www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, June-July 2006Woman as ReasonNew stage of women's movement?by Terry Moon "We the women, hard-working laborers of society; we are celebrating March 8 with all the women of the world to take control of our lives from the claws of poverty and exploitation. We join to take back our lives from the quiet corners of workshops, from our houses that have turned into jails, and from the street corners that we were pushed into. We are struggling against the system that pushes us to more poverty everyday, that feminized poverty. We are struggling for a system where honor killings or women's suicides do not exist, where we can send our kids to free schools and pre-schools, where we are not subject to any aggression from fathers, husbands or the state, where we are not the cheapest workers in the factories, free workers in the fields, forced workers at home." --Ilknur Birol, Peoples Houses Organization, Turkey Did international Women's Day (IWD) this year only mark another instance of women's continuing resistance; or did it show the Women's Liberation Movement reaching for a new stage? What was new internationally was the breadth and depth of the demonstrations; the new leadership, some of which arose from the poorest, most exploited; and that the Reason expressed revealed a new militancy, and demands so total that to meet them would mean a transformation of existing society. Most revealing is the struggle against a fundamentalist Islam that views women as less than human. Demonstrations by thousands took place the world over. Women in Iran led the way. It was not only that the demonstrations in many cities in Iran, particularly in Tehran--where 1,000 came--were militant, despite being brutally attacked. But a new stage was revealed in the ORGANIZATION of these demonstrations in cities across the globe--including the U.S. and Canada, and a march from Frankfurt, Germany, to The Hague--and at the same time in Iran while living under one of the most repressive fascist police states: Islamic fundamentalism in power for 27 years. 1979--A TURNING POINT IWD 1979 in Iran was a turning point as Khomeini was stealing the fruit of the revolution, and ordered the women to wear the Chador. When tens of thousands came into the street, chanting, "At the dawn of freedom, we have no freedom!" only some of the Iranian Left supported them. At that time Raya Dunayevskaya, the founder of Marxist-Humanism, proclaimed that to be the turning point of the revolution, when it could have moved forward had not the Left succumbed to Khomeini's lies that the women were "agents of imperialism" and the U.S. was the only enemy to fight. That Palestinian women learned from their Iranian sisters was revealed on IWD this year when Hamas supporters challenged the women's demonstration, calling IWD a "western phenomenon and therefore alien to Palestinian culture and tradition." Margo Sabella, member of a pro-Palestinian women's organization, responded: "The Palestinian women's movement can be traced back to at least the early 20th century and is unquestionably part of the universal women's movement which must be encouraged in order for humanity to truly achieve justice, liberty, freedom, and equality for all." The "universal women's movement" came to full flower this year as, from below, women like Malalai Joya in Afghanistan (see Malalai Joya speaks) have arisen. Mukhtar Mai of Pakistan is another. From the moment she dared say "No" to those who gang-raped her at the order of her village elders in Pakistan, her self-development has been ceaseless: fighting her rapists, the village elders who ordered the rape, the courts, and finally President Musharraf when he imprisoned her to keep her from coming to the U.S. Women like Joya and Mai voice the aspirations of hundreds of thousands and make it possible for others to challenge an oppressive reality. UNIVERSAL OF FREEDOM These are only a fraction of the issues taken up: Brazil: 10,000 marched to decriminalize abortion and end violence against women; Pakistan: 5,000 marched against rape and honor killings; Bangladesh: thousands in over 30 cities denounced acid attacks; Acheh: women marched against acid attacks and the imposition of Shari'a law; India: 4,000 sex workers, lesbians and transgendered people marched against police harassment; Turkey: despite savage police beatings last year, thousands marched, declaring "We will not be silenced"; Philippines: thousands marched protesting child pornography, violence against women, and president Gloria Arroyo's attacks on women's rights. What points towards the movement reaching a new stage--beyond the internationalist organizing, the leadership from below, and the masses in the streets--is the totality of demands, the Reason expressed. Women are demanding to be comprehended as fully human. Everywhere they have challenged the claim that culture is sacrosanct. By their action and thought they have presented the most serious challenge to cultural relativism and put forward in its place the Universal of full human freedom. When a high point like this is achieved, the next step is to build upon it in theory as well as in practice and challenge the very foundations of capitalist society. |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
