Cynthia Cockburn

Cynthia Cockburn – WILPF member, co-founder of Women in Black London, feminist peace activist and writer.

Cynthia Cockburn died as she lived, a campaigner to the end. Her friends and family gathered in January at Westminster Friends Meeting House to celebrate her life and share memories of this wonderful feminist peace activist. On the walls were Cynthia’s vibrant banners, as Raised Voices sang some of the songs she had written over her years of singing with this radical choir: Life on Earth, Refugee, Arms Trader, Who do they think they are? and more.

Cynthia was a long-time WILPF member and inspirational campaigner. She was also a deep thinker and practical networker, with the rare ability to combine academic analysis with activist objectives. Women from many parts of her life recalled Cynthia’s kindness, creativity, strength and stubbornness in ways that made us laugh and cry. When she committed to a campaign, cause or book, she did extensive research and interviews, developed strategies, connected ideas, listened to many different perspectives and then put it all together with analytical brilliance. As she was remembered, her own compelling photos showed on a loop — Hackney Greenham women protesting in the 1980s, Aldermaston, No to NATO, and many different Women in Black vigils and international gatherings.

Passionately committed to women, peace and nonviolent activism, Cynthia wrote a new manifesto for WILPF’s 100th anniversary in 2015. Renowned internationally as a ground-breaking feminist academic, she ranged from 1970s publications on local governance, technology and gender divisions, to books such as The Space Between Us – Negotiating Gender and National Identities (1998), The Line: Women, Partition and the Gender Order in Cyprus (2004), From where we stand: War, Women’s Activism and Feminist Analysis (2007), and Anti-militarism: political and gender dynamics of peace movements (2012). Her final book, Looking to London: Stories of War, Escape and Asylum, was inspired by the NHS staff from war-torn communities in Asia and Africa that she spoke with during her hospitalisation for cancer in 2015. When cancer returned in 2019, Cynthia travelled with friends to Zurich, where Dignitas helped her to exercise her right to choose and retain her autonomy, as she wanted, to the end.

We closed our celebration of her life at Edith Cavell’s plinth, where Cynthia stood with Women in Black for almost thirty years. Together we lit candles and sang One song, one dance, remembering her in all our many ways.

To celebrate Cynthia Cockburn’s lifetime of writing and campaigning, and to remind people of her outstanding contributions, Soundings have made freely available a selection from the pieces she wrote for the journal, including her articles about transversal politics and photo-narratives of women’s projects in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Israel. Cynthia, who died on 12 September 2019, was one of the founders of WiB London and a pillar of our global network.

https://lwbooks.co.uk/person/cynthia-cockburn