Feminist Activists's topics - tribe.net

The Soft Underbelly of the Right

2009-12-27T19:45:31Z

Here's an idea: This nation was, in sizable measure, founded by people who fled religious persecution in Europe. Jefferson was a Diest and it isn't accurate to say he was Christian. The Treaty of Tripoli, from the early 1800's, states that the USA is not founded upon the Christian religion. I think it was even signed by George Washington. Sooo, why do we have all these right-wing religious folks screwing with our lives?

Today we have an ambassador to The Vatican! Call me anti-Catholic if you wish, but I don't want my tax dollars going for THAT! Thank Ronald Reagan and the 1980's for that, as it NEVER would have flown decades earlier. I also don't want my taxes going to religious schools in the form of vouchers. Nor school bus subsidies, which are common in cities across America.

Then, there is birth control; international family planning, and abortion.

I see the religious Right as a pillar holding up corporate America, the Republican party, etc. The way to knock that pillar out from under it all is to push for a militant secularism. And as we do that, we can shield ourselves with something the Right dare not attack: patriotism. THEY are the subversives. THEY have sold out American values.

Lemme recommend some groups. There is the old, mainstream, Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Originally it was largely Baptist and protestant and concerned with the Catholic church wanting tax dollars, etc. (remember that ambassador, who the Vatican must APPROVE). Now it is a mix of atheists, agnostics, preachers, Jews, etc. etc. I'm sure it has Pagan members. It is in DC.

Then, there is The Freedom from Religion Foundation out of Madison, WI. It does a lot of good work, too.

I hope you'll consider this tactic. Hit 'em in their soft underbelly: their violation of something uniquely American. The separation of church and state. Let's take the wind out of their sails. Let's knock that pillar out from under the Right.

Whew. That's all. Hope you consider this.

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

The Most Important Link

2009-12-12T21:21:40Z

If you put no other link in your Bookmarks, make it this one. It's the US Senate's page which allows you to send a quick message to your Senator.

Whatever issues interest you, this is important

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

AU: URGENT Action Alert

2009-12-08T17:18:42Z

AU: URGENT Action Alert

"URGENT: The Senate will vote on the Nelson-Hatch amendment TOMORROW! Please take action NOW!

A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the destructive Stupak-Pitts amendment thanks to the powerful influence of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops demanded a new ban on abortion coverage in any insurance plan participating in the new insurance "exchange," and the Church hierarchy even threatened to use its clout in Congress to derail the entire healthcare reform package unless its particular religious view was enshrined in the legislation.

Now, the Senate is poised to vote on an identical amendment proposed by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and a number of co-sponsors. Please remind your Senators that this restrictive language is unacceptable. For those of us who believe deeply that religion and government must function separately, this is hese events are highly disturbing. As supporters of Americans United, you are well aware that the Constitution mandates a separation between church and state. Yet recently, the Catholic bishops have used their immense power to undermine constitutionally guaranteed rights.

This is unacceptable, and your Senators need to hear from you. We simply cannot allow the interests of a politically powerful religious denomination to undermine the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to Americans of all faiths and none. Your Senators will vote tomorrow -- so please share your views NOW!

Tell Your Senators to OPPOSE the Nelson-Hatch Amendment

--------------------

Keep Religious Doctrine Out of the Law

"A few weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the destructive Stupak-Pitts amendment thanks to the powerful influence of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishops demanded a new ban on abortion coverage in any insurance plan participating in the new insurance "exchange," and the Church hierarchy even threatened to use its clout in Congress to derail the entire healthcare reform package unless its particular religious view was enshrined in the legislation.

Now, the Senate is poised to vote on an identical amendment proposed by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and a number of co-sponsors. Please remind your Senators that this restrictive language is unacceptable. For those of us who believe deeply that religion and government must function separately, this is hese events are highly disturbing. As supporters of Americans United, you are well aware that the Constitution mandates a separation between church and state. Yet recently, the Catholic bishops have used their immense power to undermine constitutionally guaranteed rights.

This is unacceptable, and your Senators need to hear from you. We simply cannot allow the interests of a politically powerful religious denomination to undermine the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to Americans of all faiths and none. Your Senators will vote very soon -- so please share your views NOW! "

http://www.capwiz.com/au/issues/alert/?alertid=14439586

* Join the Separation of church and state tribe
http://separationofchurchstate.tribe.net

;

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

U.S. Imperialism: Enemy of Women’s Rights

2009-12-04T23:06:12Z

[For various reasons, I support the International Group (IG), League for the Fourth International instead of the Sparacist League (SL) who put out the following article. One of the biggest reasons for this was the IG's correct orientation in pushing for and promoting the May Day dock strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008 that shut down all West Coast ports. The SL not only abstained from this real action, but also denounced it. Still, the following article is good on many levels and worth reading. -Steven Argue]

For Free Abortion on Demand! For Free, Quality Health Care for All!

U.S. Imperialism: Enemy of Women’s Rights

For Women’s Liberation Through Socialist Revolution!

http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/index.html

Women’s right to abortion, having been chipped away for decades, is under renewed assault. On November 7, the House of Representatives passed a health care “reform” bill that would prevent millions of Americans from buying insurance that covers abortions. It is the most dramatic victory for anti-abortion bigots since the grossly misnamed “partial birth abortion ban” was passed by Congress six years ago.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi authorized a vote on the anti-abortion provision, and it was inserted into the “reform” bill, after a lobbying blitz by Catholic bishops. It would effectively ban abortion coverage in private health insurance plans offered on the insurance “exchanges” that would be created under the bill. Meanwhile, enforcement of an Illinois law requiring doctors to notify a parent when a woman 17 or younger seeks an abortion was temporarily blocked by a court suit early this month. This law represents a grave threat to the right of teens to abortion in the Midwest; such parental notification laws are already being implemented in states neighboring Illinois.

We print below, edited for publication, an October 10 forum given in the Bay Area by Amy Rath, editor of the Women and Revolution pages of Spartacist (English-language edition).

* * *

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. bourgeois press has been full of stories about the horrors of life for women in that country. This has nothing to do with protecting women and everything to do with lining up support for the U.S. imperialist intervention. More recently we have been hearing about the plight of women in not only the Taliban-controlled areas, but also under the regime of the corrupt and discredited U.S. ally, President Hamid Karzai. We are told that Afghanistan’s maternal and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world, that schoolgirls get doused with acid and that female politicians are shot or threatened with beheading for daring to work outside the home—all this, and much worse, is true.

The bourgeoisie’s counterfeit concern about the plight of women is a cynical and cruel bandying of empty words in the service of support for the aims of U.S. imperialism. The main enemy of the Afghan people is American imperialism! Our starting point is proletarian class opposition to the U.S. capitalist rulers and to the imperialist system as a whole. In the lead-up to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq we called for the military defense of these countries, without giving any political support to the reactionary, woman-hating Taliban cutthroats or the capitalist dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Today, insofar as the forces on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan aim their blows against the imperialist occupiers, we call for their military defense against imperialism, without giving them any political support. All U.S./NATO troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now! Hands off Pakistan!

This story goes back 30 years, to when the United States initiated what was then the largest CIA operation in its history to support the forefathers of the Taliban. The mujahedin had launched a guerrilla war against the government of the left-nationalist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which had sought to implement a program for redistributing land, lowering the bride price, educating women and freeing them from the head-to-toe burqa. Responding to repeated requests by the embattled PDPA regime, the Soviet Union intervened in December 1979. For genuine Trotskyists, there was no question which side working people and the oppressed the world over had in this conflict. The threat of a CIA-backed Islamic takeover on the USSR’s southern flank posed pointblank the need for unconditional military defense of the Soviet Union, a bureaucratically degenerated workers state. The Soviet intervention also opened up the possibility of social liberation for the Afghan masses, particularly women. We said: Hail Red Army! Extend social gains of October Revolution to Afghan peoples!

Under the Soviet military umbrella, the Afghan government began mass literacy campaigns and provided medical care. Over 300,000 peasants received land. By the late 1980s, half of all university students in Afghanistan were women, and women made up 40 percent of the country’s doctors, 70 percent of its teachers and 30 percent of its civil servants. Women in the workforce had increased 50-fold, and 15,000 women served as soldiers and commanders in the Afghan army. The London Guardian online (30 September 2001) quoted Saira Noorani, a female surgeon who left Kabul in 2001: “‘Life was good under the Soviets,’ Saira said. ‘Every girl could go to high school and university. We could go wherever we wanted and wear what we liked.... Since then everything has been a long dark night’.”

But for much of the left, support for the Democratic Party at home and for anti-Communism abroad has been at the core of their program. With few exceptions, the reformist “socialists” all howled with the imperialists in demanding Soviet troops out of Afghanistan in the 1980s. We were alone on the left internationally in hailing the Red Army in Afghanistan.

The International Socialist Organization (ISO) and its then-parent group in Britain demanded: “Troops Out of Afghanistan!” (Socialist Worker [Britain], 12 January 1980). The Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party likewise condemned the Soviet intervention. To justify siding with the reactionary mujahedin and their imperialist patrons, the reformist left invoked the lie of “poor little Afghanistan” and screamed about the national rights of the country being trampled by “Soviet imperialism.” In fact, even if Afghanistan were a nation, the question of its national self-determination would have been subordinated to the overriding class and social questions—defense of the Soviet Union and the struggle for women’s rights and social progress in Afghanistan.

Just across the border, Soviet Central Asia had once been exactly like Afghanistan—a miserably backward, desolate and benighted place, in fact not a nation but a patchwork of tribes and peoples. But in the 1920s, Soviet power came to Central Asia. To be sure, even the most powerful government cannot decree social advancement—it must be built. In 50 years, Soviet Central Asia had moved forward ten centuries because it had been transformed from a backward, tribal area by the socialized, planned economy of the USSR.

Why We Defended the Soviet Union

Upon coming to power in 1917, the Bolsheviks put into practice a number of crucial measures to begin the liberation of women. They made marriage and divorce simple matters of civil registration, entirely independent of the reactionary Russian Orthodox church, as part of an early decree giving women equal rights with men. Insofar as the poverty of the country allowed, they established communal kitchens, laundries and childcare centers to free women from the drudgery of housework—measures that sought to bring women into the workforce and into political life and lay the basis for replacing the family with socialized alternatives.

They abolished all laws regarding consensual sexual relations (laws against sodomy, adultery, homosexuality) because they thought the state had no business interfering in private sexual matters. In 1919, the Communist Party created the Department of Working Women and Peasant Women, or Zhenotdel, to organize special work among women, which included building over 25,000 literacy schools and donning the veil to reach the women of the Muslim East. In 1920, abortion was made legal, free and available in state hospitals under a doctor’s care.

For the Bolsheviks, the liberation of women was an integral part of the emancipating goals of the communist program. Denouncing feminism as the tool of upper-class women seeking their own place in the male ranks of capitalist power and privilege, the Bolsheviks insisted that the place of the working woman was side by side with the working man. The proletariat as a whole must embrace the fight against women’s oppression as part of its historic task of freeing humanity from the outmoded system of private ownership and production for profit.

Marxists hold that the institution of the family is the source of the oppression of women in class society. As Friedrich Engels laid out in his classic work The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884), under the “primitive communism” of the Stone Age, where a primitive equality prevailed, the division of labor between men and women derived from biology (women had to bear and nurse the young) and implied no subordinate social status. In what is now called the Neolithic Age, technological advances, particularly the development of agriculture, created for the first time a social surplus. This wealth was appropriated by a tiny minority, a ruling class, producing the division of society into classes, with a state of armed bodies of men to defend the ruling class.

The institution of the family came about first and foremost as a means to determine inheritance of private property and the power that came with it. As a means of consolidating wealth in the hands of a tiny minority, the patriarchal family decreed monogamy of women so that there was no question as to the “legitimate” heir. The biological fact of childbearing and child rearing was henceforth tied to the social oppression of women.

In the thousands of years since the advent of class society, the institution of the family has taken many different forms according to the needs of the ruling class, its economy, politics, religion and culture. In the capitalist order it serves not only as the principal mechanism of inheritance for the propertied classes, but as the means by which the next generation of wage slaves is raised. A big part of this is instilling bourgeois ideology, “morals,” and the requisite obedience to the powers that be. As such, the family is vitally necessary to the maintenance of production for profit. It will take a socialist revolution to lay the basis for the replacement of the necessary functions of the family—e.g., the raising of children—by socialized childcare, laundries, dining rooms, which will eliminate the oppression of women once and for all.

This is the future that the Bolsheviks strove for. They recognized, however, that without qualitative economic development, a fully socialist economy and the liberation of women were a utopian fantasy in backward, isolated Russia. Most importantly, they founded the Communist International with the goal of forming revolutionary proletarian parties and fighting for revolution, especially in the advanced industrial countries, like Germany.

In The Revolution Betrayed (1936), Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky explained that from the beginning the Bolsheviks recognized that “the real resources of the state did not correspond to the plans and intentions of the Communist Party. You cannot ‘abolish’ the family; you have to replace it. The actual liberation of women is unrealizable on a basis of ‘generalized want.’ Experience soon proved this austere truth which Marx had formulated eighty years before.”

The gains made by women in the Soviet Union are one of the reasons why we Trotskyists stood for unconditional military defense of the USSR against imperialist threats and internal counterrevolution. Stalin turned back the clock on many of the gains of women—for example, abortion was made illegal in 1936—but the enormous power of the planned economy remained. Despite its Stalinist bureaucratic degeneration, the Soviet workers state was able to provide all with a job, housing, health care and education. These are among the social gains that we called for the Soviets to introduce to Afghanistan in the 1980s.

We warned from the outset that the Kremlin bureaucracy, in its quest for “peaceful coexistence” with U.S. imperialism, might cut a deal at the expense of the Afghan peoples. When the Soviet forces completed their pullout from Afghanistan in early 1989, paving the way for a bloody onslaught against Afghan workers, women and leftists, we bitterly denounced this betrayal while the reformist left cheered. The ISO said: “We welcome the defeat of the Russians in Afghanistan.” But the Red Army was not defeated militarily in Afghanistan. The Soviet withdrawal in 1988-89 was a political betrayal by the Stalinist bureaucracy under Mikhail Gorbachev. Objectively, the Soviet intervention had cut against the grain of the nationalist Stalinist dogma of “socialism in one country.” Gorbachev’s betrayal flowed from the whole outlook of the Stalinist bureaucracy, which subordinated the interests of the international proletariat in an attempt to defend its own privileged position as a parasitic layer resting on the collectivized economy, thus undermining the defense of the Soviet workers state itself. We fought for a proletarian political revolution to oust the Stalinist bureaucracy and return the Soviet Union to the Bolshevik internationalism of Lenin and Trotsky.

The Soviet bureaucracy’s attempt to trade Afghan blood for good will in Washington only whetted the appetites of the imperialists, intent upon the counterrevolutionary destruction of the entire Soviet Union. Inside the USSR, this move strengthened pro-capitalist forces. The Red Army pullout from Afghanistan was directly linked to the final collapse of the USSR itself, a monumental defeat for the working class and oppressed internationally. The Stalinist bureaucracy had so besmirched the great ideals of communism with betrayals, murder, bureaucratic distortions and lies that by 1991-92 the working class was passive in the face of the revolution’s undoing and the restoration of capitalism under Boris Yeltsin.

The counterrevolution in East Europe and the Soviet Union was immediately a direct blow to women in every country. East Germany, for example, had probably the highest status for women in the world. Following capitalist counterrevolution, millions of working women were thrown out on the streets, forced back to the nursery and the kitchen when the state-owned factories were destroyed in the wake of the capitalist reunification of Germany.

Permanent Revolution

The subjugation of women in underdeveloped countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and India is not rooted in some uniquely reactionary quality of Islam or Hinduism, but rather in social backwardness, which is also fostered and enforced by the imperialist powers. In early modern Europe the rise of capitalist property relations and the Enlightenment profoundly undermined backward feudal social relations rooted in an economy based on the rule of a landholding aristocracy. The French Revolution of 1789-93 is the most powerful example of the progressive, revolutionary role of the young bourgeoisie in sweeping away the ancient feudal order.

To generalize and simplify a complex history over several centuries: the earlier medieval power of the church was constrained, the landholding aristocracy was largely destroyed—and the status of women improved over time through industrial development and social struggle. Among the toiling masses, the family was no longer based primarily on labor-intensive peasant agriculture, but on the wage slavery of industrial production.

But in areas like the Near East and South Asia, capitalism arrived belatedly—and it arrived with European colonialism, which allied itself with the local feudal powers. Imperialist penetration blocked the path of social and economic development. Thus the religions of the East did not have to adapt in the same way as did Christianity (or Judaism), and anti-woman barbarism has remained correspondingly more profound and overt. This is an example of what the utopian socialist Charles Fourier meant when he said that the condition of women serves as a hallmark of overall emancipation in any society.

The capitalist system has long outlived its progressive role and is now the main impediment to the forward march of human emancipation. The development of advanced industrial economies and parliamentary democracy in the West was accompanied by, and to a large extent based on, the brutal exploitation of the colonial countries. The imperialists’ subjugation of the “Third World” requires that they prop up their local puppets, who maintain and reinforce the indigenous forces of social and cultural reaction, as the U.S. does in Afghanistan.

To achieve social and national emancipation in the neocolonial world requires the seizure of power by the proletariat, standing at the head of all the oppressed and led by internationalist revolutionary vanguard parties. As Trotsky stressed in advancing the perspective of permanent revolution, only proletarian revolution can break the imperialist yoke over such countries and—with the workers’ seizure of power in the advanced capitalist countries—end imperialism forever. Trotsky noted in a 1924 speech to the Communist University for Toilers of the East, “There will be no better communist in the East, no better fighter for the ideas of the revolution and for the ideas of communism than the awakened woman worker.”

Today, after capitalist counterrevolution in the Soviet Union, the key to the social liberation of the peoples of Afghanistan and the region is in the proletariat of countries like Pakistan, Iran, India and the former Soviet Central Asian republics. Afghanistan also shares a border with the People’s Republic of China—and this is of no little account in the appetites of the United States for a military presence in the area. A key strategy of the imperialists today is the counterrevolutionary crusade to restore capitalist rule in China.

The overthrow of capitalism and the achievement of a collectivized economy in China, established as a result of the 1949 Revolution, were a huge step forward for the Chinese masses, not least its women. We defend the Chinese bureaucratically deformed workers state unconditionally against counterrevolution from abroad or internally, and call for a proletarian political revolution there to oust the Stalinist bureaucracy and bring the program of socialist internationalism to power.

Domestic Consequences of the Anti-Soviet War Drive

Late last summer, the New York Times magazine (23 August) ran a special issue entitled “Saving the World’s Women.” I knew the minute I set eyes on it that it would be full of lies and hypocrisy, all aiming to dress up U.S. imperialism as a force for good around the world. The new supposed vehicle for global women’s rights is cheap loans—microfinance and microlending programs—passing out a few dollars so that women can start an embroidery business or some such. After making their profits off the labor of the exploited, the capitalists will now drop a few pennies on their way to the bank. Disgusting.

In an interview in the Times magazine titled “A New Gender Agenda,” Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who is pitched as an “ambassador” of women’s rights, speaks these true words: “Women die every minute from poor maternal health care. You know, H.I.V./AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria—those are all, unfortunately, equal-opportunity killers. Maternal health is a woman’s issue; it’s a family issue; it’s a child issue.” A few miles away from Clinton’s elegant Washington office lie the impoverished ghettos where the black masses of the capital live. But we don’t hear these statistics: One in five American children live in poverty, the highest rate in the industrialized West. Nearly eleven million have no health insurance. Hundreds of thousands are in foster care. More than 1.5 million are homeless. The infant mortality rates in the inner cities of Washington, D.C., New Haven, East St. Louis and Chicago rival that of Malaysia.

This is attributable to the lack of health care available to poor women as well as their generalized poverty. The U.S. has the widest gap in the entire world in the standard of living between rich and poor. It’s virtually the only developed country that has no universal medical coverage. Obama’s proposed health care package promises a level of care not much above a pledge to pick up the dead bodies, in order to massively cut health care costs. The budget will be balanced largely by taxing the hard-won health care plans of unionized workers and slashing Medicare payments. Restoring the profitability and competitive edge of U.S. imperialism, where health care costs are the highest and the health of the population the worst in the advanced industrialized countries, is the reality behind the “health care reform” game.

Hillary Clinton certainly voiced no concern about the status of women in the U.S. To oppressed black women in the hell that is the American ghettos, Clinton, her boss, Barack Obama, and the Democratic Party preach the standard mythology of the American ruling class that if you’re poor and haven’t made it, it’s your own fault. You should pull yourself up by your bootstraps and earn a decent standard of living. The lie of the “post-racial” America can be joined by the lie of the post-sexist America.

The Bourgeoisie’s Assault on Abortion Rights

In his speech to the joint session of Congress on September 9, Obama was explicit in his disavowal of defending the rights of women and immigrants in his health care reform proposal: “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up...no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”

Ever since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973, the basic democratic right of legal abortion has been under attack. As revolutionary communists, we defend every gain that’s been won for the exploited and oppressed. Abortion is a politically explosive issue because it raises the question of the equality of women. Providing women with some control over whether or not to have children, abortion is viewed as a threat to the institution of the family.

The arsenal of legal measures on the federal as well as the state level has made abortion virtually inaccessible to a large number of women. Thirty-eight states prohibit abortions after a specified point in pregnancy. Fully 35 states require one or both parents of women under 18 to be notified and/or consent to an abortion. Some 87 percent of U.S. counties and 31 percent of metropolitan areas have no abortion services. Abortion clinics are now outnumbered by “crisis pregnancy centers”—fake clinics set up by anti-abortion groups whose purpose is to subject pregnant women to anti-abortion propaganda and otherwise pressure them to carry the fetus to term. According to the Nation, some 4,000 of these centers have received over $60 million in federal abstinence and marriage-promotion funds.

On May 31 the bloody war against women’s right to abortion waged by “right to life” terrorists claimed yet another life. Dr. George Tiller—one of only three doctors whose clinics provide late-term abortions in the United States—was assassinated while attending his church in Wichita, Kansas. A right-wing anti-abortion bigot has been arrested in the case. Tiller himself had been a main target of the “pro-life” God squad for decades. In 1991, tens of thousands of “Operation Rescue” fanatics blockaded his clinic for six weeks. They campaigned—successfully—to have him prosecuted; boycotted his suppliers; tailed him with hidden cameras; branded him “Tiller the baby killer”; hit him with lawsuits, legislation and regulatory complaints; and protested relentlessly, even at his church. Some sent death threats. One bombed his clinic. Another tried to kill him in 1993, firing five shots, wounding him in both arms.

In Tiller’s own words: “Make no mistake, this battle is about self-determination by women of the direction and course of their lives and their family’s lives. Abortion is about women’s hopes and dreams. Abortion is a matter of survival for women.” His commitment to this fight is best exemplified by his statement, “If a stake has to be driven through the heart of the anti-abortion movement, I want to have my hand on the hammer.” We honor Dr. George Tiller, who was murdered for his courageous stand for women’s rights.

Tiller is the eighth person murdered in this anti-abortion, “family values” onslaught since 1993. On September 1 the Washington Post reported that doctors trained in and practicing abortion are becoming extinct in the U.S. There is a justifiable fear of the high probability that they and their families, friends, co-workers would be subjected to harassment, violence and death.

Anti-Abortion Laws: Weapon of Church and State

The regulation of abortion and contraception has historically been a powerful weapon in the hands of organized religion and the state. Even the most cursory examination of the laws, going back thousands of years, about miscarriage, abortion, contraception and the like, shows that they are integrally related to the institution of the family. Laws from ancient Egypt to Sumer to Rome were concerned with abortion and contraception, mainly to defend a man’s right to have children and heirs. In Eve’s Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West, John Riddle traces the development of the religious and legal attitudes toward contraception and abortion (though some of his conclusions on pre-industrial contraception and abortion techniques are controversial). He says, for example, “Deliberate abortion in the Old Testament is not mentioned, only injury by a third party resulting once again in a man being denied progeny he sired. And, in keeping with the same principles, no compensation is due the women injured. Hebrew law protected the family and the position of the father as its ruling head. According to Talmudic interpretation, the fetus was the property of the father.”

Modern abortion laws show how social and legal institutions changed to reflect the interests of the capitalist class. In 1803 the Ellenborough Act was the advent of abortion as a statutory crime in the English-speaking world. The preoccupations of the ruling class with this law and others following it are revealed as protecting the male’s right to heirs, punishing (especially single) women for illicit sex and protecting population growth. More children must be born for the growth of the capitalist nation-state, its army and working population.

From Carter to Reagan: Resurgence of the Religious Right

The source of anti-woman bigotry in the U.S. is not the particular capitalist party in power—whether Democratic or Republican—but the capitalist order that breeds oppression and bigotry as a necessary corollary to its system of exploitation. The emergence of the religious right in the late 1970s as the ideological leaders of the anti-sex witchhunt was integrally tied to the overall political and economic interests of U.S. imperialism at the time. Coming to office in 1977, the Democratic Carter administration kicked off an onslaught of domestic social reaction and a renewal of U.S. imperialism’s Cold War drive to destroy the Soviet Union, garbed in the call for “human rights.” The CIA’s war in Afghanistan was a key part of this.

Carter’s domestic policies reflected the attempt of the American ruling class to overcome widespread fear and loathing of the government following the explosive years of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the rise of the New Left, the women’s liberation movement and black radicalization, and finally the Watergate break-in that forced the resignation of Republican president Richard Nixon in 1974. For the American bourgeoisie, this all-sided social turmoil and defiance of authority were deeply disturbing, and the potential for an alliance of black militants and radicalized students with an increasingly restive labor movement was a threat that had to be stopped. Thus a major bourgeois ideological assault was launched to overcome the “Vietnam syndrome” and to instill an unquestioning acceptance of “free enterprise,” God and “family values,” including the desirability of dying for one’s country.

The Carter administration brought “born again” religious fundamentalism front and center into the White House. This was the national backdrop for an anti-sex witchhunt that cut a very wide swath: not only abortion was targeted but gay rights—for example, Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” anti-gay campaign of hate. Under Reagan, all this rolled into a vicious persecution of AIDS patients.

Our Intervention

Our party intervened heavily into the 1970s movement for abortion rights, dominated by the Socialist Workers Party’s front group, WONAAC, which in tried-and-true reformist fashion kept its “single-issue” campaign within the political limits acceptable to Democrats. In sharp contrast, we fought for a program of women’s liberation through socialist revolution and pointed out that without the means to pay, “choice” is no choice. The wealthy will always get their medical care and their abortions, while the myriad anti-abortion laws target young, working-class and poor women, who can’t afford quality health care, childcare and housing. We raised the call for free abortion on demand as part of free, quality health care for all and free, 24-hour childcare to address the deep race and class oppression of poor and minority women.

In 1991, when Operation Rescue launched its “Summer of Mercy,” we participated in clinic defense actions across the country. At the same time, we criticized the feminists and the reformist left for calling for government defense of abortion facilities and for more “pro-choice” capitalist politicians and Supreme Court judges. We have always emphasized that only the power of social struggle, particularly by the organized labor movement, can force the capitalist class into actions it would prefer to avoid. We called for mass mobilizations, bolstered by the power of labor, to defend the clinics and make a show of strength in support of women’s rights.

But when Bill Clinton became president in 1993—another one of those Democrats who think abortion is a tragedy that should be rare—well, then, the feminists dusted off their hands and went home, because he passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994. Let me point out two things that happened during Clinton’s eight years in office that massively affected women: safe access to abortion was gutted as the number of abortion providers plummeted 14 percent between 1992 and 1996, and a huge number of laws chipping away abortion rights, including parental consent regulations targeting teenagers, were passed. And Clinton ended “welfare as we know it,” gutting welfare benefits in an assault against poor and black women and their children.

Today, various feminist and leftist organizations are again raising defense of the clinics in the aftermath of the killing of George Tiller. But it’s the same reformist game here. Operation Rescue has targeted a clinic in Nebraska for harassment. Says a spokesperson for the National Organization For Women (NOW): “As we prepare to stand in peaceful support of women’s rights in Nebraska, we know that every clinic in the United States is a potential target. I call on the Obama administration to respond to this threat using the strongest means possible, to prosecute the criminals, their funders and their co-conspirators, and to protect every provider, worker and patient across this nation.”

NOW makes no pretense to being a socialist organization, so it’s consistent that they call on the government—the very agency whose job it is to enforce the social order that breeds oppression—to defend women’s rights. But ostensible socialists are supposed to stand for something else. Yet the Socialist Workers Party’s Militant (7 September), writing on the Nebraska action, quotes without a word of criticism another passage from that very same NOW statement I just read you.

“Fight the Right and Stand Up for Choice,” says the ISO’s Socialist Worker (29 September). This is a blatant appeal to the Democratic Party, the “right” being the Republicans. In their theoretical journal, International Socialist Review (July-August 2009), they have an article titled: “Defending Abortion Rights: On the Need for a New Movement.” A classless “grassroots” movement is the ISO’s answer to everything. In this case they are presented with a bit of a problem: the first main point in the article is to “prove” that there is no anti-abortion movement of religious bigots. The ISO calls the anti-abortion crusade “smoke and mirrors.” I wish it was.

You can’t expect an organization that cheered the capitalist counterrevolution in the USSR to understand the profound roots in the capitalist order of this anti-woman crusade. The ISO does not believe in the ability of the working class to defend women’s rights any more than in its ability to overthrow the capitalist order, found its own government and establish a planned, collectivized economy. Today the ISO is even printing contributions to a debate: “Should the left call for Taliban victory?” They can see supporting the Taliban—but the Red Army, never.

Clinics closing, doctors and staff killed, abortion rights massively losing support among an increasingly religious population—it’s a depressing spectacle. What about mobilizing the power of the labor movement to defend women’s rights? It’s a fine idea, and we’re for it. But the pro-capitalist bureaucrats in the unions have notoriously remained silent on abortion rights—indeed any rights—for women. And these days they can’t even defend their own members’ wages—witness UAW president Gettelfinger giving away the store to the GM bosses. Why? It’s political. The union bureaucrats uphold the partnership of capital and labor and preach reliance on “lesser evil” politicians. But we Marxists know that the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are irreconcilable enemies in the basic functioning of the economy and in the historic interests of the emancipation of the human race. Workers can win even the most basic reforms and even the most basic defensive struggles only through hard class combat.

Let’s make it concrete. Take a look at the company that everyone loves to hate: Wal-Mart, the world’s largest profit-making enterprise. The immediate thought that might come to your mind of the connection between Wal-Mart and the status of women would, no doubt, be the ongoing class action suit brought by some 1.6 million women employees against the anti-union behemoth. But the connection goes far deeper than the company’s discrimination against women employees and its grotesque corporate culture of repulsive male chauvinism. There’s a very interesting book, To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise, published this summer, that details the earlier history of Wal-Mart through the 1990s and its social and political links in the country. In fact—although the author certainly doesn’t share our Marxist outlook—the book reveals details proving the truth of our longstanding analysis of the genesis of the religious right in the United States. It’s a concrete illustration of the way that the bourgeoisie controls society through a million threads, weaving into the very fabric of the country.

Wal-Mart, particularly through its founder Sam Walton, was a key player in the rise of the Christian New Right in the U.S.: it funded evangelical colleges, campaigned for “family values” and free enterprise, and participated in targeting for annihilation gay rights and abortion rights as overriding “sins.” And not least, it founded a scholarship program in 1985 to combat the influence of Communism in Central America—this at the behest of the Reagan administration as it backed its blood-drenched allies like the Salvadoran dictatorship.

Wal-Mart also played a key role in the passage of the NAFTA “free trade” agreement in 1994; it was no coincidence that its first store outside the borders of the U.S. was built in Mexico City in 1993. This American “free trade” rape of Mexico was a major factor in intensifying the impoverishment of the Mexican masses. And yet the American trade-union bureaucracy denounced NAFTA on the basis of poisonous protectionism: saving “American jobs.” Meanwhile, Wal-Mart remains virulently anti-union in every country around the world. Especially in the United States, the fight to organize Wal-Mart is critical to the labor movement as a whole. But instead of waging this fight, the labor tops offer up virulent anti-Mexican chauvinism and protectionism, which posits foreign workers—not the capitalist bosses—as the enemy.

Wal-Mart is also one of the largest buyers of China’s “free market” exports. The union bureaucrats respond with China-bashing, doing double duty by pushing anti-Communism and scapegoating another “foreign enemy.” This China-bashing serves the U.S. imperialists in the counterrevolutionary crusade.

Organizing Wal-Mart would also entail taking head-on the active defense of immigrant rights and the fight for black freedom. These are crucial components of any labor struggle and are equally eschewed by a labor bureaucracy that is committed to the maintenance of the capitalist system. Today, it’s our job as Marxists to struggle to bring the fight for worldwide proletarian revolution to the working class, which necessarily means the indivisible fight for all the exploited and oppressed. In the words of Lenin, we revolutionaries seek to be “the tribune of the people...able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it appears, no matter what stratum or class of the people it affects; who is able to generalise all these manifestations and produce a single picture of police violence and capitalist exploitation; who is able to take advantage of every event, however small, in order to set forth before all his socialist convictions and his democratic demands, in order to clarify for all and everyone the world-historic significance of the struggle for the emancipation of the proletariat.”

Karl Marx’s classic definition of communism is “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”—that is our goal. The woman question is a very powerful lens through which to see this goal. We are for a society where everyone can fulfill their potential in a materially abundant world where want puts no limits on human development. In this world, a woman will be able to have children (or not) with the full support of society, including contraception, abortion, childcare, medical care, time off from work and every other thing she might need.

We are a very long way from that day. But I hope that by putting it in the context of the international situation and the broader struggle for human liberation that you have a perspective beyond the immediate horizon. We are in a trough right now where the class struggle is mainly on the side of the class enemy, conditioned by the world-historic defeat in the capitalist counterrevolution in the Soviet Union. But there’s one thing you can be sure of: it will change. And when the working class again begins to flex its muscle and to move onto the stage of history, we revolutionaries will be there, fighting for the program of communist revolution. We Trotskyists fight to build a multiracial vanguard party of the type built by the Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Trotsky, which led the world’s first socialist revolution in October 1917. In a communist future, women will be fully and equally integrated into society, and anti-woman violence and bigotry, the reactionary constraints of family and religion, and the repressive role of the capitalist state will all be but barbaric memories of the past.

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

Discussing Overpopulation with Roman Catholics

2009-10-28T18:52:55Z

It's happened again. Three times now, I have discussed overpopulation with Catholic friends, all 3 of whom were socially liberal. All 3 used almost the exact same words! To claim overpopulation is not a problem. They say:

Three times now I have been discussed overpopulation with friends who are RC. All 3 struck me as otherwise liberal. All 3 used almost the exact same words to tell me they think overpopulation isn't a threat. They claim:

It's actually a problem of distribution of food and of politics, not overpopulation.

All the people on the planet would fit into Texas, with enough room for a suburban size lot and house for each.

etc.

I find their thinking frightening! I try to explain that we don't live in some ideal world! I'd rather provide birth control and have families have fewer children, than wait for changes in distribution and politics! (Wal-Mart has a good distribution network. Shall we wait until there is a Wal-Mart in every neighborhood?)

I tell them it is also a matter of resources, and quality of life. They aren't convinced.

Have you encountered the same thinking? How does one reason with these folks?

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Why try living in the mainstream?

2009-10-19T23:38:29Z

Here's an idea. Rather than seeking just the right career and employer, why not live on an intentuional community? It could be a rural commune, or urban co-op house.

Take your breaks when you need them. Be your own boss. Share the running of community businesses.
Raise your children where you work; life is an integrated whole, not fragmented.

Check out this website run by Fellowship for Intentional Community.

It's my plan. I've been to a few and plan to visit more. If one doesn't suit me or work out, I'll try another, because I see the mainstream as unhealthy.

Drop me a line if you develope or share the interest!

http://fic.ic.org/

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Ralph Lauren and Boing Boing go at it over photoshopped models...

2009-10-07T20:52:09Z

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/emboing-boingem-and-ralph_n_311593.html

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Orgasim Inc info

2009-10-06T05:39:29Z

http://orgasminc.org/about-synopsis.php

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Beatings are a "pre-existing condition" according to some insurers--coincidently, impotency is not?

2009-09-25T17:59:32Z

http://firedoglake.com/2009/09/17/late-night-sorry-lady-but-your-gender-is-a-pre-existing-condition/

Synopsis: Many insurers will not insure injuries sustained by an abusive spouse prior to getting insurance. Further, maternity care is not covered because giving birth is considered as an "optional procedure". The same insures do not cover contraceptives as part of their plans...but, you guessed it, they do consider viagra and cialis as being covered under the same plans because...America's health care system is broken. And it's broken worse for women than for men.

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Letterman’s antiwoman and anti-worker jokes

2009-07-03T16:23:59Z

[I'm not a supporter of the Socialist Workers Party who put out the following article, but I thought this article was good and raises important points. -Steven Argue]

Liberals remain silent after Letterman’s antiwoman jokes
(front page)

http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7325/732504.html

BY CINDY JAQUITH
Liberal politicians and columnists have been virtually silent on the reactionary barrage of “jokes” about Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her daughters featured on David Letterman’s “Late Show.”

Palin, who was the Republican candidate for vice president in 2008, visited New York recently and went to a Yankees baseball game with her 14-year-old daughter Willow. In Letterman’s comedy routine June 8 he said, “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game during the seventh inning. Her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” The next night he pursued this line, saying the hardest part of the New York trip was “keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”

Letterman also did a “Ten Top Highlights of Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York.” Highlight number two was: “Bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her ‘slutty flight attendant’ look.”

Palin responded in an interview with Matt Lauer on the “Today Show” June 12. “My first thought was, ‘Hey, don’t disparage flight attendants. They work hard—we love them,’” she said.

Palin called the “joke” about her daughter “a degrading comment about a young woman.” To make jokes about “statutory rape,” she said, is “a sad commentary on where we are as a culture, as a society to chuckle and laugh through comments such as he made the other night.”

Double standard
The Alaska governor pointed to the “double standard” followed by the media and Hollywood. “Remember in the campaign,” she noted, “Barack Obama said the family’s off limits… . Everybody adhered to that… . They haven’t done that on the other side of the ticket and it has continued to this day.”

Readers of most liberal newspapers were not even aware of the antiwoman remarks by Letterman until many days afterward. The June 10 New York Times carried a story headlined, “Letterman Reaches a Deal with CBS to Extend ‘Late Show.’” It did not mention the Yankees game “jokes” of the show’s previous two nights. A one-paragraph note in the “Arts, Briefly” column in the June 11 Times—headlined “Letterman Leads Late-Night Ratings”—also ignored the “jokes,” which had been running for three nights now. Other media downplayed the story, too.

Finally, on June 13, the Times printed an Associated Press dispatch reporting the controversy and speculating that Palin’s response “may have inadvertently given Letterman a platform at a time when it is most valuable.”

Letterman responded on the air June 10 to the objections of the Palin family by provocatively retelling each “joke” again to gales of laughter and rounds of applause. He insisted he wasn’t talking about 14-year-old Willow but her 18-year-old sister Bristol, “the girl who actually—excuse me, but—was knocked up is now 18 years old.” He muttered that maybe the Yankee stadium routine was in bad taste, but not the “slutty flight attendant” line. “I kind of like that joke,” he said.

Letterman finally issued an apology for the joke June 15 but continued to say it was “misunderstood.”

‘Where is feminist outrage’?
FOX News host Greta Van Susteren replayed the Letterman shows and asked, “So where is the feminist outrage over this? We called Ms. magazine. They had no comment. We asked the National Organization for Women to send someone to appear on our show. They declined but then added Letterman to its Web site’s ‘Media Hall of Shame.’”

A NOW statement criticizing Letterman was posted to the “Media Hall of Shame” June 11. It ended with an attack on conservatives who have protested the comedian’s remarks. “NOW hopes that all the conservatives who are fired up about sexism in the media lately will join us in calling out sexism when it is directed at women who aren’t professed conservatives,” it said.

One of the very few liberal voices in the media to denounce Letterman is Mika Brzezinski, one of the hosts of the “Morning Joe” talk show. “I wonder if it was the kid of Al Gore or Bill Clinton when he was president, or the Obamas, if that joke would ever be told,” she commented.

Neither Barack nor Michelle Obama has said a word about the Letterman show. Nor has Vice President Joseph Biden, or William or Hillary Clinton. No leading Republican Party figure has spoken out either.

Neither has any liberal capitalist figure or media commented on the anti-working-class character of Letterman’s jokes. At various times since Palin became a national figure, Letterman has quipped that “she looks like the flight attendant who won’t give you a second can of Pepsi… . Like the waitress at the coffee shop who draws a little smiley face on your check. Have a nice day… . She looks like the lady at the bakery who yells out, ‘44! 44! 45!’”

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Assassination of Courageous Doctor in Wichita: War on Abortion Rights Escalates

2009-06-27T08:24:21Z

Obama/Democrats’ Conciliation Emboldens Reactionaries

Assassination of Courageous Doctor in Wichita: War on Abortion Rights Escalates

Mobilize to Defend the Clinics!
Abolish All Restrictions – For Free Abortion on Demand!

http://www.internationalist.org/waronabortionrights0906.html

The vile murder of the courageous abortion doctor George Tiller at his church in Wichita, Kansas was not the deranged act of a lone gunman. This heinous crime marks an escalation of the war on women’s right to abortion in this country. The constitutional protection hangs by a thread – a single vote in the Supreme Court. The “god squads” are in a frenzy, harassing women patients and abortion providers at the clinics. The reaction of the bourgeois feminists has been to look to the Democratic Party and the government of Barack Obama in the White House. Yet the Democrats are not allies but enemies of women’s rights. Obama opposes the late-term abortions that Dr. Tiller provided while seeking “common ground” with the Bible-thumping bigots who harbor the abortion doctor killers. And the police, from local cops to the FBI, give a free pass to the assassins, whom they know well.

Dr. George Tiller, who provided medical services to women in need of abortion for 35 years, was hounded by the reactionary bigots for decades. In 1986 his clinic was bombed, in 1993 he was shot in both arms by a fanatical opponent of abortion. That year Operation Rescue, the largest organizer of anti-abortion mobs, moved its national headquarters to Wichita to target Tiller; more than 2,000 people were arrested as they besieged his clinic that summer. They then started stalking clinic employees. Tiller also faced an endless barrage of state legal actions, grand jury probes, regulatory and professional misconduct complaints, as opponents used any ploy to put his clinic out of business. After years of “investigation,” the Kansas attorney general charged him with improper actions in 19 cases of late-term abortions; this past March, a jury took barely 45 minutes of deliberation to find him innocent on all of these trumped-up counts.

The assassin, Scott Roeder, was no stranger to the anti-abortion protests, or to the police. A 2007 posting by a Scott Roeder on the Operation Rescue web site stated: “Tiller is the concentration camp ‘Mengele’ of our day and needs to be stopped...” (Washington Post, 2 June). The local office of the FBI was well aware of Roeder’s activities, having warned him in 2000 about gluing shut the doors of a Kansas City clinic, a federal crime. On May 23, he was seen on a security camera gluing the doors at the same clinic, and he was chased away by a clinic worker on May 29, the day before the murder. The FBI was informed about both instances but said it could do nothing until a federal grand jury was convened. Police around the country proclaim “zero tolerance” of petty crimes, arresting people on the slightest violation, yet here they did nothing about blatant violations of federal law as the “perp” went from “vandalism” to murder.

No less important in setting the climate in which religious nuts and right-wing “right-to-lifers” spawn assassination are the bourgeois politicians. For the eight years of the George Bush regime, evangelical Christians and other abortion opponents concentrated on manipulating the Republican Party and the levers of state power. With the changing of the guard in Washington and the dominance of the Democrats, some of the reactionary fringe have grown frantic. From Texas to Notre Dame they have been showing up at presidential events with their grotesque depictions of fetuses and signs proclaiming Obama a “baby killer,” “Anti-Christ” and “terrorist.” The White House response has been feel-good talk about “civility” and finding “common ground”.” This conciliation only emboldens bloodthirsty anti-abortionists, from right-wing instigators like Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly to “pro-life” killers who pull the trigger.

In his Notre Dame University commencement address, Obama repeated over and over the mantra about seeking “common ground” with these antediluvian reactionaries who want to turn women into incubators, deny them medical services and persecute those who provide this care. Obama’s rhetoric is not empty. He called to “work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortion” and to “draft a sensible conscience clause,” to absolve doctors for violating the Hippocratic Oath by refusing to perform abortions. Obama has said that he is personally opposed to abortion, and last July, he told the “progressive Christian” magazine Relevant that as long as there is a narrow medical exception for the woman’s health, “I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.” He is offering up the fundamental democratic right of woman to control their own bodies on the altar of his quest for a political bloc with religious reaction. To hell with that – there can be no common ground with these bigots, they must be defeated!

Obama took over this repulsive appeal from Hillary Clinton, who in 2005 prepared her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination by declaring, in a speech on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, that she was looking for “common ground” with abortion opponents on the basis that the “tragic choice” of abortion “does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances.” This, in turn, was a continuation of Bill Clinton’s 1992 and ’96 presidential campaign slogan that abortion should be safe, legal and rare.” For more than a decade and a half, these capitalist politicians have been trying to unite with the ultra-right, or at least take the wind out of their sales, by cynically sacrificing women. Although bourgeois feminists fervently campaigned for them, the Clintons, Obama and the Democratic Party as a whole have joined in the attack on women’s rights.

All the talk about abortion as a “tragic choice” or as Obama put it, a “heart-wrenching decision,” are nothing but religious claptrap and attempts to make women feel guilty about trying to control their own lives by ending an unwanted pregnancy. What is tragic is forcing women to give birth against their will, and condemning more than 100,000 desperate women to death every year due to the consequences of botched abortions, often self-induced because they can’t find a doctor to do it. Abortion is a simple medical procedure and potentially one of the safest. A fetus is not an “unborn child,” it is a part of a woman’s body until birth. This is as true in the third trimester as earlier. There is no such thing as a “partial-birth abortion” – this is a propaganda term by those who want to label abortion infanticide (“baby killing”). A fetus has no rights, the woman does – or should have. And the fight to defend those rights must be waged against all the capitalist parties and politicians, who in one way or another, to one degree or another, chain women to the family.

Dr. George Tiller was murdered because he defended the rights of women and stood by those who decided they had to end pregnancy in the face of all the abuse heaped on them and the death threats against him. His motto was “Trust Women.” So did Dr. David Gunn, shot to death outside his Pensacola, Florida abortion clinic in 1993, as was Dr. John Britton at another Pensacola clinic the next year; Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols, clinic workers gunned down in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1994; and Buffalo abortion doctor Barnett Slepian, killed in his kitchen in 1998. The politicians did not rush to defend the doctors whose names and addresses were published on hit-lists on the Internet, to be crossed off when they were murdered. None were in evidence at Dr. Tiller’s funeral. Instead, the Democrats want to find “common ground” with a “movement” led by fascistic elements like Randall Terry, who orchestrated the ’90s Wichita protests and the recent protests against Obama at Notre Dame.

Terry started out working for Guatemalan president Efraín Ríos Montt, the godfather of the death squads in that country. While various anti-abortion leaders issued hypocritical statements distancing themselves from the killing of George Tiller, Terry called the courageous doctor a “mass murderer” who deserved “execution.” It was striking, then, that various “mainstream” women’s organizations that issued statements lamenting Dr. Tiller’s death echoed the same conciliatory theme as Obama. For years, these groups have desperately sought respectability by avoiding a forthright defense of abortion. NARAL Pro-Choice America, which changed its name to eliminate the “A-word,” issued a “call on opponents of a woman’s right to choose to condemn this action completely and absolutely.” Planned Parenthood quoted Obama’s words, “imploring” the anti-abortion forces to drop the “hateful rhetoric”; it couldn’t even bring itself to mention abortion at all.

The bourgeois feminists’ calls for the “full weight of the law” to be brought to bear against anti-abortion violence show deadly illusions in the capitalist state. The FBI has known of Tiller’s assassin, Roeder, for years, and at most gave him a “heads up” tip not to get caught violating the clinic access law. Likewise they had been keeping tabs on Paul Hill, who shot Dr. Britton in Pensacola. Dr. Slepian in Buffalo had been targeted by Operation Rescue, and among the 1993 besiegers outside his home was James Kopp, shown on tape making death threats against the doctor, whom he slew a year later. The blind faith of the “pro-choice” organizers in the police brings to mind the calls in the early 1960s on President John Kennedy to send the FBI to protect civil rights marchers. The feds did intervene, but they were so deeply tied to the KKK lynchers that their informants took part in church bombings. No matter who sits in the White House, it’s a given that the forces of bourgeois repression will be on the side of bourgeois reaction.

As we have stated:

“The Internationalist Group and League for the Fourth International stand for abortion that is legal, safe, free, and on demand. That is, if a woman, of whatever age, wants an abortion to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, then she has the right to have it. No politician, priest or police, or husband or boyfriend or parent or anyone else, should be able to force her to give birth. Period, end of story. Rather than looking to the state to protect abortion providers and their patients, we call for class-struggle defense of the clinics against the anti-abortion ‘god squad’ thugs. We put forward this program in the United States, in Mexico, Brazil, Algeria and throughout the world as part of our program for women’s liberation through socialist revolution.”

–“Defeat the Anti-Abortion Crusade,” The Internationalist No. 23, April-May 2006

Obama seeks to conciliate the anti-abortion crusaders in the name of “overcoming” the “culture wars” that have rent the U.S. for decades. “Culture wars are so ’90s,” he said in a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood. And ’80s, and ’70s, and ’60s, he might have added. Again, behind the political posture are concrete acts. Obama the candidate told PP “the first thing I’d do as president” would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which in effect codifies Roe v. Wade. Yet Obama the president says the bill is “not my highest legislative priority” (New York Times, 15 May). The “culture wars” are not some ethereal dispute between conservatives and liberals over “values.” What they is really about is the reactionary drive to undo the limited gains of the civil rights movement, of women’s rights, of gay rights and democratic rights in general in order to return to the regimented social reaction of the Cold War.

These rights were won because of tumultuous social struggles, linked to the fact that the U.S. was losing an imperialist war. The tenuous and limited right to abortion embodied in the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision was partly in response to a growing women’s movement, but more fundamentally due to a general awareness of the ruling class that it could not simply clamp down on social unrest. In the same period, the death penalty was temporarily set aside. On the other hand, the rollback of women’s rights has gone hand in hand with attacks on blacks’ rights to vote; with mass round-ups of tens of thousands of immigrants thrown into concentration camps and deported even though they committed no crime; with attacks on the unions and workers’ rights; and with imperialist war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, while police state repressive measures like the PATRIOT U.S.A. law.

Thus the fight to defend abortion rights must be part of a broad struggle to defend the exploited and oppressed against the “bipartisan” war being waged against them and their rights by both major capitalist parties. Today, the constitutional protection of abortion rights could be reversed with a single vote on the Supreme Court. Anti-abortion conservatives assume and “pro-choice” liberals fervently hope that Obama’s nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be a consistent supporter of Roe v. Wade. But there is no evidence of that, and if she reflects Obama’s policy that would lead to decisions severely restricting the threatened right to abortion. Even today, when it is still legal, the Guttmacher Institute reports that no abortion services are available in 87 percent of U.S. counties.

We had wanted to present a map showing this, but cannot because many medical facilities who provide abortion fear that if this becomes known, they will be subjected to the same persecution as Dr. Tiller. Even the information that abortion is available in a particular county could lead these vigilantes to locate the facilities and track down the personnel. In short: abortion in much of the United States today is semi-clandestine. And now for women seeking third-trimester abortions, it has become almost unavailable. Less than one percent of all abortions are performed after 21 weeks, and these cases are almost always connected with deep problems: severe deformities of the fetus, very young teenagers who discover late that they are pregnant, etc. Dr. Tiller was one of only three doctors in the entire U.S. who publicly provided late-term abortions. One of the remaining two, Dr. Warren Hern of Boulder, Colorado has been the subject of death threats for years. He remarked on Dr. Tiller’s death:

“This is the result of 35 years of relentless and merciless anti-abortion harassment, violence and intimidation, hate speech and violent rhetoric, and this is the absolutely predictable consequence of that.... Clearly, the anti-abortion people will stop at nothing, including assassination, to impose their will on other people.... Dr. Tiller’s ‘crime’ was that he helped women.... We don’t have to invade other countries to find the terrorists. They’re here killing doctors who do abortions.”

Opponents of abortion got what they wanted with the assassination of George Tiller. He is dead, his clinic has been permanently closed, women who require the services he provided have almost nowhere to turn. Wherever possible, defenders of abortion should mobilize to defend clinics under siege. To defeat the forces of reaction that would deny women the fundamental right to control their own bodies requires a fight against all forms of social oppression and the system of exploitation that gives rise to them. Not Democrats or Republicans but a revolutionary workers party will fight to defend women’s rights, as in the early Soviet republic, led by Lenin and Trotsky, where for the first time in history the right to abortion was made real. ■

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New book about men, religion and patriarchy

2009-06-16T08:58:51Z

Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy:
http://tinyurl.com/desl9s

Since the early 1990s there have been various waves of interest in what is often described as “masculine spirituality”. While diverse, a commonality among these interests has been a concern that spirituality has become too feminine, and that men’s experiences of the spiritual are being marginalized. Masculine spirituality is therefore about promoting what it perceives to be authentic masculine characteristics within a spiritual context. By examining the nature of these characteristics, Numen, Old Men argues that masculine spirituality is little more than a thinly veiled patriarchal spirituality. The mythopoetic, evangelical, and to a lesser extent Catholic men’s movements all promote a heteropatriarchal spirituality by appealing to neo-Jungian archetypes of a combative and oppressive nature, or understanding men’s role as biblically ordained leader of the family. Numen, Old Men then examines Ken Wilber’s integral spirituality which aims to honour and transcend both the masculine and feminine, but which privileges the former to the extent where it becomes another masculine spirituality, with all its inherent patriarchal problems. Gay spirituality is then offered as a form of masculine spirituality which to a large degree resists patriarchal tendencies, suggesting a queering of spirituality could be useful for all men, both gay and straight.

Excerpted here:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/masculine_spiritualities_and_problem_patriarchy

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Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor

2009-05-27T02:07:34Z

Sonia Sotomayor has not directly issued any rulings on abortion rights but has been involved in two cases:

1. Center for Reproductive Law & Policy v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 Plaintiff public interest organization challenged the “Mexico City Policy,” a.k.a. the “global gag rule” and its provisions stripping U.S. aid to foreign NGOs informing about or performing abortions. Sotomayor authored the opinion which dismissed the case for lack of standing.

The anti-choice group Americans United for Life was pleased with the decision.

2. Port Washington Teachers’ Association v. Board of Education, 478 F.3d 494 (2d Cir. 2007). was the second case. Teachers challenged a school district policy which was trying to get teachers to report student pregnancies to the student’s parents. The case was dismissed for lack of standing because the policy was considered voluntary and thus no consequences could befall teachers who did not adhere to it.
http://www.choicematters.org/?p=249

Remember the gag rule on abortion - Sonia Sotomayor supported it.

The Bush Global Gag Rule: Endangering Women’s Health, Free Speech and Democracy

"On January 22, 2001, on his first business day in office (and the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing a woman's right to an abortion), President George W. Bush re-imposed the Global Gag Rule on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) population program. This policy restricts foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive USAID family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services, lobby their own governments for abortion law reform, or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion. The 1973 Helms Amendment is a legislative provision that already restricts U.S. funds from being used for these activities.

78,000 women die every year from unsafe abortion, a statistic that could be virtually eliminated by the provision of appropriate health information and services and law reform efforts. Despite this, President Bush's Executive Memorandum directs USAID "to reinstate in full all of the requirements of the Mexico City Policy in effect on January 19, 1993." According to this policy, foreign organizations--often the only health-care providers in remote, rural areas--are prohibited from using their own, non-U.S. funds for:

* providing legal abortions even where a woman's physical or mental health is endangered (the only exceptions are in cases of rape, incest, or where the woman's life is endangered);
* providing advice and information regarding the availability and benefits of abortion and from providing referrals to another health clinic;
* lobbying their own governments to legalize abortion, to maintain current law and oppose restrictions, or to decriminalize abortion; and
* conducting public education campaigns regarding abortion.

In addition, even the provision of services that are "permitted"1 on paper, such as life-saving abortions and post-abortion care, are often curtailed because NGOs fear jeopardizing their funding through any association with abortion. Providers may even be reluctant to dispense emergency contraception--which acts to prevent pregnancy and is not an abortifacient --because of the Global Gag Rule......."

http://reproductiverights.org/en/document/the-bush-global-gag-rule-endangering-womens-health-free-speech-and-democracy

I have other separation of church & state issues with her too - there's just not enough info about her position on several things.

Supreme Court Nominee Should Be Closely Questioned On Church-State Views, Says Americans United

"The Senate Judiciary Committee should thoroughly question Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to determine her views on church-state separation, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

President Barack Obama today announced the nomination of Sotomayor, currently a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to the high court. It appears that Sotomayor has not written widely on church-state issues, meaning the committee has an obligation to ascertain her views.

“We hope Judge Sotomayor turns out to be in the mold of retiring Justice David H. Souter – a strong champion of separation of church and state,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “The American people deserve no less.”

http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/archives/2009/05/supreme-court-nominee-should.html

;

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

GOP bashes Pelosi...loses support from women as a result?

2009-05-25T03:07:40Z

http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/gop_tries_to_make_political_gains_via_misogynistic_attacks

'Obnoxious' is one word to describe the attacks on Pelosi...

I'm not a big Pelosi supporter but I am offended by the tying of Pelosi to whether or not some piggy GOP nutball can get it up in a Motel 6...the GOP are appealing openly to the chauvanists...and, as the link above points out...to white blue collar male workers...

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Dreaming the NEW American Dream

2009-05-02T21:10:44Z

California poets Ava Bird & Rex Butters, and....

Santa Cruz artist Russell Brutsche - Karen Kwiatkowski of Virginia

Protests to stop immigration raids ... and more.
____________________

http://www.newamericandream.net

The New American Dream

What's New?

* Karen Kwiatkowski column
* Ava Bird poetry
* Rex Butters poetry
* Gary Mennie poetry

Columns:
Sherwood Ross — why not shut down a few prisons in the United States as well?
Mickey Z — Americans are cowards, too comfortable, will never-ever-not-in-one-million-years revolt-or-even-bother-to-stand-up — no matter what the rich folks do to them.
Lydia Sems — It's The American Dream that is the problem.

and more from Jack Saunders ...

Resistance:
* Planned civil disobedience in Minnesota to stop raids against immigrants
* Protests at Creech AFB against U.S. drone terroristic activity
*100 days of protest against Guantanamo to culminate

All this, Northern Exposure, The Big Lebowski, Paradise by the Dashboard Lights ... a certificate for free toast ... and more.

Join us.

The New American Dream
Dude.
... because ... Sister Mary Anne told us, "There are no wrong questions, if you don't know the answers."

... from the Dream Team

http://www.newamericandream.net

posted in Feminist Activists - 26 replies

Multicultural Women’s Leadership Conference at UCB April 25-26

2009-04-25T01:02:03Z

Details here:

http://www.engageher.airset.com/#_n.engageher+p.%2FHome%1Fhtml

Gloria Steinem, Yuri, Zia, Huerta, and more...would Angela Davis stay away? See link for schedule and details.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

This Week on The New American Dream

2009-04-13T22:43:50Z

http://www.newamericandream.net/index.html

The New American Dream
... well ... because we're dreaming of Dick Cheney and George Bush in a big black car limousine motorcade with those little American flags on the front quarter panels on their way to prison

... we're dreaming of a USA truth commission and Cub Scout tours of the "secret" FBI and CIA

and some other stuff

This Week's Feature Interviews:

Monday - Timbre Wolf, a musician who moved from Tulsa to Hawaii

Tuesday - Al Markovitz, of Norfolk, Virginia, the Tulsa of the east coast, editor of the Blue Collar Review, "journal of working class literature"

Wednesday - Aimee England, the mayor of Tulsa — no, actually, Aimee lives in Michigan and spent over twenty years working in an independent, radical bookstore

Thursday - Lee Rayburn, radio show host, formerly of Air American Radio and also Madison, Wisconsin. [never been to Tulsa.]

Friday - Bartcop, of Bartcop.com, from where else? Tulsa.

Columns:
Steve Clemens of the Twin Cities
Lydia Sems from Atlanta

Poetry:
More from Ava Bird of Berkeley

and some other stuff

Thank you.

The Dream Team
http://www.newamericandream.net/index.html

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

help a student out!

2009-03-07T20:12:27Z

My name is Katherine Wilson and I'm a graduate student in San Francisco studying Psychology. I'm trying to gather information about women's attitudes regarding current societal issues. If you would like to participate in this study, the survey is listed here: womensattitudesresearch.webs.com/. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to complete and you can enter to win a $20 gift certificate at Amazon.com.

Thanks!
Katherine

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Questions to a sexworker.

2009-01-30T17:27:59Z

I hope this will be taken seriously..but putting aside all ones views/prejudices..what kind of questions would you ask off a sexworker either male or female, if you had the chance to ask? Please no stupid remarks, this is a chance to get those concerns or inquiries out of the way, & even maybe allow others to understand things that they may of not previously before known!

posted in Feminist Activists - 13 replies

Equal Pay Act signed (back) into American federal law today!

2009-01-29T19:54:14Z

http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/29/breaking-lilly-ledbetter-fair-pay-act-signed-into-law-by-president-obama/

Not retroactive though...

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Stop the War on Women’s Reproductive Rights

2009-01-21T17:46:38Z

Stop the War on Women’s Reproductive Rights

Unite to Fight the Right Wing!

Protest the Anti-Abortion “Walk for Life”

--Phone banking & demo prep with Radical Women

Thursday, January 22, 7:00pm (dinner at 6:15pm)

New Valencia Hall, 625 Larkin St. , Ste. 202, SF

calradicalwomen@yahoo.com or 415-864-1278

--Abortion Rights Demonstration

Sponsor: Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights

Make the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling that affirmed a woman’s right to abortion a day of mass outrage against ultra-right bigotry.

Saturday, January 24, 2009, 10:30am

Music Concourse, Embarcadero, end of Market St. , San Francisco

We call for:

Free abortion on demand; No forced sterilization!

Defend immigrant rights; Stop the racist Minutemen!

Civil rights for queers; Rescind anti-marriage Prop 8!

Contact: Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR)

bacorrinfo@yahoo.com or www.BACORR.org or 415-864-1278

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Heidi Li's New "Fifty-One Percent" solution is up at

2009-01-02T14:36:16Z

www.fifty-one-percent.org

Check it out!

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

let's unite!

2008-12-20T08:56:36Z

I've fucked thousands of women, and many MANY hos during Aya ceremonies in the JUNGLE....so you can imagine its not all "fun and games" like many liken it to being.....it is a FULL-TIME responsibility, DUTY, and requirement, and i will NOT back down from the call of DUTY.

If it's in my destiny to fuck hundreds of more bitches, whether or not during ceremony, then i must. I MUST.

you must understand. Time is running out.

bliss,

J

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

New Agenda Press Release

2008-12-12T19:13:07Z

Becasue Camp Obama seems to be having a dickens of a time finding qualified women for cabinet posts:

http://thenewagenda.net/media/press-releases/december-11-2008-cabinet-watch-10-to-three-in-race-to-22-women-behind

To reinforce the message that there is a rich pool of (woman) candidates, The New Agenda released the following bipartisan list of exemplary candidates for Cabinet positions. Three of those previously listed, Former State Dept. Asst. Secretary Susan Rice, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, were tapped to be ambassador to the United Nations and heads of the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

* Founding executive director of American Rights at Work Mary Beth Maxwell
* Stanford University School Redesign Network director and head of Obama’s education transition team, Linda Darling-Hammond
* Founder of eBay Meg Whitman
* Former Hewlett- Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
* Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill
* Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
* Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
* Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
* The first woman 4-star General Ann Dunwoody
* Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton
* FDIC head Sheila Blair
* Former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Comm. Chair Brooksley E. Born
* Former President, Morgan Stanley, Zoe Cruz
* Princeton University economics professor Cecilia Elena Rouse
* Former Citigroup, Inc. executive Sallie Krawcheck
* IL Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Director Tammy Duckworth
* Former Head PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Kathleen McGinty
* CA Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols
* Former NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection Lisa Jackson

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Drop the Charges Against Dr. George Tiller!

2008-11-27T04:33:52Z

For Free Abortion on Demand!

Drop the Charges Against Dr. George Tiller!

http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/924/tiller.html

For over 30 years, Dr. George Tiller has defended women’s right to abortion. His clinic and its staff members have been the target of “pro-life” terrorists; he survived an assassination attempt in 1993. Dr. Tiller’s Wichita Women’s Health Care Services is one of the few remaining clinics that provide “late-term” abortion services. In Kansas, this very arbitrary calculus of “late-term” is set at 22 weeks. Courageously refusing to buckle under to intimidation and terror, Dr. Tiller now faces up to 19 years in prison, $47,500 in fines and loss of his medical license for misdemeanor charges stemming from the Kansas law, which requires a second “independent” physician to concur on “late-term” abortions. This is an outrage and it must be fought!

The point of such legal restrictions is to hack away at and ultimately overturn the legal right of women to abortion. The labor movement and all defenders of women’s rights have a stake in championing the defense of Dr. Tiller. The Partisan Defense Committee—a non-sectarian, class-struggle legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League—wrote in a 14 July 2007 protest letter to the attorney general of Kansas: “The state’s persecution of George Tiller is part of an all-out assault on abortion rights which anti-woman bigots have sought to overturn for the last three decades through both legislative and judicial means while unleashing ‘god squads’ to terrorize patients and clinic staff and murder doctors. Stop the witchhunt against George Tiller! Drop the charges!”

Tiller’s lawyers have been fighting the constitutionality of the Kansas law and have fought against sinister snooping expeditions to get at patient records. During this current round of attacks, Tiller faced two vigilante-like “citizen-initiated” grand juries seeking thousands of medical records. His Wichita clinic has been vandalized and flooded. In September his attorneys filed for dismissal of the latest charges, documenting nearly 500 examples of legal misconduct in the course of the state’s frenzied campaign against him. The Kansas attorney general’s tactics included an absurd and lying pretext for the inquisition—the claim that the state needed to scour patient records of minors to determine if they were victims of “child rape.” Plans were drawn up for armed raids to seize patient records and employee files. A hearing is scheduled for November 17.

The Kansas law being thrown at Tiller is just one of the many such measures passed following the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Dr. Tiller’s case is a case study in the terror tactics used by anti-abortion bigots for decades. In 1986, Tiller’s clinic was bombed. In the summer of 1991, hordes of Operation Rescue fanatics descended on Wichita for six weeks, blockading his clinic. In 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by a member of the “Army of God,” a fascistic anti-abortion group that spawned the killer of New York State abortion doctor Barnett Slepian, shot in his home in 1998.

As a result of such unrelenting terror and legal machinations, 87 percent of U.S. counties have no abortion clinics. This year another barrage of anti-abortion measures is on the state ballots. South Dakota has resurrected a ballot measure, which previously failed, for a virtually complete ban on abortion. Colorado has a proposal redefining the term “person” to include a fertilized human egg. The federal courts sustained a similar law this year in South Dakota that forces a doctor to inform women that abortions “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being.” California has on the ballot in this election a proposition requiring parental notification for women under age 18, the third such proposition since 2005.

The myriad laws that serve to demean and torture women also particularly target the young, working class and poor, who already have limited access to decent health care, childcare, affordable housing or even enough food to feed their families. While we communists defend legal abortion tooth and nail, our demand is for free abortion on demand as part of free quality health care for all! No return to the days of backstreet butchery! Money and connections will continue to buy the best medical care for the wealthy, including abortions. Such is not the case for the working class and poor. “Choice” is clearly not simply a legal question, contrary to the line of bourgeois feminists, many of them movers within the Democratic Party.

The reactionary demagogy of the Republicans is longstanding and obvious enough. But the fact is that there has been little “choice” for poor women since Democrat Jimmy Carter (who now has become an international “human rights” icon) signed into law in 1977 the Hyde Amendment eliminating Medicaid coverage for abortions. During Democrat Clinton’s eight years in office, welfare for mothers was axed, safe access to abortion was effectively gutted across much of the country, as the number of abortion providers plummeted 14 percent between 1992 and 1996, and a huge number of restrictive laws were passed.

In the recent election cycle, Democrats have barely paid lip service to even the formal right to abortion. In July, Barack Obama made clear his opposition to mental health exceptions for “late-term” abortion bans with the reactionary statement that a woman’s rationale for an abortion cannot be “just a matter of feeling blue” (Washington Post, 6 July). Meanwhile, the Democrats have fielded 12 openly anti-abortion Congressional candidates. The reformists who seek to “pressure” this other capitalist party of war and racism have little to offer but wistful whining. The International Socialist Organization wrote: “If the top Democratic contenders aren’t saying anything much this year about protecting abortion rights, it’s because liberal pro-choice organizations haven’t really asked them to” (Socialist Worker online, February 8).

In fact, the concession made by the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion was not a result of pathetically “asking” politicians to do the right thing. It was the result of social struggle on the streets, linked to a radicalization in U.S. society—the struggle for black liberation and against U.S. imperialism’s losing, dirty war against the Vietnamese people. And such concessions are in turn reversible in a period of its decline. That reversal began with the onset of the Cold War II campaign against the Soviet Union in the late 1970s under Democrat Carter, and the rollback of these gains has been ongoing: from affirmative action, welfare and women’s rights to union rights and the overall living standards of the working class. These attacks were intensified following the counterrevolutionary destruction of the Soviet Union.

The enforced ignorance about safe sex and birth control, led in no small part by religious and anti-abortion bigots, has meant many unwanted pregnancies for young girls. It has also furthered the spread of AIDS. Black teens account for almost 70 percent of new AIDS cases, although they represent only 16 percent of American teenagers. Meanwhile, gay rights have also been further under attack in many parts of the country, as witnessed by Proposition 8 in California banning gay marriage. We defend the rights of gays to marry (and divorce) and to get every benefit of society possible.

It will not be through the voting booth or appeals to the courts, but through the massive mobilization of women, black people, immigrants and all the oppressed under the leadership of the working class and its revolutionary party that the doors to clinics will stay open and decent health care and education will be made available for all. The liberation of women requires nothing less than a socialist revolution which will uproot the private property system and create a socialized planned economy. Only then will the material basis be laid to replace the institution of the family—the main source of women’s oppression under capitalism—with socialized childcare and housework, and bringing women full equality in all areas of social and political life. For women’s liberation through socialist revolution!

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Helen Thomas back at the White House!

2008-11-14T12:26:13Z

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/11/13/helen-wants-her-money-back/

Ever since I can remember, Helen has been fighting the good fight in the press corp in Washington. I hope she continues to do so all through our next President's term(s) in office. She is an inspiration, no matter what her politics. She keeps plugging away.

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

New Hampshire Makes History: State Senate Majority ... Women!

2008-11-07T11:08:45Z

Read about it

www.nowhampshire.com/content/nh-makes-history-first-state-senate-female-majority

I knew there was a reason New Hampshire is in my list of places to retire to...

Live Free or Die! (I want my license plate to sat THAT, too. Haha.)

Amma

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Ayaan HirsiAli, Mahnaz Afkhami, and Farah Ibrahimi :Tolerance of Intolerance is Cowardice

2008-10-13T14:51:25Z

From: http://www.ayaanhirsiali.com/

"Ms. Hirsi Ali was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2005, one of Glamour Magazine’s Heroes of 2005, and she received the Prix Simone de Beauvoir in 2008. She has published a collection of essays entitled The Caged Virgin and a best-selling memoir Infidel.

In response to the continuing threats to her life and in order to support the work of other dissidents, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has established the Foundation for Freedom of Expression. The Foundation is a charity organization which believes that open discourse, dialogue and freedom of expression are essential for the survival and vitality of liberal democracies. The Foundation will support Muslim dissidents who have been victims of violence, abuse or neglect, or who have been threatened with violence, because of their political or religious beliefs. It will do so by promoting and distributing their work, as well as by providing security and personal support when needed and wherever possible.""

I am aghast that this is happening in a "free" country in 2008!

I feel totally sickened. Especially reading Ms. Hirsi Ali's website after watching this:

http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/ps_ctn_02.html#

last evening.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Help Prevent Breast Cancer

2008-10-04T00:51:10Z

Breast cancer is the # 2 killer of American women. For years, there have been campaigns to increase breast cancer awareness and 3-day walks to raise money to find a cure. While finding a cure would be wonderful, wouldn't it be great if we could prevent women from developing breast cancer in the first place?

Thanks to Dr. Susan Love, a leader in the women's health movement, there is an Army of Women http://www.armyofwomen.org/ mobilizing to stop breast cancer before it starts. The Army of Women is a nationwide campaign to encourage the scientific community to expand their studies to find out how to prevent the development of breast cancer. The Army of Women is recruiting one million healthy women of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the research necessary to make breast cancer a disease of the past. Participation can be as simple as completing a questionnaire or as involved as donating a tissue sample. The level of participation is up to each woman.

Learn more about the Army of Women at http://www.armyofwomen.org/

Please forward this to your family, friends, coworkers, everyone.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

THIS is the fastest way to build the world we need!

2008-09-26T17:20:19Z

We have a huge, idealistic, smart, practical "movement" going, over on Facebook: The Next Step Together. There are more than a thousand folks in the group now, About 100 joining daily. There's proposal on the table to run our own presidential "election", and we are trying to enroll the entire world! Join us and bring in all your friends! It's all about acting PRACTICALLY, QUICKLY, WITH HUGE NUMBERS... So job ONE is getting EVERYONE IN!

Learn about the Next Step Together at http://nextsteptogether.net
Join the Next Step Together Group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24568801853

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -Mahatma Gandhi

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Happy Women's Rights Day from Radical Women!

2008-08-29T16:13:20Z

Happy Women's Rights Day from Radical Women!

Dear Friends,

Greetings on the occasion of Women's Rights Day, the anniversary of the signing into U.S. law of voting rights for women on August 26, 1920.

We honor the courageous women who fought for this hard-won measure. They were not handed the ballot; they demanded it and took it. They traveled the country organizing public support, appeared before Congress and state legislatures, invaded polling places, were arrested and jailed, chained themselves to the gates of public buildings, held hunger strikes, and suffered forced feeding. They endured slander, insults, catcalls and other attacks on their freedom of speech as they took their message everywhere: women must be free and granted their full rights as citizens. These foremothers deserve our thanks for their valiant efforts.

But the struggle is far from over. Voting rights are still a fiction for many people of color. Living standards and job opportunities are plummeting. Women still lack economic parity with men, control over our own bodies, universal healthcare and childcare, safe and well-paying jobs, affordable housing, quality education -- all the things that make life livable and sweet. And the world still desperately needs freedom from poverty, bigotry, war and violence.

These essential needs will remain out of reach as long as we live under a system that imposes discrimination and poverty on the many in order to generate wealth for an elite few. That system, the capitalist system, will remain in place as long as the twin parties of business, the Democrats and Republicans, control Congress, the White House, the legislatures, Governors' mansions, and city councils. Working women and men need to break out of the two-party quagmire and change the status quo. Voting for anti-capitalist and socialist candidates is one very important way to use our hard-won and valuable voting rights.

But we also need much more than protest votes. Women, especially women of color, are drivers in crucial organizing taking place in the antiwar, racial equality, immigrant, labor, welfare rights, student and queer movements. Radical Women foresees a vast new upsurge to replace capitalism with the shared abundance and liberated human relationships of socialism. To that end, we are holding a national conference in San Francisco from October 3 through 6 to discuss "The Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism." The gathering will develop an action plan to mobilize a radical, multi-issue feminist movement. Activists and scholars from China , Australia , Central America and the U.S. -- including courageous civil liberties attorney Lynne Stewart-- will be in attendance to offer their insights and wisdom. Plan to attend and add your thoughts and experiences to the mix. Check out our website http://www.radicalwomen.org/2008_conference.htm for more information, or phone 206-722-6057.

Now is the time to come together to set a bold new course for women!

Anne Slater

National Organizer

Radical Women, U.S. Section

625 Larkin Street Suite 202

San Francisco, CA 94109

Phone: 415-864-1278

RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com

www.RadicalWomen.org

Radical Women National Conference

The Persistent Power
of Socialist Feminism

October 3-6, 2008
San Francisco
The Women's Building, 3543 18th St.

Speakers
Embattled civil liberties attorney Lynne Stewart
Activists & scholars from Central America, China, Australia and the U.S.

Key topics
* Multi-racial organizing in a society divided by racism
* The dynamic leadership of youth and queers
* Women of color and immigrant women spark a labor revival
* For a U.S. feminist movement independent of the twin parties of war & reaction

Workshops
Organizer skills training * Strategy workshops
Radical culture & more!

For more information, to register or donate, go to
http://www.radicalwomen.org/2008_conference.htm

Radical Women's 41st Anniversary Conference occurs at a very important time. Around the world, women are part of a bold resistance to reactionary social and political forces. In Latin America, women and indigenous people are providing vibrant workingclass leadership against crippling neoliberal trade agreements. In Mexico, "Adelita" brigades shut down congress to oppose privatization of the nationalized oil industry. These movements provide a powerful stimulus to the entire hemisphere.

In the U.S., women are both targets and opponents of repression. In the anti-war, racial equality, immigrant, labor, student and queer movements, organizing is sparked and driven by women, especially women of color. They demand justice for Sean Bell and Black youth in Jena as well as funding for services in New Orleans. They oppose racist shock-jocks and lead unionization campaigns. They have stopped shipments of Iraq war supplies on the streets of Washington State. They defend civil liberties and continue the fight for affirmative action, childcare, and an end to sexual violence. They infuse the immigrant rights movement with militancy inspired by anti-imperialist upsurges in Latin America and fueled by the fight against U.S. xenophobia.

U.S. women are fighting tooth and nail to keep gains won by past generations, as well as to advance women's cause. But feminist reformists and NGOs hold back the movement by diverting organizing into single-issue and Democratic Party politics. Radical Women looks for inspiration and strategies to our revolutionary socialist foremothers, and to the civil rights militants, students, lesbians, and unionists who spearheaded the Second Wave women's liberation movement. Such women today are the sparkplugs for radical change and, by working in coalition with supportive men who have their own stake in achieving human liberation, they can truly shake the status quo.

Now is the time to mobilize women who are open to revolutionary alternatives to capitalism. The Radical Women conference is an opportunity to grapple with ideas, examine the limitations of reformism, gain the confidence to challenge the system, and build the ranks of socialist feminists. Radical Women has a time-tested program, decades of experience, and the responsibility to reach out, connect with, and train women who are outraged and ready to take action to change the world.

If you are interested in attending or helping with this exciting and historic event, contact the Conference Organizing Center at radicalwomenus@gmail.com, 206-722-6057 or 722-2453. All genders are welcome.

For more information, to register or donate, go to
http://www.radicalwomen.org/2008_conference.htm

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

McCain has no opinion

2008-07-29T05:12:23Z

on whether insurance companies should fund birth control.

Check out this video:

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/mccain_respect_contraception/?r=922&id=574-180300-Rj_GA4x

and sign the petition.

Yes to viagra but no to birth control??? What kind of insanity is that?

posted in Feminist Activists - 5 replies

New tribe against the occupation of Afghanistan

2008-07-27T06:38:43Z

New tribe against the occupation of Afghanistan
http://tribes.tribe.net/outnow#

Massive U.S. intervention in Afghanistan began in 1978 and continues to this day. The ongoing war in Afghanistan continues to kill thousands of Afghan civilians and cause extreme suffering due to horrendous injuries, the displacement of people from their homes and livelihoods, home invasions, sexual abuse, arbitrary arrests and torture, and the general humiliation of the Afghani people.

As this author stated for Liberation News on September 12, 2001:

“Americans watched in horror as the World Trade Center collapsed. Yet it was a horror no different from what the U.S. government has done with it's bombing of civilian populations in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Korea. The U.S. bombings of just these countries, not to mention many other U.S. acts of war, murdered millions of civilians. Terror against civilians is never justified…

“Today the clerical fascists of the Taliban rule Afghanistan. The CIA put them in power with billions of dollars in U.S. military aid. This massive U.S. intervention in Afghanistan was in opposition to the revolutionary PDPA government that came to power in 1978 on issues of promoting women’s rights and land reform. Literacy campaigns began teaching the poor and women how to read and write.

“Foreign religious fanatics and wealthy defenders of the old feudal system came together in a terrorist organization called the Mujahideen. With billions of dollars in assistance from the U.S. [starting under the Jimmy Carter presidency] these fanatical cutthroats waged a holy war that included killing women for teaching little girls how to read and write and throwing acid into the faces of women who had become liberated from the veil. The Taliban came to power as a result of this U.S. intervention.

“Will a U.S. war now against the Taliban and former CIA aid recipient Osama Bin Laden set things straight? No. It will be the people of Afghanistan who suffer death and destruction from war as the U.S. attempts to install a puppet government friendly to U.S. corporate [oil pipeline] interests.” Steven Argue, Liberation News, September 12, 2001

The Taliban was put in power by U.S. intervention. U.S. occupation today is a cause for war and continues to keep an extremely reactionary religious government in power. Afghanistan had secular governments with much wider women's rights before the U.S. began its massive intervention in Afghanistan in the 1970's. All U.S. imposed governments have been religious and anti-women. In Afghanistan, the Afghanis are better qualified to solve the problems caused by U.S. imperialism than U.S. imperialism is.

Yet rather than get out of Afghanistan Obama and McCain are proposing more troops, more helicopters, and more war.

NO TO THE BIPARTISAN OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN!!!!

NO TO OBAMA and MCCAIN'S PROPOSED SURGE IN AFGHANISTAN!

U.S. OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!

http://tribes.tribe.net/outnow#

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Divided We Fail

2008-07-25T21:01:46Z

Burning for that next Revolution?

Have you listened to a friend’s story of victimization and sympathized, or did you blame her?
Have you stepped on a female peer at work in order to get the next step towards the glass ceiling?
Have you ostracized someone because you heard some dirt on her?
Do you dislike, fems, straight women, butches, women of a different
race than you, feminist, women who dress diferently or older women?
Do you feel that women can not lead, should get out of men’s way,
should watch what they say or face punishment, deserve less pay than men, or are inferior in any way?

If you have answered yes to any of these, you are part of the reason why we need a FEMINIST REVOLUTION, but can not organize.

The saddest part about women not accepting other women is that it is the accepted norm. Even in subcultures where you would expect there to be some sort of sisterhood. I live in Portrland, OR and my tiny little LBT community is divided.

Yes, the queer women are scarce in PDX, and for some backwards reason they are also DIVIDED? Seems like it is hard enough being a Queer in our society. Do we really have to be fractioned? How f-ing catty is that?

I have faced male oriented women in the business place, and they dominate ever other sanction of the world. You know it is really sad is when women who supposedly love other women are actuality sexist.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Glass Slipper, Meet Glass Ceiling: A Year Women Won't Soon Forget

2008-07-25T20:43:23Z

This is a quite well written editorial piece, that ties together the current societal experiences of women... younger and older:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/21/IN9B11A2MT.DTL&type=politics

""Yet "Sex" is more than a high-ticket shopping spree. In their love lives, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte all know that the Cinderella myth never comes completely true and that their emotions will usually betray them. They aren't happy with that, but they've sure learned how to cope. Their real power is in the safety net they altruistically provide for each other throughout all the missteps and tragedies.

More realistically, or at least seemingly so, traditional feminists tend to be armed with age and experience and sturdier shoes. They've been aiming for a bigger prize of elective and executive power much of their lives. They are determined to finally smash that barrier to the nation's highest office, for all it represents. They are the ones who laid the difficult groundwork for many of the workplace and lifestyle benefits that enable the younger, nontraditional types to go for the glass slipper instead.""

I haven't seen the "glass slipper" movie yet. But I have seen the "glass ceiling" Democratic Primary. And, damn... I really thought women were doing better than this in 2008.

Alas....

"" (Our) rage is particularly acute when discussing both mainstream and "progressive" media. Traditional feminists expected sexist attacks from the right, but not alleged lefty Chris Matthews saying that Hillary would never have been elected to the Senate had her husband not cheated.

The wound is opened anew when one of the most well-known exemplars of mainstream television suddenly dies and is revered as a "colossus" of journalism. This is the same man, the late Tim Russert, who chuckled benevolently when one of his guests, Christopher Hitchens on "Meet the Press," repeatedly called Hillary Clinton a "bitch." This is the same news icon who was satirized on "Saturday Night Live" as pitching softballs to Barack Obama and double whammy corkscrew change-ups to Hillary when he moderated a nationally televised debate. Women won't forgive him, even as he's laid to rest.""

Back to the drawing board, I guess. Cuz the patriarchy is not really interested in the liberation of women. Not even, and maybe particularly not, the "progressive" patriarchy. <sigh>

Of course.... there's really no such thing as "progressive patriarchy." Is there? Maybe that is what makes this particular wake-up call all the more painful...... and unforgetable. The loss of allies is never easy.

Amma

PS. This totally fascinates me: http://www.hireheels.com/ Because I really didn't think there were THAT many twenty or thirty somethings pulling for Hillary. But, there you have it: the crossection of "Sex in The City" with the Dem Primary.

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

National Go TOP FREE Day

2008-07-25T00:12:29Z

WHEN: August 23rd, 2008 @ NOON
WHERE:
Nationwide from Hawaii to La to NYC (and everywhere in between)
For New Yorkers it is more specifically in Central Park @ Summit Rock
West Central Park/83rd St.
http://www.centralpark.com/pages/map-it/attractions/summit-rock.html

Journalists, photographers, and lawyers will all be present along with law enforcement

We, women and men, all have the legal right to be TOPFREE in NYC!!
This is a demonstration of our rights in NYC
And a chance for us to expand this legal right to states that have unequal laws against women.

We have received permits for the event
And will not be bothered by the police for either having an event or for our choice to go TOP FREE.

Lawyers and the media will also be present
In order to gain nationwide attention for the cause.

We are accepting ideas for performances and acts
that would make the day more enjoyable and exciting.

Please contact me or this organization
GOTOPLESS.org
If you want to be involved or if you need more information.

Hope to see you there.

LOVE and RESPECT phoenix

p.s. My personal court date after my arrest for going top free
In Springlake NJ is at 9 am on the 27th of August.
Please share with me your support any way you can.
Thanks

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Emily's List

2008-07-23T12:18:43Z

http://www.emilyslist.org/

Is anyone else on their list?

posted in Feminist Activists - 3 replies

160th Anniversary of Seneca Falls Protest

2008-07-19T19:49:23Z

http://july19action.blogspot.com/

If you attended a gathering, tell us about it!

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Democrats on the Slippery Slope

2008-07-18T18:06:02Z

Unborn for Obama:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/UnbornforObama

Looks like we have two pro-life candie dates this year, ladies.

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

Not So Fast Gloria.... Hoist that Lever!

2008-06-17T10:57:27Z

Hillary was barely cold in her political grave before the elite mothers of the feminist movement began to promise our allegiance to her rivals:

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/politics/07women.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&fta=y&adxnnlx=1213607696-taqfeMiKaXS9yyyKKfQ[/url]

"“I don’t know any Hillary or feminist supporter who isn’t going to support Obama,” said Gloria Steinem, adding, however, that a stray few may write in Mrs. Clinton’s name on the November ballot. The question, Ms. Steinem said, is the degree of support these followers will offer Mr. Obama, whether they will merely pull levers for him or apply some of the vast energy and generosity they did for Mrs. Clinton.""

WHOA! HOLD UP, GLORIA!! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! .....

This is BRILLIANT:
[url]http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/2008/06/12/archimedes-lever/[/url]

"What’s interesting, though, is that many of my sister feminists — the prominent pundit types, not the regular Jane Doe types — haven’t yet grasped the import of what’s happening. Even some of those who supported Hillary are now heard to quietly mutter that it’s time to “unite the party.” They don’t recognize the great big lever in front of us because, well, we’ve never had a great big lever in front of us. We’ve talked about leverage for years, yearned for it, but never had it. Most of us have spent our entire political lives being taken for granted. We’re so used to voting Democrat no matter what that it’s become almost second nature." YES ARE GONNA HAVE TO TAKE TO THE STREET.

LOOKS LIKE IT'S UP TO JANE DOE NOW....

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Helping African girls with Glad Rags

2008-06-02T20:04:06Z

Hi all,
I wanted to pass this along. You may have seen the commerical promoting the Kotex campaign to send dispoable mentrual pads to poor African girls so they can attend school. My first thought when I saw this ad was that they shouldn't be sending disposable products to people in rural Africa who can't dispose of them properly. I thought it would be better if they sent them reusable cloth pads... And I just found out that Gladrags agrees:
http://www.gladrags.com/goods-girls-p-172.html
I think it's an awesome cause, so I thought I'd share.
cheers!

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

Check out the new pro-feminist “Cool Earth Party” tribe

2008-06-01T18:45:44Z

The Democrats and Republicans are the paid agents of the oil, armament, and insurance industries. Their continued rule of America will assure a future of more imperialist war, a healthcare system that doesn't work, and no meaningful action on global warming (the single biggest threat to the future of humanity and a healthy planet).

The Cool Earth Party is being established on the principles of revolutionary democratic socialism. We call for an end to the dictatorial power of the wealthy through the nationalization of major industries and for the establishment of a planned economy run to meet human and environmental needs. This socialist society must be established within the framework of full democratic freedoms and multi-party proportional democracy. To be truly Democratic all parties running in elections will be legally guaranteed equal time in the media, big campaign spending will be outlawed, and electronic voting machines (which are presently used to rig American elections) will be eliminated.

Upon taking power the Cool Earth Party will establish a system of socialized medicine for the United States, end all U.S. military occupations of other countries, end U.S. military aid to repressive governments, and nationalize the auto and energy industries to carry out immediate emergency measures to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool Earth Party
http://tribes.tribe.net/coolearth

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Pro Life is Anti-Woman - George Carlin

2008-04-12T04:45:48Z

Pro Life is Anti-Woman - George Carlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrXvDXVhqfU&feature=related

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

Working Women Organization of Pakistan

2008-03-09T13:11:22Z

Working Women Organization of Pakistan
APPEAL

We Want Peace

This year, March 8th, International Women's Day. takes place in a world where the flames of war are rising all over the world:

We have heard the statements threatening the Chavez government of Venezuela, of war, because it does not accept the orders of imperialism.

We have all seen the terrible pictures of Palestinian women and children running under the fire of missiles and bombs provided by U.S. imperialism and fired by the armed forces of the Israeli state.

Those terrible scenes are the same as those of people of Afghanistan whose villages have been burned and reduced to rubble by the U.S. air force because they were charged with "hiding terrorists."

Military occupation of Afghanistan has now been going on for 6 years and it only brings along with it never-ending destruction and war. That war is now spreading into Pakistan.

To spread the flame of war, imperialism is attempting to break up our countries to sow the seeds of hatred and fear between people who want to live together in peace and making use of differences of language, religion and gender. We, the women are those who suffer first and most from the situation created by imperialism and which is prevailing in all our countries.

On the occasion of the 8th of March, it is time to launch an Appeal of Women against War for Peace, for peaceful and friendly relations between all the peoples and the nations of our area. We want peace.

It is a woman's appeal, because women have always stood in the first line of the struggle against wars.

We women are the first victims of so-called "ethnic cleansing' of massacres under cover of religion.

We women are opposed to wars, to the waste of human lives sacrificed to imperialist greed: these lives are those of their sons and daughters, of their fathers, their brothers and their husbands.

Let's unite because we want peace, we want to live peacefully, to live in conditions where our children are fed and can be educated, in conditions where we are no longer facing violence and harm on a daily basis because we are women.

We women know that the domestic civil repression is intrinsically linked to the violence of war.

We are aware that the situation of women in our countries exists in the larger context of the global history of our continent, of colonisation and its consequences: partition, displacement, forced migrations and expulsions, all elements which imperialism uses today.

And we know that wars can only worsen that situation.

We need peace, we know it can be safeguarded only by the united action of all the peoples of our sub-continent.

That is why we are resisting against the moves of imperialism to gain strategic influence in our area to control our natural resources, not the least of which is oil.

That is why we fight against the plans of the IMF and the World Bank which aggravate the poverty and misery in each of our countries and create the conditions which allow war, conflicts and barbarism to develop. In fact, terror roams the world in many guises and is perpetrated under various banners, but the root of evil, of war and misery is imperialist domination, a system ready to crush millions of lives for the sake of profit.

As working class activists from all the sub-continent stated at the end of the Mumbai conference for a "fraternal alliance of the peoples and the organisations of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, for peace and unity of the people.":

"War, occupation, military presence are used to aggravate in each and every country the conditions of the working class, to attack its rights, to intensify its exploitation.

"Workers of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, have the same interests. ...

"Imperialism today is everywhere fostering conflicts on so-called ethnic or religious basis. But in the class struggle, the workers are united. Those who have organised the partition, to weaken the people at the time of independence, today intend to aggravate chaos and division."

That holds true for women. Women are in the first line of the victims of that system.

We call upon women in India, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, in Sri Lanka, in Nepal, irrespective of their creed, of their language, of their geographical location to unite, to say together: We want peace, we want democracy, we want equality.

We can be at the vanguard of the struggle of the people of our sub-continent so that instead of wars, conflicts, we build together a friendly and peaceful alliance of all the oppressed and exploited who share the same interests.

We, women, will continue to fight in defence of our rights.

We calls upon all women militants of the world to act jointly with men inside trade unions, to resist the capitalist globalisation, the imperialist wars and the destruction of the environment and to demand trade union and democratic freedoms.

We women, on the occasion of March 8th 2008, International Women's Day, state our determination to fight against war, against all attempts to divide us, on the basis of "ethnicity", religion or language. We stand against war for the unity of our people, for democracy and for equal rights.

Rubina Jamil,
Working Women Organisation

----------

I wish to endorse the appeal

"South Asian Women Against War, for Peace, for Unity of all the People of our Sub-continent, for Democracy, for Equality of Rights.

Name:

Organization Name:

Address:

Town:

Country:

Email:

Tel:

Cell Phone:

Fax:

WWO
93 A Nawab Town,
Raiwind Road,
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: 5311319-5313906 Fax: 92-42-5314365
Email: rubinawwo@nexlinx.net.pk

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Conspiracy History compilation DVDs torrents

2008-03-07T09:43:05Z

**************************************************

Greetings to all my relations.

This is the last step of our project History Watch. If History is
defined and known by the texts, we can now add to this definition the
recorded events of the filmed archives. Animated images are harder to
deny than printed words. Our objective is to spread out freely some of
the little broadcast, even hidden informations about our collective
History.

We put online a collection of 391 documentaries and other selected and
recut videos, to offer to a wide public the best of the infos
available on the net in english and in french. If you are interested,
you have the time, the right equipment and connection, all you have to
do is open the joint document and decompress it if needed (but normaly
your system should do it automaticaly). You'll find therein nine links
that will open the torrents for the nine DVDs we compiled (around 4.6
Gig each, for a total of a little over 41 G, being over 100 hours of
videos).

Otherwise, you can go directly to btjunkie.com and search for these titles.

11 Septembre 2001 - 9-11
Bush family & friends
Capitalist & Communist regimes
Capitalist conspiracy
Mind Kontrol - Secret Programs
New World Order - Secret Societies
Secret services - cover up - covert ops
Secret weapons - UFO
Terrorism Theories propaganda

Torrents are a system of peer to peer data transfer. The more people
download a torrent, the faster it spreads and the longer it stays on
the net. If you don't have a bittorrent software, we suggest that you
download uTorrent on utorrent.com. If you want to participate in
facilitating the diffusion of these infos about our collective
History, download these torrents on as many computers as possible,
whether it is in cybercafes. It takes one or two minutes to open up
the links and the downloading will keep proceeding on its own.

Please spread this out, take part in this action for social education
on a planetary scale. Thanks.

For more info: watch.history@gmail.com History Watch

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Fraud Alert regarding North Coast Earth First! Aka NCEF! Media. Completely independent from any activist group!

2008-02-18T21:18:50Z

16 views since posting on Sunday, December 2, 2007
Location California

enlarge photo
NCEF! Media in Humboldt County Ca.(AKA NORTH COAST EARTH FIRST!), is accused of fraud and donation embezzlement. Caution! Do not support this lone wingnut's scam! Active and legitamate groups exist in the area. Caution! Do not be fooled by NCEF! Media and his fraudulent outreach. Shunka Wakan exists completely seperate from any active affinity group.

Read about how he perpetuated a lawsuit under the guise of EF! against a legitimate environmental nonprofit:

From: northcoastjournal.com/100407/...004.html

October 4, 2007

"Money On Trees"

Big cash nearly fell into Shunka Wakan's lap. Other Earth First!ers are kinda happy it didn't.

by Heidi Walters

As the jury trial for the civil suit Kathryn Miller v. the Trees Foundation puttered to a start last week inside Courtroom 3 at the Humboldt County Courthouse, Shunka Wakan — a key witness for the plaintiff — spent mornings sitting on the hard wooden benches in the long hallway outside the courtroom. During breaks, Miller's attorney Linda Mitlyng, would come out of the courtroom to join him. But otherwise, as other people and their legal affairs swirled around him in a warm, odiferous bath of humanity, Shunka sat alone. Or, sometimes, he stood alone, straight-spined, his small, stocky body swallowed by the huge, stiff blue suit out of which his newly shorn, razor-scraped bald head poked vulnerably — as if, at any moment, the suit could gulp once more and he'd disappear completely. Always, he clutched a paper folder with a wolf's face on its cover.

The North Coast Earth First! Media guru had shaved off his woolly rust-tinged brown hair and beard the night before jury selection started, after discussing it with attorney Mitlyng. Now, it took an uncertain moment to recognize him. Then, of course: Shunka's light blue eyes in the pink-pale face, Shunka's closed-lip smile, Shunka's trademark husky murmur, "Mm-hmm, for sure," in response to a comment.

In Courtroom 3, the amiable but no-nonsense Judge Christopher Wilson's domain, the fate of a $185,000 donation dangled. Would the plaintiff, donor Kathryn Miller, prevail in her claim that the defendant, the Trees Foundation, was not in fact the intended recipient of her generous gift? That Shunka Wakan's NCEF! Media Center and the treesitters were? Or would the Trees Foundation convince the jury that, in fact, the money was intended all along for Trees, with no instructions attached for funneling it elsewhere?

Richard Idell, left, who is defending the Trees Foundation against a lawsuit filed by Kathryn Miller, confers with Doug Wallace, community support coordinator for Trees. Photo by David Lawlor.

In her opening arguments, Miller's attorney, Mitlyng, said the case came down to "fraud and broken promises." "She believed [Trees] would hold [the money] in trust, for the benefit of North Coast Earth First!" said Mitlyng. The defense's attorney, Richard Idell, countered in his opening argument that the donation was an unconditional gift and Miller never wrote letters of instruction — as Miller claims she did. "Ms. Miller ... didn't do anything. She took the check [from her mother's estate] and flipped it over and wrote on the back, 'Payable to the Trees Foundation,'" said Idell.

Miller's claim sought the return of her $185,000, plus interest.

Out in the hallway, Shunka waited to tell his side of the story. Maybe he thought about the magical donation that never materialized, and now probably never would. Maybe he thought about the other times he'd been in this courthouse — dozens of times, along with other activists, often before Judge Wilson, answering to charges of trespassing and other forms of civil disobedience in the woods. Likely, he wondered when they were finally going to call him in to testify — it was taking forever in there. He'd even sent out an e-mail prematurely to the several hundred subscribers to his NCEF! online group erroneously announcing he would be first up to testify.

By the end of Friday's court session, Miller was still on the stand. Perhaps Monday it would be Shunka's turn. Whenever it was, he would be testifying on Miller's behalf; but he wasn't a party to the lawsuit. And in the end, after hearing all of the evidence, the jury would be determining who was telling the truth about intentions and letters of instructions. Shunka was just there to provide context and evidence in a contract dispute.

But to a number of forest activists, including a half dozen or so who appeared in the audience last Friday to watch the trial unfold, that context matters more to them than the legal questions. They say this lawsuit has placed a strain on the environmental community that could do as much damage as an ill-felled redwood that takes down other giants in its descent. They disapprove of the lawsuit, and they blame Shunka for it. And, they say, it's just another example of how Shunka has commandeered the North Coast Earth First! identity and used it for purposes that nobody else in the amorphous but consensus-driven local Earth First! movement has agreed to.

"For a lot of us, when we read about the lawsuit, this is kind of like Shunka on trial," said long-time forest activist Deane Rimerman last Friday, calling from Olympia, Wash. "And, to what extent is he worthy of that money?"

Kathryn Miller wanted her money to go toward saving trees, she said on the witness stand last Thursday. The slender 59-year-old was dressed in a pink print skirt and white sweater, with her gray-streaked dark hair pulled back into a neat, thin braid tinted slightly green. (Little did the jury know that Miller had spent the night in jail, in blue jail duds, and then had been "dressed out," in court lingo, in her street clothes before being escorted into the court by the bailiff. Miller had been arrested the week before, on Sept. 17, when she arrived in civil court for the pre-trial readiness hearing; according to the misdemeanor criminal charges filed against her, Miller allegedly had made annoying phonecalls to Barbara Ristow of the Trees Foundation all hours of the day and night.)

On the stand, Miller described how she became an activist. She remembered how, when she was a child in Orinda, her mother decided to stop spraying the beautiful oak trees on their property after reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. "And then, when my son was 9, we were watching the news on TV about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown. And my son said to me, 'I wish I'd never been born. I don't think I'll get to live a full life.'"

She protested the building of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. She started a peace action group in the late 1980s in San Jose. She did nonviolent protests at the Nevada Test Site. And in 1990, she came up with some of her fellow protestors to help set up the camp for Redwood Summer, and to take part in demonstrations. She's been on and off involved in Earth First! actions in Humboldt ever since, she said, including huffing in supplies for treesitters and huffing out their garbage. She'd also, at one point, bought a condo in Arcata.

In 2004, Miller sold her condo and bought an acre of farmland, already planted with coffee, in Guatemala. She put in fruit trees to shade the coffee. That same year, her mother, who lived in Sonoma, died. "The last time I saw her was in 2003," said Miller. "She told me when she died, she was going to leave me some money. I told her I'd use it to further my work for the forest. And she was pleased, because she loved the treesitters and the forest."

Shortly after learning of her mother's death, Kathryn Miller sought out Shunka Wakan in front of the food co-op in Arcata, where he "tabled" to raise funds for the North Coast Earth First! Media office — selling T-shirts, and stickers, offering pamphlets, accepting donations. She'd known Shunka for about five years, she said.

"I said to him, I was going to inherit some money: What was the best way to get that to the North Coast Earth First!?"

In the spring of 2005, Shunka Wakan was floating above the treetops. "I was so excited," the 32-year-old said in an interview a few weeks ago, sitting inside his tiny but colorful North Coast Earth First! Media office in Arcata, walls covered in art and topo maps — including one of Buckeye Mountain, where in 2000-2001, during the "Mattole Free State" action, Shunka and others hiked 14 miles through waist-high snowdrifts to save trees.

Kathryn Miller, he recalled, had come up to him excitedly as he walked along the sidewalk outside the Arcata Co-op and said, "I just donated $185,000 to North Coast Earth First!'"

She'd talked to him the year before about making the donation — she'd said she was anticipating an inheritance from her mother's estate, and she wanted to make a big donation to his group. He'd told her to make it through the Trees Foundation, which handled the NCEF! Media office's finances through an arrangement that had been established years ago. (The Trees Foundation is an umbrella organization formed in 1991 to assist smaller environmental groups. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, it can accept large, tax-deductible donations on behalf of affiliates, and provide professional resources. And it can lead large campaigns, like the one to save the Headwaters Forest back in the '90s.)

Well, now she'd finally done it.

Miller and Shunka agreed to meet at Fiesta Café in Sunny Brae, so she could tell him how she wanted the money spent: She wanted, straight away, for someone to organize a mediated workshop for the local Earth First! activists on ageism and sexism, issues she thought were fracturing the movement. And, she wanted the bulk of the donation to help support the forest activists who blockade logging roads and hunker up in ancient redwoods to fend off loggers' saws.

Not long after, Shunka was on his way to have lunch with some folks from the Trees Foundation, where they'd talk about Miller's wishes.

"Our media outreach was going to get a big boost," Shunka said. "The donation would keep the EF! office going for many years. So I walked into the Wildflower Café feeling elated, thinking we got all this money."

Barbara Ristow and Doug Wallace of the Trees Foundation were there. "I was super excited," Shunka said, "and I said, 'This is great, this big donation. Isn't it wonderful?' We ordered food, and still I'm all excited, talking about the money, but I notice they're looking nervously at each other. [Finally], they said, 'Well, we're just shocked that you think this money was for you.' And I was like, 'I just met with the donor, and that's what she said.' And they're like, 'Well, let's go ahead and plan the workshop and deal with that later.' I remember that, because it put me at ease."

After that, Shunka said he gave Trees a list of people he thought might benefit from the mediator-run workshop. "Some were people I knew had beefs with me, but I was willing to bring 'em into the circle and talk about it."

According to some vague accounts, the workshop was a disaster. One person who was there claims that Shunka, at one point, pounded his fists on the floor, blustered, then got up and stormed out, yelling as he walked away. Shunka says that's overblown.

"The letter from Kathryn Miller to Barbara Bristow said she wanted the mediation to be a safe place, safe to be emotional," he said. "And I think people are saying 'I freaked out.' The freak-out reports are exaggerated. It's just part of this ongoing character assassination. People say I was 'red-faced.' But my face is naturally red."

In late 2005, while Shunka was in Seattle, a friend called him from Arcata to say a woman had come by asking for the office key. She had a list of equipment she wanted to take away. The friend didn't give her the key.

When Shunka got back from Seattle, he discovered his reimbursement funds from Trees had been "frozen." He also learned about a letter someone in the NCEF! movement had circulated for signatures and then sent to Mark Knipper, who handled the Trees Foundation transactions for the NCEF! Media office. It said, in essence, "We don't want Shunka running EF!"

"I called the Trees Foundation," Shunka recalled. "I was sick, it was the middle of the winter, I'm trying to table, it's raining, it's cold. And Barbara Ristow told me, 'You just need to have a meeting [with the other Earth First!ers] and come to a group consensus on what the Trees Foundation funding should be used for."

The meeting never happened — nobody could agree to meet, said Mark Knipper, also in an interview last week. Knipper is a social worker and a long-time activist who had been the contact person between Trees and NCEF! Media. "So it ate itself," Knipper said. "And although I'm former Navy, a mariner, I said I'm not going down with this ship. So I divorced myself from it ... and signed it all back to Trees."

The NCEF! Media office was dropped from the Trees Foundation altogether.

Shunka and the NCEF! Media office never did see any of the big donation. Miller didn't even know that, he said, until she phoned him up in the summer of 2006, more than a year after she made the donation, to ask about a guy named "Jungle," who had been reported as missing on the NCEF! hotline. Miller was spending much of her time in Guatemala now, where she was raising fruit trees; after she'd made her big donation, Hurricane Stan had struck — she spent the ensuing year mopping up the mess.

First, Shunka told her Jungle was still missing. Then he told her about the money.

"I said, 'Yeah, they told me it wasn't for us,'" said Shunka. "And she said, 'I meant for all of it to go to you guys.' She sounded real upset. And I was like, 'I knew it! I knew it!'"

Shunka tried to sue Trees in small claims court, but it went nowhere.

Miller filed a claim against the Trees Foundation on Oct. 5, 2006, in Humboldt County Superior Court, seeking the return of the $185,000 plus interest so she could distribute the money herself.

And if she wins? "She may just spread it out more," said Shunka. "She's got tree planting ideas. Maybe she could buy a grove. She'd maybe not give it all to Earth First! this time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Trees blew for us."

On an uncomfortably hot afternoon last week, four forest activists who'd agreed to an interview for this story — Jeff, Shaggy, Sparrow and Farmer — sat on the ground at the Arcata Marsh next to a log bench on which a teeming crew of red ants worked a splintered notch. Someone had come along here in 1999 and carved a grouping of faces — bearded, grimacing, possibly mourning faces — onto the log and signed it Daniel. The carving had been drenched in red paint, and burnished by years of sitters.

"It kind of reminds me of the memorial for Gypsy," said one of them. "With the red paint."

Gypsy was the forest name of David Nathan Chain, who in September 1998, during an Earth First! action at Grizzly Creek, was crushed to death by a tree felled by an enraged logger. Farmer, actually, was there — he was just 16, but had a year of activism already under his belt. And Shunka was there — it was Shunka's first forest action.

Farmer, Shag, Sparrow and Jeff first made it clear that they spoke for themselves alone, although they participate in various forest defense affinity groups: Farmer works for the Mattole Wildlands Defense Group now, watchdogging the California Department of Forestry for new timber harvest plans, and keeping an eye on a Pacific Lumber Co. watershed analysis. Shag, who saw his first redwood about five years ago, helps keep the Fern Gully treesit village in Freshwater functioning. Jeff, who grew up in the high desert, and fell in love with the woods, works with the Nanning Creek treesit just outside of Scotia, as well as other groups. Sparrow, who was drawn to forest action because the cultural landscape was "like a folktale" he couldn't resist, is with the Fern Gully affinity group. These groups are all part of the Humboldt Forest Defense Association, a collective with a website but no formal structure.

The HFDA sprang into being six years ago — about the time the entity called North Coast Earth First! had essentially dissolved. It would take a book to describe that drawn-out dissolution — a book of lost causes, won causes, waning media interest, Judi Bari's death, Gypsy's death, ego-spurred squabbles, interpersonal catastrophes, a war overseas, hurricanes. And while the HFDA activists might still cherish the Earth First! name — the movement — in their hearts, it's now been further complicated by what you might call the Shunka effect.

"I still feel in many ways solidarity with the greater Earth First! movement abroad," said Farmer. "But in this county, in this climate, if you say you're with the North Coast Earth First!, many people associate you with North Coast Earth First! Media."

Shunka revived the North Coast Earth First! office around 2002. And he did what previous office managers had done — tabled, put out news releases, wrote articles for other publications. But it wasn't like the old days, in the '90s, when hundreds of people were getting arrested in forest actions and the jail support phone and legal resources were in constant use.

Shunka first worked in an office in Eureka, then later moved to Arcata. He called his outfit the NCEF! Media Center. For a time, he and other "affinity groups" tried to work together. But he alienated some people. He took over the North Coast Earth First! website. He controlled the North Coast Earth First! email list of 300 or more subscribers to the news alerts. He sent out press releases on his own.

"I felt the North Coast Earth First! Media Center was a unilateral effort on Shunka's part," said Farmer. Whereas, in the old days, "spokespeople were decided on by the group. And if you wrote an article it was passed by everyone. I feel Shunka appointed himself spokesperson at some point."

Many also claim they've been subject to a lashing anger from Shunka.

"I won't work with him because I pledge nonviolence in my actions," said Shag. "I don't believe he pledges the same thing. He has exhibited violent behavior towards me and towards other activists in my presence."

"He's a bear," said Jeff, making claw-fists with his hands.

But the sad thing is, all of this infighting probably has done nothing to help the actual trees. And the mediation workshop Kathryn Miller wanted didn't fix matters. Now, there was her lawsuit.

"When I heard about this lawsuit, I thought, the Trees Foundation does not deserve to be attacked in that way," said Farmer. "There's much bigger issues that need to be dealt with — with Maxxam and old-growth logging. ...If you look at Fern Gully and Nanning Creek (the Bonanza timber harvest plan), there's hundreds of old growth acres still standing whose fate is unclear."

Shag put it more bluntly: "If [Miller] knew Shunka and wanted to get the money to North Coast Earth First! Media, she should've given it to Shunka. But if she was trying to get it to treesits and forest defense, then the money went to the right place.

"My problem is this whole representation thing. There's people in the trees — how do you know who to get the money to, to help them?"

Shunka knows that a lot of fellow activists aren't happy with his role in the donation dispute. He also knows how some people talk about him and say he's hard to get along with. "I'm just standing up for the truth," he said. "And people don't like it. To me, it feels like a small clique of people who don't like me. I feel a lot of love and support in this community."

He certainly doesn't come off right away as someone who's angry, or who lashes out, or who locks the office and doesn't let people in. Why, recently, he helped a young woman hook up with the treesitters so she could learn the ropes. (Shaggy said that's proof Shunka doesn't have direct connections with the people doing direct action; but you can't deny it's a connection.)

It's probably a bad idea to ask Darryl Cherney, one of the founders of the local Earth First! movement, what he thinks of Shunka Wakan, whose real name is Jason Wilson. (Shunka tells a story of how he was named by a Lakota medicine man on the banks of the Cheyenne River in South Dakota in 1995. "Shunka Wakan," meaning "great dog," is only part of it. There's a secret part after that — altogether, his name means "the humble man called horse.")

"Shunka's a wingnut," Cherney said over the phone last Friday, sounding cheerfully vitriolic. "I have a 10-verse song about Shunka."

Here are the last few verses:

Who's at the co-op spanging a donation
Shunka, Shunka
Who's got a lawsuit 'gainst the Trees Foundation
Shunka, Shunka
Shunka, Shunka
Who's gonna keep on fighting the fight
Shunka, Shunka
With four of his friends at swimmers delight
Shunka, Shunka
Shunka, Shunka (Shunka voice: It's the last of the revolution)

There's no other word for it but "mean." But Cherney and Shunka have history — not all of it sour. Cherney said Shunka laughed when he heard the song, at least the first time.

"I met Shunka in 1998," Cherney said. "And I know he knew Julia ["Butterfly" Hill, whom Shunka had come west to find]. That was a good thing, helping Julia. That was good Shunka."

Cherney had even pushed for Shunka to go to Houston to talk with Charles Hurwitz, whose Maxxam Corp. bought out the old Pacific Lumber company back in 1985 and quickly became the forest activists' number one villain. Shunka went.

But now? "The current status of Shunka and me," Cherney said, "is that Shunka has sent me five or eight or nine e-mails threatening to sue me. Shunka is a joke."

Cherney can talk for hours about the problems he's had with Shunka over the years. His main point, though, is what has Shunka done for the trees lately?

"My question is, where's your topo maps?" he asked. "Where's your wilderness preservation proposal? Where's your lobbyist team in Sacramento?"

It has to be that, on some level, even the people in the movement who don't like Shunka understand somewhat where he's coming from. So he's emotional. Passionate. Perhaps he's caught up so completely in the cause he can't let go. Or, who knows — maybe he's a phony, like he accused Knipper of being back in 2005.

But being a forest activist comes with perils beyond the obvious physical ones.

"I'm really trying to have compassion for Shunka, even though he's kind of attacked us," said Susy Barsotti by phone from Laytonville a couple of weeks ago. Barsotti is president of the Trees Foundation board, and she says the lawsuit has held Trees hostage, unable to function fully. "I've been mystified and dismayed that he's participated like this in the suit. But Shunka witnessed Gypsy's death. And I think he may have post-traumatic stress syndrome. I don't think he's recovered from it. And that can affect your behavior."

A number of people mentioned this, actually, about Shunka. And he often refers to Gypsy's death himself. In an article titled "What Luna has taught me," posted on the website of Julia "Butterfly" Hill's organization, Circle of Life, Shunka writes: "I decided to commit to doing ground support after witnessing the death of David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain on September 17, 1998 ... I remember looking across the valley as we hiked up that day, seeing the rolling hills of forests and clear-cuts, and thinking out loud, "That's why we're here!" Seeing Gypsy's life taken from him, and then seeing the corruption and lies of the Humboldt County Sheriffs ... really opened my eyes to the situation our old-growth forests face."

Later, he did ground support for Hill in her second year in Luna. And in the same article on her website, something else Shunka writes indicates how ready he was to devote himself to a cause: "Being on the support team was the top priority in my life, and I was happy knowing that everything else revolved around when I'd be needed for the next supply run. I never felt lost because I knew what I was doing. That was a feeling I had not felt in years, between feeling dissatisfaction with life in college, and then more dissatisfaction with life as a minimum-wage worker after college. Before joining Julia's ground support team I was unhappy, even to the point of tears, wondering if my entire life was going to be a minimum-wage nightmare ...."

Pure devotion, without benefit of a little hypocrisy, could drive anyone batty. Deane Rimerman, the activist from Olympia who said it is Shunka who is on trial, said it's not uncommon for intense, stressful movements like Earth First! to produce an army of walking wounded. And he's been around, in forest actions up and down the coast, for long enough to know; he was the one, in fact, who "got the maps and led the first hikers up to the hill" to the Gypsy Mountain campaign and Luna treesit.

"In the forest activist movement, there's very little that's rewarding," Rimerman said. "There's a lot of post traumatic stress syndrome. All of us get it. Once you've been through the court process, and the jail process, and seen 1,000-year-old trees get cut down that you really cared about and thought you could save — it's devastating."

That alone, setting aside the troubles with Shunka, could explain the many rifts that have occurred within the local EF! ranks over the years. Josh Brown, who moved to Humboldt in 1995 right before the peak of the Headwaters campaign, said one of the unique qualities of Earth First! is that it "is primarily a youth movement."

"A lot of people that come through are young, are passionate — and it's a wonderful thing," he said. They get thrown into leadership positions quickly — and then they get burned out. Many move quickly on to other things. Brown stayed in longer than most. "When I left [in 2001], I was 30 years old. And I'd been a full-time activist since I was 18."

Paradoxically, said Brown, the youthful draw and the departure of seasoned activists leaves the movement with "no elders to kind of sit around and coach the [new kids]."

The movement also draws strong personalities, he said. Tenacious ones, too, like Shunka's.

"Shunka, I think he really does have a big heart," said Brown. "And I think he does care for the forest."

Last Friday, following the morning session of Miller v. Trees, a group of the Humboldt Forest Defense Association activists stood on the courthouse steps talking. The door opened, and Shunka walked out and down the steps toward the group. They didn't greet him. After a time, he tried to talk to one of them, Jeff. Jeff walked away. Shunka followed him, then stopped and talked to another guy. Then he stood alone again.

From: northcoastjournal.com/101107/...011.html

"Trees Foundation Wins"

October 11th, 2007

The jury in the civil case Kathryn Miller v. the Trees Foundation decided in favor of Trees, after deliberating all day Tuesday. (See "Money on Trees," Oct. 4).

Miller is the long-time forest activist who inherited a bundle from her mother and then signed $185,000 over to the Trees Foundation. In her lawsuit, she claimed she had intended the money to be passed through Trees to one of its affiliates, North Coast Earth First! Media, run by Shunka Wakan. She claimed she had made her intentions clear, verbally and in writing, and that Trees had agreed to the conditions, then broken its promise and kept the money. Trees denied making such promises, and said it had never seen any letters or heard of instructions to give the money to NCEF! Media. (Also, somewhat relatedly, in criminal court on Tuesday Miller pleaded no contest to charges that she had made annoying phonecalls to Barbara Ristow of the Trees Foundation.)

So, that's that. Now, there are only the pieces to pick up.

For Shunka Wakan — featured in last week's Journal as a central figure in a messy nest of infighting that has fractured the current ranks of local Earth First!ians — it could be a long, lonely patching together of lost friends and broken alliances. Not only did he and Miller lose their attempt to retrieve her donation, but now he's been banned from the North Coast Co-op.

Yes, that happened last week. It was Thursday, around 4:15 in the evening, and two activists with the Humboldt Forest Defense Association were tabling — hawking brochures and such — outside the Co-op. It's an activity Shunka himself has spent many a day doing in that very same spot, raising cash to pay for his NCEF!Media outreach work and other causes. And, well, these two fellows, Jeff and Farmer, were on Shunka's shit list, now. They'd spoken gently, but unfavorably, about Shunka's doings in the North Coast Earth First! arena — said he lashed out at people, said he commandeered NCEF! resources, and so forth. Here's a snippet of Jeff's account of what happened, which he sent to the NCJ in an e-mail on Friday:

"Shunka was removed from the Arcata Co-op yesterday after a scuffle with myself and another activist around 5 p.m. Well, he wasn't exactly removed, but APD was called. He was asked to leave after threatening to flip over the HFD donation table while stating he was 'like Jesus in the marketplace ...'"

Sue Coulter, manager of the Arcata Co-op, recounted on Friday how an employee walking by heard the argument and went inside to get her. "So I went out to talk to [Shunka], because it's not the first time we've had problems," she said. "Most of the time, he's fine. Most of the time, I stick up for him." One time, she said, she even called the police to protect Shunka after someone had threatened him. "But he gets into arguments. I tried to talk to him. I told him to leave. ... He was causing a scene, right by the door, and I can't have it. He refused to leave. ... I said, fine. I went into the store. He followed me into the store, and he was still yelling at me, 'Oh, now you're going to call the police on me.'" Coulter called the police, but Shunka left before they arrived.

Shunka, waiting in the courthouse for the jury verdict Tuesday, said Coulter did indeed ask him to leave and he did, indeed, refuse to. As for the HFD tablers, he said he merely asked them why they had Trees Foundation literature on their table. "I said, 'Why do you want to represent these people?'" And then, he said, "Jeff accused me of embezzling — he said this in public. He said, 'You've embezzled thousands of dollars from the Earth First! movement through the years.' And I complained to one of the employees who was walking by. Because that's serious, accusing someone of embezzling."

But Shunka said the whole thing's yet another attack on him. "I don't consider I was yelling. We were talking. I'm an emotional person, I concede to that. I speak from my heart. I don't scream at people. I would love to — but I don't."

In his email, Jeff with HFD predicted Shunka would leave town within weeks, if not sooner. But at the courthouse, even before the verdict, Shunka said he wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm just going to continue to run the Earth First! office and continue to call Humboldt County home," he said. He's also going to write a letter to the Co-op, complaining about how he gets scapegoated and booted out of there even when other people, he says, are the culprits. And, as for the Miller v. Trees case, he said, he and Miller may now take their complaint to another venue.

-- Heidi Walters

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posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Business networking and Events

2008-02-17T13:02:43Z

i would like to invite my Tribe network to join me on www.connectture.com - its a social business network based in Europe with a growing base of users from all over the world. Easy way of keeping track of your Business Network.

Cheers

Sarah

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

V-Day:: Vagina Monologues

2008-02-13T10:04:33Z

find the V-Day event nearest you:: www.vday.org and events.vday.org/search.php and v10.vday.org/

V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues.

Since 1998, thousands of V-Day events have taken place all over the world, Shenzhen, China to Stockholm, Sweden from Canberra, Australia to Lagos, Nigeria. In 2007 alone, more than 3000 V-Day events took place around the world and in all 50 of the United States. 2008 will be V-Day’s biggest year to date as we come together to celebrate the last ten years of ending violence against women and girls and go forward into the next ten years.

To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq.

V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities.

find an event near you::
v10.vday.org/
vday.org

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Michelle Obama, Oprah, Maria Shriver, etc. at UCLA

2008-02-04T23:24:15Z

***seriously POWERFUL women*** tremendous.

i was at this event at ucla yesterday!!
to be in the same room with Oprah + Michelle Obama was AMAZING!!! and their speeches- truly epic.
(i was in the back- behind them-- can u believe Michelle didn't have any notes!!?)

::we can change the world::
:what are you ready for?:

Oprah:::: http://youtube.com/watch?v=a_FJQMriZUg

Michelle:: 5 min clip:: http://youtube.com/watch?v=K1J54St7ZYY
::full speech--three 10 min clips-- fuzzy picture (can also FF 'full rally' vid to the Michelle section)
part 1:: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3MHnf7usrVU
part 2:: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HiwBT8o9kP4 (my favorite!!)
part 3:: http://youtube.com/watch?v=I8krZtPED9g

Maria Shriver:: http://youtube.com/watch?v=62_ajoKkuHA

**UCLA full rally : 75 mins: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JZiNtTq10i0 (Michelle not-blurry speech here) **

*****************************extra**********
music video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

Song & video, featuring a star cast, by Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Inspired by Barack Obama's 'Yes We Can' speech.

http://www.yeswecansong.com

http://www.barackobama.com/

http://factcheck.barackobama.com/

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

People movement assembly atlanta and worldwide

2008-01-24T18:21:25Z

People's Movement Assembly-- Global Day of Action
Saturday, January 26, 10:00am

On Saturday, January 26, 2008, Atlanta, host city of the first US Social Forum, will be the venue for a statewide People's Movement Assembly, beginning with a caravan and rally at the State Capitol.
Initiated by the organizers of the annual Poor People's Day events at the Capitol and inspired by the year 2008 being the 40th anniversary of the historic Poor People's Campaign for Economic Justice launched by Dr. King, this multi-pronged effort seeks to bring the voice, aspirations, needs and demands of millions of working and poor people to the Georgia Capitol.
Following the caravan and rally, participants will meet to exchange views, plan ongoing actions and cement relationships and networks. Hundreds of volunteers are needed throughout the state to mobilize their communities.
Participation in the January 26 action is open to all who believe "ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE."
Complete the People's Movement Assembly Ballot!

Read more...

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Saturday, January 19th, 2008 10:30

2008-01-19T06:46:26Z

Please join community members and activists at the "Forward-- Not Back! Reproductive Justice for All!" rally and march to counterprotest the anti-abortion "Walk for Life-- West Coast." Spread the word:

Resist the religious right! Protest their anti-choice march with a vibrant reproductive rights presence on the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade! Saturday, January 19th, 2008. Assemble at Justin Herman Plaza, Market and Embarcadero streets in San Francisco at 10:30am.
This will be the 4th year that 10,000 right wingers will be bussed in to San Francisco for their annual "Walk for Life-- West Coast". Organizers of the "Walk for Life" want to strip women of their rights to a safe and legal abortion.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Feedback Needed on an Ad Campaign

2008-01-17T16:51:28Z

http://www.esperanzashelter.org/everyday_intervention.htm

This is designed to encourage bystanders to take action when they see domestic violence happening. We are seeking feedback....please feel free to email or post any thoughts you might have
ellen2571@yahoo.com

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

The Ron Paul “Revolution”, an Extreme Rightwing Threat

2008-01-12T06:45:23Z

The Ron Paul “Revolution”, an Extreme Rightwing Threat

By STEVEN ARGUE

For the most part the Iowa caucuses were business as usual for the Democrat and Republican Parties. Among the Democrats, “Anti-war” and “pro-single payer health care” Democrat Dennis Kucinich put his support behind pro-war anti--single payer health care, Barrack Obama. Yet on the far right, anti-war Libertarian and Republican Ron Paul gained a stunning 10% of the vote.

Seeing the failure of the Democrats to deliver a candidate worth supporting; some left leaning individuals have been suggesting support to Ron Paul. One is anti-war Vietnam veteran Stan Goff, who suggested in his January 4, 2008 article ”Monkey Wrenching the System, Ron Paul’s Revolution” that people vote in the primaries for Ron Paul, switching party registration right away if they live in a state where such a move is necessary to vote in the Republican primaries.

At the root of the Ron Paul "revolution" is the dismantling of Social Security and the Department of Education as well as other basic social programs, and the elimination of worker and environmental protections. Advances like single payer health care? No way. Ron Paul's message is that you need to take care of yourself, and that there shouldn't be such government programs, nor such interference with private profit. While he puts forward reasons for not supporting going to war abroad, his domestic policies would ignite civil war at home.

In addition to pretending he's against all government, he's for outlawing abortion and supports the continued ban on same-sex marriage. He was one of the original co-sponsors of the "Marriage Protection Act".

He's also a religious extremist who thinks that creationism should be taught in the schools.

On race, Ron Paul was one of 33 Congress members to vote against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, an act that was first passed to give Blacks in the south the right to vote. On a similar note, he says the Civil Rights Act violates the Constitution and impedes on individual liberties. Speaking of Blacks in Washington DC he states in campaign literature, "95 percent of African Americans in are semi-criminal or entirely criminal".

No wonder the American Nazi Party has close relations with him (see letter from Nazi Commander Bill White below). In addition, Ron Paul has the support of other white supremacists such as David Duke, and has knowingly taken donations from former KKK Grand Wizard Don Black.

Hell would freeze over before I'd support Ron Paul. And being an atheist; that will be a long time.

There are plenty of candidates to the left of the Democrats worth considering supporting who oppose the war, would preserve public education and Social Security, who would provide single payer or socialized medicine, and who aren’t raving racist, homophobic, and sexist “Libertarian” fanatics. Why not look at them rather than someone from the loony right?

I discuss some of the campaigns that may be worth supporting in the following article:

The Case for Socialized Medicine in the United States,
And the Struggle to Achieve It
By STEVEN ARGUE
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/02/18469739.php

Or here is a different version of the same article:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/01/93820.html

*****************
American Nazi Party Chief says Ron Paul is one of us

Bill White, commander of the American National Socialist Worker’s Party, aka The American Nazi Party, wrote the following on the Nazi Vanguard News Network:

Comrades:

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism.

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.

For his spokesman to call white racialism a “small ideology” and claim white activists are “wasting their money” trying to influence Paul is ridiculous. Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position.

I don’t know that it is necessarily good for Paul to “expose” this. However, he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous — and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.

Bill White, Commander
American National Socialist Workers Party

*********
Poor Bill White. He’s having trouble with his brand of racism, anti-Semitism, mass extermination, and genocide not being "in fashion". But hey, you've got to thank the knuckleheaded Nazi for confirming our suspicions on Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan! -Steven Argue

Liberation News
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Activists - 4 replies

The Business of Being Born - A Must See Movie

2008-01-12T04:30:01Z

If you are having a baby, thinking of having a baby, have friends that are having a baby, like to practice making a baby, and/or are interested in women's health issues, etc this is a must see movie.

http://thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Birth: it's a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency? Official Site. Directed by Abby Epstein. Executive Producer: Ricki Lake. Running time: 87 mins

If you miss the movie, get a copy of The American Way of Birth by Jessica Mitford.

posted in Feminist Activists - 8 replies

Obama--"post feminist"? Well, according to the NYTimes...

2008-01-10T23:31:49Z

"The Obama campaign is, in some ways, subtly marketing its candidate as a postfeminist man, a generation beyond the gender conflicts of the boomers."

From the following NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/us/politics/02women.html

The article is mainly about "the struggle" Iowa women Democratic caucus voters are reputedly having over whether or not they should cast a vote for Clinton or Obama. I thought some folks here might be interested in the theory that we are "a generation beyond the gender conflicts of the boomers." Personally, I find that kind of disingenuous and condescending...although, that is a quote from the writer of the Times article, and not an official position of the Obama campaign strategy...as far as I know, that is.

In any case, I would assume that most people interested in supporting feminist and/or egalitarian candidates are likely leaning towards >any< Democratic party candidate rather than >any< Republican candidate. I could be wrong there too...but I don't quite see how "taking the bible literally" is all about egalitarianism, let alone feminism! Of course, though, there will be media outlets that will try to build dissension among those who support equal pay for equal work by playing candidates off against one another...not that that is what that article is about either...

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Movies Made by Women

2007-12-28T14:17:51Z

description copied from the website

"MoviesByWomen.com was initially called 50/50 Summit which was an outgrowth of the 50/50 Women Filmmaker's Summit which occurred in April, 2000. The mission of the group was to attain equality for women in film and television, and all media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity.

By calling attention to past women directors we seek to write the true history of filmmaking. 5050summit.com changed names in the summer 2002 to the far more digestable name of MoviesByWomen.com. We are not a formal organization, but rather an informal group using the internet to increase awareness of our mission.

Our Strategic Goals are to increase the number of women directors working in film, television or other media; to build audiences for women directed films; to increase awareness of women's contributions to film and television history; to develop a community that will increase employment opportunities for women in entertainment. "

http://www.moviesbywomen.com/index.php

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

feminist chat?

2007-12-01T18:13:29Z

I'm wondering if anyone here would be interested in talking about what feminism means to them, how they came by their concepts of feminism and what it means in their practical day to day life. Any takers amongst the women here? Sorry to any guys here, please feel free to start another thread but I'd really like this to be a discussion between women :-)

I'm not looking to define a global feminism, just find out what it means to individual women. I'm not looking to argue over theory, or to promote one idea over another. Naturally I have my own ideas about all kinds of things regarding feminism, I hope that you do too :-)

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

is this activist?

2007-12-01T17:31:31Z

What's up with all the posts staying up that have nothing to do with feminist activism by a man who clearly has an issue with women and is actually posting things to do with philosophy not activism that are intended to insult and demean women while claiming that men are victimized by women?

posted in Feminist Activists - 7 replies

Patriarchy AKA Male Power

2007-11-30T23:32:44Z

From Fidelbogen's The Counter Feminist:
What do the feminists really mean by the term "patriarchy"? When this word rolls off a feminist tongue, what does it specifically refer to? Is it possible to discover what they are talking about in terms of the utmost clarity, simplicity, and above all usability, and reduce it to a formula that will smack the nail bang on the head every time?
What do the feminists really mean by the term "patriarchy"? When this word rolls off a feminist tongue, what does it specifically refer to? Is it possible to discover what they are talking about in terms of the utmost clarity, simplicity, and above all usability, and reduce it to a formula that will smack the nail bang on the head every time?

Understand, that we wish to unpack the occulted lexical thread of signification which the word patriarchy carries throughout ALL examples of feminist rhetoric. When THEY talk about patriarchy, THEY assuredly mean something particular, something consistent, something examinable, something that would manifest their devices if it were brought to light. From the highest towers of the academy to the lowest reaches of the pop-feminist gutter, they all talk about "patriarchy", and in their varied accents they are all referring to the same thing. It is to this thing specifically that we direct our enquiry, in order that we may know it and name it and decode feminist speech by the light of it.

Here is the secret: When feminists speak of patriarchy, all they are really talking about is male power. It's just that simple. All of their circumlocutions dance endlessly and evasively around this -- that patriarchy is exactly synonymous with male power, neither more nor less than male power, and that in all cases the terms patriarchy and male power may be interchanged with a negligible adulteration of meaning.

Try the experiment yourself. Take any piece of feminist writing where the word patriarchy occurs; replace this word with male power; see if it makes any fundamental difference. Also, see if it throws an unexpectedly revealing light upon the matter, yielding a sense and consistency superior to the original version.

If you wish, replace the word patriarchy with the simple word "men", and it will yield much the same result. I know that many feminists have denied that patriarchy equals "men", but think for a minute: is not bare existence in itself a form of power? Tell me who has more male power: a man who exists, or a man who doesn't?

No feminist understanding of "patriarchy" makes any ultimate sense if you divorce this word from the idea of male power. If you aren't talking about male power in some way then you are wasting your time talking about patriarchy in any way whatsoever. Let that thought be your femspeak decoder template.

Feminist answer experts, seeking to confuse the issue, might reply that patriarchy is male power plus something else. Maybe so. But if you subtracted the male power part, the "something else" part wouldn't stand up any better than an empty gunny-sack, whereas the "male power" part -- even by itself -- would remain fully serviceable within the calculus of meaning.

Every feminist analysis that I'm aware of (for example, that of John Stoltenberg) does no better than make "something else" to be a form of male will-to-power emanating from the allegedly "constructed" nature of maleness in the first place. But this is a completely circular explanation that will never boost the discussion beyond square one, so we might as well scrap it. Besides, the whole mess boils down to male power anyway, so that in the end all you are really saying is that patriarchy is male power plus male power.

So in the end, you can't go far wrong if you simply set "patriarchy" equal to "male power". You'll go further wrong if you select any other option.

It follows that any feminist who talks about "ending" patriarchy or abating it in some way, is also talking about ending or abating male power in some way.

So what does male power mean? It means: any power of any kind which any male citizen might happen to possess.

And exactly what is this thing called...power? That is a very good and very important question.

In the realm of human affairs, as near as we can make it, power is a substance compounded of two ingredients: IDENTITY, and AGENCY.

Identity means the sum of all factors, both mental and physical, which identify you as a discrete center of conscious awareness in contradistinction to other such discrete centers.

Agency means your capacity to either effect or prevent change through the exercise of your volition.

Let that sink in. Take a break for a few minutes, if you want to. Get away from the computer. Go outside , look at the clouds, listen to the birds, enjoy the fresh air.

Very well, you are back. Let's recapitulate.

Patriarchy is a feminist code word for male power. Male power means any power of any kind which any male citizen might happen to posess, and power specifically means identity plus agency. So in practice, the feminist keyword patriarchy maps to the identity and agency of any male citizen.

Gentle reader, you as a person posess identity and agency. In other words, you posess power. You mightn't think you have enough of it, but you do have some. And so long as you have some, you have freedom. Again, possibly not enough for your liking...but some. And some is always enough to get you started - enough to leaven the dough, you might say. Be glad of it, and work intelligently with it.

Let's see how feminism enters the picture. Feminism is an anti-male hate movement, and it is perfectly natural that when you hate something you will seek to deprive it of power - the more the better. We have equated power with identity and agency, and so have the feminist ideologues - although not necessarily in the same terms. Still, they have copped the base mechanics that we've outlined here. They know it instinctively.

In order to undermine male power, the women's movement over the years has set afoot a variety of actions, both large and small, tending to vitiate the identity and agency of men. Indeed, nearly everything which feminism has accomplished has made some contribution to this overall effect.

This "campaign" has cut a gradual, descending swath from the macrocosm to the microcosm, from the political to the personal - striving always toward a finer granularity of control, a greater concision of shades and subtleties in the realm of daily life.

Dry alterations to the fabric of law and the outward form of institutions didn't satisfy them for long -- they thirsted for the essential juice of life, and in particular, the life juice of anything male which crossed their path. The last thing they wanted was a workplace or a world filled with insouciant, free-spirited, self-esteeming men and boys. Something had to be done to correct male joie de vivre and male autonomy.

Men were to be subjugated, but if they didn't know this, and if they didn't act like they knew it, then the whole thing would be pointless. It was necessary, then, for the reach of matriarchy to become omni-locational and all-pervading - like the ideological presence of a totalitarian social order.

So, it was and continues to be important to the feminist effort that every possible shred of male identity or agency be appended to the shadow of ideology in some manner. ANY speck of uncolonized male space or male autonomy constitutes a bit of turf still in the grip of patriarchal power. Or at any rate, that's how they see it.

Case in point: what is a "sensitive male"? For starters, it is a sexist concept in precisely the same way and to the same degree that "good negro" is a racist concept. This is a VERY exact paralell. If somebody employs the term "sensitive male", or worse, calls you one, then you ought to feel seriously offended.

Beyond that, a sensitive male is simply an emotional puppet whose strings are available for any woman to pull, whenever and wherever. In short, a man curiously lacking in power; a man of abbreviated identity and agency.

Sometimes they will rate you on whether you "know how to cry". Reason being, that if you know how to cry then it follows that you can be made to cry. That's what they are really looking for in the long run. And here's an extra thought that occurred to me: how would you like to be told that "it's okay to cry" by the very same person who made you want to cry in the first place? You'd be damned if you'd give them the satisfaction, wouldn't you?

These examples are given because in my opinion they implode the circumference of male power about as far as it can be pushed, at least in the daily realm of social interplay. Even to a point where the drive for control reaches straight into a man's inner world, breaching a barrier which civil propriety forbids should be violated.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall." Know therefore that your coolness, aloofness, guardedness, your methodological skepticism, or even your native lack of response to certain stimuli which others might find compelling, are all vital elements of your identity. Your agency. Your autonomy. Your....manhood. In other words, your male power.

Oh, very well then, call it patriarchy!

Ha! And you thought that "patriarchy" was just a one-size-fits-all guilt-o-matic gizmo designed to put men eternally on the defensive while giving women a carte blanche moral advantage in any given situation!

Well it is that indeed. But as you can see now, it goes deeper....
It has relented a bit these days, but ten years ago the clamour for "sensitive New Age guys" was deafening. Women were tired of dealing with "macho" men and wanted someone softer and gentler. Even today, a lot of women complain that their men "aren't sensitive enough." This would seem straightforward enough: men should work at becoming more sensitive. But should they?
Before we all run off to teach ourselves "sensitivity," perhaps we should ask what does "sensitive" mean anyway? On the face of it, it should mean "someone who is more open to what is going on around them," "someone who feels their emotions more acutely." In this sense, women don't want sensitive men at all. A sensitive man would feel women's barbs and cruel jokes. A sensitive and courageous man would try to escape his soul-crushing job for more rewarding work that paid less. Women absolutely don't want this. They want a "sensitive" man who will still tolerate the abuse that they dish out without complaining or even realizing that it is abuse, and they want a man who will continue to do meaningless work to bring home a paycheque without complaining about it.
So you think that women bring home the paycheque now and so they don't need men to work hard at meaningless jobs to make more money? Don't fool yourself. Although women do "bring home bacon" these days, they also want a fallback position. I've lost count of my female friends who, when pregnant for the first time, were "trying to decide whether to keep working or become a full-time mother." I have always doubted that their husbands had any meaningful input into that decision. A truly sensitive man would be right in there saying, "Hey, maybe I want to be the one at home looking after the baby!" This is the last thing women want. Women want to make their life choices, then have hubby pick up whatever is left over. What that means, in practical terms, is that most women are looking for a man who is willing to do tough work to bring home the bacon, if that's what she says she needs. So, the "breadwinner" of yesteryear isn't gone—he's just in the back pocket, to be brought out if the need arises.
Neither does it pay for men to be sensitive where quality of life is concerned. Women spend most of their waking hours trying to improve their quality of life. Bath shops, clothing shops, makeup, vacations, decorating.... Feminists claim that women work hard on their appearance, smell, and environment in order to please men. This is laughable. Women do these things in order to please themselves. A man can tell a woman over and over that the dresses she has look just fine, but she will go out and buy a new one anyway. Men don't much care about fashion, makeup, and whether the bath smells like gardenias. As much as this speaks to women's motivations, it also speaks to men's motivations. Why don't men care about fashion, appearance, and sweet-smelling bath water? They don't care simply because it wouldn't work. Two people, each obsessed with their own quality of life would not get along, and women know this. A man who takes a satisfying but low-paying job, spends his money on luxuries for himself, and enjoys his environment is not a catch because he's "probably gay." Women want men who are willing to live and work in less-than-ideal conditions, men who are willing to spend their money on luxuries for women. Or, these days, men who will spend the money they make for the common good, so that women can spend the money they make on themselves. You know: "What's mine is mine; what's yours is ours." A man who values a pleasant, low-stress, high-quality life over "success" is not valued by a woman precisely because she cannot use him to improve her quality of life.
So, after all of this, why do women still demand "sensitive" men? The answer is that when women say this, they don't mean "sensitive" in the general sense. They don't want a man who is sensitive to his own situation and his own feelings the way women are sensitive to their environment and feelings. What they want is a man who is more sensitive to his woman's feelings. Women still want men who, when asked how they feel, are dumb as posts. Women still want men who are calm and unflappable. What a woman really wants when she talks about "sensitivity" is a man who can discover what she wants and then, having done that, goes back to being a traditional knight in shining armour by ignoring what he may want and making her wishes come true.
As such, the concept of the "sensitive New Age guy" was invented by women for women. The wonder is that everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Men are trying to figure out how to be more "sensitive," succeeding in becoming more sensitive, then wondering why everything hurts more. To add to the confusion, psychotherapists are 100% behind this new "sensitivity" and tout it as the only road to happiness. Nobody, it seems, has asked who this "sensitivity" would benefit, and, finding that it benefits only women, has asked why men would bother adopting it. "Being more sensitive" is not the road to happiness for most men; it is only the road to peace with their mates.
The punch line is that women act as though they agree with this. Several men's Web sites I've visited lament that women claim to want "sensitive" guys but then end up going out with jerks who abuse them. At first this female behaviour seems inconsistent, but it's far from it. Above all, a woman wants a man she can manipulate into doing all of the crappy, soul-crushing, mind-numbing, tough work in life so that she can do the stuff that involves love, warmth, and caring. Obviously, a truly sensitive man with self-respect wouldn't put himself through that, so he's not useful. What is left are the following:
• the sensitive but noble man, willing to make a conscious sacrifice for love. These too are few and far between, as all well-adjusted people are. Furthermore, such a man would rightly demand sacrifice in return from his mate, so he comes at a high price. As much as women say they want a man like this, it takes a special woman to match his generosity, so he's often tried on for size and then dumped.
• the whiner, who has over-sensitized himself and now realizes that life as a man is pretty damned meaningless. Women tend to try him out from time to time because he looks a bit like the "sensitive but noble" type, but then get tired of the constant complaints.
• the macho man, who to varying degrees isn't too aware of how he feels but just wants to get on with the job. These guys range all the way from church-going traditionalists to the bad boys who beat up their girlfriends from time to time or cheat. Women know that these guys aren't sensitive, but at least they're easy to manipulate and she gets what she wants: the resources and freedom to improve her own life.
• the committed feminist, who has managed the trick of being sensitive to his partner's needs while at the same time being totally blind to his own. This is what women say they want when they say "sensitive man." The problem with these men is that their occasional preachiness and holier-than-thou attitude can become irritating. Nonetheless, they can still be easily manipulated (sometimes too easily to maintain interest) and so they make good husbands.
So, out of the four types outlined above, only the last two are both commonplace and husband material, and—no surprise—the macho bad boy is in the club. The moral of this tale is that more than the much vaunted "sensitivity" what a woman really wants is someone who can stuff his feelings and do what needs to be done... so that she doesn't have to do it. Women value security over sensitivity, where "security" means the feeling that a man would go to his death to protect her, or slowly kill himself in a lousy job to keep her comfortable. That sort of thing is still worth much more than "sensitivity," no matter how much women whine about the latter.
If much of the advice on this site seems crusty and hard-edged, it's because I used to be a SNAG myself until I wised up. I'm writing here for the kind of man who has been through all of this and is beginning to suspect that something is not right. To this man I say, "If you're wondering how to become 'sensitive' in the right way to please women, if you've tried but can't seem to get it right, then you're probably already too sensitive and should stop trying." To other men, who are still deep into being SNAGs and thus find this advice offensive, or for other men who are scratching their heads over this wondering what it's all about, don't worry—this essay isn't for you anyway.

posted in Feminist Activists - 8 replies

Women's Shelter needs just a little more help

2007-11-30T21:35:35Z

A short while ago I posted about Pretty Bird Woman House, a reservation battered women's shelter that had been destroyed by vandals. They need to raise $35,000 and are still about $3000 away from their goal. They need to have raised that last three thousand by midnight TONIGHT.

Please pass this around to help them achieve their goal.

prettybirdwomanhousefund.chipin.com/pretty-bird-woman-house

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

the bloody revolution

2007-11-29T03:58:34Z

Sometimes I find myself yearning for women to rise up and start defending themselves by whatever means necessary. If the revolution came, I know which side I would be on. Is it terrible for me to fantasize about forming vigilante and militant groups of women who simply do not fuck around with men who intend to be violent with women? I am not pro gun, I am a pacifist, but I also think that enough is enough. And it seems that men respond to violent change far more readily than change instigated by reason or morals. Am I the only one who thinks that a bloody revolution is in order?

posted in Feminist Activists - 6 replies

So many women are targets of gun violence

2007-11-28T23:12:14Z

Blacksburg is such a beautiful town. It's bike friendly and full of nature lovers. They have the kindest, friendliest small town folks. The gorgeous New river, which is one of the oldest rivers in the country, runs near it. College students love to float down it and climb the mountains which are close by.

I'm just heartsick about these murders. I worked at Virginia Tech in 1980 in the Chemistry department. My sister volunteered there with countless students and my brother-in-law taught there for years. I dated a police officer there who's still in active duty. I've contacted him to tell him people all over the world are thinking of them. I have college age kids so I particularly empathize with the parents who sent their loved ones to school, expecting them to be safe.

How long will we let American companies profit from the blood of our children?
http://www.vpc.org/studies/vidintr.htm

Please sign this gun control petition in response to the Blacksburg, Virginia tragedy.
http://www.bradynetwork.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=2960&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS

This week I'll light candles for those who were killed, all the more tragic, knowing this was utterly preventable.

More helpful links:

California gun law report card:
http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/state/viewstate.php?st=CA

from Million Mom March:

"All Americans have the right to be safe from gun violence in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, and places of work and worship.

All children have the right to grow up in environments free from the threat of gun violence.

Gun violence is a public health crisis that harms not only the physical, but also the spiritual, social, and economic health of our families and communities.

The availability and lethality of guns make death or severe injury more likely in domestic violence, criminal activity, suicide attempts, and unintentional shootings.

It is possible to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by gun violence with reasonable, common sense policy."
http://www.millionmommarch.org/aboutus/

The Brady campaign to prevent gun violence has excellent statistics that prove that nations that implement gun control have much less gun violence.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/

Here's another petition to get Walmart to stop selling bullets and includes stories of people who purchased bullets there and went on to murder others.
http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/involved/walmart/index.php

So many gun control opponents are abusive:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-price13aug13,0,4661455.story?coll=la-opinion-center

Gun companies should be held liable for the damage their weapons cause:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/107/hearings/04182002Hearing537/Barnes919.htm

posted in Feminist Activists - 35 replies

Women's Shelter needs help

2007-11-15T23:15:35Z

I'm cross-posting this in several communities. Apologies to those who see the message more than once.

Pretty Bird Woman House, the only battered women's shelter on the Standing Rock Indian reservation in South Dakota, was destroyed earlier this year by vandals. What they didn't steal they smashed up: computers, clothes, the t.v.--then they burned down the shelter. Now PBWH is trying to buy another building, located next to a police station, but they need $70,000 and need help to raise the funds. Please pass this along.

prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

NCEF! Media sabotaged! Hijacked by lone wingnut! Accused of fraud and embezzlement!

2007-11-07T04:25:05Z

NCEF! Media in Humboldt County, Ca. is accused of fraud and donation embezzlement. Caution! Do not support this lone wingnut's scam! Other legitamate groups exist in the area. Caution! Do not be fooled by NCEF! Media and his fraudulent outreach. Shunka Wakan exists completely seperate from any active affinity group. Read about how he perpetuated a lawsuit under the guise of EF! against a legitamate environmental nonprofit:

Dog Days
From: http://northcoastjournal.com/100407/cover1004.html
October 4, 2007
Money On Trees

Big cash nearly fell into Shunka Wakan's lap. Other Earth First!ers are kinda happy it didn't.

by Heidi Walters

As the jury trial for the civil suit Kathryn Miller v. the Trees Foundation puttered to a start last week inside Courtroom 3 at the Humboldt County Courthouse, Shunka Wakan — a key witness for the plaintiff — spent mornings sitting on the hard wooden benches in the long hallway outside the courtroom. During breaks, Miller's attorney Linda Mitlyng, would come out of the courtroom to join him. But otherwise, as other people and their legal affairs swirled around him in a warm, odiferous bath of humanity, Shunka sat alone. Or, sometimes, he stood alone, straight-spined, his small, stocky body swallowed by the huge, stiff blue suit out of which his newly shorn, razor-scraped bald head poked vulnerably — as if, at any moment, the suit could gulp once more and he'd disappear completely. Always, he clutched a paper folder with a wolf's face on its cover.

The North Coast Earth First! Media guru had shaved off his woolly rust-tinged brown hair and beard the night before jury selection started, after discussing it with attorney Mitlyng. Now, it took an uncertain moment to recognize him. Then, of course: Shunka's light blue eyes in the pink-pale face, Shunka's closed-lip smile, Shunka's trademark husky murmur, "Mm-hmm, for sure," in response to a comment.

In Courtroom 3, the amiable but no-nonsense Judge Christopher Wilson's domain, the fate of a $185,000 donation dangled. Would the plaintiff, donor Kathryn Miller, prevail in her claim that the defendant, the Trees Foundation, was not in fact the intended recipient of her generous gift? That Shunka Wakan's NCEF! Media Center and the treesitters were? Or would the Trees Foundation convince the jury that, in fact, the money was intended all along for Trees, with no instructions attached for funneling it elsewhere?

Richard Idell, left, who is defending the Trees Foundation against a lawsuit filed by Kathryn Miller, confers with Doug Wallace, community support coordinator for Trees. Photo by David Lawlor.

In her opening arguments, Miller's attorney, Mitlyng, said the case came down to "fraud and broken promises." "She believed [Trees] would hold [the money] in trust, for the benefit of North Coast Earth First!" said Mitlyng. The defense's attorney, Richard Idell, countered in his opening argument that the donation was an unconditional gift and Miller never wrote letters of instruction — as Miller claims she did. "Ms. Miller ... didn't do anything. She took the check [from her mother's estate] and flipped it over and wrote on the back, 'Payable to the Trees Foundation,'" said Idell.

Miller's claim sought the return of her $185,000, plus interest.

Out in the hallway, Shunka waited to tell his side of the story. Maybe he thought about the magical donation that never materialized, and now probably never would. Maybe he thought about the other times he'd been in this courthouse — dozens of times, along with other activists, often before Judge Wilson, answering to charges of trespassing and other forms of civil disobedience in the woods. Likely, he wondered when they were finally going to call him in to testify — it was taking forever in there. He'd even sent out an e-mail prematurely to the several hundred subscribers to his NCEF! online group erroneously announcing he would be first up to testify.

By the end of Friday's court session, Miller was still on the stand. Perhaps Monday it would be Shunka's turn. Whenever it was, he would be testifying on Miller's behalf; but he wasn't a party to the lawsuit. And in the end, after hearing all of the evidence, the jury would be determining who was telling the truth about intentions and letters of instructions. Shunka was just there to provide context and evidence in a contract dispute.

But to a number of forest activists, including a half dozen or so who appeared in the audience last Friday to watch the trial unfold, that context matters more to them than the legal questions. They say this lawsuit has placed a strain on the environmental community that could do as much damage as an ill-felled redwood that takes down other giants in its descent. They disapprove of the lawsuit, and they blame Shunka for it. And, they say, it's just another example of how Shunka has commandeered the North Coast Earth First! identity and used it for purposes that nobody else in the amorphous but consensus-driven local Earth First! movement has agreed to.

"For a lot of us, when we read about the lawsuit, this is kind of like Shunka on trial," said long-time forest activist Deane Rimerman last Friday, calling from Olympia, Wash. "And, to what extent is he worthy of that money?"

Kathryn Miller wanted her money to go toward saving trees, she said on the witness stand last Thursday. The slender 59-year-old was dressed in a pink print skirt and white sweater, with her gray-streaked dark hair pulled back into a neat, thin braid tinted slightly green. (Little did the jury know that Miller had spent the night in jail, in blue jail duds, and then had been "dressed out," in court lingo, in her street clothes before being escorted into the court by the bailiff. Miller had been arrested the week before, on Sept. 17, when she arrived in civil court for the pre-trial readiness hearing; according to the misdemeanor criminal charges filed against her, Miller allegedly had made annoying phonecalls to Barbara Ristow of the Trees Foundation all hours of the day and night.)

On the stand, Miller described how she became an activist. She remembered how, when she was a child in Orinda, her mother decided to stop spraying the beautiful oak trees on their property after reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. "And then, when my son was 9, we were watching the news on TV about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown. And my son said to me, 'I wish I'd never been born. I don't think I'll get to live a full life.'"

She protested the building of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. She started a peace action group in the late 1980s in San Jose. She did nonviolent protests at the Nevada Test Site. And in 1990, she came up with some of her fellow protestors to help set up the camp for Redwood Summer, and to take part in demonstrations. She's been on and off involved in Earth First! actions in Humboldt ever since, she said, including huffing in supplies for treesitters and huffing out their garbage. She'd also, at one point, bought a condo in Arcata.

In 2004, Miller sold her condo and bought an acre of farmland, already planted with coffee, in Guatemala. She put in fruit trees to shade the coffee. That same year, her mother, who lived in Sonoma, died. "The last time I saw her was in 2003," said Miller. "She told me when she died, she was going to leave me some money. I told her I'd use it to further my work for the forest. And she was pleased, because she loved the treesitters and the forest."

Shortly after learning of her mother's death, Kathryn Miller sought out Shunka Wakan in front of the food co-op in Arcata, where he "tabled" to raise funds for the North Coast Earth First! Media office — selling T-shirts, and stickers, offering pamphlets, accepting donations. She'd known Shunka for about five years, she said.

"I said to him, I was going to inherit some money: What was the best way to get that to the North Coast Earth First!?"

In the spring of 2005, Shunka Wakan was floating above the treetops. "I was so excited," the 32-year-old said in an interview a few weeks ago, sitting inside his tiny but colorful North Coast Earth First! Media office in Arcata, walls covered in art and topo maps — including one of Buckeye Mountain, where in 2000-2001, during the "Mattole Free State" action, Shunka and others hiked 14 miles through waist-high snowdrifts to save trees.

Kathryn Miller, he recalled, had come up to him excitedly as he walked along the sidewalk outside the Arcata Co-op and said, "I just donated $185,000 to North Coast Earth First!'"

She'd talked to him the year before about making the donation — she'd said she was anticipating an inheritance from her mother's estate, and she wanted to make a big donation to his group. He'd told her to make it through the Trees Foundation, which handled the NCEF! Media office's finances through an arrangement that had been established years ago. (The Trees Foundation is an umbrella organization formed in 1991 to assist smaller environmental groups. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, it can accept large, tax-deductible donations on behalf of affiliates, and provide professional resources. And it can lead large campaigns, like the one to save the Headwaters Forest back in the '90s.)

Well, now she'd finally done it.

Miller and Shunka agreed to meet at Fiesta Café in Sunny Brae, so she could tell him how she wanted the money spent: She wanted, straight away, for someone to organize a mediated workshop for the local Earth First! activists on ageism and sexism, issues she thought were fracturing the movement. And, she wanted the bulk of the donation to help support the forest activists who blockade logging roads and hunker up in ancient redwoods to fend off loggers' saws.

Not long after, Shunka was on his way to have lunch with some folks from the Trees Foundation, where they'd talk about Miller's wishes.

"Our media outreach was going to get a big boost," Shunka said. "The donation would keep the EF! office going for many years. So I walked into the Wildflower Café feeling elated, thinking we got all this money."

Barbara Ristow and Doug Wallace of the Trees Foundation were there. "I was super excited," Shunka said, "and I said, 'This is great, this big donation. Isn't it wonderful?' We ordered food, and still I'm all excited, talking about the money, but I notice they're looking nervously at each other. [Finally], they said, 'Well, we're just shocked that you think this money was for you.' And I was like, 'I just met with the donor, and that's what she said.' And they're like, 'Well, let's go ahead and plan the workshop and deal with that later.' I remember that, because it put me at ease."

After that, Shunka said he gave Trees a list of people he thought might benefit from the mediator-run workshop. "Some were people I knew had beefs with me, but I was willing to bring 'em into the circle and talk about it."

According to some vague accounts, the workshop was a disaster. One person who was there claims that Shunka, at one point, pounded his fists on the floor, blustered, then got up and stormed out, yelling as he walked away. Shunka says that's overblown.

"The letter from Kathryn Miller to Barbara Bristow said she wanted the mediation to be a safe place, safe to be emotional," he said. "And I think people are saying 'I freaked out.' The freak-out reports are exaggerated. It's just part of this ongoing character assassination. People say I was 'red-faced.' But my face is naturally red."

In late 2005, while Shunka was in Seattle, a friend called him from Arcata to say a woman had come by asking for the office key. She had a list of equipment she wanted to take away. The friend didn't give her the key.

When Shunka got back from Seattle, he discovered his reimbursement funds from Trees had been "frozen." He also learned about a letter someone in the NCEF! movement had circulated for signatures and then sent to Mark Knipper, who handled the Trees Foundation transactions for the NCEF! Media office. It said, in essence, "We don't want Shunka running EF!"

"I called the Trees Foundation," Shunka recalled. "I was sick, it was the middle of the winter, I'm trying to table, it's raining, it's cold. And Barbara Ristow told me, 'You just need to have a meeting [with the other Earth First!ers] and come to a group consensus on what the Trees Foundation funding should be used for."

The meeting never happened — nobody could agree to meet, said Mark Knipper, also in an interview last week. Knipper is a social worker and a long-time activist who had been the contact person between Trees and NCEF! Media. "So it ate itself," Knipper said. "And although I'm former Navy, a mariner, I said I'm not going down with this ship. So I divorced myself from it ... and signed it all back to Trees."

The NCEF! Media office was dropped from the Trees Foundation altogether.

Shunka and the NCEF! Media office never did see any of the big donation. Miller didn't even know that, he said, until she phoned him up in the summer of 2006, more than a year after she made the donation, to ask about a guy named "Jungle," who had been reported as missing on the NCEF! hotline. Miller was spending much of her time in Guatemala now, where she was raising fruit trees; after she'd made her big donation, Hurricane Stan had struck — she spent the ensuing year mopping up the mess.

First, Shunka told her Jungle was still missing. Then he told her about the money.

"I said, 'Yeah, they told me it wasn't for us,'" said Shunka. "And she said, 'I meant for all of it to go to you guys.' She sounded real upset. And I was like, 'I knew it! I knew it!'"

Shunka tried to sue Trees in small claims court, but it went nowhere.

Miller filed a claim against the Trees Foundation on Oct. 5, 2006, in Humboldt County Superior Court, seeking the return of the $185,000 plus interest so she could distribute the money herself.

And if she wins? "She may just spread it out more," said Shunka. "She's got tree planting ideas. Maybe she could buy a grove. She'd maybe not give it all to Earth First! this time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Trees blew for us."

On an uncomfortably hot afternoon last week, four forest activists who'd agreed to an interview for this story — Jeff, Shaggy, Sparrow and Farmer — sat on the ground at the Arcata Marsh next to a log bench on which a teeming crew of red ants worked a splintered notch. Someone had come along here in 1999 and carved a grouping of faces — bearded, grimacing, possibly mourning faces — onto the log and signed it Daniel. The carving had been drenched in red paint, and burnished by years of sitters.

"It kind of reminds me of the memorial for Gypsy," said one of them. "With the red paint."

Gypsy was the forest name of David Nathan Chain, who in September 1998, during an Earth First! action at Grizzly Creek, was crushed to death by a tree felled by an enraged logger. Farmer, actually, was there — he was just 16, but had a year of activism already under his belt. And Shunka was there — it was Shunka's first forest action.

Farmer, Shag, Sparrow and Jeff first made it clear that they spoke for themselves alone, although they participate in various forest defense affinity groups: Farmer works for the Mattole Wildlands Defense Group now, watchdogging the California Department of Forestry for new timber harvest plans, and keeping an eye on a Pacific Lumber Co. watershed analysis. Shag, who saw his first redwood about five years ago, helps keep the Fern Gully treesit village in Freshwater functioning. Jeff, who grew up in the high desert, and fell in love with the woods, works with the Nanning Creek treesit just outside of Scotia, as well as other groups. Sparrow, who was drawn to forest action because the cultural landscape was "like a folktale" he couldn't resist, is with the Fern Gully affinity group. These groups are all part of the Humboldt Forest Defense Association, a collective with a website but no formal structure.

The HFDA sprang into being six years ago — about the time the entity called North Coast Earth First! had essentially dissolved. It would take a book to describe that drawn-out dissolution — a book of lost causes, won causes, waning media interest, Judi Bari's death, Gypsy's death, ego-spurred squabbles, interpersonal catastrophes, a war overseas, hurricanes. And while the HFDA activists might still cherish the Earth First! name — the movement — in their hearts, it's now been further complicated by what you might call the Shunka effect.

"I still feel in many ways solidarity with the greater Earth First! movement abroad," said Farmer. "But in this county, in this climate, if you say you're with the North Coast Earth First!, many people associate you with North Coast Earth First! Media."

Shunka revived the North Coast Earth First! office around 2002. And he did what previous office managers had done — tabled, put out news releases, wrote articles for other publications. But it wasn't like the old days, in the '90s, when hundreds of people were getting arrested in forest actions and the jail support phone and legal resources were in constant use.

Shunka first worked in an office in Eureka, then later moved to Arcata. He called his outfit the NCEF! Media Center. For a time, he and other "affinity groups" tried to work together. But he alienated some people. He took over the North Coast Earth First! website. He controlled the North Coast Earth First! email list of 300 or more subscribers to the news alerts. He sent out press releases on his own.

"I felt the North Coast Earth First! Media Center was a unilateral effort on Shunka's part," said Farmer. Whereas, in the old days, "spokespeople were decided on by the group. And if you wrote an article it was passed by everyone. I feel Shunka appointed himself spokesperson at some point."

Many also claim they've been subject to a lashing anger from Shunka.

"I won't work with him because I pledge nonviolence in my actions," said Shag. "I don't believe he pledges the same thing. He has exhibited violent behavior towards me and towards other activists in my presence."

"He's a bear," said Jeff, making claw-fists with his hands.

But the sad thing is, all of this infighting probably has done nothing to help the actual trees. And the mediation workshop Kathryn Miller wanted didn't fix matters. Now, there was her lawsuit.

"When I heard about this lawsuit, I thought, the Trees Foundation does not deserve to be attacked in that way," said Farmer. "There's much bigger issues that need to be dealt with — with Maxxam and old-growth logging. ...If you look at Fern Gully and Nanning Creek (the Bonanza timber harvest plan), there's hundreds of old growth acres still standing whose fate is unclear."

Shag put it more bluntly: "If [Miller] knew Shunka and wanted to get the money to North Coast Earth First! Media, she should've given it to Shunka. But if she was trying to get it to treesits and forest defense, then the money went to the right place.

"My problem is this whole representation thing. There's people in the trees — how do you know who to get the money to, to help them?"

Shunka knows that a lot of fellow activists aren't happy with his role in the donation dispute. He also knows how some people talk about him and say he's hard to get along with. "I'm just standing up for the truth," he said. "And people don't like it. To me, it feels like a small clique of people who don't like me. I feel a lot of love and support in this community."

He certainly doesn't come off right away as someone who's angry, or who lashes out, or who locks the office and doesn't let people in. Why, recently, he helped a young woman hook up with the treesitters so she could learn the ropes. (Shaggy said that's proof Shunka doesn't have direct connections with the people doing direct action; but you can't deny it's a connection.)

It's probably a bad idea to ask Darryl Cherney, one of the founders of the local Earth First! movement, what he thinks of Shunka Wakan, whose real name is Jason Wilson. (Shunka tells a story of how he was named by a Lakota medicine man on the banks of the Cheyenne River in South Dakota in 1995. "Shunka Wakan," meaning "great dog," is only part of it. There's a secret part after that — altogether, his name means "the humble man called horse.")

"Shunka's a wingnut," Cherney said over the phone last Friday, sounding cheerfully vitriolic. "I have a 10-verse song about Shunka."

Here are the last few verses:

Who's at the co-op spanging a donation
Shunka, Shunka
Who's got a lawsuit 'gainst the Trees Foundation
Shunka, Shunka
Shunka, Shunka
Who's gonna keep on fighting the fight
Shunka, Shunka
With four of his friends at swimmers delight
Shunka, Shunka
Shunka, Shunka (Shunka voice: It's the last of the revolution)

There's no other word for it but "mean." But Cherney and Shunka have history — not all of it sour. Cherney said Shunka laughed when he heard the song, at least the first time.

"I met Shunka in 1998," Cherney said. "And I know he knew Julia ["Butterfly" Hill, whom Shunka had come west to find]. That was a good thing, helping Julia. That was good Shunka."

Cherney had even pushed for Shunka to go to Houston to talk with Charles Hurwitz, whose Maxxam Corp. bought out the old Pacific Lumber company back in 1985 and quickly became the forest activists' number one villain. Shunka went.

But now? "The current status of Shunka and me," Cherney said, "is that Shunka has sent me five or eight or nine e-mails threatening to sue me. Shunka is a joke."

Cherney can talk for hours about the problems he's had with Shunka over the years. His main point, though, is what has Shunka done for the trees lately?

"My question is, where's your topo maps?" he asked. "Where's your wilderness preservation proposal? Where's your lobbyist team in Sacramento?"

It has to be that, on some level, even the people in the movement who don't like Shunka understand somewhat where he's coming from. So he's emotional. Passionate. Perhaps he's caught up so completely in the cause he can't let go. Or, who knows — maybe he's a phony, like he accused Knipper of being back in 2005.

But being a forest activist comes with perils beyond the obvious physical ones.

"I'm really trying to have compassion for Shunka, even though he's kind of attacked us," said Susy Barsotti by phone from Laytonville a couple of weeks ago. Barsotti is president of the Trees Foundation board, and she says the lawsuit has held Trees hostage, unable to function fully. "I've been mystified and dismayed that he's participated like this in the suit. But Shunka witnessed Gypsy's death. And I think he may have post-traumatic stress syndrome. I don't think he's recovered from it. And that can affect your behavior."

A number of people mentioned this, actually, about Shunka. And he often refers to Gypsy's death himself. In an article titled "What Luna has taught me," posted on the website of Julia "Butterfly" Hill's organization, Circle of Life, Shunka writes: "I decided to commit to doing ground support after witnessing the death of David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain on September 17, 1998 ... I remember looking across the valley as we hiked up that day, seeing the rolling hills of forests and clear-cuts, and thinking out loud, "That's why we're here!" Seeing Gypsy's life taken from him, and then seeing the corruption and lies of the Humboldt County Sheriffs ... really opened my eyes to the situation our old-growth forests face."

Later, he did ground support for Hill in her second year in Luna. And in the same article on her website, something else Shunka writes indicates how ready he was to devote himself to a cause: "Being on the support team was the top priority in my life, and I was happy knowing that everything else revolved around when I'd be needed for the next supply run. I never felt lost because I knew what I was doing. That was a feeling I had not felt in years, between feeling dissatisfaction with life in college, and then more dissatisfaction with life as a minimum-wage worker after college. Before joining Julia's ground support team I was unhappy, even to the point of tears, wondering if my entire life was going to be a minimum-wage nightmare ...."

Pure devotion, without benefit of a little hypocrisy, could drive anyone batty. Deane Rimerman, the activist from Olympia who said it is Shunka who is on trial, said it's not uncommon for intense, stressful movements like Earth First! to produce an army of walking wounded. And he's been around, in forest actions up and down the coast, for long enough to know; he was the one, in fact, who "got the maps and led the first hikers up to the hill" to the Gypsy Mountain campaign and Luna treesit.

"In the forest activist movement, there's very little that's rewarding," Rimerman said. "There's a lot of post traumatic stress syndrome. All of us get it. Once you've been through the court process, and the jail process, and seen 1,000-year-old trees get cut down that you really cared about and thought you could save — it's devastating."

That alone, setting aside the troubles with Shunka, could explain the many rifts that have occurred within the local EF! ranks over the years. Josh Brown, who moved to Humboldt in 1995 right before the peak of the Headwaters campaign, said one of the unique qualities of Earth First! is that it "is primarily a youth movement."

"A lot of people that come through are young, are passionate — and it's a wonderful thing," he said. They get thrown into leadership positions quickly — and then they get burned out. Many move quickly on to other things. Brown stayed in longer than most. "When I left [in 2001], I was 30 years old. And I'd been a full-time activist since I was 18."

Paradoxically, said Brown, the youthful draw and the departure of seasoned activists leaves the movement with "no elders to kind of sit around and coach the [new kids]."

The movement also draws strong personalities, he said. Tenacious ones, too, like Shunka's.

"Shunka, I think he really does have a big heart," said Brown. "And I think he does care for the forest."

Last Friday, following the morning session of Miller v. Trees, a group of the Humboldt Forest Defense Association activists stood on the courthouse steps talking. The door opened, and Shunka walked out and down the steps toward the group. They didn't greet him. After a time, he tried to talk to one of them, Jeff. Jeff walked away. Shunka followed him, then stopped and talked to another guy. Then he stood alone again.

From: http://northcoastjournal.com/101107/news1011.html

Trees Foundation Wins

October 11th, 2007

The jury in the civil case Kathryn Miller v. the Trees Foundation decided in favor of Trees, after deliberating all day Tuesday. (See "Money on Trees," Oct. 4).

Miller is the long-time forest activist who inherited a bundle from her mother and then signed $185,000 over to the Trees Foundation. In her lawsuit, she claimed she had intended the money to be passed through Trees to one of its affiliates, North Coast Earth First! Media, run by Shunka Wakan. She claimed she had made her intentions clear, verbally and in writing, and that Trees had agreed to the conditions, then broken its promise and kept the money. Trees denied making such promises, and said it had never seen any letters or heard of instructions to give the money to NCEF! Media. (Also, somewhat relatedly, in criminal court on Tuesday Miller pleaded no contest to charges that she had made annoying phonecalls to Barbara Ristow of the Trees Foundation.)

So, that's that. Now, there are only the pieces to pick up.

For Shunka Wakan — featured in last week's Journal as a central figure in a messy nest of infighting that has fractured the current ranks of local Earth First!ians — it could be a long, lonely patching together of lost friends and broken alliances. Not only did he and Miller lose their attempt to retrieve her donation, but now he's been banned from the North Coast Co-op.

Yes, that happened last week. It was Thursday, around 4:15 in the evening, and two activists with the Humboldt Forest Defense Association were tabling — hawking brochures and such — outside the Co-op. It's an activity Shunka himself has spent many a day doing in that very same spot, raising cash to pay for his NCEF!Media outreach work and other causes. And, well, these two fellows, Jeff and Farmer, were on Shunka's shit list, now. They'd spoken gently, but unfavorably, about Shunka's doings in the North Coast Earth First! arena — said he lashed out at people, said he commandeered NCEF! resources, and so forth. Here's a snippet of Jeff's account of what happened, which he sent to the NCJ in an e-mail on Friday:

"Shunka was removed from the Arcata Co-op yesterday after a scuffle with myself and another activist around 5 p.m. Well, he wasn't exactly removed, but APD was called. He was asked to leave after threatening to flip over the HFD donation table while stating he was 'like Jesus in the marketplace ...'"

Sue Coulter, manager of the Arcata Co-op, recounted on Friday how an employee walking by heard the argument and went inside to get her. "So I went out to talk to [Shunka], because it's not the first time we've had problems," she said. "Most of the time, he's fine. Most of the time, I stick up for him." One time, she said, she even called the police to protect Shunka after someone had threatened him. "But he gets into arguments. I tried to talk to him. I told him to leave. ... He was causing a scene, right by the door, and I can't have it. He refused to leave. ... I said, fine. I went into the store. He followed me into the store, and he was still yelling at me, 'Oh, now you're going to call the police on me.'" Coulter called the police, but Shunka left before they arrived.

Shunka, waiting in the courthouse for the jury verdict Tuesday, said Coulter did indeed ask him to leave and he did, indeed, refuse to. As for the HFD tablers, he said he merely asked them why they had Trees Foundation literature on their table. "I said, 'Why do you want to represent these people?'" And then, he said, "Jeff accused me of embezzling — he said this in public. He said, 'You've embezzled thousands of dollars from the Earth First! movement through the years.' And I complained to one of the employees who was walking by. Because that's serious, accusing someone of embezzling."

But Shunka said the whole thing's yet another attack on him. "I don't consider I was yelling. We were talking. I'm an emotional person, I concede to that. I speak from my heart. I don't scream at people. I would love to — but I don't."

In his email, Jeff with HFD predicted Shunka would leave town within weeks, if not sooner. But at the courthouse, even before the verdict, Shunka said he wasn't going anywhere.

"I'm just going to continue to run the Earth First! office and continue to call Humboldt County home," he said. He's also going to write a letter to the Co-op, complaining about how he gets scapegoated and booted out of there even when other people, he says, are the culprits. And, as for the Miller v. Trees case, he said, he and Miller may now take their complaint to another venue.

-- Heidi Walters

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

What a Piece of Work is Man!

2007-11-07T01:01:05Z

What a Piece of Work is Man!

"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!" William Shakespeare

What a Piece of Sh*t is Man!

"Men have all the power" - a common feminist slogan.

In our prisons "men have all the power". But they wield it, by and large, over men!

In our police force "men have all the power". But they wield it, by and large, over men!

In our legal system and our government, "men have all the power". But they wield it, by and large, over men!

In our society "men have all the power"! But they wield it, by and large, over men!

The idea that "men have all the power" is therefore nonsense given that to the extent that there is any power, it is wielded mostly over men.

Have you ever seen chimpanzees and how they behave?

The alpha males have all the power, but they get all the goodies too!

The other males are kept well in line!

With violence and intimidation.

And have you ever thought about soldiers fighting in wars through time immemorial?

The male generals and the male politicians have all the power - yes indeed - but it is thousands upon thousands of more ordinary men who will have to pay the price of it.

Men exert most of their power over men, not over women.

If someone identifies themselves with their colour - black, say - well, that's OK. Fair enough.

If they identify themselves with their being gay, that's acceptable. That's fair enough too.

If they see themselves as Jews or Muslims or Christians, or, indeed, of any main religion, well, that's completely acceptable.

People get a lot of pride from these things.

And, of course, any woman who sees herself, primarily, as a woman, has got it made.

But what about a man who sees himself, well, as a man?

Well, he's either naff, a bigot of some kind, or some violent piece of machismo who's thick and drinks beer - at the very least.

Why is this so?

Well, for the past three decades, white, heterosexual males have been the targets of many EXTREMELY POWERFUL groups.

They have been constantly accused of being racist by highly vocal racial activists and racial minorities, and their history and their forefathers have been thoroughly undermined and blackened - and to the extent that many racial activists are now demanding reparations for past slavery.

They have been continually portrayed as being violent and oppressors of their women by influential vindictive feminists and their gullible followers.

They have been represented by the beautifully orchestrated gay lobby as being bigoted and fearful of their own sexuality.

They have been assaulted ceaselessly by children's welfare groups that seek funding and the growth of their empires by indoctrinating the population with the view that all men are likely abusers of children.

The feminist-dominated mainstream media have consistently sought to demonise and humiliate the entire male gender.

The legal profession and the all-powerful government have almost disempowered men completely when it comes to their families, their relationships and their homes.

And, in both America and Europe, self-serving politicians have been passing the authority of men to govern themselves into the hands of the faceless and unaccountable bureaucrats in the Federal government and in Brussels respectively.

No wonder, therefore, that white heterosexual men dare not identify themselves as men.

After all, what man wants to identify himself with the type of person who is continually being portrayed as the lowest and most unpleasant form of human being that exists?

If you're a man in this country, and because of some crazy circumstance it so happens that you are found the following morning with your penis chopped off because your partner has lost her temper, then, quite simply, you will be laughed at.

Comedians will make jokes about you and some of the press will say that you probably deserved it.

If you are a man, then you are pretty much worthless.

Most people wouldn't laugh at an animal that had such an experience. However, so low are you considered to be in the scheme of things, so worthless and hated, that severely mutilating you is a joke.

It doesn't matter how 'good' you've been throughout your life. It doesn't matter if you're the type of man who has always done his best and tried to do the right thing.

None of that matters.

If you're a man, then, quite simply, you are so low that people will laugh when your penis is cut off.

And this fact ALONE should tell you something rather PROFOUND!!

And if it doesn't, then, quite simply, you must be stupid.

Well, this is the kind of world that you live in today.

Most people, I think, both men and women, would actually much rather be raped, especially by an acquaintance whom they happen to know quite well, than have their children taken away from them, PERMANENTLY.

I think that most people would feel this way.

In this country, however, men have their lives utterly destroyed even over trivial issues of sexual harassment. They're even destroyed after a FALSE allegation. And they go to prison for a very long time if they are convicted of rape.

When a woman, however, takes away a man's children (and 75% of divorces are initiated by women) they get to keep the house as well.

This is the actual REALITY here in the UK, but it is also true in the USA, Australia, Canada and much of Europe.

If a man simply touches a woman inappropriately the law can come down on him like a ton of bricks. But if a woman does to a man something which BOTH sexes consider to be actually worse than even rape, she gets the house and the children, and probably his money too. She is actually rewarded for hurting him in a manner which - and BOTH SEXES agree - is actually worse than rape!

Men simply don't count for much.

If you're a man, then you really should reflect on how worthless you have become, and you should also recognise that there is very little concern for how badly you might be injured physically, nor for how long-term might be your psychological hurt.

And, one day, whether you're sitting in some unfamiliar surroundings wondering how it is that you've actually managed to lose your home, your children, and much of your future income, or whether you're defending yourself in a courtroom against a false and malicious accusation of some sexual sort, or whether you're dying in a hospital from some male-specific disease that no-one has been funded to research properly, or whether you've been passed over for promotion because of your male gender, or whether your children are being brought up to look upon you as if you were some kind of potential abuser, or, perhaps, when you are lying in the road because your partner has attacked you with a knife, and yet it is YOU who gets arrested, then, surely, even a piece of sh*t like you - because, quite clearly, this is what you are - will finally wake up and realise that you are considered by your society to be completely expendable, and well and truly worthless.

Taken From: http://angryharry.com/

posted in Feminist Activists - 5 replies

"Pushed"

2007-11-01T15:53:39Z

This should be a good one --includes a section on Cynthia Caillagh's prosecution re: the death of Julia Peters and the history of midwifery legalization in VA.

Interview with Jennifer Block, Author of "Pushed"
www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2...-pushed
JB: "Childbirth was an issue that feminists took up in the 70s and 80s, and some change happened. Even in the mid 1990s, a coalition of groups published a position paper calling for an overhaul of the maternity care system. But the issue has largely been dropped, and the focus is on preserving a woman's right to prevent pregnancy or terminate pregnancy, rather than on what happens when women choose to carry a pregnancy to term. In January, the National Advocates for Pregnant Women held a tremendous conference and challenged the pro-choice movement to advocate for pregnant women's rights, not just abortion rights. I strongly agree. I think the VBAC ban is the most salient issue, and women's health groups need to stand up and hold physicians, insurers, and hospitals accountable for effectively forcing women into unwanted surgery. But there's a much larger issue of women's access to optimal maternity care that feminists need to address. Some women are going to great lengths to access support for physiological birth, meanwhile most women are getting care that is not evidence-based and more likely to cause themselves or their babies harm. This should be of major concern to feminists. Women deserve better."

AMAZON INFO:
Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block (Hardcover - Jun 30, 2007)
www.amazon.com/exec/obido...vbfreedomus

1st customer review:
By Liberty (Liberty, ME United States)
"This engaging journalistic expose was a real eye-opener, and a must-read not just for women, but for anyone considering becoming a parent, or really anyone concerned with the direction health care in the U.S. is headed. The cesarean rate in our country is over 30%, nearly three times that of some European countries. Are our bodies really that different? Somehow, I doubt it. Ms. Block explores the troubling trends that push doctors to perform often uncalled-for major abdominal surgery, and shows how this is harmful both to mothers and babies. With stylish, riveting prose, an exciting first-hand account of traveling "underground" with an illegal midwife, and tales from the operating table, Block skillfully takes stock of the current state of birth in America. Not to be missed."

posted in Feminist Activists - 6 replies

PKK HPG PJA Women Kurdish Guerilla Fighters

2007-10-28T19:34:24Z

“All laws reflecting male domination should be annulled. Violence against women, all forms of control on women’s bodies and lives resulting from outdated custom and traditional habits, and bride’s price should be forbidden.” (PKK Program, 2003)

PKK HPG PJA Women Kurdish Guerilla Fighters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_l_aWvGdoU

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

pride and prejudice

2007-10-28T04:38:12Z

I was wondering if any of the women here would weigh in with their thoughts on what may (or may not) be a touchy subject. Inter-female prejudice. I don't mean in terms of racism or agism (though those are good topics for a feminist tribe too) but more in terms of who we all include in our circle of sisterhood. I ask because over the years I've known some quite strongly feminist women who just don't like other women who are more girly and *because* they're girly. I've always found this a bit odd (and ultimately sort of anti-feminist and anti-woman in a way in it's anti-femininity, as if we need to divorce ourselves from the taint of "femininity"!). I find it odd because for me feminism has always about women being able to choose how they live and to express who they are, it's less about ideology and more about practical freedom. What are your thoughts on this?

I'm hardly a shrinking violet myself but that doesn't mean I don't like violets, or roses, or cactuses, or mighty oaks, or fragile lilies ;-)

posted in Feminist Activists - 8 replies

Flyer I just posted...

2007-10-26T02:43:54Z

So...I love dancing and everything and most of the time at events like Arabian Nights the crowd is pretty conscious but putting an ultra skinny girl on there (I'm one myself so not to bash her) but I think it's at the very least insensitive to self image compulsions that can be deadly for young girls...and the images of men in pretty much any manner of disarray and body coverage all over the poster-as if they matter and she's an ornament...I don't know what do you think and what (if anything) can we say in our various circles to help people be creative in a more educated and conscious manner...Am I making any sense? Is anyone else concerned?

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Rape Epidemic in Congo

2007-10-12T13:52:43Z

(what can we possibly do about this? awareness at LEAST--- tell everyone please)

October 7, 2007

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/jeffrey_gettle
man/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , New York Times

BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to
listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.

Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his
hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out,
butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their
reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

“We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said
Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape
epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.”

Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence,
and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a
scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_
nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in
2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the
total number across the country.

“The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said John Holmes,
the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The
sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s
appalling.”

The days of chaos in Congo were supposed to be over. Last year, this country
of 66 million people held a historic election that cost $500 million and was
intended to end Congo’s various wars and rebellions and its tradition of
epically bad government.

But the elections have not unified the country or significantly strengthened
the Congolese government’s hand to deal with renegade forces, many of them
from outside the country. The justice system and the military still barely
function, and United Nations officials say Congolese government troops are
among the worst offenders when it comes to rape. Large swaths of the
country, especially in the east, remain authority-free zones where civilians
are at the mercy of heavily armed groups who have made warfare a livelihood
and survive by raiding villages and abducting women for ransom.

According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the
Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the
forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are
notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up
anybody who gets in their way.

United Nations officials said the so-called Rastas were once part of the
Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after committing genocide there in 1994, but
now it seems they have split off on their own and specialize in freelance
cruelty.

Honorata Barinjibanwa, an 18-year-old woman with high cheekbones and
downcast eyes, said she was kidnapped from a village that the Rastas raided
in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was
tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her delicate neck. The
men would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said.

“I’m weak, I’m angry, and I don’t know how to restart my life,” she said
from Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where she was taken after her captors freed
her.

She is also pregnant.

While rape has always been a weapon of war, researchers say they fear that
Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon.

“It’s gone beyond the conflict,” said Alexandra Bilak, who has studied
various armed groups around Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. She said
that the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to
be going up and that brutality toward women had become “almost normal.”

Malteser International, a European aid organization that runs health clinics
in eastern Congo, estimates that it will treat 8,000 sexual violence cases
this year, compared with 6,338 last year. The organization said that in one
town, Shabunda, 70 percent of the women reported being sexually brutalized.

At Panzi Hospital, where Dr. Mukwege performs as many as six rape-related
surgeries a day, bed after bed is filled with women lying on their backs,
staring at the ceiling, with colostomy bags hanging next to them because of
all the internal damage.

“I still have pain and feel chills,” said Kasindi Wabulasa, a patient who
was raped in February by five men. The men held an AK-47 rifle to her
husband’s chest and made him watch, telling him that if he closed his eyes,
they would shoot him. When they were finished, Ms. Wabulasa said, they shot
him anyway.

In almost all the reported cases, the culprits are described as young men
with guns, and in the deceptively beautiful hills here, there is no shortage
of them: poorly paid and often mutinous government soldiers; homegrown
militias called the Mai-Mai who slick themselves with oil before marching
into battle; members of paramilitary groups originally from Uganda and
Rwanda who have destabilized this area over the past 10 years in a quest for
gold and all the other riches that can be extracted from Congo’s exploited
soil.

The attacks go on despite the presence of the largest United Nations
peacekeeping force in the world, with more than 17,000 troops.

Few seem to be spared. Dr. Mukwege said his oldest patient was 75, his
youngest 3.

“Some of these girls whose insides have been destroyed are so young that
they don’t understand what happened to them,” Dr. Mukwege said. “They ask me
if they will ever be able to have children, and it’s hard to look into their
eyes.”

No one — doctors, aid workers, Congolese and Western researchers — can
explain exactly why this is happening.

“That is the question,” said André Bourque, a Canadian consultant who works
with aid groups in eastern Congo. “Sexual violence in Congo reaches a level
never reached anywhere else. It is even worse than in Rwanda during the
genocide.”

Impunity may be a contributing factor, Mr. Bourque added, saying that very
few of the culprits are punished.

Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted
that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the
way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this
would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a
sexual violence program in Bukavu.

Instead, she said, the epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the
mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into
Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during
Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago.

Mr. Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of
women, the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias.

“These are people who were involved with the genocide and have been
psychologically destroyed by it,” he said.

Mr. Bourque called this phenomenon “reversed values” and said it could
develop in heavily traumatized areas that had been steeped in conflict for
many years, like eastern Congo.

This place, one of the greenest, hilliest and most scenic slices of central
Africa, continues to reverberate from the aftershocks of the genocide next
door. Take the recent fighting near Bukavu between the Congolese Army and
Laurent Nkunda, a dissident general who commands a formidable rebel force.
Mr. Nkunda is a Congolese Tutsi who has accused the Congolese Army of
supporting Hutu militias, which the army denies. Mr. Nkunda says his rebel
force is simply protecting Tutsi civilians from being victimized again.

But his men may be no better.

Willermine Mulihano said she was raped twice — first by Hutu militiamen two
years ago and then by Nkunda soldiers in July. Two soldiers held her legs
apart, while three others took turns violating her.

“When I think about what happened,” she said, “I feel anxious and
brokenhearted.”

She is also lonely. Her husband divorced her after the first rape, saying
she was diseased.

In some cases, the attacks are on civilians already caught in the cross-fire
between warring groups. In one village near Bukavu where 27 women were raped
and 18 civilians killed in May, the attackers left behind a note in broken
Swahili telling the villagers that the violence would go on as long as
government troops were in the area.

The United Nations peacekeepers here seem to be stepping up efforts to
protect women.

Recently, they initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three
truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on
all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the
peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are
curled up on the ground around them.

But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it.

Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built
specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their
villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the
never-ending stream of new arrivals.

Dr. Mukwege, 52, said he remembered the days when Bukavu was known for its
stunning lake views and nearby national parks, like Kahuzi-Biega.

“There used to be a lot of gorillas in there,” he said. “But now they’ve
been replaced by much more savage beasts.”

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

eHarmony ad

2007-09-24T14:10:08Z

Is anyone else seeing this ad? It's the new Harmony ad, and from the corner of your eye it looks as if a blonde woman is being punched repeatedly?

posted in Feminist Activists - 3 replies

Have you heard about this?

2007-09-20T14:10:37Z

BREAKING NEWS FROM AURORA: This morning was set to be the opening day of our new Planned Parenthood clinic near Chicago, but anti-choice protesters have pressured officials into delaying our opening. We WILL open those doors, but we need your help - NOW.

If you haven't already, please support our fight for the Aurora clinic by sending a message of support to our staff and volunteers in Aurora. Help spread the word. And, most importantly, if you know anyone in the Chicago area, please ask them to get involved. Here's the link: http://www.auroraplannedparenthood.org/yard_sign.html

The full story is in our email from last week (below) – thank you for letting us send it to you again during this important time.

Planned Parenthood is under attack — please join us...
"What happens in Aurora, happens to ME."

We're up against formidable anti-choice groups like the Pro-Life Action Network, whose leaders claim they've "shut down hundreds and hundreds of abortion clinics," and vow to stop abortion "by any means necessary."

Please send support by tying a welcoming ribbon at the clinic.

Message from previous email:

Planned Parenthood is under attack.

To be completely clear: the largest anti-choice protest we've seen in a very long time is happening at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Illinois, at this very moment.

It's easy to ignore if you don't live there or aren't a woman trying to seek health care services at the clinic. But I hope you won't ignore it, because what's happening in Aurora is what's happening to all of us who care about choice in America.

We are facing no less than the most emboldened protest by the most radical anti-choice people I've ever encountered. They've made our brand new health center in Aurora ground zero in their fight against women's access to health care. And they are determined to keep our clinic from ever opening.

If there was ever a time for us to ask for help from our pro-choice friends and family — this is it.

* First, take a simple action that demonstrates how much support Planned Parenthood and the women we serve have from all over the country. Click here to tie a hot-pink ribbon at the clinic — one ribbon for every supporter.
* Then, tell your circle of friends and family what's happening in Aurora and what it means for access to reproductive health care and choice for all of us.
* If you know people in the Chicago area, encourage them to put up a lawn sign or volunteer.

The protesters are determined to stop us, it's true. But we're taking this battle into our own hands — and into YOUR own hands. We're determined to open this clinic any day now, and with more warmth, more strength, and more solidarity with our supporters across the country than ever before.

Thank you for doing your part today.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards
President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

(The link in the beginning of the message leads to all the missing links).

posted in Feminist Activists - 4 replies

Newbie from Seattle

2007-08-30T07:13:06Z

Hello All,
I am 39 years old and I first heard about Feminism last year. My boyfriend is a feminist and he introduced it to me. Let me tell you that it has been the most empowering experience of my life!
I have recently moved to Seattle and am looking for more feminist to hang with. Does anyone have any ideas about where I should look?
Thanks,
Daisy

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

The Reign of the "Feminazis"?

2007-08-22T17:04:11Z

The following was written in response to:

“The Reign of the Feminazis”
http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/ef5ca2f9-d43e-4ff1-86a1-510f505e819d

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why has the Equal Rights Amendment not yet been passed?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why do women not yet get equal pay for equal work?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why is talk radio dominated by sexist pigs?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why has the United States gotten away with invading a country for oil where there had been a secular government where women had made great advancements, only for the U.S. to impose a religious government with functioning death squads that is rapidly taking away women’s rights?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why did the U.S. government spend billions on CIA operations in Afghanistan that imposed the Mujahideen and Taliban governments that made the crime of teaching little girls how to read and write punishable by death?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why is the right to abortion slowly being taken away in this country?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why did the U.S. government impose, through a coup, and continues to support, the genocidal government of Guatamala that has slaughtered entire Indian villages for the profits of the United Fruit Company, while at same time denying women of all rights?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis",

why does the U.S. government still treat revolutionary Cuba as an enemy, when it is in revolutionary Cuba where women have won many basic rights, including free abortion on demand.

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis", and as you claim, part of the "Feminazi" agenda is homosexual rights,

why is there not equal rights on marriage?

If we are living under the reign of the "Feminazis", and as you claim, part of the "Feminazi" agenda is homosexual rights,

and why are homosexuals still descriminated against in the military?

The fact is that we still live in a sexist, homophobic, imperialist society.

Steven Argue, for Liberation News
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Women religated to status of Brood Mare

2007-08-08T16:02:49Z

First: delay reinvokes the "if it weren't for those damn abortions, we wouldn't have illegal immigration" option. but he adds a really sick and ironic line that statts "the reason recruitment of soldiers is low, is those 40 million babies that were not born." you see, it's bad to kill them in the womb, when they can't feel and have no life yet -- especially if it deprives us of the right to kill them on the battle field at 18.

SEcond: Colorado just approved the language of an amendment that states : PERSON HOOD begins at CONCEPTION. this one change of language would effectively eliminate ALL abortions as murder. the doctor must do all he can to save BOTH the life of the baby and the mother in life threatening situations. if there is a "health" issue, it shoudl be mitigated until after the pregnancy if possible. for example, if you ahve boob cancer and you are pregnant, the lop off the boob, until the baby is born, then start chemo. cause chemo *will* kill the baby.

Third: kansas is passing a late term abortion ban. only "immediate threat" to the life of teh mother is acceptable reasons for abortion. not accepted are 1) a deformed baby who won't live out side the womb (make mom suffer the extra 3 months), 2) a child with downs syndrome that teh mother and father feel is not someone they want to bring into the world (a hard decision, but one i would make, having worked with adult down syndrome), 3) cases where the woman is just "ill", like the cancer case above.

in all three cases, the fetus and it's needs take precedence. we just exist to put them out into the world, apparently.

oh, the Colorado case includes ALL cases of rape and incest. so a 15 year old incest victim gets to be put into the situation of carrying her father's kid? lovely.

And of course there are the litany of laws that say we are too dumb to make our own choices, we need to have "time" to think, time that is enforced by law... we need to have "information" provided to us, etc. we be dumbies who need daddy's help.

When did society decide we are once again too stupid to be our own guardians.

===
Must make babies for the Right. teh right wants our babies. but don't ask them to support our babies or anythig. or pay for the medical care we need while being pregant. just have those damn babies.

posted in Feminist Activists - 3 replies

Beyond Rightist Lies, The Real Legacy of Che Guevara

2007-07-02T21:26:42Z

Che Guevara helped bring women's rights, including access to birth control and free abortion on demand, to the women of Cuba. -Steven

Beyond Rightist Lies, The Real Legacy of Che Guevara

By Steven Argue

I posted the following response at the “Activists” site in defense of the legacy of Che Guevara. A series of writings have been posted in opposition to Liberation News at that site.
http://allactivists.tribe.net/thread/95ca19a9-4594-4204-95c2-88cd31a8c00e

And Glen the troll strikes again. On another site he was blaming "progressives" for homelessness and public urination. In reality it is capitalism that causes homelessness.

Here Glen makes the absurd statement, "I'm sure all those peasants Che murdered were happy for the help."

Che never murdered any peasants, but he did save a lot of their lives. He started out as a doctor traveling throughout Latin America, giving medical care to the poor.

Che Guevara was in Guatemala as a doctor in 1954 when the CIA overthrew the Democratically elected Arbenz government. That government was seen as a threat to the profits of the Rockefeller family's United Fruit Company because Arbenz advocated land reform. So U.S. imperialism overthrew Arbenz and put a long series of military dictatorships in power that tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of peasants and kept the people in extreme poverty. At the time of the CIA intervention in Guatemala, Che advocated that Arbenz should arm the people to resist, but Arbenz was not a revolutionary socialist and refusing to arm the people was his downfall.

Later Che was in Mexico when he met a dissident in exile, exiled by the U.S. backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba. The name of that young dissident was Fidel Castro. The Batista dictatorship had murdered tens of thousands of people, many of them student activists.

Castro and Che and a number of other Cuban revolutionaries set out in a boat called the Granma from Mexico for Cuba, armed and ready to lead the insurrection against Batista. The day they were set to arrive a general strike was called in Cuba, but the Granma got caught in stormy waters and arrived three days late. When they arrived Batista knew they were coming and most were killed. Che, Fidel, and a few others managed to escape and make their way into the rural Cuban mountains. There the peasants fed them and they began to build the revolutionary army that overthrew Batista in 1959.

Upon taking power the Cuban revolution, as in any true revolution, liquidated the old power structure. A new revolutionary government was built and the murderers and torturers of the Batista government were put on trial. Eight hundred were executed for their crimes.

Before the Cuban Revolution, Rockefeller’s United Fruit Company owned much of the land. Peasants starved in the off-season and lacked medical care and access to education. When the Cuban revolution came to power in 1959, Fidel Castro’s promise of land reform was quickly carried out. This made Cuba an enemy of the United States government, and the Cubans have never been forgiven since. Later a broader socialist revolution in the economy was carried out.

In addition to land reform the Cuban revolution has provided free access to good healthcare, education for kids even in the most remote rural areas, free education through the university levels, an elimination of hunger, an end to legal discrimination and segregation that existed against Blacks, women’s rights including birth control and free abortion on demand, environmental policies that the World Wildlife Fund says are the only passing policies on global warming in the world, and a promotion of culture.

For the vast majority of the Cuban people today their lives are much-much better than they were under the Batista government. They are a highly educated people doing much better. For a small minority, the wealthy, that profited from the misery of capitalism, their lives got worse. Most of them are now living in Miami. In Cuba, the Cuban people still come out in their millions at rallies in support of the revolution and socialism.

Che didn’t kill peasants, he doctored them, and when he decided that wasn’t enough, he fought along side them to better their conditions.

After helping lead the Cuban Revolution, Che was caught and murdered by CIA and Green Beret trained, equipped, and led Bolivian soldiers in 1967.

Yet the model of Che’s revolutionary self-sacrifice and dedication continues to live on and inspire new generations of socialist revolutionaries. Likewise, Che’s dedication to socialism, including providing medical care to the poor, lives on with the Cuban revolution.

It is interesting that tiny poor Cuba under a U.S. economic blockade is able to provide good healthcare for everyone. Cuba, unlike the United States, does not let people die in the emergency rooms without treatment or turn sick people away from receiving healthcare because they lack insurance. Cuba has taken the profit out of illness and injury and provide healthcare as a human right.

Likewise, while the United States is sending military troops to set up death squad governments in Iraq and Haiti and to intervene in Afghanistan, the Phillipines, and prop up the death squad government of Colombia, Cuba instead sends doctors. Cuban doctors save lives. They are on the ground in a number of countries providing regular care, and they are also sent to countries in emergencies. A few years back Cuba sent doctors to Central America after a bad hurricane and saved many lives. Likewise they offered to send doctors to New Orleans immediately after Katrina, they were well trained in dealing with that type of situation and would have saved lives, but Bush refused to let them in. A similar thing happened with the Nicaraguan government refusing entry, but that government let the Cuban doctors in due to protests.

While I have important arguments with the Cuban government in saying that revolutionary socialism must be democratic as well as on the essential nature of the Theory of Permanent Revolution in the international program; it would be the height of socialist sectarianism not to recognize the significant gains that have been made through the Cuban revolution.

U.S. Hands Off Cuba!

End the Economic Blockade!

For The Right of US Citizens to Travel To Cuba!

U.S. Out Of Guantanamo!

For National Healthcare in The United States!

End US Imperialism Through Socialist Revolution!

Subscribe to Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

The Fight For Single Payer Healthcare

2007-06-28T17:02:27Z

The Fight For Single Payer Healthcare

By Steven Argue

As an advocate for social justice and someone with no healthcare, I am strongly in favor of national healthcare like in Cuba, and short of that a single payer system would be a significant step forward.

National healthcare does work. It is working very well in Cuba. It is interesting that tiny poor Cuba under a U.S. economic blockade is able to provide good healthcare for everyone. Cuba, unlike the United States, does not let people die in the emergency rooms without treatment or turn sick people away from receiving healthcare because they lack insurance. Cuba has taken the profit out of illness and injury and provide healthcare as a human right.

Likewise, while the United States is sending military troops to set up death squad governments in Iraq and Haiti and to intervene in Afghanistan, the Phillipines, and prop up the death squad government of Colombia, Cuba instead sends doctors. Cuban doctors save lives. They are on the ground in a number of countries providing regular care, and they are also sent to countries in emergencies. A few years back Cuba sent doctors to Central America after a bad hurricane and saved many lives. Likewise they offered to send doctors to New Orleans immediately after Katrina, they were well trained in dealing with that type of situation and would have saved lives, but Bush refused to let them in. A similar thing happened with the Nicaraguan government refusing entry, but that government let the Cuban doctors in due to protests.

And Canada, also unlike the United States, has better healthcare where everyone is covered. Lately the NAFTA agreement has unfortunately been intervening against the Canadian single payer system, but it is still a much better system of healthcare than in the United States. Single payer is much cheaper and more efficient than the health insurance racket. Unfortunately the Democrats and Republicans are subservient to the insurance, pharmaceutical, and for-profit hospital industries. Single payer eliminates the health insurance racket with all of its waste in profits, paperwork, and overpaid CEOs. And despite the cries of the extreme right neo-cons and libertarians, none of the major candidates have any plans to make any significant change to the healthcare racket in America.

It will take a major struggle against the corporate power structure to gain single payer healthcare. The main force that has the potential strength to do so is organized labor, a force that could shut down production to make our demands.

Unfortunately many of the unions that are supposed to represent labor are in the back pockets of the corporations and the Democrat Party. Instead of fighting for single payer healthcare the SEIU recently held rallies for Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). None of these corporate politicians support single payer healthcare.

This is bad enough, but Dawn Lee, spokesperson for the SEIU, says the SEIU takes no position on HR 676, a single payer bill introduced by Conyers.

There are unions, such as the California Nurses Association (CNA), that support single payer. But until the labor movement breaks its love affair with the corporate Democrat Party, and begins to once again rely on the militant action of the rank and file, as it did in the 1930’s, we will not only not gain single payer healthcare, our standard of living will continue to decline by every other indicator as well, while massive corporate profits soar.

Pass HR 676, single payer for the United States!

Pass SB 840, single payer in California!

Put union dues into strike funds instead of the Democrat Party!

For mass action and a general strike for single payer healthcare!

End the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba!

Preserve Canadian Single Payer, Repeal NAFTA!

Steven Argue for Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Anti-torture speakers from Washington DC Tuesday, June 26, 2007

2007-06-28T05:59:03Z

Sister Diana Ortiz speaks out against torture:

http://wm.nmmstream.net/aclu/260607/dianna.asx

(Her speech starts about 30 seconds in. Warning--she goes into her personal experiences of being tortured and how that is affected by the Bush gang's disregard for her feelings and own experiences...)

Viewable videos of other speeches against torture and in support of full restoration to every person of the Great Writ given yesterday--

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=DOA_learn#speakers

Take this seriously. Torture and the removal of habeas is a grave threat to all open political movements in the United States--even some conservative organizations are speaking out against the Military Commissions Act and the implications it has for the basic right to be protected from unreasonable incarceration and undermines equal protection under the law.

I'll let people better versed on how yesterday was organized and how the speakers list developed explain the absence of any Congressional Women's Caucus representatives from speaking at this event...

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

the duality of rape

2007-06-28T02:27:54Z

we like to talk about how bad rape is (especially the rape of children) yet we still make judgments like this, in our society. until we actually DO something real against rape, nothing will change. after reading this, i'm all for cutting off boy's willies.

Children's charities have reacted with anger after a window cleaner who raped a girl of 10 was jailed for two years.

Keith Fenn, 24, will be free in four months after a judge said the girl, who was assaulted in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, had appeared older.

The charity Kidscape accused Judge Julian Hall of "trying to find excuses" and said a child must never be blamed.

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith is to decide whether the sentence should be appealed against as "unduly lenient".

Moral dilemma

Oxford Crown Court heard that Fenn raped the girl in a park on 14 October, before an accomplice, Darren Wright, 34, took her home and sexually assaulted her.

Judge Hall said in sentencing he faced a moral dilemma as the fact they had sex within 45 minutes of meeting was an absolute crime.

But he said the girl had dressed provocatively and looked as though she was 16.

Lawyers for the defendants stressed that the sex had been consensual, and was only termed 'rape' because of the framework of law.

They said the judge stated that doctors who examined the girl believed she was in her mid-teens and she was treated by most people as older than her actual age.

The judge gave Fenn concurrent two-year and 18-month sentences, but he will be free in eight weeks after serving eight months in prison awaiting sentence.

Wright is already free as Judge Hall had already given him a nine-month sentence for inciting the girl to perform a sex act.

'Back to the 1950s'

Dr Michele Elliott, director of Kidscape, said the decision had left her "lost for words".

She said: "It takes us back to the 1950s when the victim was blamed if they were dressed provocatively.

"No-one in my opinion could mistake a 10-year-old child, even dressed up, for a 16-year-old. They are just trying very hard to find excuses.

"You can never blame a child victim for sexual abuse when excusing the abuser of any kind of abuse."

The NSPCC added: "There is no excuse for having sex with a 10-year-old, no matter how she dresses."

Case papers

Boris Johnson, the MP for Henley where the rape happened, said the judge's decision was "inexplicable".

He said: "Whatever she was wearing, there are no extenuating circumstances that can mitigate the rape of a 10-year-old girl.

"This is unbelievable. The more I hear about it, the more unbelievable I find it."

A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office said Judge Hall would not comment further on what happened in court.

The judge was in the headlines in February when he said compensation to a child sex abuse victim could be used to buy a bicycle to cheer her up.

A spokesman for Lord Goldsmith said he had asked the Crown Prosecution Service to send him the papers on the case, and would consider whether or not to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal as "unduly lenient".

He has 28 days to make a decision.

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

on-the-road organizing with CODEPINK, vis-a-vis Santa Fe & the USSF

2007-06-25T08:06:04Z

It's time for a road trip for the CODEPINK truck! For those of you who don't know, one of the local coordinators in the San Francisco bay area has a big moving truck painted pink with slogans and a tally of the war dead. She drives it around the country to direct actions, transports people's items when they need to move, and more.

I'll be riding along with her from Berkeley to Atlanta through the southern part of the United States, and we'll be making an extended stop in Santa Fe, NM on-or-around the 21st. I'm excited about this opportunity to ride with the CODEPINK truck and see for myself how one of the more radical feminist activists I have ever met does her organizing! Come by and say hey, when you see the truck roll through town. It'd be awesome to meet others.

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Lesbians sentenced for self-defense. FREE THEM NOW!

2007-06-23T02:51:20Z

FREE THEM NOW!
Lesbians sentenced for self-defense
All-white jury convicts Black women

By Imani Henry
New York

Published Jun 21, 2007 2:58 AM
On June 14, four African-American women—Venice Brown (19), Terrain Dandridge (20), Patreese Johnson (20) and Renata Hill (24)—received sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to 11 years in prison. None of them had previous criminal records. Two of them are parents of small children.

Their crime? Defending themselves from a physical attack by a man who held them down and choked them, ripped hair from their scalps, spat on them, and threatened to sexually assault them—all because they are lesbians.

The mere fact that any victim of a bigoted attack would be arrested, jailed and then convicted for self-defense is an outrage. But the length of prison time given further demonstrates the highly political nature of this case and just how racist, misogynistic, anti-gay, anti-youth and anti-worker the so-called U.S. justice system truly is.

The description of the events, reported below, is based on written statements by a community organization (FIERCE) that has made a call to action to defend the four women, verbal accounts from court observers and evidence from a surveillance camera.

The attack

On Aug. 16, 2006, seven young, African-American, lesbian-identified friends were walking in the West Village. The Village is a historic center for lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) communities, and is seen as a safe haven for working-class LGBT youth, especially youth of color.

As they passed the Independent Film Cinema, 29-year-old Dwayne Buckle, an African-American vendor selling DVDs, sexually propositioned one of the women. They rebuffed his advances and kept walking.

“I’ll f— you straight, sweetheart!” Buckle shouted. A video camera from a nearby store shows the women walking away. He followed them, all the while hurling anti-lesbian slurs, grabbing his genitals and making explicitly obscene remarks. The women finally stopped and confronted him. A heated argument ensued. Buckle spat in the face of one of the women and threw his lit cigarette at them, escalating the verbal attack into a physical one.

Buckle is seen on the video grabbing and pulling out large patches of hair from one of the young women. When Buckle ended up on top of one of the women, choking her, Johnson pulled a small steak knife out of her purse. She aimed for his arm to stop him from killing her friend.

The video captures two men finally running over to help the women and beating Buckle. At some point he was stabbed in the abdomen. The women were already walking away across the street by the time the police arrived.

Buckle was hospitalized for five days after surgery for a lacerated liver and stomach. When asked at the hospital, he responded at least twice that men had attacked him.

There was no evidence that Johnson’s kitchen knife was the weapon that penetrated his abdomen, nor was there any blood visible on it. In fact, there was never any forensics testing done on her knife. On the night they were arrested, the police told the women that there would be a search by the New York Police Department for the two men—which to date has not happened.

After almost a year of trial, four of the seven were convicted in April. Johnson was sentenced to 11 years on June 14.

Even with Buckle’s admission and the video footage proving that he instigated this anti-gay attack, the women were relentlessly demonized in the press, had trumped-up felony charges levied against them, and were subsequently given long sentences in order to send a clear resounding message—that self-defense is a crime and no one should dare to fight back.

Political backdrop of the case

Why were these young women used as an example? At stake are the billions of dollars in tourism and real estate development involved in the continued gentrification of the West Village. This particular incident happened near the Washington Square area—home of New York University, one of most expensive private colleges in the country and one of the biggest employers and landlords in New York City. The New York Times reported that Justice Edward J. McLaughlin used his sentencing speech to comment on “how New York welcomes tourists.” (June 17)

The Village is also the home of the Stonewall Rebellion, the three-day street battle against the NYPD that, along with the Compton Cafeteria “Riots” in California, helped launch the modern-day LGBT liberation movement in 1969. The Manhattan LGBT Pride march, one of the biggest demonstrations of LGBT peoples in the world, ends near the Christopher Street Piers in the Village, which have been the historical “hangout” and home for working-class trans and LGBT youth in New York City for decades.

Because of growing gentrification in recent years, young people of color, homeless and transgender communities, LGBT and straight, have faced curfews and brutality by police sanctioned by the West Village community board and politicians. On Oct. 31, 2006, police officers from the NYPD’s 6th Precinct indiscriminately beat and arrested several people of color in sweeps on Christopher Street after the Halloween parade.

Since the 1980s there has been a steady increase in anti-LGBT violence in the area, with bashers going there with that purpose in mind.

For trans people and LGBT youth of color, who statistically experience higher amounts of bigoted violence, the impact of the gentrification has been severe. As their once-safe haven is encroached on by real estate developers, the new white and majority heterosexual residents of the West Village then call in the state to brutalize them.

For the last six years the political LGBT youth group FIERCE has been at the forefront of mobilizing young people “to counter the displacement and criminalization of LGBTSTQ [lesbian, gay, bi, two spirit, trans, and queer] youth of color and homeless youth at the Christopher Street Pier and in Manhattan’s West Village.” (www.fiercenyc.org) FIERCE has also been the lead organization supporting the Jersey Seven and their families.

The trial and the media

Deemed a so-called “hate crime” against a straight man, every possible racist, anti-woman, anti-LGBT and anti-youth tactic was used by the entire state apparatus and media. Everything from the fact that they lived outside of New York, in the working-class majority Black city of Newark, N.J., to their gender expressions and body structures were twisted and dehumanized in the public eye and to the jury.

According to court observers, McLaughlin stated throughout the trial that he had no sympathy for these women. The jury, although they were all women, were all white. All witnesses for the district attorney were white men, except for one Black male who had several felony charges.

Court observers report that the defense attorneys had to put enormous effort into simply convincing the jury that they were “average women” who had planned to just hang out together that night. Some jurists asked why they were in the Village if they were from New Jersey. The DA brought up whether they could afford to hang out there—raising the issue of who has the right to be there in the first place.

The Daily News reporting was relentless in its racist anti-lesbian misogyny, portraying Buckle as a “filmmaker” and “sound engineer” preyed upon by a “lesbian wolf pack” (April 19) and a “gang of angry lesbians.” (April 13)

Everyone has been socialized by cultural archetypes of what it means to be a “man” or “masculine” and “woman” or “feminine.” Gender identity/expression is the way each indivdual chooses or not to express gender in their everyday lives, including how they dress, walk, talk, etc. Transgender people and other gender non-conforming people face oppression based on their gender expression/identity.

The only pictures shown in the Daily News were of the more masculine-appearing women. One of the most despiciable headlines in the Daily News, “‘I’m a man!’ lesbian growled during fight,” (April 13) was targeted against Renata Hill, who was taunted by Buckle because of her masculinity.

Ironically, Johnson, who was singled out by the judge as the “ringleader,” is the more feminine of the four. According to the New York Times, in his sentencing remarks, “Justice McLaughlin scoffed at the assertion made by ... Johnson, that she carried a knife because she was just 4-foot-11 and 95 pounds, worked nights and lived in a dangerous neighborhood.” He quoted the nursery rhyme, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” (June 15)

All of the seven women knew and went to school with Sakia Gunn, a 19-year-old butch lesbian who was stabbed to death in Newark, N.J., in May 2003. Paralleling the present case, Gunn was out with three of her friends when a man made sexual advances to one of the women. When she replied that she was a lesbian and not interested, he attacked them. Gunn fought back and was stabbed to death.

“You can’t help but wonder that if Sakia Gunn had a weapon, would she be in jail right now?” Bran Fenner, a founding member and co-executive director of FIERCE, told Workers World. “If we don’t have the right to self-defense, how are we supposed to survive?”

National call to action

While racist killer cops continue to go without indictment and anti-immigrant paramilitary groups like the Minutemen are on the rise in the U.S., The Jersey Four sit behind bars for simply defending themselves against a bigot who attacked them in the Village.

Capitalism at its very core is a racist, sexist, anti-LGBT system, sanctioning state violence through cops, courts and its so-called laws. The case of the Jersey Four gives more legal precedence for bigoted violence to go unchallenged. The ruling class saw this case as a political one; FIERCE and other groups believe the entire progressive movement should as well.

Fenner said, “We are organizing in the hope that this wakes up all oppressed people and sparks a huge, broad campaign to demand freedom for the Jersey Four.”

FIERCE is asking for assistance for these young women, including pro-bono legal support, media contacts and writers, pen pals, financial support, and diverse organizational support. For details, visit www.fiercenyc.org.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Art in America

2007-06-02T17:30:30Z

June/July issue is packed with Feminist Art & the 'new wave of feminism' that we are seeing all over the country right now.
Anyone else had a look?

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Go Oregon!

2007-05-30T21:24:54Z

whoohoo!

-----------------------------------
Oregon Makes Pro-Choice History:
Governor Signs The Access to Birth Control Act

Today is a proud day for pro-choice Oregonians. Governor Kulongoski signed into law HB 2700: The Access to Birth Control Act. NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon and the Pro-Choice Coalition of Oregon applaud the governor's actions as well as the support from the legislature. We will not forget the steadfast efforts of supporters who spent the last 14 years working to get this law on the books.

The passage of this important bill signals a real step forward for the advancement of women's health care in Oregon. The Access to Birth Control (ABC) Act:

* Ensures Access to Prescription Birth Control in Insurance Coverage: The ABC Act will prohibit discrimination against women related to prescription drug coverage by requiring health insurers to cover prescription birth control in a manner consistent with other prescription coverage.
* Increases Access to Emergency Contraception (EC) in the Emergency Room: The ABC Act ensures survivors of sexual assault have access to emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms in Oregon.

For making women's health a priority with the passage of this act, we thank the chief sponsors of HB 2700, Representatives Nolan, Rosenbaum and Tomei, Senators Brown, Devlin and Monnes Anderson. We also appreciate the support of the co-sponsors: Representatives Barker, Barnhart, Berger, Beyer, Bonamici, Boone, Buckely, Cannon, Clem, Cowan, Dingfelder, Chris Edwards, David Edwards, Galizio, Gleser, Greenlick, Holvey, Komp, Kotek, Merkley, Nathanson, Read, Riley, Roblan, Schaufler, Shields, Witt, Senators Avakian, Bates, Burdick, Monroe, Prozanski, Walker and Westlund.

Finally, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon thanks all the activists throughout the state who over the years have lobbied their elected officials to support women's health care by improving access to birth control. Without your continuous efforts, today's victory would not be possible. Our hard work has prevailed!

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Scream, Yell - why are so many women just 'sitting back"

2007-05-29T23:57:51Z

am i missing something. DEMOCRATIC OFFICAL PLATFORM, now, (in utah, but still) is officially PRO LIFE/ANTI CHOICE

what the hell? our rights are stripped bit by bit, we should be worried, doing something, but i see simple acceptance from most people. "I guess it really IS a baby, huh? and i shouldn't have any decisions over where that baby lives for 9 months".

---

Abortion and Utah County Democrats
The platform of the Utah County Democratic Party, adopted in June 2006, makes the following statement about abortion:

As Utah County Democrats we believe in the sanctity of human life and that there should be a balance between the rights of the woman and her unborn child. We believe that every abortion is a tragedy. We oppose elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and believe that abortion should be limited to instances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or in cases of fatal fetal deformities or when competent medical authority determines that there is a serious threat to the life or health of the mother. We again recognize those who hold differing views on this issue and seek to resolve our differences in a spirit of respectful cooperation.

posted in Feminist Activists - 9 replies

US Social Forum Atlanta

2007-05-26T19:11:43Z

Welcome to the US Social Forum!
Español
The US Social Forum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression.

The USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each other's experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world.

The USSF sends a message to other people’s movements around the world that there is an active movement in the US opposing US Policies at home and abroad.

We must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning the path to get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to demonstrate to the world Another World is Possible!

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USSF Preferred Hotels are posted at the Registration Page under Accomodations

Help us by becoming a movement supporter, mobilizer or builder!

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Registration fee Waived for translators
To support language access at the US Social Forum in all languages, anyone who is coming to the forum primarily as a translator or interpreter will have their registration fees waived. Please fill out the registration form and check off the box that indicates that your primary participation at the USSF will be as an interpreter and your fees will be waived.

When you register, follow the instructions. For more in formation email hilaryklein@riseup.net and let her know you are interested.

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US Social Forum 101

Informational Call in English
Wednesday, May 16
3pm Eastern
2pm Central
1pm Mountain
Noon Pacific
(888) 296-6500
access code: 387157#

Do you want to know about the schedule of events at the
USSF?
Are you interested in submitting a workshop
proposal and don't know how?
Do you have questions about childcare, the Opening March, and interpretation?
Join us on the call Wednesday, May 2 to get this
information and much more.
Please Click here to sign onto the call.

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Donate to USSF Today!
Help us build a national movement for
social, environmental, and economic justice.

For donations of products and services contact: Michael Leon Guerrero
michael@ggjalliance.org
Phone 424.772.6410

To donate airline miles, contact staff to make arrangements: alovelace@ussocialforum.org

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Volunteer signup is open
The Volunteer Sign Up Form for the UNITED STATE SOCIAL FORUM is ready for you! Go to this page to give us your information and to let us know which days and shifts you can work during the USSF. The Volunteer Information Page will give you brief descriptions of the various logistical teams. We hope you will sign up for one or two shift, but would love if you decided to become a Dedicated Volunteer and sign up for 4 (four)--4hour shifts over the five days of the fourm. Just click here for the Volunteer Sign Up Form.

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Submittion of proposals now closed.
People world-wide know that another world is needed. The Social Forum movement believes that is possible. At the US Social Forum people from all over the country will gather to think about what kind of world is needed and how we can get there.

The US Social Forum is a very special kind of gathering: one that has never taken place in this country up to now. It isn't a conference with an agenda and a program of events; it's a gathering whose participants produce our own agenda and our own programs.

The mere process of planning, thinking, talking and preliminary organizing will move you, the people you're working with and the rest of us forward. The moment you think of an idea, you are already participating in the Social Forum.

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Period: The End of Menstruation? (movie)

2007-04-21T02:02:16Z

Soon (pending FDA approval) there will be a birth control pill on the market that is specifically designed to prevent women from having a period. Period: The End of Menstruation? is a wonderful documentary that addresses the social and medical issues of developing a pill that suppresses the natural cycle of womanhood. This would be a fantastic film to screen and discuss with a group.

http://www.periodthemovie.com/ABOUT.html

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

FREE Documentary and Activism Panel on 4/13 at 2:00pm at Little Roxie Theater-SF

2007-04-13T06:00:35Z

Friday, April the 13th, 2-4pm, at Little Roxie Theatre
DOCUMENTARY AND ACTIVISM PANEL
We live in an age where documentary films have the power to inform the masses on hot topic issues from global warming, preserving freedom of speech to genetically modified food debate. SFWFF will host a panel dedicated to “Filmmaking and Activism.” Local Filmmakers, Karil Daniels, Carolyn Scott, Deborah Koons-Garcia, Connie Field and Dorothy Fadiman will be on hand to show some clips, talk about their films and take your questions.

For the complete schedule and full details about the San Francisco Women's Film Festival 2007, visit the
website at:
http://www.sfwff.com

DISCOUNTED TICKETS FOR INFO:
You can receive $2 off admission, when purchasing tickets for the following shows in advance online by
entering coupon code: festivalfriends07

Sat. 4/14, 8 pm - DOCUMENTARY AND ACTIVISM FILMS at
the SF Women's Building, 3543 18th St. #8, SF.

Sun. 4/15, 7 pm - CLOSING NIGHT FILMS, TRIBUTE & PARTY
at 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna St., SF.

For the complete schedule and full details about the
San Francisco Women's Film Festival 2007, visit the
website at:
http://www.sfwff.com

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

For my friend who no longer calls herself a "feminist"

2007-03-30T15:56:09Z

I wrote this for a friend who decided she wasn't a feminist any more, wanting term that would be more inclusive of men. Thought I'd share it here:

___________________________

Feminism shouldn't be thought of as excluding men, but rather as a social theory that questioned the male-dominated theoretical underpinning of all academic social sciences. Feminism is adding women into the equation that already included men, not removing men from the equation altogether. In academic terms:

Traditional social theory = men + more men + what are those crazy women up to, I’ll mention it in a side note.

Feminism = women + men

Keep in mind that feminist social sciences do not merely concern themselves with gender and sexuality, but can be viewed as part of a suite of post-modern (you knew I had to slip it in somewhere) theories that ultimately address the fact that we live in a pretty big complicated world, that everything people know is coloured by what they have learned before that and that the person who is doing the talking doesn't necessarily have the only valid position (summary: knowledge is indeterminate and contestable). And what makes post-modernism post-"modern", is that "modernity" is the kind of post-enlightenment western thinking that says that you can know an objective truth about the world (and that the best qualified people to know it are almost always white men).

Having said all this there is LOADS of valid criticisms of feminist theories (my favourite: it is usually only applied to women in the Western world) but criticism is not the same as addressing the concerns that feminism raises. These still exist.

Or ... why I unrepentantly call myself a "feminist":

Feminism is under attack for excluding men, I say "fuck you". This is why, in your nation and mine, the right to choose is under constant threat, why abstinence sex-education is federally funded, why women STILL make less than men for the same job,, and why women are horrifyingly unequally represented in the government and in business. Yes – this is because feminism is not including men...oh, hang on ... no it’s not. It’s because we the entire power structure of our society is STILL excluding women...oh...hang on....that's where feminism comes in; that's why it's bigger than just women. I believe that feminism is such an important and radical change at the core, that it is important to continue to stand up and be counted, to ensure that 'feminism' is the 'f'-word that continues to be spoken in the halls of learning, in the workplace, in government and in the home.

Especially because I suspect that if we are quiet and complacent the power which is clung to so tenaciously by the Hollow Men in control will grow and suffocate the small gains (and they ARE small) that have been made.

posted in Feminist Activists - 11 replies

Lambda Youth Project Gay Prom 2007 in Hayward, CA

2007-03-19T22:55:09Z

I am going to volunteer for the Gay Prom again. It is an annual event by and for all Bay Area youth, held in Hayward, and inviting youth up to age 20 from all over the Bay. There are many parts we adults can play in making this a safe and fun environment for LGBTQQ youth in the Bay Area, from being chaperone the night of the event (Saturday June 9, 2007), to raising money for poor kids to attend, to updating their webpages with current info.

I have volunteer applications with me or you can visit

www.pacificcenter.org/queeryouth.html for some information. They haven't posted specifics yet for this year.

or request a volunteer packet at: info@gayprom.org

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Abortion Banned On Pine Ridge, Cecilia Fire Thunder Removed From Presidency

2007-03-19T22:53:13Z

Defend Oglala Sioux President Cecilia Fire Thunder

By Steven Argue for Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

Background:

Abortion has been outlawed in South Dakota:
www.ntimc.org/newswire.php

Outraged Cecilia Fire Thunder, President of the Oglala Souix Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, has voiced her defiance saying, "To me, it is now a question of sovereignty, I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction."

After taking a courageous stance against the ban on abortion in South Dakota, Cecilia Fire Thunder, first female president of the Oglala Sioux tribe, has been attacked by members of the Tribal Council, who are attempting to remove her from office. On May 30 the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council banned abortions on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and suspended President Fire Thunder for 20 days until an impeachment hearing can take place.

The complaint is that Fire Thunder improperly used her title to solicit donations for the clinic. Fire Thunder has said that donations for the proposed private clinic have been unsolicited, though she has welcomed nationwide support. The surprise vote was called when Fire Thunder was out of town getting an annual checkup of the cochlear implants that restored her hearing. Read more at indianz.com/News/2006/014231.asp

Cecilia Fire Thunder has lost popularity on the reservation due to her austerity policies that she has done in the name of “fiscal responsibility”. While demanding the restoration of federal money for programs where federal funding has been cut on the reservation, Liberation News does not endorse Cecilia Fire Thunder’s policies of austerity and job cuts.

In addition Liberation News does not take a position on the accusation by Cecilia Fire Thunder’s political opponent Russell Mean’s (of AIM) that she is not eligible to hold her position because she lives outside the reservation.

Liberation News does, however, strongly condemn the banning of abortion on the Pine Ridge Reservation as an infringement on the sovereignty of women over their own bodies, just as forced sterilization was a crime against women on the reservation in the past. Likewise, Liberation News opposes the suspension and possible impeachment of Cecilia Fire Thunder due to the fact that the issue of her courageous stand for the right to abortion has been mixed into the reasons why her leadership position is under attack.

Join the call by reproductive rights activists to send a letter to:

Oglala Sioux Tribal Council
PO Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770-2070
fax: 605-867-1449
phone 605-867-5821

and send a copy to
President Cecelia Fire Thunder
PO Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770-2070

posted in Feminist Activists - 12 replies

Equal Pay for Women in Tennis

2007-02-22T22:30:07Z

Women will finally be paid the same amount as men at Wimbledon
http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=ap-wimbledon-equalpay&prov=ap&type=lgns

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

It's Official: Americans ready for a woman President

2007-02-13T16:47:56Z

In a CBS News poll this week, 92 per cent of Americans said they'd vote for a woman from their own political party if she's qualified...."The public is perfectly willing to elect women to high office," said Scott Keeter at the Pew Research Center.

Read More
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2007/02/08/3558267-sun.html

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

NAPW Summit Follow-Up

2007-02-10T00:51:17Z

Dear NAPW Friends and Allies:

I am pleased to report that NAPW's National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women, which we held in Atlanta, Georgia this past January 18-21, was a raving success from beginning to end.

The Summit's supporters and attendees represented one of the most diverse gatherings ever to address issues concerning reproductive health and justice. It was co-sponsored by more than 60 organizations ranging from advocates for mother-friendly childbirth to those that advocate for the right to choose an abortion. It brought together over 300 maternal, birthing, and reproductive rights activists along with social justice activists, legal and policy experts, and healthcare providers from 37 states, the District of Columbia, Mexico, and Canada.

Participants moved beyond the divisive abortion debate to find common ground in the experiences of pregnancy and the increasing limitations to care and support that all pregnant and birthing women face. Working together, they identified violations of pregnant and birthing womens civil and human rights and created the basis for formulating an agenda that genuinely values pregnant women, maternal health, and motherhood. Standing together, they demonstrated the collective possibilities of broad-based support for laws and policies that genuinely promote a culture of life — one that includes and values the women who give that life.

Media coverage
Media coverage of the Summit and NAPW's issues was substantial, positive, and appeared in a variety of venues. On the second day of the Summit, the San Francisco Chronicle featured my op-ed, Creating a true culture of life in their Roe v. Wade anniversary roundup.

But the most comprehensive ongoing Summit coverage has come from bloggers, including the six women who received NAPW bloggerships (scholarships) to join us in Atlanta. These bloggers come from all over the United States, collectively reach over 100,000 readers per day, and speak from and to a variety of constituencies and communities. Several other bloggers came on their own steam, and added their voices to a chorus of praise and wonder.*All were united by their shared commitment to advancing reproductive justice and unanimous in their praise for NAPW and the Summit:

I've talked to the other bloggers, and we all just feel lucky to have been at the Summit and to have witnessed what happened there. For a feminist blogger, it just doesn't get better: the content, the connections, and the conversations. I'll be writing about this all year.

(Pamela Merritt at Angry Black Bitch)

I can honestly say that NAPW organized the best feminist conference that I've ever been to.it was more than the great attendees — it was the incredible energy at the conference, the remarkable panelists, and the oh-so-important (and ambitious) vision for reproductive justice that the conference put forward. I mean, damn, just look at the program and you'll see what I mean.

(Jessica Valenti at Feministing)

Join this organization.

Seriously. National Advocates for Pregnant Women is, in my experience, unique — and uniquely well positioned — for this moment in history. It brings together pro-choice organizations, women working in and for birthing and mothering rights, gay and lesbian family activists, advocates for incarcerated and addicted women, academic feminists, grassroots and national organizations for women of color, and other groups to bring into focus our common goals and the common threat to women's autonomy posed by those who want to legislate how, when, why, and where we can (or cannot) be pregnant, and what we can (or cannot) do with our bodies.

. . . They — we — were one of those groups that feminist organizations fantasize about: black, white, Latina, Filipina; old, young, rich-looking, poor-looking; punky young moms ala Hipmama and polished women legislators; hip middle-aged dykes and earthy middle-aged doulas; obstetricians and mothers in recovery from addiction.

And it was the only conference I have ever been to where a plenary session consisted in large part of a series of stories, anecdotes from different women about how they came into being: through politics or parenting, as academics or activists, as workers and as women. There were microphones placed in two or three places in the room, and different women took turns being introduced by Lynn Paltrow, whose baby this organization is, and telling their stories. I've never seen a plenary speaker making the introductions rather than being introduced, or ceding the floor to the subjects of her work. In the most honored and right-on feminist tradition, though, this plenary emphasized subjectivity, and the ways that the work of feminism is subject to the lives of women.

(Tedra at BitchPhD)

The old days of pro-choice and pro-life are so over and new framings about families, women, pregnancy, and dignity are forthcoming. The Summit in Atlanta is a harbinger of these changes and NAPW has positioned itself as an indispensable leader. The conversations will challenge long held post-Roe language and push us into new territory with reproductive rights.

(Lauren at Milby Daniel)

The bloggers posted long and thoughtful commentary on a wide cross-section of panels and speakers. In the great democratizing world of the Internet, this means that many individuals were mentioned by name and their contributions acknowledged and recognized (NAPW staff Matrice Sherman and Wyndi Anderson, and speakers and presenters Tayshea Aiwohi, Miriam Yeung, Mary Barr, Erica Lyon, Loretta Ross, Ina Mae Gaskin, and Dorothy Roberts, just to name a few). The bloggers also addressed a variety of issues, organizations, and communities. And they connected their own constituencies with organizations, events, and scholarship of interest that will ensure ongoing learning and activism.

...doulas who have worked with marginalized communities seem to be really prevalent here, which is wonderful — several of the doulas work with meth-addicted women, a group of women from Washington state are working with incarcerated women, two women mentioned working with undocumented Latina women, one woman mentioned her experience of working as a white woman with native women. Great group.

(Brownfemipower from Women of Color Blog)

Here at this summit that most conservative Democrats would characterize as being some sort of crazy leftist feminist feel-good crap, I saw with my own eyes that NAPW and Lynn Paltrow were able to bring people who are antagonistic to the table not by compromising their views, but by expanding them...here she (Laura Pemberton--personally opposed to abortion, forced by police under court order to have a c-section) was sitting at the table with a bunch of crunchy feminists, queer activists and generally cantankerous pro-choicers (literally, she sat with our little group at lunch one day and was winking at and laughing with some of our more goofily feminist jokes) — not because we had limited our demands for women's rights but because we expanded those demands and the expanded view of what womens rights are was appealing to her. Talk about choice, shes not at the table. Talk about a womans right to self-determination and that means something to her.

(Amanda from Pandagon)

I was overwhelmed when Linda Layne told the stories of her multiple miscarriages (seven or eight, I think). And she's right - we've spent the weekend discussing how to empower women to be more knowledgeable about labor and the choices involved in the birthing process, but no such progress has been made regarding pregnancy loss. Certainly, no pregnant woman wants to consider that possibility. But it is a possibility, and a very real one, if this stat is to be believed, the chance of miscarriage during the first three months of pregnancy is 1 in 5 (?!). And yet no one talks about it. No one offers information on what your body may go through, what options you may have (hospital? emergency room? stay home?). Layne has identified a gap that many, many women fall into, and it's time we started offering them some better resources.

(Megan from Gymno)

Even bloggers who couldn't attend are spreading the word:

The Summit program covered everything from the overbearing and disempowering birthing machine in this country to our cultures rampant fear of birth, from the legal restrictions being placed on VBACs, contraception and abortions to the disturbing rise in fetal rights, where mothers with substance abuse problems are prosecuted for child abuse on behalf of their unborn fetus, instead of being offered the care and treatment they need.and so much more, more, more. I really wish I could have attended! . . .

It's been absolutely fascinating reading the reports and thoughts of many of the bloggers who were able to attend. I've linked to a partial list of the blogs on the Summit, so that you can read for yourself. It's almost as good as being there (although not quite).

(The Student at Belly Tales)

The bloggers engagement with NAPW, the relationships we formed with the organizations that we brought together in Atlanta, and the multiple issues addressed there will continue long past the Summit. Pamela Merritt of Angry Black Bitch is planning on attending SisterSongs Lets Talk About Sex conference in Chicago in May, and has accepted an invite from Donna Haukaas of the Native American Womens Health Education Resource Center to come blog the reservation where she lives in South Dakota.

Two days after Jessica Valenti at Feministing returned from the Summit, she put out a call for any presenters to come guest post at her blog. Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel at the National Womens Law Center, has already responded, and gotten in touch with the other participants on the How Might You Be Prosecuted? panel. NAPWs new Director of Communications, Nancy Goldstein, is working with Jessica to set up guest blogging and interviews with over 30 other Summit presenters, whose work will appear on Feministing throughout the year. She has also arranged for Jamila Akil, a Chicago blogger whose schedule prevented her from attending the Summit, to interview law professor Dorothy Roberts and Guttmacher Institute researcher Rachel K. Jones.

Brownfemipower at Women of Color Blog responded to a reader's plea (please keep the information coming!) with Girl, you know I will!!!"

Participant feedback

Although we have only just begun digging through the stack of evaluations we brought back from the Summit, we have already received dozens of phone calls and emails praising the Summit.

As has been said many times, it was one of the best conferences I have ever attended!

(Loretta J. Ross, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective)

Congratulations on organizing a truly groundbreaking Summit!

(Priscilla Huang, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum)

I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you how wonderful that conference was! There were so many people with such divergent points of view, yet we managed to find some unity amongst us.

(Karen Shain, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children)

The Summit on Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Woman was simply the best! What a spectacular convening.

(Sharon Gary Smith, Western States Center)

THAT WAS THE MOST AWESOME, BEAUTIFUL, STRONG CONSCIOUSNESS BUILDING, INFORMATION SHARING I have had in a long time. I salute your thinking, efforts, energy, focus, imagination and courage to bring so many folks from so many different backgrounds together...... in peace... with a single focus..the betterment of childbirth... which will save lives, hearts and spirits...

(Maddy Oden, Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation)

It was an awesome conference. . . Thank you so much for making my dream come true :)

(Freeda Cathcart, Mother's United for Midwifery)

From the extraordinary presentations to the fact sheets in the program packet, the Summit provided people with new information and ideas. There are already many examples of new action, new relationships, new conversations, and expanded thinking. For example, Jessica Arons of the Center for American Progress contributed a piece to a pro-choice blog that brought the issues of unnecessary c-sections into the "mainstream" of the reproductive rights discussion. Dee Ann Newell of the National Coalition to Abolish All Restraints on Pregnant Prisoners in Labor and Childbirth returned to her home state of Arkansas armed with letters from a broad range of new organizations speaking out against an Arkansas bill that would continue policies that permit shackling of pregnant prisoners and that leave the Department of Corrections to determine the if a laboring women is in enough pain to justify removal of the restraints. A critical conversation about hard issues such as the language different groups use — including "choice" and "normal birth" is continuing in full force. And, as we had hoped, Summit participants and bloggers from across the country are acting as issues watchdogs — practically inundating NAPW with news on new arrests and other issues of concern to our organization.

Here at NAPWs New York offices, we have more work to do than ever. January marks the opening of many state legislatures, and once again, bills to control pregnant women — including making it a crime to continue a pregnancy to term in spite of a drug problem — are being introduced. As a result of the Summit, NAPW now has — in addition to all of our ongoing work on behalf of pregnant and parenting women — extraordinary new relationships, new ideas, and new possibilities for affirmative legislative and advocacy work.

Over the next few months we will review all of the evaluations and feedback, develop and distribute this post-Summit report, continue our ongoing states-based grassroots organizing work, and — if funding permits — bring together small subsets of Summit participants to keep new conversations alive and moving towards collective strength and action. We will also be finishing and releasing an unprecedented arrest report that will shed light on the criminalization of pregnancy in the United States from the 1970s to the present time.

We look forward to your support and partnership in these efforts, and thank you again for your commitment and generosity.

Yours truly,

Lynn M. Paltrow
Executive Director

* Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon (Austin, Texas) posts to 35,000 readers per day

Brownfemipower at Women of Color Blog (Ypsilanti, Michigan) posts to 5,000 readers daily

Jessica Valenti at Feministing (New York City, New York) posts to 30,000 readers daily, most of them under 30

Megan Price at Gymno (Atlanta, Georgia) posts to 100 readers per day

Pamela Merritt (Shark Fu) at Angry Black Bitch (St. Louis, Missouri) posts to 5,000 readers daily

Tedra at BitchPhD (Southern California), posts to 25,000 readers daily

Julie Ehrlich at A Bird and a Bottle (New York City, NY) posts to 500 readers daily;

Lauren at Milby Daniel (New York City, NY), a brand-new blog inspired by the Summit, posts to 25 readers daily

posted in Feminist Activists - 1 reply

Got Photos?

2007-02-07T18:10:08Z

Does anyone have any good photos to post to the tribe? Please feel free.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

alright sister start writing letters and spreading the word

2007-02-04T22:23:34Z

Women are not allowed to compete in ski jumping. The next winter Olympics are being held in 2010 in vancouver. Lets write letters to the IOC (international Olympics Commitee), the Canadian Government, haman rights groups, other feminists.
thanks!!
love and respect
-Kathy

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

U.S. Women May See Independence in Singlehood

2007-01-31T18:24:34Z

U.S. Women May See Independence in Singlehood

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3050

Exciting stuff.

"Today, most women in their 20s would find the idea of remaking themselves for marriage laughable. Single women today don't see themselves the way Marcia Carter did. In our study of women ages 35 to 55, funded by the National Science Foundation, single women did not feel like failures and did not view themselves differently than other women.

But in one way, they were different. For them, a good job was more important to overall well-being than it was for married women. A single woman in a high-prestige job had a good chance of achieving high well-being, while a single woman in a low-level job had the cards stacked against her."

Now we just need to do something about those single women in low paying jobs.

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

New Tactic for Anti Choice Activists

2007-01-25T21:25:00Z

Article in Sunday NY Times magazine about the supposed post-abortion trauma and counseling offered by faith based groups. A must read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/magazine/21abortion.t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=magazine

posted in Feminist Activists - 2 replies

Exhale - After Abortion Counseling

2007-01-24T04:15:24Z

Reading a recent article in the NY Times reminded me about Exhale. When I learned about Exhale the organization was only serving women in the SF Bay Area. I am very happy to hear that they have gone nationwide. Exhale is a non judgemental, multi lingual talk line for women that have had abortions and their partners. Exhale works with Planned Parenthood and other pro choice women's health organizations. Find more information at http://www.4exhale.org/index.php

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

HPV Vaccine

2007-01-22T19:53:21Z

Holly crap check out this article from the Argus Leader (one of the major papers in South Dakota).

http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/LIFE/701220304/1004

Who ever thought that the South Dakota would be the second state in the country to offer free HPV vaccines for women 11-20?!?

I share this, because maybe you have friends or family in South Dakota or New Hampshire that should know about such a program. Maybe you should share this with your state's legislators to get a similar program for your state. And because I'm super excited that the law makers in the state are only mostly douche bags. Once in awhile we are one of the progressive states. Who knew!!

posted in Feminist Activists - 0 replies

Prostitution will NOT just go away..article by Toronto Star

2007-01-22T19:00:05Z

November 13, 2006
Rosie DiManno
Sex is a primal urge. Yet libido rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

Most humans have sex, sometimes with love, just as often without. In marriage, outside of marriage, as a side dish to marriage. It's not ours to judge.

But if you pay for it — or charge for it — a kind of atavistic wrath, from a disapproving society, will fall on your head.

Prostitutes are just about the last breed of people who can be publicly excoriated for what they are, in a language of loathing that would be intolerable if applied to anyone else. It's the argot of shaming. And the attitudes that lie beneath — their lesser status as human beings, because they trade in flesh — is precisely what permits the widespread abuse of women and men who retail their bodies, such that even their murders can pass without vigorous investigation.

In the antiquated semantics of policing and criminal code legislation, sex is still a vice. Merchandising it is a crime, soliciting it is a crime, purchasing it is a crime, in all but the most narrowly defined circumstances. But using sex to sell product — that's advertising. Using sex to titillate — that's entertainment. Using sex to snare a partner — that's courtship.

It was interesting to read an investigative report on the front page of Saturday's Star, detailing what was described as "brothels-in-the-sky'' — prostitutes working out of residential high-rise buildings in Toronto, a phenomenon that is clearly bugging the snot out of many fellow tenants who, presumably, get their own sex by more conventional means. Bully for them. Others don't have sex so close to hand. They have to go looking for it. Fortunately, there are plenty of sex-trade workers willing to provide the service. That doesn't make either prostitute or customer a monster.

The prostitutes and their clients were portrayed with ripe descriptors, variously derided for their provocative clothing, their cheap cologne, their contaminating presence. A property manager likened them to "cockroaches.'' One morally upright resident said she felt like bathing her kids in Lysol after elevator encounters with the whores. Is this because of exposure to their moral depravity? Or the toxic aura of the stigmatized sex they make?

Insofar as any of this is a genuine quality-of-life urban issue — and I do understand the discomfort zone created by overt sexual entrepreneurship, although I don't share the repugnance — it was created by a circle-jerk dance of the deviant: The forces of good shutting down pseudo "holistic centres'' operating as de facto bordellos. Two decades ago, it was massage parlours.

Only to arise anew, this time burrowing more deeply into residential neighbourhoods. Whence, it should be noted, come their clientele. Those are your husbands and sons and brothers, looking to get laid. And what of it? Maybe sex is just an uncomplicated grunt with a stranger for them. Maybe they strike out in bars. Maybe they come from cultures where dating isn't permitted, much less sexual intimacy. Maybe they're not getting any at home.

There's no point trying to figure out motive. The groin wants what it wants. And there's even less point trying to smother biological imperatives. It's bred in the bone, if steeped in hypocrisy. Righteous preachers who bible-thump about sin get caught with their pants down. Cops who arrest johns coerce hookers into giving them freebies. Politicians who promote "family values'' fall victim to honey-traps.

Even in our sophisticated, judgment-neutral society, there is a resistant puritan streak that thinks it can and should control lust. Apart from creating a sexual bureaucracy— the vice squads that arrest them, the Crown attorneys who prosecute them, the lawyers who defend them — nothing has changed. The sex is still there. It will always be.

Over the years, I have covered countless commissions and task forces and public consultations on prostitution. Inevitably, somebody will propose creating red-light districts — sex ghettos — where prostitutes can operate legally, under a stern regulatory eye, subject to health inspection, taxation, and otherwise treated with odious paternalism. The implication is that prostitutes require looking after, as if they were children or morons, and the rest of us need to be protected from them. They have to be segregated.

This is so palpably not the way to go. But nobody listens to the core pleading of sex-trade workers that prostitution be "decriminalized" so they can work safely from their homes, without threat of arrest, in control of their environment and their patrons.

"Here's the major problem,'' says Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada (founded 1983, née Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes), and a practitioner for decades. "The existing legislation sees what we do as a vice. It doesn't see it as a legitimate business.''

Bawdy house rules make it illegal to work from their homes. "Living off the avails," intended to curb pimping, isolates them. "That criminalizes all of our healthy and normal relationships. We're not allowed to have a lover, a spouse, a roommate. We're so dirty, so morally bankrupt, that anyone who associates with us should be in jail. If I send a Christmas present to my parents, technically even that's illegal, because it comes from the profits of prostitution.''

This is what happens in most jurisdictions, such as Amsterdam, where prostitution has been legalized: The house gets 50 per cent, the government takes 25 per cent, the women work 10-hour shifts, they're not permitted to decline a client, and the brothel operator commonly extorts sex for himself into the bargain. Dutch women on the game won't accept those conditions so they work illegally. "Those women in the windows? All foreigners, from Eastern European countries,'' says Scott. "They're the only ones willing to put up with that level of extortion.''

The international trafficking in sex slaves, that's an entirely different problem and should not be conflated with prostitution as a legitimate career choice. "If there's extortion, charge their handlers,'' says Scott. "Assault, intimidation, coercion, forcible confinement — charge them. If prostitution is decriminalized, it will make it a lot easier for those girls to get away. Deal with it as an immigration matter. As it is, we can't get to her. She's terrified of the police, of being deported."

Scott is equally contemptuous of the perception that prostitutes are unclean and need to be monitored up the wazoo. In fact, health studies in the United States have shown that sexually transmitted diseases are far less common among prostitutes than the general population. "I don't see anybody demanding that our clients be tested for STDs. See, they're morally clean. But prostitutes have been taking care of their own sexual health since before the invention of penicillin. And if the state tries to go poking around in my vagina, I won't allow it.''

It was Pierre Elliott Trudeau who famously declared that the state doesn't belong in the bedroom.

It doesn't belong in a prostitute's $-spot either.

http://www.thestar.com/article/154014

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