As a historian, I know that the actions very often have highly unintended consequences. Historical turning points occur, not because deep planning willed them into existence, but at the intersection of many cross-currents. So it is today. Activists of our generation have been campaigning for long over rape, demanding changes in rape laws, changes in attitudes, and a wide range of demands. But it was not our repeated campaigns, nor even the over a decade long epic protest of Irom Sharmila, that managed to shake the entire country. It was, on the surface, a single incident, the Delhi bus gang rape of early December 2012. We are aware of the vast numbers who have come out and demanded punishment, government action, who have protested repeatedly and vigorously.
Sanctions policy in a feminist party
17 January 2013, byThe following criteria of internal sanctions in the party, in regard to oppression of women, were approved at the VI National Congress, held from the 1st to the 5th of November 1989 in Mexico.
No Patriarchy, No Police State, No Capital Punishment: A Report on the Rally Against Rape
7 January 2013, byThe Delhi gang rape is gruesome. But it does not stand alone. There were 22,000 rapes reported in 2010, and this implies at least 100,000 unreported cases. In the National capital, Delhi, there were around 570 cases reported. West Bengal has about 9,000 cases of rape, where the matter had not begun moving in courts. Rapes, gang rapes, rape as a “political” action (rape of "lower" caste women, rape of minority community women, rape of political opponents) have been taking place continuously. Though India’s political leaders have been claiming stridently that India is forging ahead, that India is one of the new powerhouses of the world, in terms of the violence inflicted on women, in terms of the sheer barbarism of rape, India shows no sign of being a forward looking, civilized country.
A Liberal Abortion Law Doesn’t Guarantee Access
7 January 2013, by ,This story is part of a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting collaboration between African and American journalists on reproductive health issues. The article appeared in the January 21, 2013 edition of The Nation and we are republishing with the permission of Agence Global.
For another difference
10 September 2012, byIt seems to me that within the debate about gender difference a lot of confusion has arisen through the meanings given to the terms used in the discussion and the views behind the various definitions. Some years ago I was rather clear on where I agreed and disagreed with the comrades who identified with Irigaray’s ideas.
I really don’t know why the debate in “Rifondazione” has ended up putting my mind in a bit of a muddle. But the muddle has not gone so far as to prevent me realising (...)
On the question of sexual difference
10 September 2012, byThe philosophy of difference as it is theorized by Luce Irigaray today stems in part from the discussions within the French women’s movement at the beginning of the 1970s. The discussion has re-emerged today with publication of Luce Irigaray’s book Le temps de la différence in 1989, and her subsequent publications which, particularly the latest J’aime à toi (1992) she reformulates her project of a society based on the recognition of a gendered civil law. The discussion has become richer with other contributions, particularly from Italy.
The New Sexual Radicalism
12 May 2010, byWhat are the social origins of queer? Does this current have a vision — whether implicit or explicit — of sexual liberation, and if so, what is it? What is its relationship to such emancipatory projects as feminism, antiracism, global justice and socialism?