By CHRISTINE MARIE and ANN MONTAGUE This is a particularly important moment to be considering the meaning of the Russian Revolution for women, LGBTQI activists, and gender politics. We have seen the protests against the Misogynist in Chief by more than 3 million U.S. women being channeled into clubs to rebuild the Democratic Party in … Continue reading Women & gender politics in the Russian Revolution
By ANN MONTAGUE The organizers of the International Women’s Day Strikes issued a comprehensive statement encouraging women to support the May Day actions this year. It was entitled, “No Ban, No Wall, No ICE,” and said in part, “We come together with the understanding that our exploitation as waged and unwaged workers have a common … Continue reading Women activists came together on May Day
By ANN MONTAGUE Cinzia Arruzza, an organizer of the International Women’s Strike, US and a Marxist feminist writer and activist, has stated in interviews that “feminists are currently leading the way.” In the United States in the last three months, women clearly have led in organizing the largest mobilizations—such as the Women’s Marches on Jan. … Continue reading Women’s strikes: Forward to May 1!
After March 8, International Women’s Day, which had bigger and more widespread mobilizations around an internationally coordinated call than have been seen for many years, Penelope Duggan from International Viewpoint spoke to Cinzia Arruzza, one of the organizers of the U.S. Women’s Strike and a well-known Marxist feminist writer and activist, about the broader significance of these mobilizations. … Continue reading ‘Feminists are currently leading the way’
By MARK UGOLINI — CHICAGO — Over 1000 trade-union women and supporters gathered at the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Hall on Mar. 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and declare solidarity with women everywhere struggling to protect and extend woman’s rights. Chairing the rally, Adriana Alvarez of Fight for $15 spoke of the struggle of … Continue reading Chicago Teachers Union hosts International Women’s Day Protest
By ANN MONTAGUE International Women’s Day, March 8, is set as the date for women’s strikes around the world. This event comes on the heels of a series of strikes and mass demonstrations last year when women poured into the streets of Poland, Ireland, Turkey, Italy, Argentina, and Iceland. This time, the call by the … Continue reading Women on strike around the world
By ANN MONTAGUE Women in Ireland are going on strike to protest the country’s ban on abortions. In Ireland it is a crime to have an abortion, and the procedure carries a 14-year prison sentence. There are no exceptions for rape or incest or when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb due to a … Continue reading Women in Ireland call March 8 strike
By PENELOPE DUGGAN “Over the next months and years we will be called upon to intensify our demands for social justice, to become more militant in our defense of vulnerable populations. Those who still defend the supremacy of white male hetero-patriarchy had better watch out. “The next 1,459 days of the Trump administration will be … Continue reading Women’s Marches: From protest to movement?
By DAVID KIELY and CHRISTINE MARIE With the advent of the Trump administration and a conservative Congress, women and their allies marched in Washington and in hundreds of other cities on Jan. 21. The fact that the Washington march blossomed from a little seed into a huge national undertaking almost overnight is a sign that millions … Continue reading Can capitalism liberate women?
By ANN MONTAGUE and MICHAEL SCHREIBER Jan. 21 laid the foundations for a powerful movement for women’s rights. The Women’s Marches, which took place in Washington, D.C., in over 600 sister U.S. towns and cities, and in many more cities around the world, were an unprecedented expression of the determination of women and men to … Continue reading The largest protest in U.S. history: Women’s marches draw 4 million
By CHRISTINE MARIE Hundreds of thousands are joining the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. On the same day, at least 200 sister marches are taking place in cities and towns all over the United States. The outpouring, which reportedly began as two social media posts in response to the defeat of Hillary Clinton … Continue reading Which way forward for women in 2017?
By ANN MONTAGUE A mass march of women will take place in the nation’s capital on Jan. 21, 2017. This is the first full day that Donald Trump will be president, and will follow demonstrations that are being called for Inauguration Day. The call states, “We will stand in solidarity with our partners and children … Continue reading Forward to the Women’s March on Washington!
By ANN MONTAGUE In October there were mass protests linked with strike activity by women in three countries. The feminist strike demands were unique to each country and an indication of increased militancy around demands that address issues women have been fighting for year after year. Poland: Abortion On Oct. 3, seven million women throughout … Continue reading Women strike around the world
By TATIANA COZZARELLI After the shocking tape discussing sexual assault, how can women fight against Trump’s misogyny? Hillary is no alternative, with her imperialist policies abroad and a history of hurting working women in the US. Last week’s examples from Argentina and Poland show women a way forward in the fight against misogyny and for … Continue reading How to fight for women’s rights in the Age of Trumpism
By ANN MONTAGUE — JUNE 27 — Women are celebrating today in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building after a 5-3 ruling reaffirmed Roe v. Wade and struck down two provisions of a Texas state law that restricts women’s access to abortion. The 2013 law that the court nullified required all abortions to take … Continue reading Supreme Court strikes down Texas anti-abortion law
By ANN MONTAGUE In one of the early Democratic Party debates, in order to inflate her credentials as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton threw out an off-the-cuff comment about her relationship with Henry Kissinger: “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better—better than anybody had run it in a … Continue reading Clinton, Kissinger and the coup in Honduras
By CHRISTINE MARIE “The most significant abortion rights case in a generation.” “The greatest threat to reproductive justice in 25 years.” These are just a few of the headlines to the many articles providing background to the news that on March 2, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. … Continue reading Defend reproductive justice for women!
By ANN MONTAGUE Jan. 22 marked the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which ruled that abortion is a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. Rallies in cities around the country reflected the fact that the right to abortion continues to be under attack through state restrictions, continual anti-abortion rhetoric, and … Continue reading Planned Parenthood cleared of false charges
By JOHN WILSON “The Danish Girl,” 1 hr. 59 min., directed by Tom Hooper. “The Danish Girl” is a mesmerizing, moving account of how transgender pioneer Lili Elbe (originally Einar Wegener) came to be one of the first persons known to have gender reassignment surgery. Adapted from David Ebershoff’s fictionalized novel of 2000, it features Eddie … Continue reading Film: The Danish Girl
By ANN MONTAGUE As soon as the news first broke of a gunman’s murderous assault inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Col., women all over the country understood the meaning of the attack. The Nov. 27 shooting was another attack on a woman’s right to abortion. But that is not how it was … Continue reading Clinic shooting: Defend women’s rights!
By CHRISTINE MARIE On Tuesday, Sept. 29, women in at least 90 cities around the United States demonstrated in defense of the health provider Planned Parenthood. “Pink Out Day,” the organizers state, provided the opportunity to say: “Listen to over a million Americans who are sick and tired of the relentless attacks on reproductive health … Continue reading Women protest attacks on Planned Parenthood
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH I liked “Mad Max Fury Road” much more than I thought I would. Critics seemed to focus on only the action, of which there was scads—relentless, spectacular, and loud. Cirque du Soleil gone gritty: Men clinging to the tops of swaying poles attached to souped-up speeding cars while blasting with automatic weapons. … Continue reading Film: Mad Max Fury Road
By STEFANIE LEVI The struggle for women’s right to choose gained an important, if temporary, victory in the state of Texas. On June 29, in a five to four vote, the U. S. Supreme Court blocked HB2, a portion of Texas’ new abortion laws that would have forced the July 1 closure of many of … Continue reading Court blocks Texas anti-abortion law
By CHRISTINE MARIE “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” a documentary film directed and produced by Mary Dore, 2014. When the noted documentary filmmaker Mary Dore set about to tell the story of the beginning of the feminist movement that burst onto the scene in the mid-1960s, she could find no funders. Dore was supported when … Continue reading Film: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry
By CHRISTINE MARIE The fight to save the planet as a viable home to our species will require the most powerful social movement ever organized. Necessarily central to that project is solidarity and collaboration with those who are most immediately vulnerable to the dire effects of the capitalist carbon-fueled economy. An international movement that fails … Continue reading Should ‘population’ be on climate agenda?
