Re: ML interview by RN

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

At 15:23 17/03/2007, jim wrote:
> FWIW, the MS thesaurus tells me
> that "protagonist" has "hero" as a
> synonym. We on the left have long talked about the heroism of
> working
> people. (Of course, in the 1992 silly sci-fi cyberpunk novel _Snow
> Crash_ by Neal Stephenson, the hero is named Hiro
> Protagonist.

When I googled 'protagonistic', appropriately the first item
was:

The Protagonistic Role of Women in Latin America

by Rachel Rodriguez

Raquel Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican pastor and theologian who teaches at the Ecumenical Department of Investigations (DEI) in San Jose, Costa Rica.

It is impossible not to notice the protagonistic role in society which the women of Latin America and the Caribbean have played in the last two decades. This role was even more massive and evident in the 1980's.

There are many reasons why the women no longer play the traditional role assigned to them by society and patriarchal culture, which relegated them to the privacy of the home. Numerous studies conclude that the principal reasons for this are the effects of the political and economic crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean these past two decades, and how this had touched their very existence, leading them to a struggle for the defense of life and for survival. This struggle is a result not only of the economic crisis, but of political repression by the State.

One of the most significant features of this protagonistic role of the women in society has been the capacity that many of them have had to unite their efforts and confront the new role that they have had to play in society in a collective and organized fashion. This has prevented the march of the women from turning into an isolated and individual effort. What began as an individual effort became, in many cases, the beginning of women's organization. And these organizations, in some cases, have become an even broader women's movement. At this time we are beginning a new stage in which this women's movement is becoming a social movement with sufficient political power to act, organize and mobilize itself in order to transform our patriarchal society in a more just society which excludes no one.

Groups such as the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, the COMADRES in El Salvador (to name some of the groups of women which arose as a result of state repression against the women and their relatives), the popular soup-kitchens in Peru, the production cooperatives in several countries in the region, the artisan workshops, the small business enterprises are some of the communitarian examples of struggle against the economic crisis and political repression which speak to us of the political, economic and social impact of the women...

Against Whom Are We Struggling?

We believe that one of the things which can help advance the women's movement is the serious reflection on who is "our enemy." Who are we struggling against? This reflection has been initiated and continues to be part of the reflection of some of the groups within the women's movement, but it has not reached all the groups. The reasons are many. Here we want to emphasize two reasons we consider are very important, without pretending these are the only reasons.

One reason may be found within the movement and has to do with the genesis of the
rganization of women's collectives. The urgency for women to confront the economic crisis has led them to a struggle for the defense of life, and for personal survival and survival of the family. This struggle becomes very difficult when it must confront the injustices of the political-economic system, without the necessary means which the system itself defines as indispensable. This pushes the women towards organizing themselves, as they realize that collectively that have more probability to survive the crisis.

Still, we have to recognize that this struggle consumes much energy and time. The women have to develop all of their creativity to be able to survive. This has been the history of many women's collectives, especially during the 1980's when the political and economic situation became even more critical in our region. The crisis does not appear to be getting any better, and the women need to find alternative ways of generating a real change in the social, economic and political structures so that they won't always be struggling just to survive. With the worsening of the economic crisis, the women have to give much more time and energy to this struggle. This situation has become one of the reasons why many organizations have not been able to dedicate time to deepening their reflection about where our efforts should be directed, so that there can be a real change and genuine social transformation which permits us to live without having to constantly struggle to survive.

The other reason why we have not been able to deepen our reflection is external to the women's movement, but has to do with the stereotypes which our patriarchal society has given our movement. We say our "patriarchal society" because both men and women have internalized the patriarchal ideology and reproduce it, unless they have become aware and have made an option to struggle against it....

http://www.epica.org/Library/women/la_women.htm

Michael A. Lebowitz

Professor Emeritus

Economics Department

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela.

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