Women before, during and after the Russian Revolution

The history of Bolshevism from the very early days right up to the Russian revolution contains a wealth of lessons on how it is the class struggle that provides the final answer to the women’s question. In this article Marie Frederiksen looks at the approach of the Bolshevik Party to the women’s question from its early days, right through to the revolution and after taking power.

She looks at the measures taken by the party to involve women, the progressive measures introduced by the Bolsheviks once in power, but also the negative consequences for women of the later Stalinist degeneration.

Women are  involved in social struggles, and the question of women's oppression is on the agenda to a degree we have not seen in decades. Sexism and the oppression of women is an integral part of capitalism, and they can only be removed by uprooting the system. A socialist revolution is the precondition for women's liberation.

The Russian revolution and the revolutionary energy of Russian women show the powerful reserves of courage and determination which can be mobilised for a socialist revolution. The Bolsheviks in 1917 began the task of the emancipation of women. It is up to us to finish it.

Read entire article by Marie Frederiksen here @ In Defence of Marxism

Wanted: Adriana Rivas

Adriana Rivas with Manuel Contreras

From the Australian:

AUSTRALIA is being asked by Chile's Supreme Court to extradite a woman accused of involvement in torture and murder during Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship.

The court requested the extradition of Adriana Rivas overnight.

She is wanted for her role in the 1976 murder of a Communist Party leader who was held in a secret prison before he was suffocated and thrown into the ocean.

Ms Rivas was assistant to Manuel Contreras, the head of the DINA secret police during General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.

She moved to Australia in 1978 but was detained during a visit to Chile in 2006.

Ms Rivas was released after some months on probation and escaped to Australia.

In an interview last year with SBS, she insisted she was innocent of the charges.

From SBS: The Other 9/11

Celia Sanchez - Castro's Lover?

From BBC News:

Celia Sanchez was at the heart of the Cuban revolution for over two decades and after meeting Fidel Castro in 1957, she became his indispensable aide.

There has been speculation they were lovers. But neither Sanchez when she was alive, nor Castro, ever addressed the rumours. Outside Cuba, little has been written about the role Celia Sanchez played until her death in 1980.

The earliest picture of Sanchez and Castro together was taken when they first met, in 1957, but Sanchez had already played a crucial part in his life.

When Castro came to power in 1959, Sanchez remained his most valuable aide, and worked alongside him until her death.

She was in charge of numerous revolutionary projects. From overseeing the "re-education" of the families of anti-Castro insurgents, to founding parks and ensuring Cubans had ice-cream, Celia was the go-to woman.

Libyan Women Celebrate Freedom

From Libya News:

A sea of colorful headscarves filled Tripoli's Martyr’s Square on Friday afternoon. The crowd danced and sang, waving flags and balloons in the air. Joyful smiles beamed between cheeks adorned with painted colors of the rebel flag.

The crowd was almost 10,000 strong but there was not a man in sight. The women of Tripoli gathered to celebrate their freedom from an oppressive regime.

"I am 30 years old and this is the first time for me to stand in this square, and it is the first time I am free to talk to someone like you," said Arwa Mohammed Hassan as she waved a rebel flag above her head. "Before I was not proud of my country, but today I am so proud to be Libyan!"

Behind the scenes, women have played an unsung but crucial role in Tripoli’s revolution. Many have bravely spoken out and joined in the protests across the country.

Hundreds spent tireless hours preparing meals for the men on the frontline in makeshift kitchens. Others bravely smuggled guns and conveyed vital information from inside Gaddafi strongholds. Hundreds more nursed the wounded.

Today they gathered to show their thanks and support to the men still fighting to liberate the country.

Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings - Mother of the Revolution

From Ghana Web:

Many are those Ghanaians who are completely oblivious of the seminal role women played in the success of the great revolutions of 1979-1981 in Ghana. The heroes have been counted severally and openly. The heroines have been largely ignored in the proper context of our history as a nation. Yes, there were women in Ghana who had ‘balls’ to stand up and support the efforts of those courageous and determined young men of Ghana who sought to bring back this nation unto a highway of progress and, indeed succeeded in doing so starting from in 1979 and later regaining momentum in 1981- and this was at a time many men in Ghana meekly put their tales between their legs an either hid away in foreign lands or just simply and endured the social and political disorder of the time without the courage to stand up to it.

Arab Women Protestors - Figureheads & Mascots

From The Guardian:

A common theme since the Arab uprisings started has been the celebration of the role of women in the protests. Some have even gone so far as to say that the "stereotype of the submissive, repressed victim has been shattered by female protesters in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen". I am not sure that women on the ground in these countries feel the same way, or feel that their participation in the protests is unprecedented.

While the prominence of women in the revolutions has been moving, there is a psychology behind celebrating and glorifying women's political activity when it is part of a popular push. In these times women are almost tokenised by men as the ultimate downtrodden victims, the sign that things are desperate, that even members of the fairer sex are leaving their hearths and taking to the streets. The perception isn't that women are fighting for their own rights, but merely that they are underwriting the revolution by bringing their matronly dignity to the crowd like some mascot.

Do And Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34

From IOL Tonight:

Adapting a work of literature into a movie is an arduous task. Film-makers have always been fascinated by best-selling books for adaptation into feature films. Even in Hollywood, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia and many more have been successfully adapted from novels by reputed names.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey is yet another book-to-movie adaptation by Ashutosh Gowariker (based on the book Do And Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee); and not the first time Gowariker has revisited the bygone era.

Set in 1930s British India, the movie tells the story of a revolution in the peaceful port of Chittagong. One night, five simultaneous attacks take place under a group of unsung heroes, including two determined young women and an idealistic leader (Surjya Sen), a teacher.