Women Against the War armband

This armband was made for members of Women Against the War to wear in the nationwide anti-war mobilisation on 14 July 1972 to demonstrate against the Vietnam War (1959-1975) in which New Zealand troops were involved (from 1964 to 1972).

Thousands of people protested including specific groups which indicated how the politics of identity became enmeshed with the politics of anti-war protest. Alongside Women Against the War were the Gay Liberation Movement, Asians Against the War, Teachers and Lecturers Against the War, Student Anti-War Movement, Polynesians Against the War, and trade unions (Rabel 2005, 323).

Women Against the War was founded in early 1971. The black of the armband signifies mourning for the huge Vietnamese death toll. Women Against the War 'sought to link the plight of women in Indochina with their own position', and contrasted the New Zealand government's refusal to give women the right to abortion with sending New Zealand soldiers to kill Vietnamese (Rabel 2005, 324).

The 14 July 1972 mobilisation was the last large-scale protest in New Zealand against the war.

References:

Rabel, Roberto, New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and diplomacy, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 2005.