "Women in War":
 "That
women are the first victims of war and conflict and whose bodies become sites upon which
battles are waged, is undisputed. The number of wars taking place across the world - public
and private, subtle and overt, all marked by violence and terror - makes it essential that
we examine the manifestations and effects of war and conflict in the contemporary world. This
issue looked specifically at women's experience of war and terror, and the impact on gender
relations."
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