AUT: FW: letter-to-ed of Village Voice re: "New Movement"

["bob brown" <vacirca@xxxxxxxxx>]

--
"solidarity means sharing the same risks" - Che
( la solidarita significa correre gli stessi rischi)

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Subject: letter-to-ed of Village Voice re: "New Movement"
Date: Sun, Jul 23, 2000, 2:15 AM



Dear Friends:

Feel free to read my letter to the editor of the Village Voice in
response to their series of articles covering the anti-WTO/IMF movement.
While I am also against capitalism, like the protestors descibed, I felt
obliged, however, as an outsider, boycotter, and critic of this new
movement, to take this occassion to add some feminist insight into what
some problems with it are; problems in fact that have lingered in past
movement's concerning sexism, racism and homophobia.


letter to the editor

I would like to comment the writer of "Radical Rising" for broaching
the divide between feminist and LGBT communities and the anti-WTO/IMF
activists; a problem whose roots extend back into days of sexist,
racist, and homophobic politics within the Left and one that seems to
persists in this "new" anti-globalism leftist movement. Despite being a
progressive and feminist, I boycotted both the Seattle and DC protests,
not because I disagreed with the message, but because I believed that
the organizing bodies of the mobilizations failed to include the women's
community in their efforts, eventhough feminists have been waging a
global fight for economic justice throughout the nineties.

Our work in this area toward a global feminism, forged by the legendary
Bella Abzug (who traveled the world igniting feminism in Global South
countries) has gone unrecognized by this new movement that alleges to
strive to fight against some of the same social evils: exploitation,
poverty, and worker rights. So why has this anti-global movement not
encompassed the women's, LGBT communities?

Apparently, so it is said, there was a time when the labor, human
rights, and environmental movements did not agree with the banner
"women's rights are human rights" and had no concept of civil rights for
gays, lesbians and trangendered people. It's nice to see that they might
be coming around, but I assert that the animosity is still there and
question whether this new movement is really an integrated one or more a
copy of a past one.  The fact that women, people of color and GLBT
organizations were not adequately outreached to or involved in the DC
and Seattle protests is all too telling. And additionally criticism,
some included in the forementioned article of feminist and GLBT politics
speaks hypocritically. For the record, not all feminists were complacent
with Clinton's womanizing. As a feminist, I formed Friends of Juanita
and protested Clinton's alleged attack on Juanita Broadrick at the
Federal Courthouse in Manhattan, eventhough it was unpopular. Where were
these anti-global activists when the safey net was being rolled back,
affirmative action eliminated, violence against women an epidemic, AIDS
rising unchecked.

Or perhaps, where have they been all along? The fact is, they haven't
been on the same boat as women, civil rights, and GLBT activists whose
struggles have been toward equality. It is as if they have never seen
how these struggles are economic, social, political and environmental
and are in fact, really just coming around.

As someone who has organized to hold the line on some basic rights in an
era of massive social cut backs by New Democrat and social conservative
policies - when there weren't many allies - whether I and will join this
new movement is contingent on whether they will embrace women's rights,
civil rights, and gay rights.



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