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women [2018/01/14 11:58]
Jenny Greeman [RG- The Dance Craze to Save the World]
women [2018/03/09 17:32]
admin
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 Thus, thanks partly to social media, the ancient wall of silence surrounding male violence and bosses’ ‘right’ to compel sexual favors with impunity had been breached. That breach was first opened up by women in the celebrity class, and through it poured a vast army of angry, indignant lower-ranking female workers and employees who were tired of suffering fear, humiliation or sexual violence on the job and were now also demanding justice. This flame of women in revolt spread from one country to another and eventually grew into an international mass movement to put an end to male predation in the workplace and contest the patriarchal power on which the then-existing class system was based. ​ Thus, thanks partly to social media, the ancient wall of silence surrounding male violence and bosses’ ‘right’ to compel sexual favors with impunity had been breached. That breach was first opened up by women in the celebrity class, and through it poured a vast army of angry, indignant lower-ranking female workers and employees who were tired of suffering fear, humiliation or sexual violence on the job and were now also demanding justice. This flame of women in revolt spread from one country to another and eventually grew into an international mass movement to put an end to male predation in the workplace and contest the patriarchal power on which the then-existing class system was based. ​
  
- Celebrity Sex Scandals+== Celebrity Sex Scandals ​==
  
 The spark that lit the flame in 2017 was the publication in early October, of a NY Times  story detailing numerous accusations of sexual harassment against a powerful movie producer named Harvey Weinstein, whose films had won a number of Academy Awards. The story detailed three decades'​ worth of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact accusations made against Weinstein by a number of women, including actress Ashley Judd. The story started a flood of new accusations from dozens of other women, including some who said Weinstein had raped them.  The spark that lit the flame in 2017 was the publication in early October, of a NY Times  story detailing numerous accusations of sexual harassment against a powerful movie producer named Harvey Weinstein, whose films had won a number of Academy Awards. The story detailed three decades'​ worth of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact accusations made against Weinstein by a number of women, including actress Ashley Judd. The story started a flood of new accusations from dozens of other women, including some who said Weinstein had raped them. 
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 Then, in an amazing gesture of solidarity, elite celebrity women in the US organized the TimesUp initiative and reached across class lines to the millions of underprivileged working women. They used their visibility to bring to light the struggles of women farm workers, domestic workers, restaurant workers, native Americans and others, dramatically inviting representative leaders of these movements to appear as their guests at the Golden Globes awards ceremony before an audience of millions. In addition to demanding legislative action to protect women workers, the celebrity women also created a legal fund to help low-paid women to bring suits against abusive employers. In an expression of acute class consciousness,​ the well-paid celebrity women referred to their own powerlessness as employees in a male-dominated capitalist industry not different in essence from the position of waitresses and other low-paid female employees obliged to please their mostly-male bosses to get hired or keep their jobs. Called Time’s Up, the movement was announced with an impassioned pledge of support to working-class women in an open letter signed by hundreds of women in show business, many of them A-listers. The letter also ran as a full-page ad in The New York Times, and in La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper. Time’s Up also helps defuse criticism that the spotlight on the #MeToo movement has been dominated by the accusers of high-profile men, while the travails of working-class women have been overlooked.This was highlighted in November, when an open letter was sent on behalf of 700,000 female farmworkers who said they stood with Hollywood actresses in their fight against abuse. Time’s Up members said the letter bolstered their resolve to train their efforts on both Hollywood and beyond. Then, in an amazing gesture of solidarity, elite celebrity women in the US organized the TimesUp initiative and reached across class lines to the millions of underprivileged working women. They used their visibility to bring to light the struggles of women farm workers, domestic workers, restaurant workers, native Americans and others, dramatically inviting representative leaders of these movements to appear as their guests at the Golden Globes awards ceremony before an audience of millions. In addition to demanding legislative action to protect women workers, the celebrity women also created a legal fund to help low-paid women to bring suits against abusive employers. In an expression of acute class consciousness,​ the well-paid celebrity women referred to their own powerlessness as employees in a male-dominated capitalist industry not different in essence from the position of waitresses and other low-paid female employees obliged to please their mostly-male bosses to get hired or keep their jobs. Called Time’s Up, the movement was announced with an impassioned pledge of support to working-class women in an open letter signed by hundreds of women in show business, many of them A-listers. The letter also ran as a full-page ad in The New York Times, and in La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper. Time’s Up also helps defuse criticism that the spotlight on the #MeToo movement has been dominated by the accusers of high-profile men, while the travails of working-class women have been overlooked.This was highlighted in November, when an open letter was sent on behalf of 700,000 female farmworkers who said they stood with Hollywood actresses in their fight against abuse. Time’s Up members said the letter bolstered their resolve to train their efforts on both Hollywood and beyond.
  
- +== Collective Resistance ​==
- +
- Collective Resistance+
    
 Encouraged by the TimesUp initiative, low-wage women, formerly too poor to bring a lawsuit and too obscure to interest the media, struck back collectively. They picked up the method of struggle they were most familiar with: the picket line. First in NY, then in Paris and around the world, “Out Your Pig!” picket lines began springing up in front of McDonald’s and other fast-food emporiums. Indignant women carried ​ picket signs demanding predators be fired including the names (and photos) of the bosses they were outing. While guilty supervisors cringed inside and desperately called headquarters for help, customers, both female and male, turned away or joined the pickets. Local media had a field day covering the picketing, videos of confrontations went viral, and “Out Your Pig” picket lines sprung up outside hospitals, factories, retail stores wherever bosses and supervisers were using their power to abuse their workers. Encouraged by the TimesUp initiative, low-wage women, formerly too poor to bring a lawsuit and too obscure to interest the media, struck back collectively. They picked up the method of struggle they were most familiar with: the picket line. First in NY, then in Paris and around the world, “Out Your Pig!” picket lines began springing up in front of McDonald’s and other fast-food emporiums. Indignant women carried ​ picket signs demanding predators be fired including the names (and photos) of the bosses they were outing. While guilty supervisors cringed inside and desperately called headquarters for help, customers, both female and male, turned away or joined the pickets. Local media had a field day covering the picketing, videos of confrontations went viral, and “Out Your Pig” picket lines sprung up outside hospitals, factories, retail stores wherever bosses and supervisers were using their power to abuse their workers.
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 In France and Morocco, the outing of vastly popular Morroaccan singer Saad Lamjarred exposed the underlying culture when the women he raped was villified and the King supported the rapist. “This case is a little summary of the reality in Morocco,” said Saida Kouzzi, a founding partner of Mobilizing for Rights Associates, a nongovernmental organization based in Morocco. “We can be tolerant about rape and forget all moral and religious values when it concerns men,” she added, “while at the same time we are not willing to protect women.” Marital rape is not a crime in Morocco, and sex outside of marriage is illegal. Both rules discourage rape victims from coming forward because of the fear of being incriminated,​ advocates said. “Going to the police to file a complaint about rape can also become an admission of having sex outside of marriage,​” Ms. Kouzzi said. In France and Morocco, the outing of vastly popular Morroaccan singer Saad Lamjarred exposed the underlying culture when the women he raped was villified and the King supported the rapist. “This case is a little summary of the reality in Morocco,” said Saida Kouzzi, a founding partner of Mobilizing for Rights Associates, a nongovernmental organization based in Morocco. “We can be tolerant about rape and forget all moral and religious values when it concerns men,” she added, “while at the same time we are not willing to protect women.” Marital rape is not a crime in Morocco, and sex outside of marriage is illegal. Both rules discourage rape victims from coming forward because of the fear of being incriminated,​ advocates said. “Going to the police to file a complaint about rape can also become an admission of having sex outside of marriage,​” Ms. Kouzzi said.
-  + 
- Women and the Labor Movement+== Women and the Labor Movement ​==
  
 The womens’ new-found power naturally sparked further struggles for better wages and conditions. Historically,​ women workers’ resistance to the boss’ sexual predations had been at the origins of the organized labor movement. In 1905, many of the women who hand-painted the world-famous Limoges vases and figurines went on strike in France — not because they were poorly paid or toiled long hours, but because they were prey to the factory overseer’s sexual urges. In the 19th century similar struggles brought together young women textile workers in Massachusetts,​ U.S.A. in 1844 and so continued on. The womens’ new-found power naturally sparked further struggles for better wages and conditions. Historically,​ women workers’ resistance to the boss’ sexual predations had been at the origins of the organized labor movement. In 1905, many of the women who hand-painted the world-famous Limoges vases and figurines went on strike in France — not because they were poorly paid or toiled long hours, but because they were prey to the factory overseer’s sexual urges. In the 19th century similar struggles brought together young women textile workers in Massachusetts,​ U.S.A. in 1844 and so continued on.
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 In the U.S., the women workers’ revolt grew out of the developing 21st century culture of social-movement style labor organizing among low-paid workers. These underpaid jobs had long been consigned to women and oppressed minorities. Since 2012, the “Fight for $15” movement, backed by progressive unions like SEIU, had grown from a walkout by by 200 fast-food workers in NY City to a global movement of home health aides, child care teachers, airport workers, adjunct professors, retail employees – and underpaid workers in over 300 cities on six continents demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage. The change to “$15+Dignity” seemed hardly a big jump. Soon the ardent demand for gender justice was grafted on to a movement which was already allied with the movement for racial justice. In the U.S., the women workers’ revolt grew out of the developing 21st century culture of social-movement style labor organizing among low-paid workers. These underpaid jobs had long been consigned to women and oppressed minorities. Since 2012, the “Fight for $15” movement, backed by progressive unions like SEIU, had grown from a walkout by by 200 fast-food workers in NY City to a global movement of home health aides, child care teachers, airport workers, adjunct professors, retail employees – and underpaid workers in over 300 cities on six continents demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage. The change to “$15+Dignity” seemed hardly a big jump. Soon the ardent demand for gender justice was grafted on to a movement which was already allied with the movement for racial justice.
 Although in that period it was nearly impossible for low-paid workers to actually strike and legally win union rights under US labor laws, they were able to win victories by adapting the tactics of the civil rights movement through “direct action, taking to the streets, organizing” Indeed, the alliance between labor and the Black liberation movement went back to the 1960s, and you may have learned Martin Luther King met his assassination when went to Memphis, TE to support a municipal strike of Black garbage workers. This alliance was renewed in Memphis in 2017 by a public alliance between the ASCME union and  #Black Lives Matter. The women’s revolt for dignity completed the picture. Although in that period it was nearly impossible for low-paid workers to actually strike and legally win union rights under US labor laws, they were able to win victories by adapting the tactics of the civil rights movement through “direct action, taking to the streets, organizing” Indeed, the alliance between labor and the Black liberation movement went back to the 1960s, and you may have learned Martin Luther King met his assassination when went to Memphis, TE to support a municipal strike of Black garbage workers. This alliance was renewed in Memphis in 2017 by a public alliance between the ASCME union and  #Black Lives Matter. The women’s revolt for dignity completed the picture.
- Women Take the Lead+ 
 +== Women Take the Lead == 
 In the early 21st century, the most dynamic unions remaining on the dismal US labor scene were movements of majority female workers led by women, like the Chicago Teachers Union, the California Nurses and the Social Service Employees. In contrast, membership in traditional,​ male-dominated bureaucratic unions was at an all time low. Thus a new alliance, between labor, civil rights and the gender justice movement was being formed in the struggle against the male violence, openly racist billionnaire class war offensives of the Trump era.  In the early 21st century, the most dynamic unions remaining on the dismal US labor scene were movements of majority female workers led by women, like the Chicago Teachers Union, the California Nurses and the Social Service Employees. In contrast, membership in traditional,​ male-dominated bureaucratic unions was at an all time low. Thus a new alliance, between labor, civil rights and the gender justice movement was being formed in the struggle against the male violence, openly racist billionnaire class war offensives of the Trump era. 
 From the very beginning, women had taken the lead in uniting the fractured elements of the U.S. resistance to misogynist Trump. On January 21, 2017 the day after Trump was inaugurated,​ a national Woman’s March brought millions of women and their allies into the streets in Washington, New York, and six hundred cities in the U.S. and world-wide. As Trump’s support plummeted to 32% in the polls, the N.Y. Times reported that the women’s protest was three times the size of the Inauguration crowd. From the very beginning, women had taken the lead in uniting the fractured elements of the U.S. resistance to misogynist Trump. On January 21, 2017 the day after Trump was inaugurated,​ a national Woman’s March brought millions of women and their allies into the streets in Washington, New York, and six hundred cities in the U.S. and world-wide. As Trump’s support plummeted to 32% in the polls, the N.Y. Times reported that the women’s protest was three times the size of the Inauguration crowd.
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 EDITORS’ NOTE: In further chapters, we will discuss how women spearheaded the popular mass revolts that provoked a split in the U.S. ruling classes when the Trump administration called upon Federal troops to brutally disperse their demonstrations and sentenced activists to long prison terms. We will also study the origins of the famous March 8 International Assembly of Working Women, which inaugurated the first global strikes against ​ multinational corporations which forced them to their knees through a bottle-neck strategy interrupting their global supply-lines. ​ EDITORS’ NOTE: In further chapters, we will discuss how women spearheaded the popular mass revolts that provoked a split in the U.S. ruling classes when the Trump administration called upon Federal troops to brutally disperse their demonstrations and sentenced activists to long prison terms. We will also study the origins of the famous March 8 International Assembly of Working Women, which inaugurated the first global strikes against ​ multinational corporations which forced them to their knees through a bottle-neck strategy interrupting their global supply-lines. ​
  
-Topics For Further Discussion:+== Topics For Further Discussion ​== 
 Faced with an entrenched social evil, the media concensus in 2017 America was to indict “human nature” (which of course could not be changed!) instead of indicting politically sanctioned workplace oppression and inequality. Thus, the NY Times which first broke the story published an essay a month later entitled “The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido ”. The author, one Steven Marche, apparently blind to the power and impunity of a self-protective male establishment,​ accused “the nature of men in general” and concluded that “the problem at the heart of all this [is] the often ugly and dangerous nature of the male libido.” ​ Faced with an entrenched social evil, the media concensus in 2017 America was to indict “human nature” (which of course could not be changed!) instead of indicting politically sanctioned workplace oppression and inequality. Thus, the NY Times which first broke the story published an essay a month later entitled “The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido ”. The author, one Steven Marche, apparently blind to the power and impunity of a self-protective male establishment,​ accused “the nature of men in general” and concluded that “the problem at the heart of all this [is] the often ugly and dangerous nature of the male libido.” ​
  
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 Today in 2117 in our egalitarian society where women no longer fear male violence, where women are free to openly express their own libido and where social labor is cooperative and mostly voluntary, the question of “human nature” and the allegedly “uncontrollable” male libido” seem curiously antiquated. ​ Today in 2117 in our egalitarian society where women no longer fear male violence, where women are free to openly express their own libido and where social labor is cooperative and mostly voluntary, the question of “human nature” and the allegedly “uncontrollable” male libido” seem curiously antiquated. ​
  
- +==== RG- The Women’s Day Uprising ====
- +
-===== RG- The Women’s Day Uprising ​=====+
  
 How did the epochal Women’s Global Strike for Dignity begin? The idea was first broached at the huge All-Women’s Assembly organised at the World Social Forum the year before. The topic was “Women at Work,” and participating were organised networks of female workers and professionals in every field including agriculturists,​ market-women and garbage-pickers (from the million-member Indian Self-Employed Women'​s Union). Panelists of  specialists and women researchers documented what everyone already knew: women do most almost all the actually necessary work on the planet, both paid and unpaid. ​ How did the epochal Women’s Global Strike for Dignity begin? The idea was first broached at the huge All-Women’s Assembly organised at the World Social Forum the year before. The topic was “Women at Work,” and participating were organised networks of female workers and professionals in every field including agriculturists,​ market-women and garbage-pickers (from the million-member Indian Self-Employed Women'​s Union). Panelists of  specialists and women researchers documented what everyone already knew: women do most almost all the actually necessary work on the planet, both paid and unpaid. ​
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 Dave: Kim Stanley-Robinson-"​2312"​ Diversity of sexuality. Dave: Kim Stanley-Robinson-"​2312"​ Diversity of sexuality.
 +
 +FRED: Once femininism is introduced into Utopia it ramifies out to other needs and demands, like oppressed minorities, affecting the whole society. Cf Engels "​condition of women expresses condition of the whole society." ​
 +
 +Sam: Charlotte Perkins Gilman'​s HERLAND uptopia. Women reproduced their own kind. 
 +
 +RG summarized Anna's WIKI piece on collective childrearing. Anthropological contribution and archiological evidence.
 +
 +David cited two books (please fill in, David) from a Marxist viewpoint. Lisa Vogal (?) and social reproduction theory. KS Robinson comes from a sort of neo-malthusian perspective projected into future. He is utopian, not distopian -- refreshing and inspiring. Distopia pushing people back into escapism.
 +
 +MOSCOW back again !!!! Scandal in Western countries. Different internationally. Women need rights as citizens. Basic rights of 20th century needed NOW. Christian and Muslims both repress women. Monks write public school state school texts on family life. Women in Iran make revolution by removing their veils and defying religious taboo. Women'​s lib comes with liberation of whole working class.
 +
 +David: Netflix series of imagined history of gang in Manchester. ​ Peekee Blinders.'​Jesse Eden a real person organized women in a huge general strike around 1933, active Communist, tenants organizer etc  Dave will send her bio. Progressive messages in series. Women working for gang walk out and join general strike, struggle for equal wages, abuse at work. Powerful. Popular culture today showing progressive examples, prefiguration (Ernst Bloch), even in corporate culture.
 +
 +Alexei: among these sources one by Meryl ???? why the armed Kurdish women fighting ISIS where women are bearers of civilization against barbarism, dispelling myths about womens'​ '​backwardness'​ fighting not for '​western'​ values but HUMAN values; building democratic society as SUBJECTS of liberation not formal liberation as in USSR.Would like someone to report on this here.  ​
 +
 +David knows someone. Anna is studying this. 
 +
 +FRED: Nextweek: violence, non-violence,​ and self-defense (Kurdish women) ​
women.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/04 13:01 by admin