Is this democracy? - University

Issue 6 | Summer 2004
THE
LEADERSHIP&
GOVERNANCE
ISSUE
KAREN
BASS:
TAKING ACTIVISM
TO THE ASSEMBLY
IRAQI FEMINISTS
ON DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM
WHO’S ON TOP?
LEADERSHIP IN THE BEDROOM
MUJERES CREANDO:
ANARCHA-FEMINISTS
WRITING ON THE WALLS
Free and Priceless
Summer 2004
Liberty
She takes off her crown, sets it on the
naugahyde seat. Props her enormous green feet
on the dash, the broken chain dangling.
“Where you headed,” he asks.
ISSUE 6
“I’ll know when I get there.”
“How about a little country music?” he asks.
By Alison Moore
“Which country?” she says.
She could topple at any moment, a plane
“Oh, come on, you know,” he says.
straying off course, a bomb in someone’s shoes.
“Perhaps some klezmer from Poland?”
The a
golden
door is bolted
“I’m talking ’bout
Cash. Where you
movement
to shut
end sexism, sexist exploitation
andJohnny
all oppression
and we didn’t even hear it close.
been?”
Once upon a time
“Standing in one spot for well over a hundred
thereFront
was a
country
years.”
cover:
Karen Bass
there was a we
So it’s “Cry, Cry, Cry,” all the way through
there was a people made of us.
Tucumcari, “I Walk the Line” way past Flagstaff.
Now the woman holding the light sighs deeply.
She tells him about the millions
Closed for business. She’s had enough. She’s
who cried when they saw her light. How terribly
stand on your
tired man
lonely she’s been lately.
bolivian and
anarcha-feminists:
hungry and too pooryou can have your
He tells her how he traded the farm for the
to stay open.
She’s yearning, yearning to be
old governance
structure
truck,
free somewhere
else. on
Shesacramento
lowers the light and
went in hock for the insurance. She nods.
karen bass
has her eyes
turns,
She knows. It’s expensive to be free.
organisation
of women’s freedom in iraq
dragging those broken shackles into New Jersey.
And so it’s “Folsom Prison Blues” all the way to
Cars whiz by, honking. She’s barefoot
Kingman,
man enough
for
job? Missouri, Oklahoma City
through
thethe
Midwest,
then down, down toward Calexico. Just north of
iris marion
young
responsible
looks
oh, so on
pretty
on what’s leftaction
of Route 66.
the border,
even in canada,
notArkansas
every woman
A trucker from
stops. leader is a feminist leader
a yellow highway warning sign:
She climbs
in, clanking.
a shadow family, hand in hand, running across
dean spade
on srlp’s
new collective structure
“Holynunca
shit,” he
says.un méxico sin derechos para mujeres
the highway. “What’s that?” she asks.
zapatistas:
más
“Illegal immigrant crossing,” he says.
the bush/kerry binary
“Let me out,” she says. “Right here.”
maxine waters in the house
“Didn’t get your name,” he says.
loudmouth goes fact-head: statistics, a timeline and more
“You know,” she says. “Or used to.”
mangazine: an original comic by samgela
She strides through the desert,
free battered women
tramples the prickly
arts in action
pear without a scratch. Stops
rawa on real freedom
when she gets to the border fence.
campus activism
She fires up the lamp, hoists the light,
puts the crown back, a little crookedly
civic participation 101
on her head. She waits.
at the head of the church
Before long, a family of four crawls
feminist cultural-arts education in l.a. public schools
toward the fence. She starts to speak
an educator of color reflects
to them. “Give me … ”
domestic leadership
It’s been so long. One of the children prompts
creative leaders: björk, ono, woolf, mendieta
her,
poem: alison moore
the boy, who’s been in school.
feminist leaders on leadership
“You’re tired,” he says. “You’re poor.”
“Yes,” she says, “I am.” The girl climbs
on to the ledge of her big toe.
from the heart of the editor
That’s what gets to her —
honoring our predecessors
the wonderful weight of this child,
know your feminist faculty
not huddled at all. Liberty weeps,
dear joanna — a health column
from all that time alone welcoming everyone
the f-word
who stitched together the scraps
the loudmouth list
of the American Dream.
And this one here, standing on her foot,
whatCenters
does she
want? Health
insurance?Los
The Women’s Resource Center (WRC) is part of the Cross Cultural
at California
State University,
An
E-ticket
ride
in
Disneyland?
The
child turns,
Angeles. Its mission is to encourage student learning as well as to foster an inclusive campus environment free
of racism,
shines a flashlight upward on her face.
sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. With a commitment to increasing cross-cultural awareness, we offer
“Libertad,” the child says, to remind her why
a wide variety of programs and services that explore both the shared and unique experiences, histories and heritages of
she came.
our diverse community. Please contact the WRC at: (323) 343-3370 or by mail at: University-Student Union, 5154 State
“Libertad.”
feminism: fem- -niz- m – n.
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WRC
EDITOR IN CHIEF...................... Jessica Hoffmann
COPY EDITOR........................... Jennifer Ashley
FOUNDING EDITOR.................. Stephanie Abraham
CONSULTING EDITOR..............Daria Teruko Yudacufski
DESIGNER................................. Eve NaRanong
e
15
19
e
4
10
On the Cover
Special
In Every Issue
University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032.
Alison Moore is the author of the novel Synonym for Love
and a collection of stories called Small Spaces Between
The views expressed in LOUDmouth do not necessarily reflect those of California
Illustration
bythe
Abelina
Galustian
State University, Los
Angeles,
University-Student
Union, or their students, staff or
administrators. And, because feminism is not a monolithic ideology, there may be as
many viewpoints expressed here as there are feminists. Opinions are those of their
respective authors and are not necessarily those of LOUDmouth.
LOUDmouth 29
Emergencies, both published by Mercury House.
Abelina Galustian is bold. See more of her work at
www.womansword.com.
Designed
by U-SU Graffix.
Editors Daria Teruko Yudacufski, Stephanie Abraham, Jennifer Ashley and Jessica Hoffmann
I
n the last two years, I’ve walked away from two feminist projects
with a heavy heart and a mind doubting its most hopeful
convictions. In both cases, where I’d hoped to be part of positive,
empowering collaboration, I found instead uneven concentrations of
power alongside gossip and general mistrust the likes of which I hadn’t
experienced since junior high. All the worst stereotypes of women in
social situations were manifest. But, with all the hope I’ve got left, I don’t
see these experiences as sad proof that “women really just can’t get
along,” as one friend sighed at the end of one of my last meetings with
a feminist “collective” in which there was no structure for sharing power,
expressing grievances or holding members accountable to collective
process. I believe, rather, that it’s a lack of conscious reckoning with
power, leadership, governance — in the context of our own
organizations — that’s holding us back, keeping us from working
together in a truly feminist way.
Given feminisms’ heterogeneity, it’s no surprise that debate has
long ensued regarding how to mirror our external politics in our internal
processes/structures. Today, from the heated debate over the Michigan
Womyn’s Music Festival’s “womyn-born womyn only” policy to the sad
trend of hostile internal meltdowns in so many Ladyfest organizing
groups, feminist organizations are struggling with how to work together
across differences — generational, political, national, ethnic, class,
gender and otherwise — in ways that empower us as individuals while
empowering our collaborative efforts. I believe that seriously
considering the way we structure our groups (Who makes decisions and
how? How do we handle disagreements?) is central to working together
across difference and dismantling hierarchies of knowledge and other
forms of power.
In the somewhat ironic and absolutely intriguing moment when I
found myself choosing to disengage from a so-called collective project
that I found deeply undemocratic and disempowering to step into editorin-chief shoes at this here feminist magazine, I knew I wanted to do an
issue on leadership and governance, looking at these themes as they
play out on the macro level of national governments and international
agencies as well as in our own feminist organizations and even in our
own homes.
The process of creating this issue of LOUDmouth provoked a
whole slew of new thoughts and experiences relating to feminist
leadership. There’s the obvious stuff: my thinking through suddenly
being in a leadership position when I’m not sure hierarchical power can
ever be fair — wondering how to balance efficiency with power-sharing,
feeling empowered by the trust and confidence that’s been placed in me
as editor in chief while wondering about who has access to that kind of
power (why me and not others?) and in what ways I may be
inadvertently (inescapably?) shutting out some perspectives and
privileging others.
CALLING
G
N
I
L
L
A
C
But then there’s been the rediscovery of the immanence of
collaboration, the wonderful way it happens when one makes the least
bit of space for it. The magazine you’re holding is not what I envisioned
when I sat at my desk, alone, in early spring, brainstorming its content.
It reflects some of my initial ideas, sure, but it’s different in ways I
couldn’t have anticipated, thanks to the ideas and work of everyone who
has contributed to it.
Now I can’t imagine this issue without some writing on religious
leadership. Yet until Stephanie Abraham pitched her piece, the topic
hadn’t even occurred to my secular mind. The idea of exploring
leadership in the classroom came up at our spring brainstorm meeting,
but I don’t think anyone at that meeting expected the sad, powerful and
very important kind of personal reflection that is Ruth Blandón’s
“Strange and Incongruous — Who, Me?” And, of course, I really wanted
a big, meaty feminist analysis of various governance structures — but
no one seemed to want to write it, and I didn’t want to give myself three
pages to publicly think through something that was maybe just a
personal obsession — especially not when multiple writers were
clamoring for space to write about leadership in the bedroom, and when
there were all these practical examples of feminist process to cover.
We’ve got an interview with Dean Spade about implementing collective
process at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and a look at a feministeducation project in L.A. public schools.
The clearest conviction I’ve got these days is in the value of
multiple strategies. That’s why this issue has info on the Bush/Kerry
race a few pages away from an interview with the Bolivian anarchafeminist group Mujeres Creando, thoughts on leadership from feminists
with titles like “executive director” as well as from anarchists who
question leadership in any form. This is my extrapolation of the radically
important ideas of Chandra Talpade Mohanty: I don’t believe in aiming
for sameness, singularly advocating any one feminist way, but I do hope
we can practice solidarity across our differences and value multiple
ways of working for justice — for a world in which we can all, differently,
thrive.
I’m not anywhere near done wondering what it means to be the
editor in chief of a feminist publication, but while I puzzle through that
and other questions, I’m determined to be the kind of chief that serves
to facilitate collaboration and widespread participation — which is why
I’m devoting part of this page to a call for others to participate in this
growing and always changing project.
I also want to use this space to say thank you to Stephanie
Abraham, LOUDmouth’s founding editor, without whom these pages
would not be in your hands and whose much-appreciated faith in me is
the reason I’m the writer of this ed’s letter, and Jennifer Ashley,
LOUDmouth’s meticulous copy editor, who is off to new adventures this
fall.
Jessica Hoffmann
Editor in Chief
Calling all LOUDmouths, aspiring LOUDmouths, LOUDmouths-in-hibernation:
LOUDmouth is seeking editors, writers, photographers and illustrators to join our team.
Are you the LOUDmouth for the job?
We’re looking for a new assistant editor, copy editor and lots of writers, photographers and illustrators.
Send submissions, queries, letters of interest, resumes and the like to [email protected].
LOUDmouth
2
CALLING
“BRING ’EM ON”a look at masculinity in politics
By Julia Stewart
I
n the U.S.A. we like our leaders to be decisive, in control,
straight-talking and direct. This sort of personality and behavior
usually wins our elected leaders the distinction of being
considered tough, which is one of the best things they can hope for
come re-election time. In the world of politics, there is little virtue in
espousing nuanced positions, changing your mind about an issue or
trying to explain to voters why an issue might be more complicated
than it appears. These sorts of behaviors will earn you the label of
“wimp,” “flip-flopper” or worse, “Massachusetts (a.k.a. Bleeding
Heart) Liberal,” none of which will boost your tough cred.
Unfortunately for those whose politics tend toward the liberal or left,
being a tough leader is increasingly conflated with embodying
traditional masculinity, and the Republican Party is unquestionably
the party of traditional masculinity, and of white men (Bush beat Al
Gore by 24 percentage points among white males in the 2000
election).
The signature issues of the Republican and
Democratic parties have become so
gendered, in fact, that the Democrats
have been described as the
“mommy” party, playing a
more nurturing role, and
Republicans
as
the
protector, “daddy” party. So
Democrats and left-leaning
politicians have to work extra
hard to overcome the perception
that liberal equals soft in order to
earn that magical descriptor —
“tough.”
Take, for example, Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, the
current and former governors of California.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a man’s man, a model
of traditional masculinity. His action-hero status,
bulging muscles and Hummer ownership all serve as
markers of his masculinity. Even the many allegations of
his boorish and harassing behavior toward women shored up
his he-man persona, garnering a “boys will be boys” pass from
many observers, including Holman Jenkins, a Wall Street Journal
editor who wrote, “His alleged groping suggested exactly the Arnold
of the movies, exuberant, wisecracking, physical and provocative.”
Gray Davis, by contrast, is a wimp. His monotone delivery, bland
personality and slight build rendered him the antithesis of a
possessing and dominating presence, and he was far from in control
of the massive energy crisis that wrecked the state’s economy.
But politics these days offer some interesting paradoxes, not
least of which is that if voters think you appear tough, they don’t
necessarily expect you to take “tough” (read: conservative) positions.
While in office, Gray Davis rejected every single recommendation of
the parole board, refusing to release a single convicted prisoner on
parole. He did this in order to position himself as tough on crime. By
contrast, the supposedly more conservative (and hence tougher)
Schwarzenegger has paroled nearly every prisoner the parole board
has recommended during his brief tenure in office. Unlike Davis,
Arnold doesn’t have to posture in order to appear tough. In fact, he
doesn’t need to do much at all.
Schwarzenegger’s vocal support of abortion rights, gay rights
and environmental protections raised some initial criticism from
hardcore Republicans that Arnold was just not conservative enough.
But his manly bearing, rather than adjustments to his political stance,
ended up winning over critics like Rush Limbaugh, who gushed about
his presence and charisma, and Pat Robertson, who endorsed Arnold
by saying, “I’m a body-builder. … So I think the weight lifters of the
world need to unite.”
LOUDmouth
3
Schwarzenegger’s revised May budget proposal is an
interesting case in point for the tough-in-appearance-but-not-in-action
hypothesis. Rather than confronting the hard reality of the budget
crisis and finding ways to begin to address the problems California
will likely face in the long term, he struck a Pollyanna pose,
optimistically counting on the California economy to quickly begin
booming again in the next year or two in order to raise revenues and
allow him to put money back into desperately underfunded programs.
While campaigning, he claimed to be ready to make hard choices and
take tough stands, but even he is not willing to take on the sacred cow
of property taxes in order to ensure the long-term stability of the
state’s finances. Even the “weakling” Davis argued that
the state will always be in danger of massive financial
trouble as long as state revenues come primarily
from sales tax and personal-income tax.
In fact, when political figures have tried to
demonstrate real leadership and courage by
tackling some of the biggest problems in the
country today, they’ve been punished rather
than praised. Hillary Clinton’s proposal to
create a universal single-payer healthinsurance plan, which would finally provide
health insurance for the 44 million
uninsured Americans, was excoriated, and
Hillary was pilloried for overstepping her
bounds. After all, tough women are scary,
right?
And that brings us to the troubling
conclusion that in the world of politics
today, what is widely considered good
leadership has much more to do with
appearance than with substance. In this
year’s presidential race, George W. Bush
and John Kerry have both spent a lot of
energy to out-macho each other. As James
Rainey noted in the Los Angeles Times, “If it’s
not Kerry tossing a football across an airport
tarmac, it’s President Bush stomping around
his Texas ranch in denim and cowboy boots.
Bush waves the starter’s flag at NASCAR’s
Daytona 500. Kerry blasts away at pheasant with a
double-barreled shotgun.” In fact, George W. Bush has rather
mastered the art of appearing tough without really doing anything to
deserve the reputation. Despite the fact that he is a member of the
wealthy elite, born into a politically powerful Connecticut family and a
privileged son whose personal successes have come largely from
family influence rather than personal merit, he has crafted an image
for himself as a down-home, rugged Texas cowboy who is more at
ease with truckers than with tycoons. Even what is arguably the most
iconic image of George W. Bush as a strong president, his aircraftcarrier landing, was carefully stage-managed to present Bush in the
most masculine terms possible. Richard Goldstein speculated in the
Village Voice that the photo-op was meant to illustrate Bush’s
masculinity in a very literal way, by putting him in a flight-suit that
gave him a very prominent “basket.” He writes, “Clearly Bush’s
handlers want to leave the impression that he’s not just courageous
and competent but hung.” But showing off his package demonstrates
more anxiety than masculine prowess, and reveals the extent to
which image is everything when it comes to how we regard our
political leaders. And that’s pretty sad, because it means that real
leadership is lost in the exchange.
Support Julia’s future bids for office by writing to her: [email protected].
Copyright © Guerrilla Girls, Inc. Photo courtesy www.guerrillagirls.com
WARNING:
dominant female in the bedroom
By Miriam M. Wynn
T
he female struggle for power among men is a welltraversed topic. But how does that struggle play out in the
bedroom? In s/m, bondage and stylized sexuality, we see
women in leather boots whipping victims cowering at their feet.
These vixens are adored, but more importantly, they are feared.
What’s so scary about a woman in charge? I actually want
a power struggle. I dare new men to best me, knowing that I might
lose, but therein lies the thrill. There’s nothing like a man who
thinks he’s got me figured out and that he’s the one in charge. It’s
a delicious mind game that can occur fully clothed at a dinner
table or sweaty and naked in bed.
This urge to duel stems from a desire for equality with
men, but it can become primal rage, the she-beast id of female
humanity lurking everywhere, tearing down misogynists. And I
can recognize the desire for what it is. Striving for equal
footing, we also want to prove we’re better. On the path to
prove both, we can behave like men — subjugating them as
they’ve subjugated women.
What better route than sex? When a lover starts to
use the old rituals of objectification, assuming his oppressive
sexual ideology is supposed to turn me on, he’s asking to be
shown otherwise.
I want to shake up the playing field and redistribute all
the pieces — let’s all start from scratch. We know that women
can fuck (i.e., have mindless sexual intercourse without
romantic attachment). But can women fuck men like men fuck
women? Can we make men willingly do what we prefer, and
swallow the sensation of being handled?
Yes. I’m not even into bondage and s/m, but I am into
power games. I’m into the fair exchange of power, and if men
can have it, so can I. I want a man to shiver, knowing the tables
are turned. I want him to know, accept and like that he isn’t in
charge of me and never will be.
When does he get it? It’s after he tells me he loves the
“sight of a woman’s ass in the air,” and I envision the asses he’s
seen in the air before mine. So I tell him what I love to see, and
make him do whatever I like, like lie on his back and masturbate
while I watch. Then, he gets it.
Men still think the bedroom is their last bastion of power,
where women know their place. It isn’t, and we do — our place is
wherever we damned well please. It’s about respect. I can choose
to be a panther or a kitten, just as he can be a brute or a respectful
lover. I can gut him or coddle him, but I’m no runner-up, and I’m
definitely someone to reckon with. Whatever role I play, I’m not
evil, amoral or something to fear, just because I stand up to, or
even on, my man in the bedroom.
Miriam ([email protected]), a recent survivor/graduate of
Stanford, is an Internet advertising editor by day and
erotica writer by night. She grew up in California,
Singapore and South Korea, and enjoys video
gaming, karaoke, clubbing, voice acting
and random analysis.
LOUDmouth
4
HONORING
our
predecessors
Ella Baker and Group-Centered Leadership
By Jessica Hoffmann
C
alled by some the mother of SNCC (Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, an instrumental organization in ’60s
civil rights struggles), Ella Baker herself resisted traditional
models of leadership that focus on the charisma and celebrity of
individuals rather than on the agency of communities. She advocated
“group-centered leadership,” saying in a 1968 interview, “the thrust is to
try and develop leadership out of the group … you’re organizing people
to be self-sufficient rather than to be dependent
upon the charismatic leader.” Baker believed
that people, not distant leaders, ought to
have collective decision-making power
in matters that affect their lives. She
sought to minimize hierarchy and
professionalism in organizational
leadership and called for direct action
over intellectual detachment. Her
ideas about participatory, groupcentered democracy have informed
generations of social-justice organizations
and movements.
Harriet Tubman: Leading Slaves to Freedom
By Mary Emerita Montoro
H
arriet Tubman was a slave born in Dorchester County, Md.,
around 1820. She grew up to be one of the most aweinspiring women in history.
Tubman appeared frail and non-threatening, but she possessed
a sharp mind that others envied. She worked as a spy, became a voice
for women who didn’t have one and was a dedicated humanitarian.
Young Harriet was lucky to work in the house and not in the
back-breaking fields. Still, at 16, she suffered a grave head injury while
protecting another slave from the wrath of an overseer (the overseer
threw a rock at the fleeing slave but hit Harriet instead), which resulted
in seizures throughout her life.
In 1844, Harriet married John Tubman, a free man. Five years
later, when Harriet Tubman was 29, rumors circulated around the field
and house that she was about to be sold. She quickly left for
Pennsylvania on her own. There, she worked for a few years until she
gathered enough money to send for her entire family in 1857.
She didn’t stop there. As the Underground Railroad’s
conductor, Tubman, or “the Black Moses,” as she was dubbed, led over
300 slaves to freedom. Whenever a slave had second thoughts about
proceeding, the Black Moses was right there with a mean stare and a
large rifle at her side. She sang and read
passages from the Bible to communicate to
other slaves whether it was safe to come
out or if danger still lurked. Tubman
also aided wounded soldiers, became
involved in women’s causes and
worked as a spy under Col. James
Montgomery.
In her later years, Tubman led
a quieter existence. At 49 she married
Nelson Davis, 22 years her junior. She
died in a home she built to care for the
Pa
intin
elderly on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, N.Y.
i ns
gb
l Coll
LOUDmouth
5
y Pau
KNOW YOUR
Femini
FACULTY
By Jennifer Ashley
G
loria Romero has been called both
“an incredible woman” and “selfish”
— both a “woman pioneer” and
“uppity.”
Wearing two hats is old hat to
Romero, a Democratic state senator and a
tenured professor in Cal State L.A.’s
psychology department who has received
Associated Students, Inc.’s Honored Faculty
Award as well as the Women’s Resource
Center’s Distinguished Woman Award.
Naturally, this double identity calls for double duty, and Dr./Sen.
Romero has logged in long hours as both a politician and a professor.
In the former capacity, she co-founded the Women’s Advisory Council
to the Los Angeles Police Commission and has served on the Domestic
Violence Task Force for the city. As a scholar, she has conducted
research on HIV/AIDS and has been educating students for over 20
years, having taught within the state’s three public higher-education
systems: community colleges, the University of California and the
California State University.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg for Romero, a selfproclaimed feminist who believes that “actions and ideas speak louder
than words when it comes to defining what feminism is.”
Through her actions, Romero is clearing the way for future
feminist leaders. But despite the continuing breakdown of gender
barriers, Romero has felt the effects of being a woman in a maledominated profession. Before Romero won her position in the Senate in
2001, she was accused by the majority of her colleagues of being
“aggressive” for challenging the incumbent congressman, who was
Latino. “Basically, they were trying to tell me that I should sit back and
wait my turn,” she explains. “I have found that even though women, and
in my case, Latinas, have made significant advances in California
politics, many of the old stereotypes still exist.”
More recently, Romero has fought not for her own professional
standing but for the plights of others. In particular, she has passed
numerous laws protecting the rights of immigrant workers because, as
she says, “Whatever industry you may claim is the backbone of the
state’s economy, immigrant labor is surely the blood and sweat.”
Immigrants are not the only group of people to have benefited
from Romero’s so-called aggression — she has also been fighting for
the very students she teaches and others like them around the state.
Prior to May’s CSU fee-increase vote, California Congress’ Democrats
futilely urged the Board of Trustees to refrain from raising fees until the
legislature was able to look for alternate resources. “It’s very sad that in
a system of higher education where we are supposed to believe in a
forum for a free and open exchange of ideas, the trustees couldn’t even
wait two weeks to give the legislature time to fight against the cuts on
the CSU,” Romero says, adding that the current budget “breaks the
promise that California made, and has kept, for over 40 years in the
Master Plan for Higher Education where every eligible student was
promised an opportunity to attend college.”
The cuts are especially disappointing to Dr. Romero, who has
not only taught at but also attended every level of California’s highereducation system. “I understand firsthand how important this system is
to students whose first, and sometimes only, access to higher education
is through the community college system,” she explains, noting that the
206,000 students who will potentially be denied access to the
community colleges comprise a population larger than that of the entire
UC system. Professor Romero is currently on leave but looks forward to
returning to her students at Cal State L.A.
Joann
a
Dear
female-headed
households
THE F-WORD
HEALTH
Joanna E. Gaspar, M.S., M.P.H.
By Jackie Joice
what feminism means to me
By Catey McSweeney
I
’m 16, I’m a lesbian
and I’m a feminist.
(These are definitely
separate things.) I am a
very outspoken person,
Joice with mother Lorraine and brothers Jimmy and Jeff
and I’m against injustices
Questions for Joanna? Send them to
of any kind. I think that’s
[email protected].
I’m the product of a female-headed
saura Rivera, 44, divorced at the tender
what drives me tofinancially
want to or otherwise — than single-parent
household myself. I was raised in
households.
Considering the fact that twoage of 22 after four years of marriage.
gothe
intoinner
politics. We
live in
where thereI keep
was amyself
heavy concentration
of
parent
households
are descending into
I’ve been
told I have
A personality.
She has been involved
in politics
for thea Typecity,
a male-dominated society
crime,
drugstoward
and unemployment.
Still,
my twoboys poverty
very
I’m always
striving
my next
22 years since. She was
onebusy
of theand
founders
in which
grow upat a rate faster than that of any other
brothers
andrisks
I allassociated
finished school
and had
demographic group in the nation, the idea that
accomplishment.
know there
are health
of the grassroots feminist
organization IUna
wanting
to be president
healthareinsurance
andhave
child care
— all
with this
behavior. What
they? Do you
Mujer Como Yo (A Woman
Liketype
Me),of which
and girls
grow upBush’s
wanting$22 billion program to promote
supported by one income in the pre-welfaremarriage
for stress
management?
aimed any
to tips
bring
women
of different
to be models. I find that will help financially struggling
reform era until my eldest brother
backgrounds together to find a common
girlswas
my old
age areparents
focusedis baffling. We need to look at the
enough
to
get
a
job
and
contribute
to
the
intersecting
ground in developing aStress
feminist
agenda.
Una
is a part of life. It can help us to meet challenges
on having the perfect body issues of race, class and gender
for example,
higher
of want to
Mujer Como Yo consisted
of a core
group of andhousehold.
or lead
to emotional
physical exhaustion. The
and impressing that
boys.lead
Nowto,maybe
it’s the fact
thatrates
I don’t
My
mother,
Lorraine,
utilized
the
welfare
dependence
among
single-parent
women who organizedultimate
events to
educate
the
stress-related health risks include heart disease
impress any boys that keeps me out of these situations, but it seems
systemdoesn’t
for three
months atthat
thenowadays
age of
households
headed
women
of color
general and
public
ofbutLos
about
cancer,
take Angeles
heart, having
a “Type welfare
A” personality
always
girls
will sacrifice
their by
careers
to make
thethan
men in their
21,
until
the
90-day
probation
period
at
her
those
headed
by
white
women
and
so
important
issues
facing
women
globally.
In
mean you’re at increased risk. Some Type A’s really thrive when
lives happy. Mothers tell their daughters to go to college forth.
not to learn but
new job ended, at which point she
also Women
need toareremember
that
the mid-’80s,
Isaura
elected
president
stressed
andwas
remain
in good
health.of
to cancelled
find a man to take careWe
of them.
not helpless,
and I think
her
welfare
claim.
The
clothing
factory
where
single-mother
households
aren’t
the
only
kind
the AssociationFor
of aProgressive
Salvadoran
woman who is a perfectionist or who has a hard time
it’s time we took care of ourselves.
she worked
was almost
40 miles away from
female-headed
households.
Women.relaxing,
Isaura ongoing
has alsostress
been can
actively
cause irregular
menstrual
periods;
It’s knownofthat
women earn
30 percentThere
less are
thanalso
men in the
our
home,
and
she
rode
the
bus
there
every
lesbian
households,
households
headed
involvedincrease
with theblood
electoral
process
in
El
pressure; impair the immune system, increasing
workplace. It seems that women have to work harder to earn by
the respect
day. After that
job, my
in They
the earn
single
who
don’t have
andwell as, if
Salvadorsusceptibility
and has successfully
to infections;organized
and cause headaches.
Women
whomother
are worked
of men.
less, women
yet prove
themselves
by children
working as
for 10 years,
during
evenI don’t
female-headed
of expect
fundraisers
for Salvadoran
chronically
stressedpolitician
may alsoSchafik
have troublemental-health
sleeping; feel industry
overwhelmed;
not better
than, men.
think that’s fair. households
However, we can’t
which
time she
and divorced
heterosexual
couples.held political positions, injustices
Handel. have
Isauraappetite
even held
some fundraisers
changes;
experiencein ongoing
anxiety;
feelmarried
depressed;
this totwice.
change itself.
If more women
Currently,
she holds
a senior
During
her out
involvement
thea femaleher cramped
apartment,
filling it to become
capacity prone
have trouble
concentrating;
to accidents;
or engage
in administrativelike this could be changed.
I’m not
to make thewith
world
assistant
positionalcohol
with aand
defensedominated
company.society
Association
of one.
Progressive Salvadoran
with individuals
to donate
money
for
high-riskwilling
behaviors
like having
unprotected
sex or abusing
— just an equal
Mybemother
luckyhealth
to have a support
Rivera
hadHave
the opportunity
to
the cause.
other drugs. (These symptoms may also
signs was
of other
I find the Women,
problem Isaura
starts in
school.
you ever noticed
that
system
of self-diagnose.)
family and friends, yet when
she carried
visitsomeone
El Salvador
andsomething
meet some
wonderful
Through
all this,
Isaura
was the single
conditions.
Consult
a healthcare
professional;
don’t
teachers need
to carry
to the
classroom they
mostmight
of the
load
on herholistic
own. “I hadalways
to make
women
whom
arewant
the “backbone
head of her household.
is currently
To minimizeShe
the stress
in your life, you
take
a more
askafor “strong
men?”
Orshe
thatbelieves
when they
a volunteer reader,
financial and/or
and emotional
being of thetoclass
El will
Salvador
and
the Aren’t
true heads
raising aapproach
teenage daughter
workingMake
a full-time lot
to stressand
reduction.
for of
meditation
prayer; sacrifices
the majority
volunteer
a man?
women of
capable of
the
head
of
a
household,”
she
says,
“but
my
households.”
When
she
visited
El
Salvador
in
time job.
She
has
never
received
develop a positive self-image; write in a journal; spend time with family
the same things as men?
strongset
faith
in Godgoals;
kept me
theI 1980s,
noticed
unemployment
benefits
or public
and friends;
relax
and assistance.
enjoy a warm bath;
realistic
be going.” Lorraine
This is why
want to during
go intowartime,
politics. Ishe
have
never that
been one to
felt
that
being
a
leader
in
her
home
was
there
were
many
homes
solely
supported
When
asked
about
the
qualities
physically active and make healthy food choices; prioritize
keep my opinions to myself, and I can’t expect anyoneand
to change
equivalent
to taking
on the
of me. maintained
byissue
women.
“These
pulled
needed commitments;
for leadershipavoid
in the
political
and drugs;
and other
and accept
what you
can’tresponsibilities
alcohol
anything for
However, the
needs
to bewomen
presented
to women.
two. She had to budget her finances,
double
shifts,”
domesticchange.
spheres, Isaura said, “One needs a
Women buy
need to know
that
their she
livessays.
shouldn’t revolve around men and
groceries,
cook,
buy school
andthem
so happy. They
In need
her to
own
home,
Isaura
led by
sense of direction,
and aonvision
of
Youcharacter
can also focus
the specific
issues
that are
causing
stress clothes
making
know
that their
opinions
and voices
forth,
all
on
her
own.
example.
She
wanted
her
daughter
to
follow
the big picture.”
for you. Maybe you need to attend a time-management workshop (the
matter too!
an eraadvisor;
when re50 percent of You
the haveher
and
adhere
restrictions
Female-headed
households
in the meet with aInfinancial
Tutorial Center offers
free workshops);
onlydreams
one life,
sonot
youtomight
as to
well
make it the most
nation’s
marriages
end
in
divorce,
we
have
to
placed
on
females
just
because
they’re
United States
are
nothing
new.
Many
of
the
evaluate your career goals; or reduce your class and/or work load.
pleasant one you can. You might as well fulfill all your
dreams, and
patprogressive
assumptions that
married
females.
female-headed When
households
America trylook
times in
getearly
overwhelming,
deepbeyond
breathing,
aspire
to be everything
you want to be. Someone once told me that a
parents
are always
than
Female
heads
of and
households
arenever be
were the
result techniques
of high mortality
rates, to help
relaxation
or visualization
you relax.
If you’rebetter
havingfor children
dream is
the first step toward
reaching
a goal
that I should
unmarried visit
ones.
leaders
— role
models istoabout
their making
offspringalland
disease trouble
and war.lowering
In mostyour
cases
duringconsider
these a confidential
stress,
to aWhen
Studentthe relationship
afraid to dream. To
me, being
a feminist
my dreams
between parents is healthy and conducive
to other women that may find themselves in
times, widowed
women
quickly or
remarried.
Health Center
healthcare
counseling professional.
realities. to
the children’s well-being, the presence of two
similar situations. It takes a creative, tenacious
Sustained single parenthood on a large scale
1
parents
who
share
the
financial,
logistical
and
and
determined woman to make it work.
is a more
contemporary
phenomenon.
The Student Health Center is located on the main walkway across from Biological
Catey McSweeney is in an all-girl band called Drowning Milford and wants to pursue
emotional
responsibilities
of law/politics.
running Tell
a her to go for it: [email protected].
Sciences and adjacent to the Center for Career Planning
and Placement.
For more
1While the
focus of this article is on female-headed
household is, of course, beneficial to children.
Jackie Joice also writes fiction, poetry and essays
information
call (323)to
343-3300
or go
online
to www.calstatela.edu/univ/hlth_ctr/.
households,
it is important
note that
there
are
Still,
it’s not and
safe
to assume that two-parent
about traveling. Send her some sass at
also significant
ofare
male-headed
Servicesnumbers
include but
not limited to singlefamily planning,
counseling
prescribing,
parent households in the U.S. According to the 2000
families
are
necessarily
more
secure
—
[email protected].
immunizations, testing for STDs and pap smears for cancer screening. Outpatient care
I
Q:
A:
U.S. Census Bureau, 17.3 percent of single-parent
households
were female-headed
with no8:30
husband
is available
Monday and Thursday,
a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:30
present and 6 percent were male-headed with no
a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
wife present.
LOUDmouth 26
LOUDmouth
6
special edition: our favorite female-directed films
By Jackie Joice, Daria Teruko Yudacufski and Jessica Hoffmann
Although women have been making movies since the 19th century (Alice Guy Blache directed The
Cabbage Fairy in 1896), Martha M. Lauzen of San Diego State University says women comprised only
17 percent of directors, executive producers, editors, writers and cinematographers working on the 250
top-grossing films in 2002. The good news is that there have been several feature films directed by
women in the last 20 years. And earlier this year, Sofia Coppola became the first American woman to
win an Oscar for directing, for her film Lost in Translation. Herewith, some of our favorite films directed
by women:
S
E
dir. by Lourdes Portillo, 2001 — In this recent
documentary, Portillo explores the crisis of the
ongoing — and unsolved — slaughter of hundreds
of young women in Juárez, Mexico. She conducts
in-depth interviews with family members, lawyers
and officials, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle
together. (JJ)
S
E Z (V
W )
dir. by Renee Bergan, 2002 — A resourceful
documentary composed of a patchwork of
interviews with women living in Kabul, Afghanistan
and Northern Pakistan. The women share their
personal stories about living under the Taliban and
in the region after the Taliban was disbanded by the
United States. (JJ)
fresh, funny and original exploration of African
American film history (and the lack thereof),
interracial relationships and queer identity. (DTY)
H A
dir. by Lisa Cholodenko, 1998 — Starring Ally
Sheedy, Radha Mitchell and Patricia Clarkson, High
Art is a dark, smart and stylish film exploring a world
of sex, art and drugs. Inspired by the work of Nan
Goldin, Larry Clarke and JoJo Whilden, the film is
set against a backdrop of the New York lesbianheroin-art scene and features striking images,
powerful performances and a captivating story of
love, self-destruction and survival. (DTY)
B
B
dir. by Rachel Raimist, 1999 — This hip hop
documentary covers young women’s experiences in
the male-dominated genre. It touchingly
demonstrates the tenacity and persistence of
women in hip hop. Starring Medusa, Asia One and
others. (JJ)
dir. by Gurinder Chadha, 1993 — The first feature
film by Gurinder Chadha (What’s Cooking, Bend It
Like Beckham) is about a group of South Asian
women from Birmingham who go on a day trip to the
beaches and boardwalk of Blackpool. The film uses
humor and drama to deal with generational
differences, cultural values, racism, sexism and the
possibility of solidarity and sisterhood. (DTY)
G
H S
N
K
M N
(T G
I)
dir. by Agnes Varda, 2000 — Varda cuts her films
the way poets break lines — with careful attention to
the significance of rhythm, making meaning with
each small pause, jump or change of course. This
particular poem/documentary explores waste,
property, resourcefulness, trash, treasure, aging,
food, law, growth and so much more. (JH)
dir. by Jane Campion, 1999 — A thought-provoking
look at power dynamics relating to gender, age,
beauty, strength and kindness. Starring Harvey
Keitel and Kate Winslet and built almost entirely of
tight, tough dialogue written by Jane and Anna
Campion. (JH)
W
dir. by Julie Dash, 1991 — The first nationally
distributed feature film by an African American
woman, Daughters is a highly visual, lyrical portrayal
of an African American sea-island family preparing
to come to the mainland at the turn of the 20th
century. (JH)
W
dir. by Cheryl Dunye, 1996 — A movie about making
a movie. Cheryl Dunye stars as herself, a 20something black lesbian filmmaker making a
documentary about a little-known black actress from
the 1930s. The debut feature by Dunye, the film is a
LOUDmouth
7
D
D
editor’s reading list:
leadership and governance
“U
K :F
,A
O
”
ed. by C.S. — Includes Jo Freeman’s “The Tyranny
of Structurelessness” as well as Cathy Levine’s “The
Tyranny of Tyranny” — must-reads for anyone
interested in creating a feminist process in group
work.
“A C
C
P
”
by Zoe Mitchell — The master’s thesis of a young
woman who began thinking critically about
consensus during her experiences within DC
Indymedia, this paper begs the question: Is
consensus democratic? Read it online at
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/42386.
C
B
C
P
by Common Wheel Collective — A user-friendly
handbook on group process for egalitarian
collectives, this project is being published online as
it’s written at www.geocities.com/collectivebook/.
I
D
by Iris Marion Young — A thoughtful consideration of
what it takes to create a democratic political practice
in which different voices are equally included in
decision-making, this book looks at norms of
democratic
communication,
processes
of
representation and association and how wide the
scope of political jurisdictions should be.
Copyright © Guerrilla Girls, Inc. Photo courtesy www.guerrillagirls.com
INSPIRATION AND RESPONSIBILITY a chat with iris marion young
By Christine Petit
I
n books like Justice and the
Far from discouraged, Young
Politics of Difference and
points to the recent March for Women’s
Inclusion and Democracy, Iris
Lives on Washington, D.C. as an
By Amy Marion
Shimshon
Santo,
Ph.D.
Young
has
put forth ideas on
example of mobilization and participation
communicative
democracy
that
of people from across the United States
representhow
a unique
feminist
visionand
of be a caring group
focusesand
onsinging
issues
central to
earning
to assert
oneself
Mayra Echevarria, 12, explainedthat
that dancing
made
just governance.
professor
political
women
world.
About the
participant
beginsA at
a youngofage.
These qualities are often
her value herself more. “I enjoy dancing
mostlythroughout
and doingthe
flips.
… [I
science
at the University
Chicago,
march
being
one
of
the
largest
tied
to dominant
gender andofidentity
roles, and people who are
want to] show everybody that even if I am little, I am tough and will not protests
Young was
spending
time
onmerit
a extra practice and
not encouraged
to cultivate
these
skills
let someone stand me up and tease.” in U.S. history, Young says that we
research
at the
Institute performing
for
needrequired
more: Wethe
need
to “keeptoit going!”
rehearsal
in orderleave
to feel
comfortable
them. While
Feminist cultural-dance education
students
Advanced
Study
in Princeton,
N.J., political action, I argue
contendssocial
that public
leadership
is often only
imagined
through formal
cultivate a positive sense of personal potential Young
and constructive
whencultural-arts
we spoke over
the phone.
demonstration
is
a
vital
form
of political
that feminist
education
can create a meaningful and safe
relationships. The students both practiced these skills in class and
Inspired
by the
student
anticommunication.
She
says that
venue for learning
alternative
models
of leadership
and participation
compared this experience to their social
lives outside of
school.
Thealthough
sweatshop
movement,
Young’s
being
of the current
that expand
dominant
gender roles
and current
increase cultural awareness.
core task of bringing the teens together
in critical
an environment
where state of
is aimed
at developing
a
affairs isand
important,
important is
During aresearch
recent teaching
experience
in an after-school
program at
collaboration and mutual respect are imperative
teasingequally
or abusing
theorySchool
of political
responsibility
that
offering
creative
alternatives
to what is
Carver Middle
in central
Los Angeles,
I witnessed firsthand the
power is shunned allowed them to rehearse the skills of participation
examines
question
should
we
being rejected. She quotes the slogan
ways girls
and boysthe
rethink
and “How
perform
leadership
and participation in
and leadership like they might a choreography.
individuals
think about
our responsibilities in relation to structural
associated
the World Social
Forum:
“Another
world
is possible.”
a diverseasfeminist
arts-education
setting.
The
questionwith
of leadership
organically
arose
after one
session
injustice?”
By sponsored
structural injustice
Young
means
the Center
inequality that
Organization
aimed
at challenging
injustice exercises
takes leadership.
The
program,
by the L.A.
County
Music
on partnering skills,
as students
reflected
on the movement
results
as a consequence
of the normal
andvisual
accepted
practices of the
Youngeach
says artist
that feminism
shaped
her notions
of in
leadership.
She
Education
Division,
provided sequential
study of
art, African
that required
to gentlyhas
contact
a partner,
who,
turn,
practices Icreate
disparities
society
we live
She and
asserts
that these capoeira.
that meeting-style
strategies
such pattern.
as having
a rotating
chair
percussion,
Mexican
folkin.dance
Afro-Brazilian
was the
followednotes
their contact
impetus into
a movement
After
each
many people
contribute
to but few
have theThe
power
to change
instead
the same
leading
the the
meeting
each role
time aim at
educatorthat
in capoeira,
maculelê
and creative
movement.
youth
person took
turnsof“leading”
andperson
“following,”
I asked
youth which
individually.
With this in mind,
she teenagers
underscores
the importance they
of preferred.
fosteringMost
participation.
gives thegreater
examplecomfort
of speak-outs,
participants
were first-generation
American
of Honduran,
of the She
girlsalso
expressed
with which
“Getting
is central
encourage
everyday
people tolead.
share
their
experiences
and thoughts.
had to what
Mexican,organization
Salvadoranand
andcollective
Egyptianaction:
heritage.
Mostorganized
of the youth
“following”
their partners’
movement
We
then
analyzed these
it means tointake
responsibility.”
this type
event takes
of leadership,
the leaders
never participated
formal
movement education.
findings While
in our organizing
group discussion
byof
applying
thematolotMartin
Luther King
believes
the U.S.
political
could benefit from
are
more
behind
the
scenes
rather
than
dominating
the
conversation.
When I Young
first met
with that
Thomas
Turner,
myprocess
lead classroom
Jr.’s vision of leadership. He defined leadership not as power or force,
the contributions
of grassroots
not enough
“Leadership
being When
able presented
to help people
teacher “arts
partner,” he spoke
about the organizing.
historic role“There
Carver is
Middle
but as love linked
to achievingmeans
social justice.
with thisorganize
grassroots
organization
thatAfrican
is both
local injazz
themusicians
form of people
themselves
collectively,”
Young
says.
A
good
leader
is “one who
School played
in training
outstanding
American
alternative notion of leadership, the students were asked to rethink
participating
and
up across
regions,
the nation and the
facilitates
discussions
amongto are-imagine
collective,leadership
facilitatesskills
thinking
during the
last century,
andalso
howlinking
he wanted
the current,
predominantly
leadership
as acclaimed
and forceful,
as about
world,” she
explains. She
quickthe
to point
out the
abundance
what
the
collective
wants
to
do
that
is
going
to
be
productive
and
Latino, students
to understand
andisvalue
significant
black
cultural of local
a combination of being assertive and receptive, instigating movement
nonprofit in
organizations
“attemptingHe
to also
fill intheorized
the gaps fromand
a responding
inspiresto
with
energy
a sense in
ofa‘we
can do way,
it.’” a feminist
accomplishments
their school that
and are
neighborhood.
peers.
Thisand
presented,
corporeal
welfare state
has disappeared.”
However,
a link would
between local
that complementing
thethat
standard
curriculum with
arts education
standard for leadership and participation. Clearly, feeling these
and national
andtheir
beyond
is missing.
inspired.
E-mail her: [email protected].
“teach tostruggles
the students’
strengthsstruggles
rather than
weaknesses.”
conceptsChristine
acted isout
and performed
through dance made them more
L
While the significance of gender roles was less pronounced in
palpable for young people to comprehend.
the early planning, it soon revealed itself as key to the project’s overall
In cultural dance, the students and teachers were
impact. I first became aware of this when the students were asked by
encouraged to learn more about
the adults to choose between participation in the percussion or
African contributions to Latin
capoeira course of study. The percussion teacher is a man, and I am a
American culture and society. In a
woman. By
As Heather
the students
made their choices, the class divided almost
neighborhood that is transitioning
Harkins
solely along gender lines. While later collaboration between the groups
from predominantly African American
ecently,initially,
I was the
outboys
walking
with
friend,
enjoying
forced us all to interact,
chose
thea male
teacher
and a sunny
Is it sothe
rare ability
for a woman
to rule a nation that we should laud any
to Latino residents,
to
spring
day here
in glorious
Canada. We
both
stopped cold
the girls chose me.
Ironically,
capoeira
has traditionally
been
a malewoman who
holds thatwas
position? It is difficult to accept National
foster intercultural
valorization
when we
a stack
of National
Post
newspapers.
The
dominated Afro-Brazilian
artpassed
form. While
there
are popular
stories
told
Geographic’s
estimation
imperative.
The study
of Afro-of Campbell, especially from a feminist
declared
thatAfro-Brazilian
Kim Campbellwomen
had been
named one
50
about thefront
Tréspage
Marías
and other
capoeiristas,
theof the Brazilian
perspective.
As leader
of what was then Canada’s most right-wing
culture became
a stepping
most important
history by theAfro-Brazilian
National Geographic
core of capoeira
history political
revolvesleaders
aroundinworking-class
Campbell
saw opposition
from the National Action Committee on
stone forparty,
looking
at the students’
own
Society.
My friend
pointed
the headline
and rule
doubled
over laughing.
I history
men. Our
classroom
became
an atexception
to this
as Latinas
the Status
Women,
largely as a result of her conservative
local
within a oflarger
context
was
shocked
and extremely
irritated.
Let meidentified
explain why.
dominated
the
core group.
Many of the
participants
capoeira
maneuvering
for less-restrictive
gun control.
of immigration
and cultural
change.
Kim Campbell
was Canada’s
and so
far only,
female prime
as physically demanding.
However,
it wasfirst,
a core
group
of girls,
Campbell
herselfthe
is an intelligent, competent woman. Yet, she
The program
expanded
minister.
In 1993,
the elected
minister
undaunted
by physical
risk-taking,
whoprime
weathered
thestepped
course.down from office,
announced
elections were a dreadful time to discuss the future of
participants’
notionsthat
of appropriate
and participants,
his party chose
as its
new leader, automatically
The
whoCampbell
came from
working-class
households, making
programs,
gender Canada’s
roles by social
highlighting
the terrifying activists who knew how crucial
next prime
There
is no set
of office
Canadian
stretchedher
thethe
boundaries
of minister.
appropriate
behavior
for term
girls and
boysfor
in a
government
support is to women’s shelters and other resources.
complexity
and interrelationships
federal
andexpanded
the primetheir
minister
can callexpression
an election at any
number of
ways.politicians,
First, the girls
own physical
Canadian
women deserve higher praise than Campbell.
between different Other
cultures
in the school,
time. Campbell
chose
call
a general
electioncommon
a few months
by performing
martial arts,
andto
the
boys
went beyond
genderlater, and
Catherine and
Callbeck
was the first female political party leader to win a
the neighborhood
the world.
brutal
party,
the in
Progressive
Conservatives,
had
roles by suffered
taking thea risk
of defeat.
dancingHer
in new
ways
front of their
peers. In
general election when she became premier (roughly, the Canadian
presencetheir
dropown
fromchoices
a majority
government
addition,its
theParliamentary
youth were asserting
by staying
after of 154
equivalent
of a professor
governor)
Dr. Santo is
a visiting assistant
at in 1993. Over 50 years earlier, Nellie
to rather
two. Despite
being
oldest
political
party
in Canada,
it UCLA’s
no
school toseats
do art,
than caring
forthe
their
younger
siblings
while
their
McClung,
IreneArts
Parlby,
Department
of World
and Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and
longer
heldholding
enoughafter-school
seats to bejobs,
recognized
with
party status.
guardians
worked,
watching
TVofficial
or playing
Emily
Murphytopetitioned
Cultures and
a consultant
the United to have women recognized as “persons” under
Among
the seats
wasabout
Campbell’s
own —
herand
constituents
video games.
When
asked lost
to write
her values,
likes
dislikes, chose
theCenter
law. project
Tremendous
leadership
skills were needed by all five to sustain
Nations/Arts
publicizing
the
another12,
representative
the sitting
prime care
minister!
Fewer than
Connie Rosas,
identified herinstead
primaryofdislike
as “taking
of [her]
the legal
battle
it stretched beyond the Supreme Court of Canada to
U.N.’s “Millennium
Goals”
foras
women’s
months
after
takingand
office,
Kim
Campbell
resigned.
start
to beat
me up.”
Simply finding
brothers five
because
they
go crazy
the and
British
Privy Council.
empowerment
eradicating
extreme In 1927, the petition met with success, firmly
Whento the
National for
Geographic
Society was
why
free time after school
do something
her own development
wasasked
an
poverty. establishing new rights for Canadian women. Frankly, the National
hadspace
been ranked
alongside
Attila
the viewed
Hun andinthe
assertionCampbell
of her own
and time.
While not
often
thisQueen of
Geographic Society needs to study more Canadian history, or limit its
Sheba,
project
manager
Jane
“Given that there have
social light,
space
and time
are two
keySunderland
concepts insaid,
dance.
writing to the photo captions in its magazine.
not been that many females who led nations, we chose to include her.”
So, two X chromosomes and the backing of a single political party gave
Proudly representing the North Atlantic in LOUDmouth, the surprisingly soft-spoken
Campbell a place in history.
Heather can be reached at [email protected].
LEAD-HER-SHIP?
o n b e i n g e x a s p e r a t e d
by national geographic
R
LOUDmouth
24mouth
LOUD
8
SRLP
A
S R L P GOES COLLECTIVE an
t the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Dean Spade puts an
organizational spin on the mantra “the personal is political” by
integrating a commitment to the empowerment of low-income
communities affected by gender-identity discrimination at every level,
all the way down to the structure itself. LOUDmouth writer Moof recently
got in touch with Dean to learn about SRLP’s new collective structure.
M: First off, what’s your role in SRLP?
DS: I founded the organization as a fellowship project in 2002, and as
the organization has grown with the enthusiasm and need of the
community spurring us on, I’ve really wanted to resist the usual
“founder/executive director” role, which, in many social-justice
movements, means that white people and people with educational
privilege end up disproportionately in higher-salaried, higher-visibility,
higher-decision-making power positions in movements that primarily
concern people of color, people without access to higher education,
etc. I wanted to be part of growing an organization that did not focus on
a single leader, but instead redistributed skills, power, access and
money within the communities I am a part of and work with.
interview with dean spade
By Moof
particularly helpful to us. We compared their structures and also spoke
to people who’d worked in these and other collectives to find out what
mistakes they had made or lessons they had learned as they ironed out
kinks in their structures. We borrowed tools like task sheets, grievance
structures and other concrete elements from their structures. All of this
will be available in the next month on our website in our new collective
manual. We hope people will borrow from it and keep developing better
and better ways of working in non-traditional governance structures.
What are some aspects of the structure or decision-making
processes that are working well for SRLP? What are some aspects
that you tried that maybe didn’t work so well?
The team structure is working well. Having people meet in small groups
(5-7) to work on projects together and plan out their work concretely,
rather than having large meetings with lots of different topics, is far
more productive. The collective membership model is also working well.
One of the things that SRLP has to balance is that, like many
organizations, we get a lot of offers for volunteer hours from white
people in their 20s and early 30s. We want to incorporate this energy
into our work, but want to make sure that decision-making power stays
in the hands of people who are most affected by the policies we are
working to change: transgender and gendervariant people of color who are low-income.
So, being able to incorporate volunteers as
volunteers, and being able to recruit
specifically for collective membership and
have decision-making power stay within that
membership, for whom diversity goals are
clearly set out, allows us to keep that
Dean Spade,
balance. Some of the challenges for us have
photo by Rania Sutton-elbers
been in working out which decisions are
made within teams and which need to go to a
larger body. Also, we’ve been ironing out
kinks regarding how people get into the
collective and how to make sure they are
well-oriented and supported when they get
here.
Tell me a little about SRLP and how the organization’s structure
reflects its mission.
SRLP is a non-profit organization providing
free legal services to low-income people
facing gender-identity discrimination, and
doing policy, public education and organizing
work. Our work focuses a lot on
discrimination in shelters, foster care, juvenile
justice, employment, public schools and
prisons and jails, as well as navigating
Sylvia Rivera
systems like immigration, social security,
Medicaid, public assistance and identity
documentation. The organization began as a
one-person fellowship project, which, due to
incredible community support and the giant
need for our services, quickly ballooned into
a community organization that has seven
interns and over 30 active volunteers. We
A lot of progressive organizations value
wanted to create a collective governance
SRLP open house, photo by Tom Leger
the politics behind having a collective
structure that would accomplish a number of
organization, but feel that a hierarchical structure is more efficient.
goals: 1) provide maximum accountability to the community we serve;
How does SRLP maintain efficiency while valuing everyone’s input?
2) ensure that decision-making power is in the hands of a majority
This was one of the questions we asked a lot of the people from other
people of color and people facing gender-identity discrimination; 3)
collectives. One thing that lots of people said is that when decisions are
provide maximum support and coordination for staff and volunteers; 4)
made that everyone really actually believes in, and has been heard on,
reduce burnout by making sure everyone is well-supported and no one
they will be implemented far more efficiently than if people within an
person has total control or responsibility for the organization’s
organization are resistant to them and have them foisted upon them. I
sustainability; 5) create institutional memory so the organization can
think this is a key point. How many of us have worked in non-profits
outlive the people who may be on staff at any given time; 6) enhance
where controversial decisions being passed down from the top were
and redistribute skills like fundraising, advocacy, organizing and media
resented by staff and the ball was dropped on lots of opportunities to do
work within our community; and 7) create a structure that will concretely
work because of this tension? I think there is a misunderstanding that
reject the traditional hierarchical environment in which legal services
having a collective structure means that every little decision about
are provided. The new structure is a collective, composed of six bodies:
buying $5 worth of postage goes to a large meeting, and that everyone
the Direct Services Team, the Public Education Team, the
does everything, but that is not how it works. People are still
Fundraising/Finance Team, the Organizing/Policy Team, the People
empowered to do their jobs, and efficiency is still there, and because
Recruitment/People Support Team and the Board. These groups each
people are heard and invested and treated equally in their investment
have individual duties, and the structure is designed to facilitate
in the organization, there is greater accountability about getting work
communication and accountability between the groups, and efficient
done efficiently. People feel valued; they can express it when the
decision-making.
conditions of their work are not supportive or when they aren’t getting
what they need to do the work, and they can work together to
I know you did a lot of research on collective/power-sharing
continually improve the structures of the organization. This means real
structures. What are some things you learned from that research,
efficiency and sustainability.
and how did you incorporate them into SRLP?
We researched many [collectives] to learn from their experience.
Moof is an avid reader of makezine.org. You can reach her at [email protected] until
Groups like Sista II Sista, Manavi, SOUL, May First Technology
UCLA takes away her e-mail account upon graduation.
Collective and San Francisco Asian Women’s Shelter were all
LOUDmouth
9
Keep an eye out for SRLP’s collective manual at www.srlp.org.
S
O
D
E
N
R
A
E
E
J
R
U
C
M
N
ot all democracies are created equal. Iris Marion Young’s
vision of a communicative democracy in which all voices
speak powerfully (see page 8) looks very different from the
representative constitutional democracy of these here United States of
America. Representative democracies are arguably less democratic
than participatory models like communicative and deliberative
Translated by Pat Southorn,
democracies.
MarchAnd
2002constitutional democracies are notoriously good for
maintaining the status quo and not so good for achieving change —
even when
majority of
the population
Thethe
following
interview
with wants it. Plenty of historians
claim that
the founders
of this
deliberately created a democracy
Julieta
Paredes
of nation
Mujeres
immune Creando,
to “mob” (er,
rule, that the choice to create the United
an popular)
anarcha-feminist
States as
a representative
group
in La Paz, constitutional
Bolivia, is democracy was a deliberate
one to allow
for some
degree of governance “by the people, for
reprinted
fromnominal
Quiet Rumours:
the people,”
while safeguardingReader,
the new nation from the whims of a
An Anarcha-Feminist
populacecollected
that the founding
by Dark elite
Starbelieved
and couldn’t be trusted to make
decisions
in its own
collective
best interest. The mechanisms for
published
by AK
Press in 2002.
popular The
participation
in the
this interviewer
kind of democracy are, yes, limited and
identity of
indirect. and
Still, the
it’s at
its least democratic
date/occasion
of the when we’re least engaging it.
That’s why,
even as
in our own ways toward realizing visions
interview
arewe
notwork
known.
of radical participatory democracy or other governance structures, it’s
worth spending some time and energy trying to hold the present system
accountable
us, itsMujeres
people. Creando (Women
Howto did
From
Where to find contact info for your reps:
U.S. Federal
House:
www.house.gov/writerep/
Senate:
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm
GWB:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
(202) 456-1111
[email protected]
California State
State Senate and State Assembly:
www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Arnold:
Stateof
Capitol
Building
the viewpoint
Mujeres
that seems to us like empty space: It’s
Sacramento,
CA
Creating) come about? What is its goal?
Creando, one way to move toward our goal is95814all good and diverse, but what was our
Mujeres Creando is a “craziness” started by
the concept of diversity(916)
(the445-2841
other is
position as to (government) power?
[email protected]
Here’sthree
how
you
can
urge
your
representatives
to
women [Julieta Paredes, Maria Galindo
creativity). Diversity is fundamental for us,
The difference between us and those
represent
you: Mendoza] from the arrogant,
and Monica
because if you look at how other groups are
who talk about the overthrow of capitalism is
City kind of
homophobic and totalitarian Left of Bolivia
made up, they’re usually of L.A.
the same
that all their proposals for a new society come
Cityyoung
Council:
Write during
lettersthe ’80s, where heterosexuality was
people (barrio [neighborhood],
people,
from the patriarchy of the Left. As feminists in
www.lacity.org/council.htm
Paper correspondence
is afeminism
dying art.
Revive
it — and this
nation’s
still the model and
was
understood
workers,
lesbians, etc.). Diversity
is a way to
Mujeres Creando we want revolution, a real
flagging to
democracy
—It’s
bynot
sending
representatives
your
thoughts
be divisive.
really your
a new
design in a
criticize
these “enclosed cubicles” in society.
change of the system; we do not want just to
Mayor
James and
Hahn: change capitalism, nor just to change
on issues
ranging
fromasplans
to the mercury
in your
society
such
ours.forSonew
weprisons
had already
Mujeres
Creando is made up
of lesbians
http://www.lacity.org/mayor/mayhow1.htm
tuna salad.
in this
organized
campaigns
to flood
beenParticipate
developing
kind ofletter-writing
criticism. The
heterosexuals,
whites and
indigenous
attitudes towards women, but also a change
reps withother
constituent
opinion
on
specific
issues
at
key
moments
and/or
part of our criticism of the Left is toward
women, young and old women, divorced and
in attitude toward young people and the
To get
alerts
you
of organized
send a letter
(or social
outrage)
strikes — maybe
what whenever
has been ainspiration
constructed
practice;
marriedeven
women, women
fromaction
the country
and notifying
environment.
We want
to change patriarchy,
letter-writing,
e-mail
and
phone-calling
campaigns,
organizethat
youris,own
letter-writing
campaign
to
address
an
issue
specific
it was unethical, dishonest and it had
from the city, etc. The system tries to keep us
in a historical and long-lasting
transformation
get on and
thetomailing
lists of
youcreated
like. Abyfew
to your community.
a double morality.
in the “enclosed cubicles”
divide us so
thatorgs
is being
the lists
feminism we
like:
Give ’em a call
Revolutionary
in
the
streets,
that it can control we
us more
effectively.
dream of.
It’s fun revolutionary
to participate
in a words,
large phone-in
campaign.
There’s
a important is that we, through
in their
revolutionary
in
What’s
In the process of constructing
Move
On
(www.moveon.org):
movement
to
heartening
of widespread
civic they
participation
when you
have to with
theirsense
talking,
yet, at home,
were the
our connection
other
women,
are starting Internet-based
organization grassroots
— no bosses,
no hierarchy
—I
politicians
accountable
constituents
on a variety
issues,
call several
times of
to their
get through
and then
squeeze
your comments
into the hold
dictators
own families,
with
their own
to observe
diversity
in which
Latin to their
speak
for myself
and of
don’t
represent
including
mediathat
consolidation
the war on
Iraq.said it and I’ll say it again that
seven seconds
for the rushed operator overwhelmed with American
calls.
loved ones.
feminism
developed;
is, there andanybody.
… I’ve
Send an e-mail
We have started to realize the original
were farmers, students, soldiers, lesbians,
we’re not anarchists by Bakunin or the CNT,
American
Civil Liberties
Legal
work to defend
If you’re proposal
lucky enough
to have convenient
access
the Internet,
of Mujeres
Creando, and
so towe
etc. It e-mail
was beautiful
and it captivated
us. Union (www.aclu.org):
but rather by our
grandmothers,
and that’s a
individual
rightsthat
andit liberties.
is probably
easiest
wayover
to tell
reps how to represent Afterwards
you.
havethe
been
picking
all your
our experiences
we realized
wasn’t
beautiful school of anarchism.
Compose
your
or learning
just clickthrough
“send” our
on a form
message
with
theown
Left,message
as well as
enough
just to be a woman … there were
Working We
Families
e-Activists
Network
(www.aflcio.org):
E-mail
created first
by thetime
organizers
a large
e-mail
taking of
part
in the
Sancampaign.
Bernard
deep political differences.
keep on
with
What
is it to
be a feminist in Latin
America?
campaigns
focused
on
economic
justice.
Conference in Argentina, which was an
the feminist movement and become feminists,
To be a feminist in our society means to fight
experience of all Latin American feminists.
and immediately we see something
against neoliberalism and its ideology;
LOUD22
mouth
LOUDmouth
10
being a feminist means denouncing racism,
machismo/sexism (in the Left and within
anarchism, as well as feminine sexism),
homophobia, domestic violence, etc. It means
denouncing the sexist, bureaucratized,
technocratic women of this generation (for us,
those women that have fallen into
neoliberalism and are administrators of the
murderous politics of the World Bank, IMF,
etc.). Here’s the difference between us and
them: They use power and are within the
system, and therefore they always control the
forces (military, economic, social, political)
against those who oppose what they say.
So, we’re not interested in power,
women’s offices or ministries. We are
interested in the daily construction of practice
and theory in the streets and in nurturing our
creativity.
Our generation denounces the unjust
relationship between men and women, just as
the class concept has denounced the unjust
relationship between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. Therefore, it should have led to a
revolution, but it’s changed into a concept
grabbed up by the system, because the only
thing that works is the description of being a
man or woman today, not the denunciation of
the relationship’s injustice … so, the
generation becomes a descriptive concept.
Feminism looks for ways to recover this
category, which has a descriptive aspect, but
more importantly its denouncing character.
We bring this character forward in our fight for
the construction of our anti-patriarchal theory.
What do you think of the “lack of women”
in social movements? Is it a myth or an
historical reality?
It seems to me like a blindfold when people
ask, “Where are the women?”
We have been around since the
beginning of revolutionary movements,
always.
On the other hand, in today’s era,
social movements (SemTerra, de los
Deudores, Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de
Mayo) are all women-led fights resisting and
confronting dictatorships. What we see is a
division between public and private affairs, a
blindfold, an invisibility in the struggles.
LOUDmouth
11
How do men and women, indoctrinated
into a patriarchal society, react to the
goals of Mujeres Creando?
Women have sympathy as well as fear. The
sexist women are much more stubborn and
violent than macho men. These men are
careful about having sex with us; they’re
afraid, it’s some kind of complex … but in the
end they have a certain kind of respect
toward us because we have been fighting for
10 or 11 years. At first, most women have
sympathy, and later they’re afraid because it’s
a demanding and radical proposal, but that’s
the only way to build a place where
everything is not superficial and diluted. And
the men that sympathize with us follow us if
they’re interested in everything, but they keep
wanting us to be like mothers, feeding them;
they’re a little lazy because they don’t want to
accept the challenge of making their own
group.
What is your vision of social change as it
relates to the books you [Mujeres
Creando] write and the videos and graffiti
you make?
You can want a microphone or camera like
you’d want a rifle, neither with bullets nor with
audio or pictures. No, I’ll say what I want to
say to others.
We have given communication a high
place, on the same level as creativity — that
is, creativity in communication. So we have
preferred to take from our roots and, by
leaving them, we begin a creative
communication process. In ’92 we started to
do graffiti. We did it in Cochabamba, Santa
Cruz and other places. And so, out of all our
work that we do, the graffitis (signed Mujeres
Creando) are not anonymous — we put what
we want, and everybody knows that MC is in
this area, and if someone wants to put us in
jail, he or she comes here and does it.
Whenever we’ve gone out to do graffiti, we
have been afraid, and we’re always afraid.
But we’ve thought about our right to do it …
Coca-Cola pays and paints, Repsol pays and
paints, so why can’t we paint without paying?
The problem isn’t that the walls are painted,
the problem is that it’s not paid for. If we must
pay for public space, then it’s a big
contradiction in democracy. What’s public
and what’s private?
Streets are public space, the whole
city’s courtyard, not a jail hallway, where you
go from the jail of your house to the jail of
your office job … if it’s public, then everybody
can use it. But if you pay for public space
then it becomes private. Public space doesn’t
exist. Let’s start this discussion.
What’s dirty? What’s clean? “You’re
making my walls dirty!” Oh, so when CocaCola contracts a painter, it doesn’t make the
wall dirty? That’s an aesthetic concept. It
seems to me that it has made the wall dirty in
a disgusting way. And what we have done,
our graffiti, that’s beautiful.
What are some of the next projects for
Mujeres Creando? Is it possible that you
will participate in IMC Bolivia?
If we want Mujeres Creando to go on, it
needs to question itself, and not embody a
myth like “a cute group of feminists” because
you have to create roots in society. For this, I
propose to build a space (Creando
Feminismo Autónomo [Creating Autonomous
Feminism]) for other women and other social
groups where we’d build feminism in terms of
Mujeres Creando … and I think it’s important
to let people know about these experiences
through Indymedia.
My privileged space is for women; I
want to start with them. I want to start from
there, to feed others and myself through the
Indymedia space. I don’t consider this
women’s space to be apart from others — I
think that we can get into deeper discussion
if we start with women. But I don’t want it to
start in Indymedia and finish with the women.
It’s a social proposal by women and for both
women AND men.
Thanks to AK Press for permission to reprint this piece
from Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader.
Read about this and other AK Press titles at
www.akpress.org.
NUNCAMAS
UNMEXICO
DSINNOSOTRAS
CUANDO UNA
WHEN WOMEN
MUJER AVANZA,
GO FORWARD,
NO HAY UN HOMBRE
RETROCEDA.
NO MAN GOES
BACKWARD.
uring the medieval and tyrannical rule of the
his relatives. Our people and the world also know that
Taliban, the major international and Western
Rabanni, Sayyaf, Mansour, Chakari and others are
media began and ended [their coverage] with The freedom of a nation is to be symbols of blood, treason and aggression. Not only
a focus on women’s oppression. It seemed as though
achieved by itself. Similarly the had they occupied the front row of the assembly once
this country would not have had a problem if all that
more but with the gesture of the $10 million assembly
torture and gradual death were not forced on women, real emancipation of women speaker, were posing and speaking so shamelessly
By Elizabeth Mejía
and the Taliban had showed a little mercy! And when
can be realized only by that they seemed to be the bride or kingpins of the
anyto just
fighther
forhirelings,
the liberation
of and
a people, women have the
the U.S. camenout
punish
the first
assembly, not criminals that had infected the whole
and to by
play
a self-determining
roleIf inthat
the freedom is tent. The rude bullying of Sayyaf proved how much
last word was right
aboutto
theparticipate
abuse of women
Taliban
— themselves.
process.
The
Zapatistas
have made ensuring this
even the fliers revolutionary
that were thrown
by U.S.
military
aircraft
bestowed by others, it may be the Loya Jirga and its speaker had been infected by
a priority.photos that portrayed Taliban
on citiesright
contained
the germ of fundamentalism. What could be expected
seized
andone
violated
The
state of Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico,
holds
of theat any time. from such an infected assembly? To approve a
barbarism against
women.
sixcourse
proportionally
indigenous
populations of all Mexican states.
Of
after thehighest
U.S. attack
and installation
democratic constitution that guarantees the
Chiapasgovernment,
produces 55raising
percentwomen’s
of Mexico’s
hydroelectric energy and 20
of the interim
banner
elimination of the “Northern Alliance,” the Taliban,
of the The
nation’s
electricity.Ministry
The estimated
oil potential
of Chiapas
steadily percent
continued:
Women’s
and various
other
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Al Qaida terrorism? And what happened?
exceeds
thatcreated,
of Saudiand
Arabia.
Yet seven
outbecame
of 10 homes
in the region
so-called
commissions
were
a few
women
We now have a constitution that has nothing to guarantee the trial of
have
no now
electricity
andyears
nine out
of 10
indigenous
homesevents,
have no water.
authorities.
And
that two
have
passed
since these
warlord criminals, allows the misuse of religion and has not abolished
in Chiapas
timesoflower
than the
averages.
who is toWages
deny the
fact thatare
thethree
condition
99 percent
of national
women in
the various crimes against women in the name of religion and tradition.
Twenty
the people have
no income,
40 longer
percent of the
Afghanistan
has percent
not seenoffundamental
changes?
There and
are no
The constitution is just a piece of paper that gives legitimacy to the
farmers
average,
$1.74
of
Taliban who
lashreceive,
womenon
because
their
hairaorday,
feetwhich
cameequals
out ofabout
the halftyrannical
rule of warlords.
the how
hourly
Mexico. and
Since
the normal
implementation
of
burqa. But
canminimum
women wage
go outinunveiled
have
life
It is quite natural that the voter registration, particularly of
NAFTA
(the
North who,
American
Free Trade
1994, the
without the
fear of
warlords
like hunting
dogs, Agreement)
annoy, insultinand
women, for the upcoming election may have the lowest possible figure.
conditions for the indigenous communities in Chiapas have worsened.
rape them?
What value does an election have for the hopeless people who have no
Theofcoffee
harvested
by an
estimated
indigenous
people has
Out
extreme
suffocation
and
terror in 64,000
Herat, grabbed
in the
bread and no work and are being tormented by criminal
60 percent
of itsIsmail
market
valuehundreds
since the of
early
1990s.
filthy griplost
of up
theto terrorist
“Amir”
Khan,
girls
and
fundamentalists? The presence of every woman and man in the future
In Chiapas,
30 toby
40self-immolation
percent of women
speak
only
their mother
Women are
supported
in the
very structure
of the
women have committed
suicide
in less
than
a year
assemblies is meaningful
only
when they
represent
the people,
and,Zapatista
tongue (no from
Spanish),
and life
60 percent
aredagger
illiterate.
work double
movement
by at
the
following
Women’sinRevolutionary
Laws:
to free themselves
a painful
under the
of Women
a corrupted
like Malalai
Joya, spit
the
fundamentalists
their cage with
courage
and triple days,
working,
knitting,
fetching
water
and wood
and freedom-killing
regime.
The burnt
bodies
of these
innocent
victimswith their
and honor. Otherwise they should be called a cat’s paw of religious
to their
backs,
and more —inthese
are, after all, jobs
1. accomplices.
The right to participate
the revolutionary
struggle
keep thechildren
faces ofstrapped
Ismail Khan
and
his accomplices
the “Northern
fascists and their
They wouldincompromise
and hunger
forin a way
arewith
imperative
determined
bypeople.
their desire and capacity.
Alliance”that
black
shame. to the survival of the family.
power, not to be forgiven
by the
2. The right
to work
and receive
a just
salary. forces
Despite the above dreadful realities, if talking about Afghanistan
The experience
of Iran
has made
it clear that
democratic
“Women
have
been the
Weinto
get up cannot
at
Thegoals
right to
decide
number of
will conceive.
is confined only
to abuse
of women
then most
in factexploited.
it is throwing...dust
achieve3.their
within
thethe
framework
ofchildren
a brutalthey
religious
in the
morningoftothe
prepare
corn
our husbands’
4. The
to participate
in affairs
of the People
community
the eyes of three
the world.
Regardless
multitude
of for
oppressions
regime or relying
on right
a so-called
“moderate”
regime.
andand hold
breakfasts
and
we
late
If theredemocratic
is
positions
if they
are participation
freely and democratically
against women,
men are
also
notdon’t
free. rest
If the until
Taliban
are at
notnight.
in charge,
forces in
Iran paidofa authority
heavy price
for their
in the
not the
enough
food,
we give
it to our
children
their Jehadi brethren,
“Northern
Alliance,”
embrace
the power
in theand our
bloody game of anelected.
Islamic regime. Supporters of democratic forces in
husbands
first.
So the
women
now
decidedofto take
5. The
rightlearned
of women
andfrom
children
primary and
attention in
country. Hence
if all these
atrocities
and
disasters,
i.e.,have
the presence
Afghanistan should
have
enough
Iran’stoexample
up arms
and become
Zapatistas.”
matters
of health
fundamentalist warlords, are not rooted
out from
Afghanistan,
no
should never make
cease-fires
or and
dealnutrition.
with this or that faction of
— Comandante
6. The
The right
an education.
serious issues including freedom and prosperity
of women Ramona,
and men EZLN
fundamentalists.
only tobenchmark
to measure the loyalty to
7. The right
choose of
their
partners determination
and not to be forced
can be solved even if more ministries and commissions are created for
freedom in a country
is theto degree
boldness,
and into a
The Zapatistas brilliantly chose Jan. 1, 1994, the first day honesty
of
marriage.
women.
of a person
or group in the struggle against religious fascism.
NAFTA
implementation,
uprisingby
initself.
demand
of their
Those
who rape
or otherwise
physically
mistreat
women will
The
freedom
of a nation isfor
to their
be achieved
Similarly
therights as
It is up 8.
to our
conscious
women
to organize
tens and
hundreds
indigenousofpeople.
of 1994,only
indigenous
womenIf from
severely punished.
that several
real emancipation
women In
canMay
be realized
by themselves.
of thousands of be
freedom-loving
women and create a great antiin San itCristobal
las Casas,
Chiapas,
and drafted
9. movement
The right to
positions
of leadership
and military
rank
freedom communities
is bestowed met
by others,
may be de
seized
and violated
at any
fundamentalism
foroccupy
democracy
across
this terrorismand
their own demands under the banner “NUNCA MAS UN MEXICO SIN
in the organization.
time.
fundamentalism-blighted
country. While organizing such a massive
NOSOTRAS
(Never
a Mexico
without
— the very
thean
rights
and obligations
elaborated
in the Revolutionary
The
fake nature
of theAgain
constitutional
Loya
JirgaUs)”
and freedom
of slogan
movement, we 10.
canAll
play
effective
role for women’s
emancipation
on
that clear
was to
adopted
by theofEZLN
(Ejército
de the
Liberación
Laws
and
Regulations
of should
the EZLN.
speech were
all the people
Afghanistan
andZapatista
the world by
the basis of freedom
of the
country.
Now we
no longer talk about
Nacional).
cheap attacks
of the assembly speaker, Sibghatullah Mojadadi, Sayyaf
a “silent majority,” but an uprising, a decisive and aggressive majority,
comprise
approximately
one-third
of Zapatista
is a
that must be
inclusive and
and elements ofToday,
Fahim women
and Rabanni’s
forces
on the women
delegates,
and translate ourChange
solidarity
to revolutionary
the struggle ofprocess
all freedom-loving
women
fighters
55 percent
of theJoya
Zapatista
support
base.toEven
dating back
requires
dialogue
action.
Malalai Joya
andand
Anar
Kali. Malalai
had the
courage
call the
in the remote
places
of thewith
world
from words into practice.
to the 1910
Mexican and
Revolution,
army
Women and
children are
disproportionately
fundamentalists
“criminals,”
asked General
for theirEmiliano
nationalZapata’s
and
While celebrating
International
Women’s
Day with all affected
justice- by war
included
of that
women.
Throughout murderers
history, women
and children
It is
imperative
that women
are supported
in the very
international
trial. battalions
But we saw
the treacherous
and their
seeking worldwide.
women of the
world,
Revolutionary
Association
of the Women
played
vital
roles insochallenging
occupations
of villages
structures
of resistance
movements,
so that
particular
needs will
elementshave
in the
Jirga
became
outraged military
that according
to the
of Afghanistan
(RAWA)
sends warmest
regards
to their
all the
freedomandofrefugee
camps Mojadadi,
while picketing
police
until male
be at imprisoned
the forefront
the resistance.
struggle
continues
confession
Sibghatullah
if they
werestations
not leashed
whatprisoners
loving women
in theoftorturous
prisons ofThe
Iran and
Turkey.
arehave
released.
in the Joya?
Zapatista
for know
liberation,
autonomy,
selfeverywhere.
would they
done And
to Malalai
Our fight
people
that in
1992
We wish
that the women of Afghanistan celebrate this day in
determination,
justice
and democracy,
the Pakistani
Prime Minister
Nawaz
Sharif gave the
$10 EZLN
millionincorporated
to establish women
Afghanistan free from the fetters of fundamentalism and on the road to
into the government
revolutionary
because
the women
demanded
it.
Elizabeth
Mejía is a member of the Comité Pro-Democracía en México, an activist
the Mujahadeen
andstruggle
that Mojadadi
distributed
this cash
to
democracy
and prosperity.
Women share the demands of the exploited and are committed to the
organization
based in Los
For more
information
or March
to become
involved in the
—
RAWA Statement
onAngeles.
International
Women’s
Day,
8, 2004
laws and regulations of the revolution.
struggle, e-mail her at [email protected].
I
LOUDmouth 20
LOUDmouth
12
1887 1894 1896
Women
1894 1896
in U.S.
Government:
Compiled and edited by Anne Peters
A Brief History
The following is drawn from a detailed list created by the Center for
American Women in Politics: www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/.
1894
1887
In 1872, Victoria Woodhull ran for president of the United States
on the Equal Rights Party ticket. She didn’t win, but she did open
the door for other women to seek political office, such as:
Susana Salter: first woman elected mayor, Argonia, Kan.
Clara Cressingham, Carrie C. Holly and Frances Klock: first
women elected to a state legislature, N.Y.
Women in National
Governments Today:
A Global
Index
Compiled and edited by Jessica Hoffmann
Nation with highest percentage of women in parliament: Rwanda
(48.8%, followed by Sweden, 45.3%)
Nations with lowest percentage of women in parliament: Bahrain,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon
Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga (tied at 0%)
By Chrissy Coleman
1917
1993
EMILY’s List
1993
Compiled by Shauna Robinson
1992 1989 1984
1981
1968 1965 1964
1933
1931
1925
1922
’T
1896
Rank of U.S.A. in gender equity in parliamentary seats, out of 119
Martha Hughes Cannon: first female state senator, Utah.
nations
by the Inter-Parliamentary Union: 58
make under $30,000 annually, it’s illogical
forranked
is the season of our disconnect
suppressing information is more effective in
the
group
to
avoid
a
once-in-four-years
trip
to
— another presidential election
marginalizing the rights of entire populations.
Among the 57 nations that ranked higher than the U.S.A.: Rwanda,
the polls.
coming
up, and Rankin:
it seems first
that congresswoman,
John Kerry, on the other hand, has
Jeannette
House of
all almost
Scandinavian countries, Cuba, Vietnam, Uganda, Timor-Leste,
Bush’s re-election home page
we’ll be fulfilling the
cliché of having to choose
hardly ignored women’s concerns. Logging
Representatives.
Mexico,
Peru, Sierra Leone, China
reads like a satire piece in The Onion.
HisGuinea,
the lesser of two partisan evils. Given Bush’s
on for some hot blog-on-blog action reveals
platform
issues
are
listed
across
the
page
in
track record of rolling
back
basic freedoms,
his track record of supporting women on
Rebecca
Latimer
Felton: first woman to serve in the U.S.
Percentage of women in parliament, world average: 15.4
this fill
order:
Economy,
the choice is obvious
to Ga.
many
women: John
many issues, including cosponsoring the
Senate,
(appointed
to temporarily
a vacant
seat). Compassion, Health
Care, Education, Homeland Security,
Kerry is the alternative to the Bush platform.
Women’s Health Equity Act, aimed at
Percentage
of seats in 108th U.S. Congress held by women: 14.07
NationalN.Y.
Security and Environment. Bush
has
As in the presidential
2000,
it iswoman
the governor,
increasing women’s access to information
Nellieelection
Tayloe of
Ross:
first
demolished programs in every one of these
single-woman swing vote that will ultimately
about reproductive health, and the Violence
Number
countries in which women have a higher
categories except Homeland Security
and of “developing”
determine our next four-year Oval Office
Against Women Act, which provided, among
share of parliamentary seats than in the U.S.A.: 38
National
Security.
And
his
Compassion
occupant.
other things, education and prevention grants
Hattie Wyatt Caraway: appointed to Senate to succeed her late
best
Accordinghusband;
to the 2000
U.S.
Census,
to reduce sexual assault. In addition, Kerry
later
became
first61womanplatform
elected toseems
Senate,like
Ark. one of the
Statistics
GenderGap in Government, Inter-Parliamentary Union
euphemisms since “friendly fire”
— from founded
percent of women voted in the last presidential
the Boston Center for Women and
and
U.N.
Statistics Division
“compassion”
is
a
program
designed
to
kick
election, whichFrances
isn’t Perkins:
necessarily
bad,
Enterprise
and has pledged to increase
first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet;
impoverished people off government
considering onlyappointed
58 percent
of menofcast
a by FDR.
assistance to women seeking to establish
Secretary
Labor
assistance.
ballot. But a deeper dive into the numbers
small
In 2002, only
11 businesses.
countries had achieved the benchmark set in
It’sfor
no the
surprise,
then, that contrary to
reveals more telling
detail:
Married
women
If Kerry
is elected,
we’ll have
to keep
Senator
Margaret
Chase
Smith: nominated
presidency
the Beijing Platform
for Action
of 30 percent
representation
by
the recent
slew oftomessages
the female
Republican
convention;
first woman
serve in by George W.
comprise most ofat the
vote,national
and they
an
eye out for
any gaps
betweenGermany,
campaignFinland,
women
in
parliament:
Sweden,
Denmark,
both
houses
of
Congress.
Bush
re-election
sloganeers,
“W”
does
not
tend to vote conservatively. Single women, on
pledgesthe
andNetherlands,
in-office follow-throughs,
butCosta
one Rica,
Norway, Iceland,
South Africa,
forand
“Women.”
has tried to dissolve
identify
most with
a first
liberal
the other hand, Patsy
for certain: Four
more
years of
Bush is quotas
Takemoto
Mink:
womanstand
of color
first APIBush
woman
Argentina thing’s
and Mozambique.
In all
of these
countries
Roe v. Wade,
platform, but they’re
not making
it to the
polls
bad fororwomen.
Let’s
Bush is abasis.
lone star
elected
to the House
of Representatives,
Hawaii.dilute Title IX and end the Equal
were legislated
adopted
onhope
a voluntary
— United
Pay Initiative, which would have guaranteed
— in fact, 6 million single women opted out in
heading of
forthe
imminent
Nations, “Progress
World’sburnout.
Women, 2002”
disclosure
of
income
disparities
that
could
be
the last election. Shirley
Taking into
accountfirst
thatAfrican
the
There are two choices this November
Chisholm:
American woman elected to
protected by law.
crux of Election Congress,
2000 rested
on a little more
(single women, take heed): Sit it out and let
N.Y.
Perhaps the most insidious and
than 500,000 votes, it’s not enough that
inaction and apathy re-elect the emperor who
dangerous
anti-women
women have consistently
voted
at
higher
rates
has no clothes (talk about a real wardrobe
Sandra Day O’Connor: first female Supreme Court
justice.action Bush has taken
was reported in a spring story on Salon.com:
than men since the 1984 presidential election.
malfunction), or cast your hard-won vote for
25 statistical reports on women’s issues that
Simply put, single women need to
his opponent, a man who seems to have
were
hosted
on the Department of
freedom Ferraro:
hard-won
bywoman
their to run
exercise the civicGeraldine
dressed in women’s issues to tip this fall’s
first
on previously
a major party’s
national
Labor website have disappeared. This blatant
feminist ancestry.ticket.
Women still hold less than
single-woman-hinged ballot box.
and alarming disregard for women’s issues
14 percent of congressional seats and still
Punch wisely. Only time will tell if we
and
women’s
rights is part
of a larger trend of
make 76 cents Ileana
to theRos-Lehtinen:
male-earnedfirst
dollar.
get punched again.
Latina and
first
Cuban American
to be
the current administration: It seems no longer
Given that the latest
pollstoindicate
this swingelected
Congress.
may sound like a nickname
necessary to openly debate issues
vote class of single women is composed
Coleman
is practicing
herBut
punch.
her a political
for a “ladiesChrissy
who lunch”
type
of group.
it’s Throw
a powerful
to those
mostly of urban Carol
workaholics,
of whom
couple
of your own:
[email protected].
Braun:
first Africanunfavorable
American woman
and in
firstpower. Instead,
Moseleyhalf
machine. The
acronym
E.M.I.L.Y.
stands for Early Money Is Like
woman of color elected to the Senate; first African American
Yeast (it helps the “dough” rise). This clever group finances prowoman to win a major-party Senate nomination.
choice women candidates. EMILY’s List raises money for the
Janet Reno: first female attorney general.
candidates it endorses via grassroots organizing. EMILY’s List
has already changed the gender makeup in U.S. politics. With
your support, they can do even more (www.emilyslist.org).
Aida Alvarez: first Latina and first person of Puerto Rican
—Shauna Robinson
heritage to hold a cabinet-level position.
Anne Peters wants to keep feminist passion alive by honoring the women who fought
for our rights and freedoms.
LOUDmouth
13mouth
LOUD
17
PRO GRESS
IN TH E
maxine waters represents
By Frederick L. Smith
F
irst elected
in the annual March for Women’s Lives.
to the U.S.
“We must continue the struggle for freedom of choice until
House of
women have the absolute right to determine what happens to their
Representatives in
bodies,” Waters said. “I come from a time and place where poor women
November 1990,
found themselves getting illegal abortions in the back alleys. … I never
Maxine Waters won
want to see women go back to the back alleys as their only choice.”
her seventh term in
Her admirers point out that Waters’ empathy with marginalized
2002
by
an
communities is not just political. She has experienced many of the
overwhelming
78
same things women in her district and around the United States face.
percent of the vote in
“The thing most people like about her is that she keeps it real,”
her
district,
which
said Corliss P. Bennett, who grew up in Waters’ district before going to
consists of a large part of
college and, eventually, work in university administration. “You don’t get
M
rk
ax
Pa
ine
South Central Los Angeles,
the long, drawn-out speeches. She tells it like it is … just like our
ert
Wa
m
i
e
ters
Westchester,
Gardena,
mothers
and aunts and grandmothers used to do.”
ar, L
speak
w
e
ing against th
Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale.
Born the fifth of 13 children, in St. Louis, Mo., Waters was
Clearly a woman of her community, Rep. Waters is a voice for
raised by a single mother. By the time she was 13 she was working as
the poor and other marginalized groups on Capitol Hill.
a bus girl in a segregated restaurant, and by 18 she was working in
“When I think of Maxine Waters, I think of someone strong,
garment factories in downtown L.A. Young, married and the mother of
intelligent … a dedicated community activist,” said Matt Rees, a
two children, Waters started attending Cal State L.A., where she
university administrator who lived in Waters’ district before moving to
earned her bachelor’s degree in 1971. Divorced in 1972, Waters began
northern California. “She is definitely someone
her public-service life as a public-school
Among Maxine Waters’ accomplishments
who is committed to improving the welfare of all
teacher and volunteer coordinator with Head
during 25 years of public service:
people.”
Start. She also caught the political bug and
Following the civil unrest in Los Angeles
began volunteering on campaigns for local
Authored California legislation to divest state
pension funds from South Africa during
in 1992, Waters was thrust into the national
politicians. Eventually, she ran for and won her
Apartheid
spotlight. Her straightforward analysis of the
first elected office — a seat in the California
plight of people struggling in America’s largest
Created the nation’s first statewide child-abuseState Assembly — in 1976.
prevention training program
cities earned her respect, and she was named a
Waters is married to Sidney Williams,
“person of the week” on ABC-TV’s World News
former U.S. ambassador to the Commonwealth
Contributed to the national discussion about
the role of the CIA in cocaine trafficking in
Tonight and described by anchor Peter Jennings
of the Bahamas, and is a mother and
South Central L.A.
as “a woman who simply will not go unheard.”
grandmother.
Recently, Waters’ loudly heard voice on
Created the Center for Women Veterans within
“Integrity means a lot to me in a
the Department of Veterans Affairs
the kidnapping and removal of Haiti’s
politician,” said Monica Smith, a public-housing
democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand
director in Michigan. “One of the women I’ve
Secured $10 billion in Section 108 loan
guarantees to cities for economic and
Aristide, resulted in her arrest in front of the White
studied and tried to model myself after is
infrastructure development
House while urging justice for Haitian refugees
Maxine Waters. Her accomplishments in
and the restoration of democracy in Haiti.
Washington and as a strong family woman and
Secured $50 million for Youth Fair Chance, a
program established to provide intensive
Waters’ reputation as a fearless and
community advocate raise the bar for a new
job- and life-skills training for unskilled and
outspoken advocate for women, children, people
generation of leaders like me.”
unemployed youth
of color and poor people is earned — she
Along with the fruits of her legislative
represents those marginalized groups with
and advocacy work, Waters’ other long-term legacy will be in
concrete legislative action. She has sponsored legislation that would
influencing more women of color to choose lives in political leadership.
eliminate mandatory minimum penalties relating to crack cocaine,
Since 1969, only 22 black women have served in Congress, including
provide for basic low-cost banking accounts, improve conditions for
former U.S. Senator and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, a
women in jails and prisons, establish computer-learning centers in lowDemocrat from Illinois.
income areas and establish a select committee to investigate CIA
“When women run, when people of color run, we open up the
involvement in crack-cocaine sales.
possibility that women and people of color can win,” said Carol Moseley
Recently, Waters called on Congress to appropriate $610
Braun, on the role of women like herself and Waters in the national
million for the Minority AIDS Initiative in fiscal year 2005. According to
political landscape.
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, people of color represent almost
“[Moseley Braun’s] presidential campaign put the country on
70 percent of new AIDS cases in the United States. “Clearly, racial and
notice,” said Crystal T. Irby, an L.A.-based writer and performance
ethnic minorities shoulder a disproportionate burden of HIV and AIDS
artist, “that the voices of women, especially women of color, will no
in the United States today,” said Waters. “The Minority AIDS Initiative
longer be silenced because of the belief that certain arenas are off
fills gaps in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, surveillance,
limits to them. Maxine Waters’ longevity in Congress undoubtedly
infrastructure, outreach and education across communities of color.”
shows that women can and will be successful in all areas of life.”
Waters has been outspoken in her critique of the current
In this election year, Waters urges women, people of color and
administration’s economic policies. “California has lost 626,000 nonpoor people to register to vote.
farm jobs since President Bush took office in January 2001, including
“This cowboy capitalism must stop,” Waters wrote in a recent
350,000 manufacturing jobs. Why? … I hope that President Bush will
statement. “America desperately needs a regime change in
come to his senses and realize that economic policies that benefit the
Washington.”
rich and leave the less privileged out in the cold are simply
unacceptable.”
Fred believes the personal is political. E-mail him: [email protected].
This spring, Waters marched, as she has for the past 20 years,
For more information on Waters, visit her website at http://www.house.gov/waters/.
LOUDmouth
14
E
arly this year, when Karen Bass campaigned in the Democratic
primary to represent L.A.’s 47th District (which includes parts of
Westwood, West L.A., Culver City, Baldwin Hills, Leimert Park,
Hyde Park, Crenshaw and Mid-City) in the state Assembly, hundreds of
volunteers went precinct-walking on her behalf, including her campaign’s
fundraiser, Maria Bates.
“That’s not typical at all,” Bates says. “Usually the fundraiser is an
outside consultant who’s not really in the campaign, but I really agree with
[Bass] on the issues, so I wanted to be out there walking.”
Very little about Bass’ campaign has been typical. Most of the
people working on it are first-timers with no campaign experience, many
of them coming directly from the Community Coalition, the grassroots
organization Bass founded 14 years ago in response to L.A.’s crackcocaine crisis. Leading up to the election this fall, Bass will take a
summer “listening tour” of the 47th District, during which constituents will
let her know how best to represent them should she be elected to do so.
I recently visited Karen Bass’s office to listen to her a bit.
JH: Can you start by telling readers about your background?
KB: I was born and raised in L.A. and grew up for the most part in the
district that I’m running in. I’m one of those folks that came up in the ’60s,
so I was a kid in the ’60s and that certainly laid the foundation for me to
be an activist, and that’s what I’ve been doing all my life. Professionally,
I’ve had many, many jobs, from being a waitress to a nurse — you know,
doing lots of different things. But my heart was always in the political
arena — I define the political arena as a lot broader than the electoral
arena. The electoral arena is just one sector.
I’ve been an activist on a variety of different issues. I spent a lot
of time doing foreign-policy-related work, whether that was working for
peace in Central America or against U.S. involvement in South Africa. In
the ’80s, when the crack-cocaine crisis hit, I founded the Community
Coalition, of which I’ve been the executive director for the last 14 years.
Running for office now, I’m moving away from the organization, but I
spent many years — all 14 of them — focusing on developing other
leaders, so there’s a very strong leadership core that will carry the
organization on.
What made you decide to run for elected office?
You know, sometimes the choice makes you. I wasn’t sitting around trying
to be a politician. I will tell you, I learned something from [CSULA
professor] Melina Abdullah’s research. She shared this with me, and it
was really funny because I fit right into it. She said men choose to go into
office, and women get tapped. Women have to be kind of convinced to
run, whereas men just assume they’re running. And that’s absolutely
what happened with me. I wasn’t even thinking about it. I started to run
for city council a couple of years ago, and for a variety of reasons I wound
up not running. I went back to my non-profit and I was minding my own
business and doing fine, and then a number of people approached me
about this office and raised a number of issues that I knew but hadn’t
been paying attention to. For example, the fact that there are no African
American women in Sacramento, period. There hasn’t been [one] for
close to 10 years. There are only six African Americans in Sacramento,
LOUDmouth
15
period, out of 120. There are four in the Assembly and two in the Senate,
and all of them are from L.A. — so I personally know all of them. So that’s
bad, period. There were people running who pretty much were the status
quo and it came down to whether or not I was going to sit back and let
the status quo continue or step up and challenge it. The political work that
I’ve done over the last 14 years is all about public policy. The majority of
it is about local stuff, but also state stuff as well. So, you know, do you do
it yourself or do you let somebody else do it and then spend all your time
organizing campaigns to get them to do the right thing?
What public-policy efforts have you worked on in the past, and what
policy do you hope to work on in Sacramento?
Before I get up there I’m going to have to focus, because there are really
a lot of areas of public policy that I’m interested in and that I have a
background in. Education reform is one of them. One of the first things I
did when I started the Community Coalition is form a youth arm of the
coalition. That was really designed after how I was raised as a teenager.
I was active in high school in the anti-war effort and in the electoral arena,
and there were always adults around me who helped nurture my activism
and also kept me out of trouble. And so that’s what we did with a group
of teenagers, because I believe that teenagers absolutely have the
capacity to understand and interact in public policy and that if you give
kids the opportunity to lead in that way, then they won’t lead in a negative
way. In my opinion, gang leaders — gang involvement is negative
leadership, but it is leadership. And it is organization. And so the question
is, Can you get kids to organize in a constructive way? And being an
activist fits in with adolescent rebellion anyway because you’re rebelling,
and if you channel that in a proper way, then you really win on several
fronts. You win academically because you really do have to study to be
an activist, and you win personally because you gain a lot of confidence
and positive skills, and you win in the community because you’re getting
involved in positive change. A number of the young people that we’ve
recruited over the years actually stayed with us throughout their whole
adolescence and they’re who I’m handing the organization over to,
because they’ve grown up now. Fourteen years later, they’re in their late
20s now, and they’re running things.
So, education reform is an issue area that I’d be involved in.
Foster care is another area. Criminal justice is huge. As I mentioned,
when I started the coalition, its origins were a response to the war on
drugs. Every issue I just named is related to the drug issue. If you don’t
make it in our society, you know, you either participate in the legal
economy or you participate in the illegal economy. Certainly the major
employer in the illegal economy is the drug industry on one level or
another, and when they get pushed out of school, kids are left to the
illegal economy. All of these issues are interconnected. What I have to do
in this period is a very serious analysis of Sacramento to see where I can
be most effective. I’m in the process of doing that now.
Can you explain what exactly happens in the state Assembly?
I think it is a mystery to a lot of people. Unfortunately, between the
election and our superstar governor, the Assembly gets really dragged
through the ground.
activist karen bass on running for state government, listening to
her community and a big ol’ representation problem in sacramento
By Jessica Hoffmann
But just take L.A., for example. L.A. is one-third of California in
population. When we think of all of the services we have in the city — fire,
police, education, medical care — all of that originates in Sacramento in
terms of its funding. So whatever the County Board of Supervisors does,
the majority of it originates at the state level. So that’s where the
Assembly comes in financially.
Then there’s the legislative aspect. The role of Sacramento is to
pass statewide laws. So, in terms of the areas I would be interested in,
just as an example, I would love to see Three Strikes reformed. We wrote
a bill at the Community Coalition that was vetoed by [former] Gov. Davis
three times. When Clinton passed welfare reform in 1996, there was a
provision that says if you have ever been convicted of a drug-related
felony, you can never get public assistance. However, there is space in
the federal legislation where an individual state can exempt out. We wrote
a bill opting California out of that [provision]. It passed three times and
was vetoed three times. That’s an example of legislation I want to work
on.
So the role of Sacramento is controlling the local budget and also
passing legislation.
If elected, how will you ensure that you’re staying in touch with your
constituents while you’re in Sacramento?
We’re conducting a listening tour of the district from July through August,
where we’ll listen to the people in the district tell us what they need in their
community. In September we’ll look at what everyone said — this is what
the district said, these are the issues that are important. If I’m elected,
then I would convene everybody and we would create something to have
a participatory structure so that people can interact with me. RidleyThomas, in the adjacent district, has what he calls the 48th District
Empowerment Congress, and they advise him and participate in what
he’s doing. We’re looking at that as a potential model. That model may or
may not make sense in the 47th District. My guess about the 47th is that
you’re talking about a district that’s relatively affluent. My thought — and
again, we’ll verify this when we go out and talk to people — is that a high
percentage of the district is on the Internet. So I think I can do a lot on the
Internet. I know that there is a digital divide, but I don’t think in this
particular district it is as severe as it is in other areas.
Part of what’s broken in our so-called democracy is that you have
a district like this, it has over 400,000 people in it. So the reality is — how
many people am I going to be connected to? If we look at the votes [from
the primary], I got around 24,000. If you add all the [Democrats] together,
it was probably around 35,000. The Republicans, they don’t count that
much, because there are not that many in this district. So we have
400,000 residents and we have around 35,000 to 40,000 voters.
So if I am able to come up with an e-mail database of 10,000, I’d be
rockin’ and rollin’. But it isn’t really all that democratic at the end of the day.
And that’s in a district with a leader more in touch with her
constituency than the average—
You know, what I’ve learned about some of my colleagues, and what I’ve
learned about this office (granted, I’m not even there yet) — you can
organize yourself so that you have no contact with constituents. There
are ways you can do this because no one knows what the Assembly does
anyway. So I could go up to Sacramento and just disappear. It’s a crime.
What is it about you that makes that inconceivable to you, to
disconnect from the constituency like that?
Oh, believe me, I could be doing a lot of other things right now. But, you
know, the movement calls you to do different things, and so the only
reason to do it is because of a greater movement for social change,
otherwise I’d be where I was last week, out on the Virgin Islands enjoying
myself.
So why people do this [“represent” without having any contact
with constituents] — you know, voters really don’t understand what a
mess they made with term limits. Term limits are really bad. For instance,
each term is a two-year term, so I’d have three, [for a total of] six years.
So I get elected, hopefully, in November, and then I’d get sworn in in
January. Do you know that in January I’m supposed to open up my reelection committee? In January! So people really run one term, and then
they’re figuring out where they’re going to go next, and so the average
person is opening up their election committee for their next office, which
means they’re only paying attention to this office for a minute. That’s what
term limits have done.
Is there anything in particular you want to say to young women
about leadership?
Because of term limits, there is a huge problem now with women [in
California’s state government]. One of the other big things that pulled me
into [running for office] is that by the year 2008, 60 percent of the women
will be termed out of Sacramento. Young women have got to think about
this. Because of term limits, more women are going to have to step up,
and we have to figure out how to create a pipeline of quality, not just
people who are running because they’re building their resumes.
How do we do that?
I think it’s actually very easy to do. Everybody knows that this is a
problem, and so all of the major women’s organizations are on it. If you
are a young female who thinks you might be interested in elected office,
there’s an organization for you. They’ll train you and teach you all that you
need to do. One of them is called California List [modeled after EMILY’s
List]. Young women can link up with lots of others through them.
Learn more about Karen Bass at www.karenbass.org.
California List is a political fundraising network to help elect pro-choice
Democratic women to California state government. Learn more:
www.californialist.org.
HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality) is a non-profit,
non-partisan organization committed to ensuring political and economic
parity for Latinas through leadership training, advocacy and education.
See how they can support your bid for leadership: www.latinas.org.
The National Women’s Political Caucus recruits, trains and supports
pro-choice women candidates for elected and appointed offices at all
levels of government, regardless of party affiliation. Find out more:
www.nwpc.org.
The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights
promotes human rights through the conscious leadership and action of
women and girls. Get involved: www.wildforhumanrights.org.
LOUDmouth
16
1887 1894 1896
Women
1894 1896
in U.S.
Government:
Compiled and edited by Anne Peters
A Brief History
The following is drawn from a detailed list created by the Center for
American Women in Politics: www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/.
1894
Susana Salter: first woman elected mayor, Argonia, Kan.
Clara Cressingham, Carrie C. Holly and Frances Klock: first
women elected to a state legislature, N.Y.
1896
1887
In 1872, Victoria Woodhull ran for president of the United States
on the Equal Rights Party ticket. She didn’t win, but she did open
the door for other women to seek political office, such as:
Martha Hughes Cannon: first female state senator, Utah.
1917
1922
Rebecca Latimer Felton: first woman to serve in the U.S.
Senate, Ga. (appointed to temporarily fill a vacant seat).
1925
Nellie Tayloe Ross: first woman governor, N.Y.
1931
Hattie Wyatt Caraway: appointed to Senate to succeed her late
husband; later became first woman elected to Senate, Ark.
1933
congresswoman,
House
Frances Perkins: first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet;
appointed Secretary of Labor by FDR.
of
Senator Margaret Chase Smith: nominated for the presidency
at the Republican national convention; first woman to serve in
both houses of Congress.
Patsy Takemoto Mink: first woman of color and first API woman
elected to the House of Representatives, Hawaii.
1981
Sandra Day O’Connor: first female Supreme Court justice.
1992 1989 1984
Shirley Chisholm: first African American woman elected to
Congress, N.Y.
Geraldine Ferraro: first woman to run on a major party’s national
ticket.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: first Latina and first Cuban American to be
elected to Congress.
1993
Janet Reno: first female attorney general.
1993
Carol Moseley Braun: first African American woman and first
woman of color elected to the Senate; first African American
woman to win a major-party Senate nomination.
Aida Alvarez: first Latina and first person of Puerto Rican
heritage to hold a cabinet-level position.
Anne Peters wants to keep feminist passion alive by honoring the women who fought
for our rights and freedoms.
LOUDmouth
17
Compiled and edited by Jessica Hoffmann
Nation with highest percentage of women in parliament: Rwanda
(48.8%, followed by Sweden, 45.3%)
Nations with lowest percentage of women in parliament: Bahrain,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon
Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga (tied at 0%)
Rank of U.S.A. in gender equity in parliamentary seats, out of 119
nations ranked by the Inter-Parliamentary Union: 58
Jeannette Rankin:
Representatives.
1968 1965 1964
first
Women in National
Governments Today:
A Global
Index
Among the 57 nations that ranked higher than the U.S.A.: Rwanda,
all Scandinavian countries, Cuba, Vietnam, Uganda, Timor-Leste,
Mexico, Guinea, Peru, Sierra Leone, China
Percentage of women in parliament, world average: 15.4
Percentage of seats in 108th U.S. Congress held by women: 14.07
Number of “developing” countries in which women have a higher
share of parliamentary seats than in the U.S.A.: 38
Statistics from GenderGap in Government, Inter-Parliamentary Union
and U.N. Statistics Division
In 2002, only 11 countries had achieved the benchmark set in
the Beijing Platform for Action of 30 percent representation by
women in parliament: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland,
Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, South Africa, Costa Rica,
Argentina and Mozambique. In all of these countries quotas
were legislated or adopted on a voluntary basis. — United
Nations, “Progress of the World’s Women, 2002”
EMILY’s List
may sound like a nickname
for a “ladies who lunch” type of group. But it’s a powerful political
machine. The acronym E.M.I.L.Y. stands for Early Money Is Like
Yeast (it helps the “dough” rise). This clever group finances prochoice women candidates. EMILY’s List raises money for the
candidates it endorses via grassroots organizing. EMILY’s List
has already changed the gender makeup in U.S. politics. With
your support, they can do even more (www.emilyslist.org).
—Shauna Robinson
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE
A POLITICIAN TO TAKE
LEGISLATIVE ACTION:
free battered women
W
orking
with
incarcerated
survivors of domestic violence,
members of Free Battered
Women strive to end the re-victimization of
women as they move through the criminal
legal system. Legislative change is one key
avenue to fight for these women. In 2001,
Free Battered Women began working with
other organizations to coordinate the
California Habeas Project. This project allows
women convicted of killing their abusive
partners to file petitions for relief because
their experience of abuse was not presented
at trial. Unfortunately, the current state of the
law is unduly restrictive. Free Battered
Women sought to change that. Working with
attorneys, community organizers, domestic
violence experts and survivors, Free Battered
Women drafted amended language to
California Penal Code Section 1473.5 and
California Evidence Code Section 1107.
Lobbying legislators for support, Free
Battered Women was honored to gain
Senator John Burton’s support when he
signed on as an author. As a result of FBW’s
traveling to Sacramento, testifying at
legislative hearings and gathering public
support, the bill has moved through the state
Senate and is about to move through the
Assembly. If the bill passes the Assembly the
governor will have the opportunity to sign it
into law, creating an opportunity for relief for
many women who would otherwise spend the
rest of their lives behind prison walls. This
experience has taught members of Free
Battered Women, many of whom had no
experience making legislative change, a lot
about the legislative process, including the
fact that you do not need to be a politician,
legislator or public figure to make change – all
you need is dedication and passion to do
what’s right!
If you are interested in supporting Free Battered Women’s
efforts or would like to find out more about their work,
visit their website at www.freebatteredwomen.org or
e-mail [email protected].
Politicizing
the
Art
Process
Los Angeles is home to Arts in
Action, a cultural and political
collective which operates a unique
facility dedicated to the sharing of
skills, resources and trainings
among
diverse
groups
and
individuals. They are committed to
making art a vital component in
social-justice
movements
in
southern California and promoting
dialogue and direction to create
social change. Their structure is
based on non-hierarchical and
anti-authoritarian principles.
Sam Combellick and Angela McCracken think that making comics together is romantic. They would love
it if you e-mailed them at [email protected].
For more information on Arts in Action, call
(213) 483-3504 or visit www.artsinactionla.org.
LOUDmouth
18
IRAQ’S
IRAQ’S
OPPRESSED
MAJORITY
being a feminist means denouncing racism,
Coca-Cola pays and paints, Repsol pays and
machismo/sexism (in the Left and within
paints, so why can’t we paint without paying?
anarchism, as well as feminine sexism),
The problem isn’t that the walls are painted,
homophobia, domestic violence, etc. It means
the problem is that it’s not paid for. If we must
pay for public space, then it’s a big
denouncing the sexist, bureaucratized,
contradiction in democracy. What’s public
technocratic women of this generation (for us,
and what’s private?
those women that have fallen into
Streets are public space, the whole
neoliberalism and are administrators of the
murderous politics of the World Bank, IMF,
city’s courtyard, not a jail hallway, where you
etc.). Here’s the difference between us and
go from the jail of your house to the jail of
them: They use power and are within the
your office job … if it’s public, then everybody
By Yanarcan
Mohammed
system, and therefore they always control the
use it. But if you pay for public space
How do men and women, indoctrinated
forces (military, economic, social, political)
then it becomes private. Public space doesn’t
into a patriarchal society, react to the
against those who oppose what they say.
exist. Let’s start this discussion.
goals of Mujeres Creando?
So, we’re not interested in power,
What’s dirty? What’s clean? “You’re
Women have sympathy as well as fear. The
women’s offices or ministries. We are
making my walls dirty!” Oh, so when Cocasexist women are much more stubborn and
interested in the daily construction of practice
Cola contracts a painter, it doesn’t make the
violent than macho men. These men are
and theory in the streets and in nurturing our
wall dirty? That’s an aesthetic concept. It
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about them
havingagainst
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Editor’s note:
In December
creativity.
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you thinkFreedom
of the “lack
of women”
Mywho
privileged
spacefor
is those
for women; I
any
of
the
women
were
racing
some
who
think
that
women’s
rights
can
be
you make?
and editor
in chief
of the Arabic
in social
movements?
Is women’s
it a myth or an
want
to starthow
withhumiliating
them. I want
tofor
start from
seats
in
the
G.C.,
it
is
achievedYou
by having
onea ormicrophone
more extraor
ladies
can want
camera like
newspaper
Al Mousawat
historical
reality? (Equality), felt
there,who
to feed
others
andone
myself
through
the
other
women
have
to
share
man
in
in
the
Governing
Council.
Furthermore,
the
you’d want a rifle, neither with bullets nor with
compelled
to respond
superficial
It seems
to me to
like“those
a blindfold
when people
Indymedia
space.
I is,
don’t
consider
this
a
house
(the
richer
the
man
the
more
writer goes
into
comparing
the female
audio
or detail
pictures.
No, I’ll say
what I want to
opinions”ask,
with“Where
a call for
democracy and
are“real
the women?”
wives hewomen’s
can get).space to be apart from others — I
quota in say
advanced
countries to those in Iraq.
to
others.
freedom” for Iraqi
women,
and
so
she
sent
the
We have been around since the
think that
we can get
into deeper
discussion
What
difference
does
it make
A friendly
reminder
to all,
women are a high
We
have given
communication
NYT her
own op-ed,
“Iraq’s Oppressed
beginning
of revolutionary
movements,
if wehow
start many
with women.
But
I don’t
eventually,
women
are
on
awant it to
where
they
are
in
the
west
because
of
a
long
place, on the same level as creativity — that
Majority.”
The Times chose not to run
always.
start
in Indymedia
and when
finish with
the
women.
puppet
Governing
Council,
all
the
struggleis,tocreativity
changein legislation
that So
haswe have
communication.
Mohammed’s response.
the firstintime
it
On the This
otheris hand,
today’s
era,
It’sthis
a social
proposal
by women
and for both
policies
of
council
are
determined
to
keep
imposed
a
status
where
women
are
almost
preferred to take from our roots and, by
has appeared
a U.S. print publication.
social in movements
(SemTerra, de los
women AND
women degraded
andmen.
humiliated in Iraq?
equal to leaving
men in rights
and we
responsibilities
them,
begin a —creative
Deudores, Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de
To
my
fellow
Iraqi
women, some of
socially, communication
legally and economically.
In response to “Iraq’s Hidden Treasure”
process. In ’92 we started to
Mayo) are all women-led fights resisting and
Thanks to AK Press for permission to reprint this piece
whom wrote
the previous articles, I can only
In
post-war
Iraq,
there
was chaos, Santa
do
graffiti.
We
did
it
in
Cochabamba,
confronting dictatorships. What we see is a
from Quiet Rumours: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader.
advise that
our women’s movement should
andof all our
emocracy in our vision is
Cruz and other kidnappings
places. And so, out
division between public and private affairs, a
Read about this and other AK Press titles at
not
expect
to be given any charity handouts
rapings
of hundreds
granting equal rights to all
work
that
we
do,
the
graffitis
(signed
Mujeres
blindfold, an invisibility in the struggles.
www.akpress.org.
from Paul
Bremer and his most backward
of anonymous
women, — we
andput what
in a society, especially the
Creando) are not
council.
u n p r e c knows
e d e n that
t e dMC is in
exploited and the oppressed. In Iraq,
we want, and everybody
The few women on that council whom
women
women fall under both categories.
this area, and iftrafficking
someone of
wants
to put us in
very cheap
Democracy is achieved
jail, he or sheforcomes
here prices.
and does we
it. only see on TV appear veiled in a loud
and clear message to all women in Iraq:
Allgone
are out
matters
when the law grants women
Whenever we’ve
to dothat
graffiti, we
Stay under the veil … it is not time for
mayandrun
of afraid.
(currently 60 percent of the society)
have been afraid,
we’reout
always
liberties
yet.
control
in
war
zones.
equal rights with their fellow men.
But we’ve thought about our right to do it …
Still, there were
Democracy wins when women are
Yanar Mohammed is the founder of the Organisation of
some issues that
liberated from the inferior position
Women’s Freedom in Iraq and editor in chief of Al
show clearly the
and submissiveness they are
Mousawat (Equality) newspaper for women. Reach her
intention for women’s
pushed into in every step of their
at [email protected].
future in this new era.
daily life, in their family lives, in
The Coalition Provisional Authorities
matters concerning marriage, divorce and
The Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq is
were keen to bring about immediate
being overloaded with children with no source
currently raising funds for the first women’s shelter in
amendments to the law concerning political
of support.
Baghdad to provide refuge from honor killings. Learn
issues (concerning previous Baathists).
Democracy wins when legislation
more: www.equalityiniraq.com.
Simultaneously, they were very careful not to
grants equality and power to women,
D
LOUDmouth
19
LOUDmouth
11
D
uring the medieval and tyrannical rule of the
his relatives. Our people and the world also know that
Taliban, the major international and Western
Rabanni, Sayyaf, Mansour, Chakari and others are
media began and ended [their coverage] with The freedom of a nation is to be symbols of blood, treason and aggression. Not only
a focus on women’s oppression. It seemed as though
achieved by itself. Similarly the had they occupied the front row of the assembly once
this country would not have had a problem if all that
more but with the gesture of the $10 million assembly
torture and gradual death were not forced on women, real emancipation of women speaker, were posing and speaking so shamelessly
and the Taliban had showed a little mercy! And when
can be realized only by that they seemed to be the bride or kingpins of the
the U.S. came out to punish her hirelings, the first and
assembly, not criminals that had infected the whole
last word was about the abuse of women by Taliban — themselves. If that freedom is tent. The rude bullying of Sayyaf proved how much
even the fliers that were thrown by U.S. military aircraft
bestowed by others, it may be the Loya Jirga and its speaker had been infected by
on cities contained photos that portrayed Taliban
the germ of fundamentalism. What could be expected
seized and violated at any time. from such an infected assembly? To approve a
barbarism against women.
Of course after the U.S. attack and installation
democratic constitution that guarantees the
of the interim government, raising women’s banner
elimination of the “Northern Alliance,” the Taliban,
steadily continued: The Women’s Ministry and various other
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Al Qaida terrorism? And what happened?
commissions were created, and a few women became so-called
We now have a constitution that has nothing to guarantee the trial of
authorities. And now that two years have passed since these events,
warlord criminals, allows the misuse of religion and has not abolished
who is to deny the fact that the condition of 99 percent of women in
the various crimes against women in the name of religion and tradition.
Afghanistan has not seen fundamental changes? There are no longer
The constitution is just a piece of paper that gives legitimacy to the
Taliban who lash women because their hair or feet came out of the
tyrannical rule of warlords.
burqa. But how can women go out unveiled and have normal life
It is quite natural that the voter registration, particularly of
without the fear of warlords who, like hunting dogs, annoy, insult and
women, for the upcoming election may have the lowest possible figure.
rape them?
What value does an election have for the hopeless people who have no
Out of extreme suffocation and terror in Herat, grabbed in the
bread and no work and are being tormented by criminal
filthy grip of the terrorist “Amir” Ismail Khan, hundreds of girls and
fundamentalists? The presence of every woman and man in the future
women have committed suicide by self-immolation in less than a year
assemblies is meaningful only when they represent the people, and,
to free themselves from a painful life under the dagger of a corrupted
like Malalai Joya, spit at the fundamentalists in their cage with courage
and freedom-killing regime. The burnt bodies of these innocent victims
and honor. Otherwise they should be called a cat’s paw of religious
keep the faces of Ismail Khan and his accomplices in the “Northern
fascists and their accomplices. They would compromise and hunger for
Alliance” black with shame.
power, not to be forgiven by the people.
Despite the above dreadful realities, if talking about Afghanistan
The experience of Iran has made it clear that democratic forces
is confined only to abuse of women then in fact it is throwing dust into
cannot achieve their goals within the framework of a brutal religious
the eyes of the world. Regardless of the multitude of oppressions
regime or relying on a so-called “moderate” regime. People and
against women, men are also not free. If the Taliban are not in charge,
democratic forces in Iran paid a heavy price for their participation in the
their Jehadi brethren, the “Northern Alliance,” embrace the power in the
bloody game of an Islamic regime. Supporters of democratic forces in
country. Hence if all these atrocities and disasters, i.e., the presence of
Afghanistan should have learned enough from Iran’s example and
fundamentalist warlords, are not rooted out from Afghanistan, no
should never make cease-fires or deal with this or that faction of
serious issues including freedom and prosperity of women and men
fundamentalists. The only benchmark to measure the loyalty to
can be solved even if more ministries and commissions are created for
freedom in a country is the degree of boldness, determination and
women.
honesty of a person or group in the struggle against religious fascism.
The freedom of a nation is to be achieved by itself. Similarly the
It is up to our conscious women to organize tens and hundreds
real emancipation of women can be realized only by themselves. If that
of thousands of freedom-loving women and create a great antifreedom is bestowed by others, it may be seized and violated at any
fundamentalism movement for democracy across this terrorism- and
time.
fundamentalism-blighted country. While organizing such a massive
The fake nature of the constitutional Loya Jirga and freedom of
movement, we can play an effective role for women’s emancipation on
speech were clear to all the people of Afghanistan and the world by the
the basis of freedom of the country. Now we should no longer talk about
cheap attacks of the assembly speaker, Sibghatullah Mojadadi, Sayyaf
a “silent majority,” but an uprising, a decisive and aggressive majority,
and elements of Fahim and Rabanni’s forces on the women delegates,
and translate our solidarity to the struggle of all freedom-loving women
Malalai Joya and Anar Kali. Malalai Joya had the courage to call the
in the remote places of the world from words into practice.
fundamentalists “criminals,” and asked for their national and
While celebrating International Women’s Day with all justiceinternational trial. But we saw that the treacherous murderers and their
seeking women of the world, Revolutionary Association of the Women
elements in the Jirga became so outraged that according to the
of Afghanistan (RAWA) sends warmest regards to all the freedomconfession of Sibghatullah Mojadadi, if they were not leashed what
loving women imprisoned in the torturous prisons of Iran and Turkey.
would they have done to Malalai Joya? Our people know that in 1992
We wish that the women of Afghanistan celebrate this day in
the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave $10 million to establish
Afghanistan free from the fetters of fundamentalism and on the road to
the Mujahadeen government and that Mojadadi distributed this cash to
democracy and prosperity.
— RAWA Statement on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2004
LOUDmouth
20
S
R
L
P
SA
S R L P GOES COLLECTIVE an
interview with dean spade
By Moof
By Jennifer Ashley
particularly helpful to us. We compared their structures and also spoke
t the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Dean Spade puts an
really
them, who’d
and a worked
lot of them
don’t and
haveother
the facts
that they
can out what
to people
in these
collectives
to find
even of Cal
State L.A.’sspin
student
leaders
Maria
Flores
of
organizational
on the
mantra—“the
personal
is political”
by affects
fight it. What
they’re
here
atmade
the university
forthey
is tohad
learn
how to
outironed out
mistakes
they
had
or lessons
learned
asgo
they
MEChA, Willie
Sandoval
of the American
Indian Student
integrating
a commitment
to the empowerment
of low-income
in the world
andintotheir
do something
theborrowed
world, and
onelike
of task
the ways
yougrievance
kinks
structures. in
We
tools
sheets,
Council
and COSTS
of Students,
Teachersatand
communities
affected (Coalition
by gender-identity
discrimination
every level,
do something
in theand
world
is change.
structures
other
concrete elements from their structures. All of this
Staff), Affie
Koko
the Queer
Connection,
Bowden
of Moof
the recently
all the
wayofdown
to the structure
itself.Angela
LOUDmouth
writer
Affie: Mywill
mom
made a comment
me once
about
people
who
gocollective
be available
in the nexttomonth
on our
website
in our
new
Feminist got
Majority
Leadership
Julio SRLP’s
Alvizo new
of Associated
in touch
with Dean Alliance,
to learn about
collective structure.
through school,
school
does
go through
them.
They
finish
manual.but
Wethe
hope
people
willnot
borrow
from it and
keep
developing
better
Students, Inc., Joseph Coleman of the Black Student Association and
and they come
out with
Ph.D.s
but they
can’t relate to everyday
people.
and better
ways
of working
in non-traditional
governance
structures.
Joaquin Nabarrete
of what’s
the Anti-War
Coalition
— sat down on a Friday
M: First off,
your role
in SRLP?
not street smart; they can’t relate to anything at all but the book.
afternoonDS:
to Ishare
their
on the
student-activism
founded
thethoughts
organization
as acampus’
fellowship
project in 2002, andThey’re
as
makesare
life some
hard for
them. They’re
out of it or
because
all
aspects
of the so
structure
decision-making
scene. Below
are excerpts has
from grown
the discussion:
the organization
with the enthusiasm and need of And
the that What
they’ve done
is school.
processes
that are working well for SRLP? What are some aspects
community spurring us on, I’ve really wanted to resist the usual
that you tried that maybe didn’t work so well?
JA: Why “founder/executive
did you get involved
on campus?
director”
role, which, in many social-justice
Is there ever
a compromise
school
work
and meet in small groups
The team
structure isbetween
working well.
Having
people
Maria: When
I started means
college that
I started
aware
movements,
whitebecoming
people and
people with educational
this kind(5-7)
of work?
to work on projects together and plan out their work concretely,
of a lot ofprivilege
issues that
affecting not only in
mehigher-salaried,
here at
endwere
up disproportionately
higher-visibility,
Angela: rather
Luckilythan
it’s usually
not a meetings
trade-off. with
It’s been
having large
lots ofadifferent topics, is far
Cal State higher-decision-making
L.A. but communities around
the community
powerus,positions
in movements that primarily
proven fact
that,productive.
on average,
students
who
get involved
on is also working well.
more
The
collective
membership
model
that we live
in. … The
decisions
were
beingwithout
made without
concern
people
of color,
people
access to higher education,
have
higher
of graduation
higher
GPAs. is that, like many
One aof
the rate
things
that SRLPand
has
to balance
asking theetc.
students.
about
my culture,
too, was that did not focuscampus
I wantedLearning
to be part
of growing
an organization
on
usually organizations,
gets them to stay
go tofor
class.
we on
getcampus
a lot ofand
offers
volunteer hours from white
a big reason
I got involved.
a single
leader, but instead redistributed skills, power, access Itand
people in their 20s and early 30s. We want to incorporate this energy
Willie: I realized
that when
students work
money within
the communities
I amtogether,
a part ofyou
and work with.
What dointo
you
students
who sure
don’t
the
oursay
work,tobut
want to make
thatfeel
decision-making
power stays
can really accomplish something big. I realized how much
importance
of getting
Why
they getby the policies we are
areshould
most affected
in the
hands ofinvolved?
people who
is possible
if you
theabout
initiative,
if you
Tell
me have
a little
SRLP
andhave
how the
thegoal
organization’s structure
involved?
working to change: transgender and genderand desire.
… I gotitsinvolved
with [COSTS, the coalition to
reflects
mission.
Julio: You can complain about something,
but if you’re
not who are low-income.
variant people
of color
fight budget
cuts]
I feltorganization
that with theproviding
support of
SRLP
is because
a non-profit
part of it, you can’t expect anything So,
to change.
You have
to
being able
to incorporate
volunteers as
other students
on campus,
could actually
get a
free legal
services we
to low-income
people
get involved in order to make that change.
volunteers, and being able to recruit
statementfacing
to the governor.
gender-identity discrimination, and
Joseph: To me there’s so many other
things you
I
specifically
for learn.
collective
membership and
Affie: Driving
school
every
day, taking
classes and
doing to
policy,
public
education
and organizing
feel my networking skills, my people
skills
and leadershippower stay within that
have
decision-making
driving back
homeOur
— I wanted
And there
is more
work.
work more.
focuses
a lot
on at
skills all came from being in a student
organization.
feel diversity goals are
membership,
for Iwhom
Cal Statediscrimination
L.A., and for in
students
who
arecare,
not involved
shelters,
foster
juvenile or
like there’s no classroom that can teach
youset
howout,
to talk
to
clearly
allows
us to keep that
who don’tjustice,
know there
is a chancepublic
to be involved,
employment,
schools there
and is
Dean Spade,
people. I feel
like if there’s nothing you
have Some
a passion
for,challenges for us have
balance.
of the
a chance.
… I’mand
starting
a new
prisons
jails, as
well organization,
as navigatingthe
photo by Rania Sutton-elbers
Sylvia Rivera
then it’s easy to be kind of swayed been
or taken
all different
in in
working
out which decisions are
Genderqueer
Alliance,
trying to revise
university
systems
likethat’s
immigration,
socialthesecurity,
types of routes. I have the ability to define
myselfteams
at college
made within
and which need to go to a
policies on
discrimination
they leave
certain
Medicaid,
publicbecause
assistance
and out
identity
rather than come and let things pass
me by.
I feelAlso,
that’s we’ve
an
larger
body.
been ironing out
words related
to gender expression/gender
identity,aswhich
documentation.
The organization began
a
accomplishment in itself because I can
“I did that,how
and people get into the
kinkssay,
regarding
is completely
differentfellowship
from sexual
orientation
or due
sex —
one-person
project,
which,
to male or female.
I made it happen.”
collective and how to make sure they are
And [gender-expression
discrimination]
is something
incredible community
support and
the giant I actually went
Joaquin: There’s a lot of things thatwell-oriented
I think students
should
and
supported when they get
through as
a student.
need
for our services, quickly ballooned into
fight for because it is their world, and
they have to fight for
here.
a community organization that has seven
what they believe in. If we don’t fight now, the world is not
Why do you
think
that
there
a relatively
low number
of students
interns
and
over
30isactive
volunteers.
We
going to be a better place. Hopefully
will see that organizations value
A students
lot of progressive
who are involved
campus?
wanted tooncreate
a collective governance
SRLP open house, photo by Tom Leger
connection: what we do now, we might
see immediate
the not
politics
behind having a collective
Willie: I know
whenthat
I first
started
the American
Indian
structure
would
accomplish
a number
of Student Council
results, but
it’s an ongoing
it’s fun sometimes
too,islike
theefficient.
organization,
butstruggle.
feel thatAnd
a hierarchical
structure
more
and started
trying
recruitmaximum
people, itaccountability
was really difficult.
of thewe serve;
goals:
1) to
provide
to the Some
community
rally on April
front maintain
of the governor’s
It was aeveryone’s
political input?
How 26,
doesinSRLP
efficiencyoffice.
while valuing
things I kept
hearingthat
were,
“We’re at a commuter
A student
2) ensure
decision-making
power iscampus.”
in the hands
of a majority
statement,
but was
it was
also
party
with bands
in the middle
downtown.
This
one
of athe
questions
we asked
a lot ofofthe
people from other
I was talking
to atofUCLA
“A lot offacing
campuses
use that just
as an
people
color said,
and people
gender-identity
discrimination;
3)
collectives. One thing that lots of people said is that when decisions are
excuse, and
it’s amaximum
brainwashsupport
that some
of the politicians
or leaders
in
provide
and coordination
for staff
and volunteers;
4)
information
on student
and organizations,
visitheard on,
that everyone
really activism
actually believes
in, and has been
the CSU or
UC system
to students
to not is
bewell-supported
active.” Whether
reduce
burnoutgot
bydown
making
sure everyone
and no For
one moremade
the Cross
Cultural
on thefarsecond
floor of the
they
will beCenters
implemented
more efficiently
thanUniversityif people within an
seems
to work because
of
that’s trueperson
or not, has
I don’t
know,
but it or
total
control
responsibility
for thea lot
organization’s
Student
Union.
organization are resistant to them and have them foisted upon them. I
students don’t
get involved.
A lot ofinstitutional
students are
convinced
thatorganization
they’re
sustainability;
5) create
memory
so the
can
think this is a key point. How many of us have worked in non-profits
at a commuter
and who
they’re
limited
that’s
one given
of the time;
things6)I enhance
outlivecampus
the people
may
be onsostaff
at any
Jennifer thinks
waking
up and ice cream
are polarbeing
opposites.
Tell herdown
your favorite
where
controversial
decisions
passed
from the top were
try to reach
to — to letskills
students
know that they
can participate
and
andout
redistribute
like fundraising,
advocacy,
organizing
and media
flavor: [email protected].
resented by staff and the ball was dropped on lots of opportunities to do
they can work
do things.
They’re
unaware
of7)what’s
on and
within our
community;
and
creategoing
a structure
thathow
will itconcretely
work because of this tension? I think there is a misunderstanding that
reject the traditional hierarchical environment in which legal services
having a collective structure means that every little decision about
are provided. The new structure is a collective, composed of six bodies:
buying $5 worth of postage goes to a large meeting, and that everyone
the Direct Services Team, the Public Education Team, the
THE WOMEN’S
RESOURCETeam,
CENTER
does everything, but that is not how it works. People are still
Fundraising/Finance
the Organizing/Policy Team, the People
The Recruitment/People
Women’s Resource Support
Center Team
is a part
Cross
Cultural
much more.
We house
organizations
including
the and because
empowered
to do student
their jobs,
and efficiency
is still there,
and of
thethe
Board.
These
groups each
Centers
at
Cal
State
L.A.
The
center
is
currently
located
on the
Feminist Majority
Leadership
Alliance
andand
thetreated
Queer Connection.
people are
heard and
invested
equally in their investment
have individual duties, and the structure is designed
to facilitate
second
floor of the University-Student
and will
movingand
to efficient
Additionally,
we organization,
present eventsthere
suchisasgreater
National
Coming Out Day,
in the
accountability
about getting work
communication
and accountabilityUnion
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LOUDmouth
LOUD21
mouth
9
Keep an eye out for SRLP’s collective manual at www.srlp.org.
N
ot all democracies are created equal. Iris Marion Young’s
vision of a communicative democracy in which all voices
speak powerfully (see page 8) looks very different from the
representative constitutional democracy of these here United States of
America. Representative democracies are arguably less democratic
than participatory models like communicative and deliberative
democracies. And constitutional democracies are notoriously good for
maintaining the status quo and not so good for achieving change —
even when the majority of the population wants it. Plenty of historians
claim that the founders of this nation deliberately created a democracy
immune to “mob” (er, popular) rule, that the choice to create the United
States as a representative constitutional democracy was a deliberate
one to allow for some nominal degree of governance “by the people, for
the people,” while safeguarding the new nation from the whims of a
populace that the founding elite believed couldn’t be trusted to make
decisions in its own collective best interest. The mechanisms for
popular participation in this kind of democracy are, yes, limited and
indirect. Still, it’s at its least democratic when we’re least engaging it.
That’s why, even as we work in our own ways toward realizing visions
of radical participatory democracy or other governance structures, it’s
worth spending some time and energy trying to hold the present system
accountable to us, its people.
Here’s how you can urge your representatives to
represent you:
Write letters
Paper correspondence is a dying art. Revive it — and this nation’s
flagging democracy — by sending your representatives your thoughts
on issues ranging from plans for new prisons to the mercury in your
tuna salad. Participate in organized letter-writing campaigns to flood
reps with constituent opinion on specific issues at key moments and/or
send a letter whenever inspiration (or outrage) strikes — maybe even
organize your own letter-writing campaign to address an issue specific
to your community.
Give ’em a call
It’s fun to participate in a large phone-in campaign. There’s a
heartening sense of widespread civic participation when you have to
call several times to get through and then squeeze your comments into
seven seconds for the rushed operator overwhelmed with calls.
Send an e-mail
If you’re lucky enough to have convenient access to the Internet, e-mail
is probably the easiest way to tell your reps how to represent you.
Compose your own message or just click “send” on a form message
created by the organizers of a large e-mail campaign.
Where to find contact info for your reps:
U.S. Federal
House:
www.house.gov/writerep/
Senate:
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm
GWB:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
(202) 456-1111
[email protected]
California State
State Senate and State Assembly:
www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Arnold:
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-2841
[email protected]
L.A. City
City Council:
www.lacity.org/council.htm
Mayor James Hahn:
http://www.lacity.org/mayor/mayhow1.htm
To get action alerts notifying you of organized
letter-writing, e-mail and phone-calling campaigns,
get on the mailing lists of orgs you like. A few lists
we like:
Move On (www.moveon.org): Internet-based grassroots movement to
hold politicians accountable to their constituents on a variety of issues,
including media consolidation and the war on Iraq.
American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org): Legal work to defend
individual rights and liberties.
Working Families e-Activists Network (www.aflcio.org): E-mail
campaigns focused on economic justice.
LOUDmouth
22
By Stephanie Abraham
I
t’s almost 10 o’clock on Easter morning.
I’m sitting with my family in the Catholic
church where I’ve received four of the
seven sacraments — communion, confession,
confirmation — and “I was even baptized here,”
I say quietly to my boyfriend. This is the first
time he and I have come to church together.
We’re both twice-a-year Catholics: We get to
mass for Jesus’ b-day and resurrection
(Christmas and Easter). There are two more
sacraments that I can receive as a woman,
marriage and healing of the sick; the last, holy
orders (priesthood), is an option only for men. I
begin to wonder whether I’ll receive the next
one in this church as well (the M-word
sacrament), but stop my mind before it goes
there. I’ve already made a decision not to jump
ahead to my future — our wedding, baptisms of
(gasp) our children — or to rehash the church’s
past (witch burnings, genocide, molestation)
but to be present in the experience of today.
This is easier said than done.
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t condone
most of the church’s teachings, and I don’t
necessarily “take Jesus Christ as my personal
savior.” However, most of my fondest
memories of childhood are related to being
raised Catholic. My dad and I would do the
dishes together after dinner, quizzing each
other on the Ten Commandments. We’d always
laugh our guts out, inevitably forgetting the
order. I’ll never forget the day my mom took me
to pick out my very own rosary. I chose the
gaudiest one there because to me it was (and
still is) stunning. Even now when I can’t sleep I
take it out and begin to recite it, twisting the red
beads slowly between my fingers. (A rosary
looks like a necklace; it is made of prayer
beads and has a crucifix at the end. Madonna
wore one around her neck a lot in the ’80s —
sacrilege — which gave my mom reason to ban
MTV in our home during the Like a Virgin
years). I’m also here because I’m fascinated by
ritual and magic. And because this is what
people in my family have been doing for
generations, both in Ireland and the Middle
East. My ancestors fled their homelands
because they wanted the right to worship as
Catholics, and on days when I can’t stomach
any of it, I still think on some level that’s worth
honoring.
As the service begins I’m flabbergasted
to see the two altar boys accompanied by two
altar girls. I know girls have been able to assist
in masses for some time and I may have even
seen them before, but it’s never really sunk in.
Not like right now. They are dressed in white
robes and look like small priestesses. Seeing
them on the altar in this context is so foreign to
LOUDmouth
23
my eyes that I can hardly absorb it. I am
overwhelmed with excitement, because they
have the opportunity to be there, and with
regret, because I didn’t. I try to invoke the best
yoga breathing I know without being too loud —
whatever you do, do not make noise in a
Catholic church — because now is not the time
or place to be moved emotionally.
As a young person the only way I could
get on the altar was to be a lector, in charge of
reading “the word of the Lord.” I spent hours
practicing in front of my family at home and
read at masses throughout adolescence.
Because I couldn’t be a priest, I thought a lot
about being a nun. The prospect of getting to
shave my head, wear big robes and be celibate
was exciting to me as it offered me a way to
remain close to God and “pure” (like Mary —
the virgin mother of God — a tough act to
follow). It also provided an alluring escape from
the teenage pressures of being pretty and
sleeping around. “The only difference is that
you don’t get to say mass,” my mom used to
say, as if that were a small difference.
Consecrating the bread into His body and the
wine into His blood is possibly the most exalted
act a human being can perform. However,
unless I wanted to pull a Yentl and pretend to
be a man there was no way I’d be able to. My
big brother could be a priest but I couldn’t, and
I never really understood why.
“Temptation,” my elders said, suggesting
that if both sexes were priests there’d be a
whole lot of sexin’ going on, because Eve
seduced Adam with the apple and therefore all
women — and their fruit — present an alluring
threat of sin, one that should be avoided.
Another explanation suggests that a priest is a
spiritual father, as Jesus was, and when he is
ordained he is taking the church as his bride.
What I get from this heterosexist rationalization
is that women won’t be able to be priests until
queer marriage is accepted, because the
church is a female. Another common
justification is rooted in the “natural” attributes
of gender. Men are protectors, women are
mothers. God gave the Garden of Eden to
Adam for looking after, and so he gives men
the congregation. He also gave us the Blessed
Virgin, after whom all women should model
their lives because we are naturally (there’s
that word again) nurturing and loving.
Women’s power is in the womb and men’s at
the helm. Gender oppression and the
arguments that justify it are not only old, they
are extremely boring.
By the time the offering of the gifts
takes place (halfway through the mass) my
walls begin to crumble. Tears stream down my
cheeks. (No one notices because good
Catholics stare straight ahead in mass.) But
when I see all four servers lined up in a row, it
hits me. I, as a third-wave feminist, grew up
being told I could be anything I wanted to be.
These girls — fourth- or fifth-wavers? — must
hear it more than I ever did. Yet it’s not true.
The true leaders of the church, the priests,
bishops — the Pope — are all men. Indeed,
God himself is male. (“God has no gender,” the
we aren’t sexist argument goes. Yet this
statement is always followed up with,
“However, God made Jesus in his image and
therefore God is a man.”)
These girls on the altar will only be
able to serve their community in this way for a
few more years. Then, their male peers can go
on to the seminary and they can be “lay
people” — teachers, youth leaders and
volunteers. How can these young women,
although encouraged and loved, not internalize
the message that on some level they are
inferior? If they weren’t, wouldn’t they too be
able to lead in God’s house?
As the procession for communion
begins and I walk toward the altar I feel
simultaneously my age and as young as the
little girls I’ve been watching all morning. I
realize that bridging the gap between feminism
and Catholicism for myself, something I find
challenging to do, is a breeze compared to
having to do it for someone else. If life is to
spring forth from my womb how will I justify
bringing up my daughter and/or son in an
institution that systematically discourages and
denies women’s leadership?
The priest’s voice offering me “The
Body of Christ” interrupts my worry. “Amen,” I
answer, receiving the host in my hand and
placing it in my mouth. As I make my way back
to the pew I affirm for myself how imperative it
is that women have the right to choose the
seventh sacrament of holy orders. A smile
makes its way to my lips as I realize my Pops
and I never talked about the 11th
Commandment, which they always forget to
teach — Thou Shall Overthrow Patriarchy.
Stephanie’s confirmation name is Cynthia but her
friends call her Zorra. Reach her:
[email protected].
By Amy Shimshon Santo, Ph.D.
L
earning how to assert oneself and be a caring group
participant begins at a young age. These qualities are often
tied to dominant gender and identity roles, and people who are
not encouraged to cultivate these skills merit extra practice and
rehearsal in order to feel comfortable performing them. While
leadership is often only imagined through formal political action, I argue
that feminist cultural-arts education can create a meaningful and safe
venue for learning alternative models of leadership and participation
that expand dominant gender roles and increase cultural awareness.
During a recent teaching experience in an after-school program at
Carver Middle School in central Los Angeles, I witnessed firsthand the
ways girls and boys rethink and perform leadership and participation in
a diverse feminist arts-education setting.
The program, sponsored by the L.A. County Music Center
Education Division, provided sequential study of visual art, African
percussion, Mexican folk dance and Afro-Brazilian capoeira. I was the
educator in capoeira, maculelê and creative movement. The youth
participants were first-generation American teenagers of Honduran,
Mexican, Salvadoran and Egyptian heritage. Most of the youth had
never participated in formal movement education.
When I first met with Thomas Turner, my lead classroom
teacher “arts partner,” he spoke about the historic role Carver Middle
School played in training outstanding African American jazz musicians
during the last century, and how he wanted the current, predominantly
Latino, students to understand and value the significant black cultural
accomplishments in their school and neighborhood. He also theorized
that complementing the standard curriculum with arts education would
“teach to the students’ strengths rather than their weaknesses.”
While the significance of gender roles was less pronounced in
the early planning, it soon revealed itself as key to the project’s overall
impact. I first became aware of this when the students were asked by
the adults to choose between participation in the percussion or
capoeira course of study. The percussion teacher is a man, and I am a
woman. As the students made their choices, the class divided almost
solely along gender lines. While later collaboration between the groups
forced us all to interact, initially, the boys chose the male teacher and
the girls chose me. Ironically, capoeira has traditionally been a maledominated Afro-Brazilian art form. While there are popular stories told
about the Trés Marías and other Afro-Brazilian women capoeiristas, the
core of capoeira history revolves around working-class Afro-Brazilian
men. Our classroom became an exception to this rule as Latinas
dominated the core group. Many of the participants identified capoeira
as physically demanding. However, it was a core group of girls,
undaunted by physical risk-taking, who weathered the course.
The participants, who came from working-class households,
stretched the boundaries of appropriate behavior for girls and boys in a
number of ways. First, the girls expanded their own physical expression
by performing martial arts, and the boys went beyond common gender
roles by taking the risk of dancing in new ways in front of their peers. In
addition, the youth were asserting their own choices by staying after
school to do art, rather than caring for their younger siblings while their
guardians worked, holding after-school jobs, watching TV or playing
video games. When asked to write about her values, likes and dislikes,
Connie Rosas, 12, identified her primary dislike as “taking care of [her]
brothers because they go crazy and start to beat me up.” Simply finding
free time after school to do something for her own development was an
assertion of her own space and time. While not often viewed in this
social light, space and time are two key concepts in dance.
Mayra Echevarria, 12, explained that dancing and singing made
her value herself more. “I enjoy dancing mostly and doing flips. … [I
want to] show everybody that even if I am little, I am tough and will not
let someone stand me up and tease.”
Feminist cultural-dance education required the students to
cultivate a positive sense of personal potential and constructive social
relationships. The students both practiced these skills in class and
compared this experience to their social lives outside of school. The
core task of bringing the teens together in an environment where
collaboration and mutual respect are imperative and teasing or abusing
power is shunned allowed them to rehearse the skills of participation
and leadership like they might a choreography.
The question of leadership organically arose after one session
on partnering skills, as students reflected on the movement exercises
that required each artist to gently contact a partner, who, in turn,
followed their contact impetus into a movement pattern. After each
person took turns “leading” and “following,” I asked the youth which role
they preferred. Most of the girls expressed greater comfort with
“following” their partners’ movement lead. We then analyzed these
findings in our group discussion by applying them to Martin Luther King
Jr.’s vision of leadership. He defined leadership not as power or force,
but as love linked to achieving social justice. When presented with this
alternative notion of leadership, the students were asked to rethink
leadership as acclaimed and forceful, to re-imagine leadership skills as
a combination of being assertive and receptive, instigating movement
and responding to peers. This presented, in a corporeal way, a feminist
standard for leadership and participation. Clearly, feeling these
concepts acted out and performed through dance made them more
palpable for young people to comprehend.
In cultural dance, the students and teachers were
encouraged to learn more about
African contributions to Latin
American culture and society. In a
neighborhood that is transitioning
from predominantly African American
to Latino residents, the ability to
foster intercultural valorization was
imperative. The study of AfroBrazilian culture became a stepping
stone for looking at the students’ own
local history within a larger context
of immigration and cultural change.
The program expanded the
participants’ notions of appropriate
gender roles by highlighting the
complexity and interrelationships
between different cultures in the school,
the neighborhood and the world.
Dr. Santo is a visiting assistant professor at
UCLA’s Department of World Arts and
Cultures and a consultant to the United
Nations/Arts Center project publicizing the
U.N.’s “Millennium Goals” for women’s
empowerment and eradicating extreme
poverty.
LOUDmouth
24
By Ruth Blandón
T
his is neither a prescription nor a lament; it is a sober reflection
on the sociopolitical implications of how my students initially
make meaning of my body in the classroom. I am not the
university professor and scholar that is so cliché and ubiquitous in filmic
representation. No, I am not white, gray-haired and male, and I do not
enhance my classroom performance (nor can I “perform” authority) with
the requisite tweed jacket, pipe and well-worn, distressed leather
satchel. I am what my students least expect, given their surprise when
I enter the classroom on the first day of class: a woman of color,
perceived by some as too young to elicit any immediate and tacit
authority. I mean, what could a “young” girl know? Moreover, what
could a “minority” teach a member of the self-identified (and
misidentified) “majority”?
My failure to elicit “power” and “authority” as traditionally
defined carries both positive and negative aspects: Female students
seem to be put quickly at ease by their own construction of me, while
male students can be a bit more problematic — they are also put at
ease, but this sense of comfort manifests itself in something more
base. While clearly there are exceptions to these reactions, the
patterned responses I’ve observed in an almost clinical way are as
follows: Some students refuse to take me or the class with any
seriousness; some try to establish their authority over mine on any
given subject with argumentation for argument’s sake; some male
students try to flirt, attempting to create a date-like situation out of office
hours or conferences. This behavior ranges from annoying to
potentially dangerous. From what does this behavior and perception
stem? My speculative conclusions are complicated and disconcerting:
They are rooted in sexism, racism and in the marked intersection of
sex, race and gender expectations and stereotypes.
But let me be clear: Authority and power are not
interchangeable. I could thrust my fist in the air and wax indignant
except that indignation has little if anything to do with pedagogy. While
power struggles in the classroom have more to do with ego assertion
and validation than anything else, authority has more to do with trust
and leadership. But consider my dilemma: How do I get young men and
women to trust my leadership when hegemonic cues teach them to
read my body as non-white, female, more than likely straight, and
therefore powerless and inferior? Now, allow me to expand on the initial
thought here: Authority and power are not interchangeable, but they are
certainly linked, and the bestowal of one frequently informs the degree
of the other.
My dire need for a paradigm shift has meant that I’ve become a
coach of sorts to my students, thereby establishing a more cooperative
relationship that invests us both in their intellectual and academic
efforts. While this approach has been wildly successful, I’m not quite
ready to throw the confetti up in the air just yet, for in my having to find
a more creative and thus less traditional approach, I have also seen the
underbelly of reality, something that is not openly discussed, and that
we female educators of color only discuss amongst ourselves: If
students (both female and male) have an initially adverse reaction to
our presence in the classroom, it points toward the scarcity of female
professors of color, to the incongruity of it all, and reflects the social
inequities that silently but staunchly maintain a professional apartheid
that ultimately determines who leads, who does not and how those who
lead work within social constraints that are beyond our immediate control.
Ruth Blandón has taught at both CSULA and USC and is currently completing her
Ph.D. in English at USC. Although you will frequently see her fist thrust up in the air,
she claims not to be bitter — just painfully aware. Reach her: [email protected].
In Memoriam: Gloria
Evangelina Anzaldúa,
1942–2004
All of us at LOUDmouth are sad to
note the passing of groundbreaking
writer/thinker/artist/activist Gloria
Evangelina Anzaldúa on May 15,
2004. Through her multigenre work
— highlights include Borderlands/Las
Fronteras (1987), This Bridge Called
My Back: Writings by Radical
Women of Color (1981) and Haciendo
Caras/Making Face, Making Soul
(1990) — Anzaldúa played a major
role in redefining Chicana and queer
identities, and in developing
inclusionary multicultural feminism.
LOUDmouth
25
female-headed
households
By Jackie Joice
Joice with mother Lorraine and brothers Jimmy and Jeff
I
saura Rivera, 44, divorced at the tender
age of 22 after four years of marriage.
She has been involved in politics for the
22 years since. She was one of the founders
of the grassroots feminist organization Una
Mujer Como Yo (A Woman Like Me), which
aimed to bring women of different
backgrounds together to find a common
ground in developing a feminist agenda. Una
Mujer Como Yo consisted of a core group of
women who organized events to educate the
general public of Los Angeles about
important issues facing women globally. In
the mid-’80s, Isaura was elected president of
the Association of Progressive Salvadoran
Women. Isaura has also been actively
involved with the electoral process in El
Salvador and has successfully organized
fundraisers for Salvadoran politician Schafik
Handel. Isaura even held some fundraisers in
her cramped apartment, filling it to capacity
with individuals willing to donate money for
the cause.
Through all this, Isaura was the single
head of her household. She is currently
raising a teenage daughter and working a fulltime job. She has never received
unemployment benefits or public assistance.
When asked about the qualities
needed for leadership in the political and
domestic spheres, Isaura said, “One needs a
sense of direction, character and a vision of
the big picture.”
Female-headed households in the
United States are nothing new. Many of the
female-headed households in early America
were the result of high mortality rates,
disease and war. In most cases during these
times, widowed women quickly remarried.
Sustained single parenthood on a large scale
is a more contemporary phenomenon.1
1While the focus of this article is on female-headed
households, it is important to note that there are
also significant numbers of male-headed singleparent households in the U.S. According to the 2000
U.S. Census Bureau, 17.3 percent of single-parent
households were female-headed with no husband
present and 6 percent were male-headed with no
wife present.
I’m the product of a female-headed
household myself. I was raised in the inner
city, where there was a heavy concentration of
crime, drugs and unemployment. Still, my two
brothers and I all finished school and had
health insurance and child care — all
supported by one income in the pre-welfarereform era until my eldest brother was old
enough to get a job and contribute to the
household.
My mother, Lorraine, utilized the
welfare system for three months at the age of
21, until the 90-day probation period at her
new job ended, at which point she cancelled
her welfare claim. The clothing factory where
she worked was almost 40 miles away from
our home, and she rode the bus there every
day. After that job, my mother worked in the
mental-health industry for 10 years, during
which time she married and divorced twice.
Currently, she holds a senior administrativeassistant position with a defense company.
My mother was lucky to have a support
system of family and friends, yet she carried
most of the load on her own. “I had to make a
lot of financial and emotional sacrifices being
the head of a household,” she says, “but my
strong faith in God kept me going.” Lorraine
felt that being a leader in her home was
equivalent to taking on the responsibilities of
two. She had to budget her finances, buy
groceries, cook, buy school clothes and so
forth, all on her own.
In an era when 50 percent of the
nation’s marriages end in divorce, we have to
look beyond pat assumptions that married
parents are always better for children than
unmarried ones. When the relationship
between parents is healthy and conducive to
the children’s well-being, the presence of two
parents who share the financial, logistical and
emotional responsibilities of running a
household is, of course, beneficial to children.
Still, it’s not safe to assume that two-parent
families are necessarily more secure —
financially or otherwise — than single-parent
households. Considering the fact that twoparent households are descending into
poverty at a rate faster than that of any other
demographic group in the nation, the idea that
Bush’s $22 billion program to promote
marriage will help financially struggling
parents is baffling. We need to look at the
intersecting issues of race, class and gender
that lead to, for example, higher rates of
welfare dependence among single-parent
households headed by women of color than
those headed by white women and so forth.
We also need to remember that
single-mother households aren’t the only kind
of female-headed households. There are also
lesbian households, households headed by
single women who don’t have children and
even
female-headed
households
of
heterosexual couples.
During her involvement with the
Association of Progressive Salvadoran
Women, Isaura Rivera had the opportunity to
visit El Salvador and meet some wonderful
women whom she believes are the “backbone
to El Salvador and the true heads of
households.” When she visited El Salvador in
the 1980s, during wartime, she noticed that
there were many homes solely supported and
maintained by women. “These women pulled
double shifts,” she says.
In her own home, Isaura led by
example. She wanted her daughter to follow
her dreams and not to adhere to restrictions
placed on females just because they’re
females.
Female heads of households are
leaders — role models to their offspring and
to other women that may find themselves in
similar situations. It takes a creative, tenacious
and determined woman to make it work.
Jackie Joice also writes fiction, poetry and essays
about traveling. Send her some sass at
[email protected].
LOUDmouth
26
By Edahrline Salas
B
jörk, the 39-year-old Reykjavík, Iceland native, defies
expectations with experimental work that incorporates sounds
with lyrics that disobey current notions of pop music. She
transitioned from such punk acts as Tappi Tíkarass and Kukl to
Sykurmolarnir (a.k.a. The Sugarcubes), a nationalistic band of poets
and artists whose goal was to invent a distinctive post-colonial
Icelandic sound. When the band split up in 1992, Björk went solo and
has since gained notoriety for being outlandish in style and fiercely
protective of her music and privacy. Though her Arctic sensibility is still
prominent, especially on her latest album, Vespertine, a meditation on
private and domestic spaces, Björk’s worldliness is apparent in her
non-provincial engagement of new methods. Her compositions
constantly stage a coup d’etat against traditional musical regimes as
she addresses what it means to be simultaneously rooted in the
classical past (evident in her compositional arrangements) and freefloating in the ambivalent future (with her use of improvisation and
transformation of random, daily noise to further the melodic lines in her
songs).
Björk’s work is driven by exactitude, and her leadership style in
the recording studio is admittedly uncompromising. This is not to be
confused with being difficult or unkind. For as she herself maintains,
one need not be hurtful to make art. She seems to gesture toward a
strategy in her song “Undo,” in which she encourages listeners to “lean
into it” and to “unfold in a generous way.” The term “uncompromising,”
then, might refer to her meticulous preparations to identify the chosen
sound for her albums and her subsequent communication of that desire
to her collaborators, who have included trip-hop artist Tricky,
programmer Graham Massey, noise engineers Matmos and harpist
Zeena Perkins.
Ultimately, Björk is confident that her role is to anticipate the
musical terrain and to guide her fellow conspirators to follow her to that
“hidden place” where the music lies dormant. What happens in that
space, according to Björk, includes the happy accidents and glorious
mishaps that are unavoidable when dialogue takes place and pieces of
the future are articulated in sound.
LOUDmouth
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YOKO ONO
she does a little trapeze walk
Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, Carnegie Recital Hall, N.Y. 1964
Björk
Björk
WOMEN ARTISTS
AT THE FOREFRONT
instructions for thinking and dreaming
By Daria Teruko Yudacufski
F
or many, the name Yoko Ono conjures images of a “dragon
lady” who forced her way into the life of John Lennon and
broke up the Beatles. But long before she met Lennon, Ono
was established as one of the most innovative artists of her time. And
unlike the racism, sexism and lack of thought that lie at the heart of
negative popular perceptions, Ono’s work is marked by social and
political consciousness and a faith in the transformative power of the
mind.
In the early 1960s, along with George Maciunas, Ono helped
found Fluxus, a subversive, avant-garde art movement that opposed
the institutionalization and commodification of art. In Fluxus there are
no boundaries between the visual arts, performance, poetry, music and
everyday life. Ono in particular established concept, language and
interaction as central to the art experience. And while Ono cannot be
categorized strictly as a conceptual artist, she began creating
conceptual work, such as Instructions for Paintings, years before artists
like Joseph Kosuth became associated with the genre.
Ono’s multimedia work engaged audiences on multiple levels.
Unlike some Fluxus art, Ono’s work is also clearly politicized. Her film
Rape and her performance Cut Piece, for example, demonstrate our
culture’s objectification and exploitation of women. And along with John
Lennon, she shared her anti-war messages with the Bed-In for Peace
event and War is Over! billboard. Yoko Ono transforms the ordinary into
the extraordinary and, in doing so, reminds viewers of our own power
to create change in ourselves and in the world.
By Tessa Bishop
B
orn in 1882, Virginia Woolf never received any formal
schooling, but taught herself by reading books in her father’s
library. Her mother died when she was 13, her father when
she was 22. Woolf was occasionally incapacitated by mental
breakdowns. In short, with no formal education, a tendency towards
severe depression and a very small inheritance, it is a wonder that
Virginia Woolf paid her rent, much less introduced a new literary vision.
But that’s exactly what she did. After marrying Leonard Woolf in
1912, Woolf published two rather conventional novels and began
writing literary criticism for the Times Literary Supplement, eventually
becoming one of the most important critics of the first half of the 20th
century. Then she began to test out different conceptions of the novel.
In 1922, she published Jacob’s Room, composed of fluid impressions
and observations of the main figure, Jacob, by characters who
surround him at various points in his life. Woolf continued to write in this
radical way, constructing tightly wound, plotless novels with shifting
visions and unstable impressions; some of these works include Mrs.
Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Waves — novels that have
become representative of modernist literature.
While Woolf was leading the fiction revolution, she, with
Leonard, owned and operated the Hogarth Press, publishing most of
Woolf’s novels, the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the works of Woolf’s
romantic friend Vita Sackville-West, among others. The press even ran
the first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Woolf often enlisted her
sister, painter Vanessa Bell, to create the cover art for the books.
Woolf was a pioneer who checked her ever-present self-doubt
in order to write and publish strong fiction that would create and define
a genre, all the while refusing to abide by the sexuality mores of her
time and holding progressive ideas about marriage, gender, peace and
friendship.
ANA MENDIETA
Ana Mendieta, Untitiled (Silueta Series), 1977
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Virginia Woolf
a modernism of oneÊs own
to have power, to be magic
By Julia Stewart
A
na Mendieta’s stunning artistic accomplishments are often
overshadowed by the dramatic events that marked her life.
She was born in Cuba in 1948, was sent into an Iowa
orphanage at the age of 12 to escape the Communist Revolution and
died in 1985 after falling from her New York City apartment building, for
which her husband was tried for murder and eventually acquitted. But
these are not the things that make Mendieta noteworthy.
Mendieta’s work in some ways defies classification. She is
sometimes known as a photographer, because her photographs and
films are the only documents we have of the sculpture, earthworks,
body art and performance art that she created. She is most well-known
for her Silueta series, in which she developed a form of sculptural
performance. Made on location in Iowa and Mexico, in these works she
inscribed the shape of her own body on the earth using flowers, mud,
gunpowder, tree branches and fire. Unlike most performance artists of
her time, whose performances were done publicly, Mendieta staged her
performances in isolation, conceiving of her viewers as silent witnesses
to a private ritual. In many of her works, Mendieta fused an interest in
her Afro-Cuban heritage and the rituals of Santeria with contemporary
art-making processes. Her unconventional uses of multiple media and
her method of creating ephemeral art artifacts still resonate in the
works of artists today.
LOUDmouth
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Liberty
By Alison Moore
She could topple at any moment, a plane
straying off course, a bomb in someone’s shoes.
The golden door is bolted shut
and we didn’t even hear it close.
Once upon a time
there was a country
there was a we
there was a people made of us.
Now the woman holding the light sighs deeply.
Closed for business. She’s had enough. She’s
tired
and hungry and too poor
to stay open. She’s yearning, yearning to be
free somewhere else. She lowers the light and
turns,
dragging those broken shackles into New Jersey.
Cars whiz by, honking. She’s barefoot
through the Midwest, Missouri, Oklahoma City
looks oh, so pretty on what’s left of Route 66.
A trucker from Arkansas stops.
She climbs in, clanking.
“Holy shit,” he says.
She takes off her crown, sets it on the
naugahyde seat. Props her enormous green feet
on the dash, the broken chain dangling.
“Where you headed,” he asks.
“I’ll know when I get there.”
“How about a little country music?” he asks.
“Which country?” she says.
“Oh, come on, you know,” he says.
“Perhaps some klezmer from Poland?”
“I’m talking ’bout Johnny Cash. Where you
been?”
“Standing in one spot for well over a hundred
years.”
So it’s “Cry, Cry, Cry,” all the way through
Tucumcari, “I Walk the Line” way past Flagstaff.
She tells him about the millions
who cried when they saw her light. How terribly
lonely she’s been lately.
He tells her how he traded the farm for the
truck,
went in hock for the insurance. She nods.
She knows. It’s expensive to be free.
And so it’s “Folsom Prison Blues” all the way to
Kingman,
then down, down toward Calexico. Just north of
the border,
a yellow highway warning sign:
a shadow family, hand in hand, running across
the highway. “What’s that?” she asks.
“Illegal immigrant crossing,” he says.
“Let me out,” she says. “Right here.”
“Didn’t get your name,” he says.
“You know,” she says. “Or used to.”
She strides through the desert,
tramples the prickly
pear without a scratch. Stops
when she gets to the border fence.
She fires up the lamp, hoists the light,
puts the crown back, a little crookedly
on her head. She waits.
Before long, a family of four crawls
toward the fence. She starts to speak
to them. “Give me … ”
It’s been so long. One of the children prompts
her,
the boy, who’s been in school.
“You’re tired,” he says. “You’re poor.”
“Yes,” she says, “I am.” The girl climbs
on to the ledge of her big toe.
That’s what gets to her —
the wonderful weight of this child,
not huddled at all. Liberty weeps,
from all that time alone welcoming everyone
who stitched together the scraps
of the American Dream.
And this one here, standing on her foot,
what does she want? Health insurance?
An E-ticket ride in Disneyland? The child turns,
shines a flashlight upward on her face.
“Libertad,” the child says, to remind her why
she came.
“Libertad.”
Alison Moore is the author of the novel Synonym for Love
and a collection of stories called Small Spaces Between
Illustration by Abelina Galustian
Emergencies, both published by Mercury House.
Abelina Galustian is bold. See more of her work at
www.womansword.com.
LOUDmouth
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By Jennifer Huei-Fen Lin
Kalpana Krishnamurthy, Director, Third Wave
Foundation
The Third Wave Foundation works to empower young
women ages 15 to 30 as leaders and social activists through grantmaking, public education and networking.
Kristin Effland, Youth Program Coordinator,
Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
GenderPAC fights gender-based discrimination by
changing public attitudes, educating elected officials and
expanding legal rights.
What does “feminist leadership” mean to you?
At Third Wave, we see a lot of different types of leadership models
being used by young women around the country. We see the more
traditional, hierarchical models of leadership, but we also see
young women working with new and interesting frameworks —
non-traditional leadership like co-directorship, collective decisionmaking, consensus-based models and more.
What does “feminist leadership” mean to you?
Feminist leadership means emphasizing consensus decisionmaking and non-hierarchical roles for leaders. Feminist leaders
act as role models and mentors, demonstrating effective
leadership that takes everyone’s talents into account and avoids
abusing one’s leadership through exercises of arbitrary power.
What is it like to be a woman in a leadership position? Are
there issues/struggles/advantages specific to women
leaders?
It’s great and challenging. Our culture does not take the voices of
young people, nor the voices of women, very seriously. There are
more role models for young women [now], since more women
have come into positions of power, but too often these role models
are not a diverse range of women.
Jerri Lynn Fields, Executive Director, V-Day
V-Day, a movement sprouted from Eve Ensler’s play
The Vagina Monologues, is a non-profit working globally
to end violence against girls and women.
What does “feminist leadership” mean to you?
It is fluid, it is smart, it is funny, it is ironic, it is compassionate. I
think a feminist leader knows when to step in, when to step back;
when to lead and when to follow.
What is it like to be a woman in a leadership position? Are
there issues/struggles/advantages specific to women
leaders?
To be perfectly honest, most of my professional experience has
been at lgbt organizations or women’s groups, so I’ve had the
privilege of working with women leaders and leading women’s
organizations. A struggle I have witnessed is finding the balance
between consensus decision-making and moving forward. It’s a
process you have to trust and have patience with.
Jennifer likes to believe she is a feminist organization in herself. For her mission
statement, write to [email protected].
Are there issues/struggles/advantages specific to women
leaders?
Too often, women are still expected to play the primary role of child
rearer. ... This is a struggle specific to anyone who has to bear this
responsibility unevenly. I think that women leaders often still have
to prove their competence because they are women. … And of
course, women are still underrepresented in positions of
leadership, and when they are represented, are still too often paid
less than men.
Helen Grieco, Executive Director, California
National Organization for Women
CA NOW strives to end discrimination against
women, as well as other types of discrimination, via
lobbying, educating the public, grassroots organizing,
training activists and fundraising.
What does “feminist leadership” mean to you?
Feminist leadership means sharing power and being a leader in a
way that realizes the benefits of feminist process … and that
creates symbiosis among participants in the process. Feminist
leadership means knowing that the professional is political, just as
the personal is political: every decision I make is motivated by my
feminism.
What is it like to be a woman in a leadership position? Are
there issues/struggles/advantages specific to women
leaders?
Because I work primarily with women, I do not struggle with being
a woman in a man’s world as much as I might if I were, say, an
executive in a (male-run) corporation. … I would not buy too much
into the idea that women possess innate qualities that would
present as specific issues or struggles or advantages in us as
leaders, but rather that my consciousness of the complexities of
womanhood — and the shared oppression of institutional sexism
that informs much of what we bring to the table — allows me to be
a more effective leader. Additionally, as a mother, I am sensitive to
the needs of other mothers and the struggles we face in
integrating work, family and civic life.
LOUDmouth
30
What
“leadership” means to me …
Leadership means being the glue between
people and the organizer of democracy, getting
people to feel connected with each other and to
feel that each person has a unique voice that
really counts.
Lisa, 32
A good leader is able to look at the environment
– what you see, feel, taste, hear – and can take
what he or she gets and adapt to make
something good happen.
Cesar, 30-something
A good leader is a person who stands strong and
fights for what they believe in. Even when times
are hard, they won’t give up but will keep
pursuing to get what they want.
Janet, 15
Just leadership is collaborative leadership of a
group by all of its members.
Marie, 26
A leader is a primary person who can provide
direction and inspiration. This person also helps
to mentor and is a model for others to follow.
Judy, Ageless
Leadership is encouraging others to fulfill their
potential to act on their capacity to lead.
Wariesi, 20
Leadership is guidance towards others —
leading them to better themselves.
Felipe, 20
Leadership means finding the solution that
doesn’t involve war (ahem, GWB).
Kristina, Ageless
Leadership is courage, knowledge and going
forward.
Daniel, 22
Leadership is knowing how to listen, then
willfully rocking the boat without capsizing it.
Thatcher, 26
[email protected]
SPEAK UP
THE WORLD IS LISTENING
Lisa Albinger, Freedom Belle, oil and pencil on board, 8 in. x 12 in., 2001
Leadership is all about the inspiration. It can be
seen through the passion that one has for their
work and their relations. I am typically inspired
by those that do not aspire to their position but
those that are happy with the contributions that
they are making to others ... that can be at
McDonald’s or the White House.
Patrick, 41