feminism

The perfect word for perfect deception. That’s the truth. Bullshit, that is. All that you’re told is mendacious connivance. Period. Partly with the desire to confuse and distort but mostly out of laziness and intellectual torpor. No need to clarify or explain. No need to illuminate and counter the status quo. The Jurassic mainstream media in particular are mere trying to tread water, unaware that there’s a landslide upon them, nearing down and in its crosshairs. They’ve no interest in challenging convention or the status quo. No concerns either way about much of anything.

By Roqayah Chamseddine | Letters From The Underground | April 6, 2013 I loathe the premise that people of colour should be ‘grateful’ that others are taking notice of their subjugation, or that they should bite their tongues and clench their fists and instead show gratitude because their varied plights are being in some way ‘acknowledged‘ […]

The organic connection between women’s liberation and socialism has been shoved so deeply down the Memory Hole that most people know nothing about it. Women and Class: Towards a Socialist Feminism by Hal Draper, August Bebel, Eleanor Marx, Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg* and edited by E. Haberkern,brings this rich history to light, revealing important lessons that our rulers prefer we not learn.

By the end of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, two key questions were on the table for those who not only are aware of rape but would like to end men’s violence against women.
First, do we live in a rape culture, or is rape perpetrated by a relatively small number of predatory men?
Second, is rape a clearly definable crime, or are there gray areas in sexual encounters that defy easy categorization as either consensual or non-consensual?
If those seem to be tricky, or trick, questions, don’t worry. There’s an easy answer to both: patriarchy (more on that shortly).

“I don’t deserve to be raped! No one deserves to be.” These are the words printed on the signs made by thousands of Brazilian women who decided to join a massive online campaign launched through facebook last week. The campaign was organized after the Institute of Applied Research and Statistics (IPEA) made public the results of a survey which showed that 58% of the interviewed either completely or partially agreed that if women knew how to behave, there would be fewer cases of rape; and 65.1% agreed with the phrase “women wearing clothes that show off their bodies deserve to be attacked”.

This month is “Women’s History Month”, but what exactly is the importance of shedding light on the oppression of women under US/Western imperialism? If we understand the oppression of women as a necessary precondition of patriarchy, racism, and class exploitation inherent in the “Western way of life”, than it is untenable to imagine a world free of sexism without a world free of racism and class exploitation as well.  In this period, the US corporate media has mass advertised a mainstream “feminism” that promotes collaboration with the US ruling order.

TILONIA, INDIA –A few months ago, the Afghan Peace Volunteers began planning to send a small delegation of young women to India as guests of Barefoot College, a renowned initiative that uses village wisdom, local knowledge and practical skills available in the rural areas to improve villagers’ lives. After several suspenseful weeks wondering if families and governments would give permission for travel, we were finally able to tell hosts at the Barefoot College that we would soon be on our way.

Kanika Mishra’s cartoon looks at India’s khap panchayats, which are unelected all-male bodies opposed for having issued many misogynistic decrees, including ordering so-called honor killings.
A Reuters India story explained:

Karnika Kahen, the cartoon character was born when I was feeling very angry after reading the news about Godman Asaram Bapu, a high-profile guru who remarked that the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim, Nirbhaya,1 was equally guilty with those who raped, tortured, and killed her.

Note: As we always do here at DV, we open up intellectual and revolutionary space to keen eyes and sharp wits and wicked thinkers. Here, let’s look at a critique of the reactionary Nation  magazine’s Feb. 17, 2014 cover “work.” Or rather, cover hack job!
Written by M R Klein