Going to Cuba, as I did in 1997, is absolutely eye-opening. One day I was packaging bread for Buttercup; the next, I was landing at Havana’s international airport where murals said: “We believe in the Revolution. We believe in Socialism.” Stepping from Howard’s Australia into a workers’ state is a breathtaking experience. I was among… Read more »
women & feminism
Sexism and Racism — Linked by a Common Source
For Radical Women, art is as political as life. It can be a tool for change, as powerful as our struggles for a better world. Karen Brodine, acclaimed socialist feminist poet and Radical Women leader who died in 1987 from breast cancer, once said this about women artists she looked to for strength and insight:… Read more »
The Whole Woman: Germaine Greer Demolishes “Post Feminism”
A friend of mine has a clever T-shirt which reads “I’ll be a post-feminist in post-patriarchy.” Germaine Greer’s new book, The Whole Woman, is a book version of the T-shirt. Greer wrote the book she said she’d never write. The Whole Woman is a sequel to The Female Eunuch, one of several books which inspired… Read more »
Privatisation hits home – Women bear the burden of under-funded services
“Community care.” It has such a nice ring to it: society’s thrown-away people being brought back into community life, no longer shut away in large, impersonal and uncaring institutions. But do we believe for one minute that the State has emptied its publicly-funded institutions because it cares? Of course not!
Meg says “Back to the kitchen” – fast food, feminism and the Goods and Services Tax
Australian Democrats leader Meg Lees clearly hasn’t a clue about the day-to-day pressures juggled by working women. The Democrats’ Goods and Services Tax deal ignores the fact that women are still responsible for the overwhelming majority of domestic work.
Defend Indigenous Sovereignty without conditions! Global sisters debate Makah whale hunt
One morning in early June, as I was checking email messages, I found several postings on an international feminist list with the subject title, “Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party support Makah Tribe whaling!!” The exclamation marks alerted me to the possibility of controversy. The first whale hunt in 70 years by the Makah of… Read more »
Alert! Anti-woman zealots in action: National pro-choice movement needed now!
Around the world, the Church, the State, religious zealots and the bosses are lining up against women. They want to rein us in, particularly to get control of our bodies.
Self Defence is No Offence! The fight to free Heather Osland confronts sexist laws
In September 1996, Heather Osland was convicted of the murder of her second husband and sentenced to 14 years in prison. She was tried with her son, David. Although he had dealt the fatal blow, the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict for him. At a subsequent trial, he was acquitted. The story of what… Read more »
Spirited Memorial Celebrates the Life of Clara Fraser – Irrepressible Radical Innovator
On Sunday May 24, people from wide-ranging political backgrounds joined in the Melbourne celebration of the extraordinary life of Marxist feminist trailblazer, Clara Fraser, who died of emphysema on February 24 at the age of 74.
Resisting Sexual Exploitation in the Philippines: A Necessarily Intensifying Conflict
Cecilia Hofmann and Melvi Gelacio are two Filipino feminists who toured Australia last September for the Women Cannot Be Bought National Tour. Alison Thorne spoke with them on the Melbourne leg of the tour.
