Revolution #158, March 8, 2009
Coming Next Issue in the Special 2-Week Issue of Revolution Newspaper (#158)
From: A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation of all Humanity:
The fabric of women's oppression is carved deeply into the calloused hands of women in the sweatshops of China and Honduras. It is draped over the faces of young women in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. It is stripped off the bodies of girls of Moldova and Bangkok who are put up for sale in brothels worldwide, and it is worn like a prize by pre-teens in the U.S. and Europe who are taught to dress and move like sex objects long before they understand what sex even is. This fabric ropes back into history, it winds its way around the globe, braided into all the dominant religions and "moral codes" and woven into every aspect of human societies. It is a heavy veil that casts the darkness of humanity's first oppressive divisions over the lives, the dreams, and the prospects of every corner of humanity in the 21st century.
To live like this on this planet in the 21st century cannot be justified and should not be accepted. None of this can be tolerated or excused away with counsel of patience.
WE DECLARE: NO MORE!
Catch your breath and then get started making bold and creative plans—commensurate with what you just read from this path-breaking Declaration. It exposes in a compelling way the oppression of women in class society and goes beyond that as it develops and deepens existing communist theory and theoretical analysis as to where this oppression comes from, why it exists and what we have to do to get rid of it and all oppression as we emancipate all humanity. It lays bare the paltry programs and moral and ideological bankruptcy of those who claim the mantle of women’s advance but only mean getting in on the world as it is. It presents a vision of what socialism and communism could be like, building on and going beyond the experience in socialist societies so far. There really has never been anything like this Declaration!
This needs to get into the hands of anyone who gives a damn about the oppression of women. To young women and men on high school and college campuses across the country, progressive professors, international student groups, projects in the inner cities, progressive suburbs, immigrants and immigrant organizations, masses from Harlem to Oakland, anti-war organizations, gay and lesbian groups, prominent cultural and intellectual figures—all these, and many, many more.
We need to have thought-provoking discussions and debates in classrooms, in living rooms, at conferences, on the street, at Revolution Books, at International Women’s Day events, at Starbucks and at McDonald’s in neighborhoods.
This Declaration can serve to shake people loose from their pre-conceived notions, challenge some deeply held ideas which are narrowing their visions, and liberate their thinking. This Declaration can inspire and bring forward a whole new generation who are looking for another way. But it can do all of this only if it gets into people’s hands—men as well as women.
People will agree, welcoming this, and disagree, perhaps rather vehemently. We want to wade into the much-needed debate. We want the hardest questions and the most probing inquiries.
And then when you do all of this, write in to the paper to let us know what you are learning, what people are saying, where and how it is getting out into society.
Let’s go out and shake things up!
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