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

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob:
Is it possible to post here the article to which this is a response? Also
perhaps you could post some material to illustrate your assertions that a)
the organizing of these actions was done by people who have never been
concerned with issues of gender, race, etc and b) that the organizers
failed to include the women's community.
H.

On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, bob brown wrote:

>
> --
> "solidarity means sharing the same risks" - Che
> ( la solidarita significa correre gli stessi rischi)
>
> ----------
> 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.
>
>
>
>      --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>

............................................................................
Snail-mail:
Harry Cleaver
Department of Economics
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1173  USA

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Chiapas95 homepage:
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Accion Zapatista homepage:
http://www.utexas.edu/students/nave/
............................................................................



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