This
is a call from Radical Women to mark the 91st. anniversary of women
getting the vote in the USA, 1920, approximately 8 years after their
sisters in the UK. The problems the people face in America today are
not unique to America, they are the same problems that the ordinary
people the world over face. Where capitalism exists, the ordinary
people are being exploited. As capitalism hits one of its recurring
crisis the gloves come off and it is raw capitalism with all the
brutality needed for it to survive. It can't survive without gross
exploitation of the people. Like the article says, there is still
much to fight for, the battle is not over yet, but with a mammoth
effort of solidarity it could be.
Happy
Women's Rights Day! This August 26
celebrates women winning the vote in the U.S. 91 years ago. Today
Radical Women honours the suffrage movement and its militant,
multiracial fighters. These women--Sojourner Truth, Clara Lemlich,
Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, Sarah Grimke, and so many
more--rebelled against enforced second-class status to organize
courageously for equal rights. We will be forever grateful for their
work.
Gaining access to
the ballot did not eliminate oppression, however. The battle for
justice continues. Many hard-earned gains of the feminist movement
are being targeted in today's atmosphere of increasing bigotry and
scape-goating.
In response to
the economic quagmire in the U.S., the right wing has launched a
full-scale attack against women, queers, immigrants, people of
colour, labour unions, and the working class as a whole. They label
immigrant mothers an "invasion by birth canal," oppose
gay marriage, and try to destroy ethnic studies. Politicians on both
sides of the aisle advocate cutting funding for abortion and
reproductive health services while eliminating the right of public
workers, who are predominantly female and people of colour, to
bargain collectively.
It is no surprise
that the Tea Party and Republicans have ridden this wave, but
Democrats, who captured many women's support with campaign promises
of relief, have blatantly exposed themselves as complicit promoters
of these slash-and-burn politics. Congress' bipartisan debt-reduction
super committee, for instance, is simply a cover to cut Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security, education funding and a host of human
services. Both capitalist parties are quick to abandon the facade of
representing working class interests to cater to the wealthy and
large corporations.
The poor, women
and people of colour are disproportionately among the hardest hit
when services are reduced. Women, of course, bear the greatest burden
for the welfare of their families and are forced to shoulder more
tasks at home to compensate for service cutbacks.
During these
difficult times, organized fight-backs--with women at the
forefront--are breaking out. Taking a cue from the rebellions in the
Middle East, teachers in Wisconsin sparked a series of protests
against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union onslaught. Support from across
the world poured in as intrepid unionists shut-down business as usual
in Madison. Demonstrations and sit-ins at state capitals across the
nation have demanded an end to union-busting, corporate give aways
and balancing the budget on the backs
of poor people.
Radical Women
(RW) is deeply immersed in building this fight. In California, RW
initiated Sisters United Front for
Survival that calls for steeply taxing
the rich and big businesses and shutting down wars to pay for vital
services. Similarly, Sisters Organize
for Survival, a grassroots project of
Seattle Radical Women, led a "Flip
the Funding" fight in
Washington State. SOS issued an alternative budget based on the state
meeting its obligation to help people survive, not boost corporate
profits.
Nationally, RW
supported the Save Our Schools conference and march in Washington
D.C. in July, where thousands of teachers, parents and community
activists gathered to demand full funding and support for public
education. RW garnered endorsements from over a dozen unions in four
states and sent a contingent to D.C.
Radical Women's
strategy is to encourage united labor and community mobilizations to
fight budget cuts and defend workers' rights. RW members have gone
door-to-door, spoken at union meetings, made presentations to
community groups, initiated demonstrations, hosted forums, mobilized
people to testify before city, county and state
committees,
launched petition campaigns, and more.
SOLIDARITY.
Since Republicans
and Democrats are part of the problem, the only way to exercise our
democratic rights is to build an organized, militant, and feminist
working-class movement that goes beyond voting for capitalist
politicians. We need labour unions to step up to leadership and shake
things up across the country, from taking capital buildings to
calling general strikes. And how about building a feminist labour
party that genuinely represents all workers' interests?
We workers, union
and non-union, female and male, create
the wealth, and we should control it, too!
There is no reason for us to tolerate the existence of a class of
exploiters who use our labour just to enrich themselves at our
expense. As long as capitalism is king, women, queers, people of
colour, immigrants, and the entire working class, will get an ever
shortening end of the stick.
Radical Women has
been engaged in the grassroots, feminist fight for an egalitarian
socialist society since 1967. Join the struggle! You can learn more
about RW's theory and program by reading The
Radical Women Manifesto. Check
out www.radicalwomen.org
to learn what the chapter in your city is doing,
and get involved. If we don't have a chapter in your area, contact
RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com
about building one. You can also
help us
continue our work by donating
here. A solution to these rocky
times is within reach! We will save our future through a united
labour and community struggle for a just, worker-controlled economic
structure, and the time is now.
In solidarity,
Cee
Fisher
Radical Women
