Revolution #226, March 6, 2011
Suggestion for Creative Manifestation on International Women's Day
To our readers –
We received the following letter, which we thought raised an important point and a good suggestion on following through. We do urge people who read the paper to see if they can do this.
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From a Reader:
I noticed, in the "Events" part of the newspaper, references to programs for International Women’s Day. But it is not clear to me if more than just a program is being planned anywhere. It seems to me as if it could be possible for some kind of manifestation to also take place: a march?...a rally?...some kind of creative demonstration, infused with the spirit of "A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity," and with the revolutionary communist outlook and objectives, while reaching very broadly? While it is late in the day in regard to this, we should still consider some kind of activity of this kind, perhaps in conjunction with, or (so to speak) "flowing out of" programs being planned. Even if such activity were small, if it had the appropriate content and spirit, it could still be meaningful, in addition to a program...
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A further comment from the editors:
It is important to note the setting for this International Women’s Day. There have been extremely ugly attacks on women, concentrated on women’s reproductive rights, coming out of Congress and the state legislatures. At the same time, there has been important resistance to this as well – 5,000 people demonstrated recently in New York against the cuts being proposed in Congress to funding for Planned Parenthood (and note that this funding – which is under severe attack – doesn’t even cover abortion but is only for contraceptive and health service – which gives a real sense of the full program of these "pro-life" forces).
There is also the upsurge in the Middle East and North Africa. There are different trends within this upsurge – those who would advance the emancipation of women, but those who would reinforce tradition’s chains. Indeed, it is on this very question – the oppression and subjugation of women, and attacks on rights that have been won through decades of determined struggle – where the Christian Fascists in the U.S. and the Islamic fundamentalist forces internationally share "common ground."
In this situation, a determined manifestation of some kind – even if starting out relatively small – could have real impact and magnetism, and make an important statement.
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