Women’s March Act 3 : All out on Saturday, January 19th

Special to RY

For a third year, women are mobilising for their annual march throughout North America. It all started in January 2017, when millions of women throughout North America gathered to oppose Donald Trump’s election, playing a crucial role in the opposition to this warmonger, misogynist, transphobic and homophobic, racist and xenophobic, fascist-friendly US President.

The last two marches are credited as counting among the biggest women rights events in the recent years. Last year, the march was linked to the #MeToo movement, a movement followed by millions of women across the world denouncing gendered violence. More than a simple hashtag, this movement showed that women throughout the world are willing to mobilise and play a role in the global fightback against patriarchy and misogyny in a time where right-wing populist and fascistic movements on the rise keep perpetrating these ideas. Embedded in these ideas is also racism and xenophobia to further attacks on the youth, progressive movements and on the working class.

'Capitalism & Patriarchy are inseperable!': Young Communists speak on IWD

Rebel Youth presents a translation of a speech by Marianne Breton Fontaine on behalf of Young Communist League of Quebec (LJC-Q) on March 8th, International Women's Day, at a march in Montreal organized by Women of Diverse Origins.

Hello everyone,

As a comrade told me, there is not a single struggle, not a single social advance that has been won without the sacrifice and work of women. Yet they are constantly trying to erase us from history, to erase and ignore our demands, and to tell us to be patient.

Communist Women in Canada: Revolutionary Bios

1927: left to right: F Custance, E Lawrence, B Buhay & A Buller

Marianne Breton Fontaine & Drew Garvie

In 1917, International Women’s Day in Russia helped to launch the Russian Revolution, which ended up inspiring working people around the world, including many working women in Canada.

The Communist Party of Canada (CPC) was founded in 1921 in Canada, in a barn in Guelph, Ontario under conditions of illegality. The Young Communist League of Canada was founded soon after in 1923. In this article Rebel Youth takes a look at some of the women that led the major struggles of their day and continue to inspire the struggle for full gender equality and for socialism.

Women's Marches attract millions against Trump [photos from Canada]

Special to RY

On Saturday, January 21st, more than 600 US cities and several million people participated in marches against the new US President Donald Trump and his racist, mysoginist, pro-corporate agenda.

The Women's March on Washington, which initiated the organizing for January 21st, released a common platform which goes beyond just condemning Trump. The platform calls to end violence against women, against racism in policing and incarceration rates, for reproductive rights, against misoginy in culture, for LGBTQIA rights, higher wages and better paid leave for women, equal pay, migration as a right, and more.

Silence and Indifference: Indigenous women testify to police violence

Demonstration in solidarity with the women of Val-d'Or

Marianne Breton Fontaine

On Thursday, October 22 2015, a team from Radio-Canada’s show Survey ran a shocking report on multiple cases of rape and the sexual abuse of Indigenous women in Val-d’Or. Originally, the team of journalists was not investigating these cases but rather the disappearance of Indigenous women and particularly that of Sindy Ruperthouse, an Algonquin whose disappearance in the of Spring 2014 demonstrated the shameful indifference of the media and Quebec authorities.

Young Communists around the world mobilize for IWD 2016

Special to Rebel Youth

Rebel Youth looks at the actions of young Communists around the world to commemorate International Women's Day and struggle for the rights of women globally. Here's a snapshot of some of the activities that took place in honor of March 8th, 2016.

Britain

The Revolutionary Life of Clara Zetkin – Founder of International Women’s Day

In commemoration of International Women’s Day 2016, Rebel Youth republishes this biography of the founder of IWD, Clara Zetkin, from the YCL Britain.

CLARA ZETKIN (1857-1933) was a German communist, anti fascist and founder of International Women’s Day. Here Communist Party of Britain General Secretary Robert Griffiths outlines her remarkable and exemplary life.

Clara Zetkin, who first proposed International Women’s Day 100 years ago, was an outstanding figure in the socialist, Communist and women’s movements. Her own commitment, vision and courage have left a legacy which deserves to be celebrated on March 8 every year.

Feb 14th Actions for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women [Photos]

In dozens of cities across Canada on Feb 14th, memorial marches and events took place in commemoration of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Here are photos submitted to Rebel Youth from Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

Toronto

Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: actions across Canada Feb 14th

Shafiqullah Aziz/ BASICS News

YCL-LJC Women's Commission's call for mobilization

This Valentine’s Day, the annual memorial march will honour the lives and memories of women who have been lost to gendered violence. The march, founded in Vancouver in 1991, first came about in response to the murder of a Coast Salish woman that received little attention by police or media. Although the march commemorates women of all backgrounds, emphasis will be given to native women, who are the disproportionate targets of this systemic violence.

The recently launched inquest is welcome news, but we need more than just words - we need real change!

The Attack on Muslim Women

Mariam Ahmad

As we have witnessed, Islamophobia is on the rise. Following the events of Charlie Hebdo, we’ve seen that attacks on Muslims, and especially Muslim women, have gotten worse. In Canada we have seen bills like C-51 (the “Anti-Terrorism Act”), and Bill S-7 (“Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices”) tabled with shockingly large support from the Canadian population, even though they clearly target minorities, specifically Muslims. This is after an intense campaign of Islamophobia by the corporate media and pro-war politicians that goes back decades. This ideological offensive has gotten hotter in the last six months as Canada joined the latest invasion of Iraq. More and more, Muslim women are put in danger just because they choose to observe their religious rites.

In Quebec, a Muslim woman named Hanady Saad was walking along René-Lévesque Boulevard in Montreal with her friends, when a stranger yelled at her. “...Terrorist, go back home, we don’t want to see your hijab. You have to take it off,’” Afterwards Saad said. “I’m a human, you know? I have the right to wear the veil. I have the right, like everybody, to be who I am”.  Why aren’t governments taking steps to address such a hostile environment for its citizens? Why are there no proactive steps taken to curb hate crimes against Muslim people?

¡REVOLUCIONARIAS!

Róisín Lyder

Rebel Youth presents 10 biographies of revolutionary women!

Angela Davis

“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what’s that? The freedom to starve?”

Angela Davis first became involved in the black liberation and communist movements in the late 1960s as a professor at the University of California Los Angeles. As an outspoken critic of US imperialism and white supremacy, Davis was targeted for persecution and was imprisoned in 1970 on charges of murder and kidnapping. After a massive mobilization across the world demanded her freedom, Davis was acquitted in 1972. She has continued her political work to this day, as well as pioneering theoretical work on the relationship between race, class, and gender and on incarceration. Lefties today are sometimes still spotted sporting a nostalgic ‘Free Angela!’ button.

Women's History in the Soviet Union

IWD 1932: "A day of rebellion by working
women against kitchen slavery!"

Elizabeth Rowley Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) Leader

Transcribed by Jenna Amirault and Justin Ferguson

From a lecture at the 2013 YCL-LJC Women’s School

Well comrades, let me say a few words about women in the Soviet Union. The first thing to say about the Soviet Union is that it was the first socialist country in the world. Before the Soviet Union the ideas of socialism, of a working class state and country that was ruled by the working class in their own class interest and where big corporations and so on didn’t exist and where there was no monarchy and where feudalism was abolished and so on, it was all theoretical before 1917. When the Great October Socialist Revolution actually happened it had a huge impact, not only, obviously, in the Soviet Union but worldwide because it was the first time there was a little piece of territory that socialists around the world could point to and say ‘there, that’s what socialism looks like, that’s the experience, that’s what’s happening to people in that country and that’s what’s happening to women in that country!’

A quick reminder why Feminism is necessary

Marianne Breton Fontaine

Not a day passes without reminding me of the necessity of feminism, despite the surreal campaign “Women against feminism,” a US initiative where women post photos of themselves explaining why feminism is not needed by them. “I do not need feminism because if I wear a top like this, it’s for you to look at,” said one of them. “I do not need feminism because I like to cook for my boyfriend,” says another. It’s funny, because for me, these arguments convince me of the need to continue the struggle...

This morning’s daily reminder was made when I learned that the Couillard government will cut the “Chapeau les filles!” program, this program that was promoting education for women in areas still reserved for men, such as science and engineering. However, this cut will only save tiny crumbs for the public treasury. The icing on the cake was that earlier yesterday the same government announced that it would fly to the rescue of Bombardier if the company requested, because the company is currently experiencing some declines in profits. Is there anyone who still doubts that the State is at the service of a specific class?

International Women’s Day: Reinvigorating Marxist-Feminist Struggles in Canada

 Jenna Amirault

This March, the Young Communist League and the Communist Party of Canada will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) by expressing solidarity with the ongoing and past struggles of women. While IWD is widely celebrated in civil society today, often little is known about the holiday’s socialist roots. IWD would not have been possible without the struggles of socialist women. The political activism of Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) and Luise Zietz (1865-1922) was particularly influential. Zetkin and Zietz were committed communists dedicated to organizing working class women and educating their male comrades on the importance of women’s struggles. They understood that the success of socialism depended on proletariat women and men “fight[ing] hand in hand…against capitalist society.”1   In August 1910 at a general meeting of the Second International, Zietz suggested holding an International Women’s Day to bring attention to equal rights, the suffrage and the struggles of working class women. Zetkin seconded the motion and over a hundred women from seventeen different countries voted in support of creating IWD. The next year on March 18 (chosen to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Paris Commune) the first IWD demonstrations were held in Europe. It was a tremendous success with an estimated 300 demonstrations being held across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1922, with the help of Zetkin, Lenin would name International Women’s Day an official communist holiday.

Dentist Misogyny at Dalhousie

By Nicole Hattie, Halifax

A widespread public outcry has been heard across Nova Scotia following news that 13 male Dalhousie Dentistry students were members of a self‑described "gentlemen's facebook page" used to discuss chauvinistic and misogynistic messages. The men engaged in a poll, which asked who they would like to "hate fuck," and discussed using chloroform to rape women. The results of the poll were posted on Dec. 6 - the 25th anniversary of the Montreal massacre.

The response by some people, like the Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente, has been to say that this was a "joke" and should not be taken as a direct attack on women. But many labour, community and women's groups sharply disagree. A protest of approximately 300 students, faculty and other people on Dalhousie's campus rallied against all forms of sexism and harassment, denouncing the university's approach as unacceptable.

Bowing somewhat to public pressure, Dalhousie president Richard Florizone later suspended the men from clinical duties at the Dalhousie clinic, saying the school is looking at many options and is not ruling out expulsions. Despite this, many continue to be outraged.

These violent sexualized acts of hate speech had reportedly been taking place months prior and the university was well aware. However, nothing was done about the issue until it went "viral" in the media. There had also been reports of a male professor showing sexualized videos in class that objectified women as a way in which to "wake the male students up."

It appears the dentistry programme at Dal is basically a sexist "old boys club" for the sons of Nova Scotia's well‑heeled elite.

Harper Vs. Women

by Marianne Breton Fontaine

Rape culture, discrimination, poverty, violence, etc.; the list of evils of patriarchy is long. One might think that every year, the status of women is improving in Canada. But it’s not, and it's not just women's groups and the left that say so. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada’s place on the international gender equality index has steadily declined from 7th place in 2004, to 25th in 2009. This is not a coincidence; it is the result of clear policies enacted against the advancement of women's equality. Yes, Harper is anti-women!

Funding for women's groups

Since Stephen Harper took power in 2006, the Conservative government gradually eliminated funding for groups that promote women's rights. For example, he has closed 12 of the 16 regional offices of Status of Women Canada. The Conservatives have made significant changes to the funding criteria of women's organizations, saying that they will only fund groups that are “directly involved” with women. In other words, groups that were doing research on issues affecting women, defending feminist positions or lobbying on women’s issues are no longer considered eligible for funding. Harper did not stop there. He also removed the word "equality" from the ministry’s objectives. Thus, groups such as the Victoria Status of Women Action Group (SWAG) and the Coalition for Pay Equity in New Brunswick saw their funding cut drastically, and in some cases these groups have had to close their doors permanently.

Mothers and May day

New issue of Rebel Youth looking for articles

Rebel Youth magazine is coming out again, soon!

The theme of the next issue will be women's struggles today and the feminist movement.

The magazine will also run report-backs and stories about anti-imperialism and the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students.

If you would like to submit an article, photo, cartoon or graphic, poem, etc. to Rebel Youth, in English or French, please write to: rebelyouth@ycl-ljc.ca

The deadline for articles is MARCH 28th and we are looking for submissions!

Revolutionary women: Melba Hernández Rodríguez del Rey

Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado and
Melba Hernández in prision

Melba Hernández (28 July 1921 – 9 March 2014) 
Special to Rebel Youth

Born in Cruces, Las Villas, Melba Hernández was the only child of conservative parents with mulatto ancestry (mixed Afro-Cuban and White heritage). She grew up in a modern third-floor apartment on Jovellar Street in Vedado district of Havana, not far from where Jose Marti Plaza is today.

Graduating from the University of Havana School of Law in 1943, Hernández worked as a Customs attorney for the Carlos Prio government and was a practising lawyer.

Like many in her generation, as a young woman she grew increasingly fed up with government corruption under dictator Fulgencio Batista, who had seized power in a 1952 coup. Together with Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado, she became one of two women involved in the famous 1953 Moncada Barracks assault. Hernández also helped obtain 100 uniforms for the attackers from a sympathetic army sergeant, sewing on military insignia and pressing the clothes in a nearby farm, hours before the attack before picking up a gun herself. She later wrote that she didn't expect to live to survive the attack, but was convinced it was necessary.

Valentina Tereshkova

Born this day on March 6, 1937. Valentina Tereshkova, first woman astronaut and first woman in space; first and only woman to ever do a solo space mission. She entered space on June 16, 1963 in Vostok 6. While her individual views have changed on many questions, her social accomplishment is what history will remember her for. View some photos, click below.