Transcribe
Translate
Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1971-02-19 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 6
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
THE FOURTH WORLD MANIFESTO IS A 32 PAGE PAMPHLET WHICH CAN BE ORDERED FROM : WOMEN - FOURTH WORLD, 741 W. BETHUNE, DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48202. 50c EA - FOR ORDERS OF 100 OR MORE 35c EA. WE HAVE REPRINTED EXCERPTS FROM THE FIRST SECTION. THE PAMPHLET GOES ON TO DISCUSS FURTHER THE MEANING OF IMPERIALISM AND HOW IT RELATED TO WOMEN AND THE FEMALE CULTURE. WE PLAN TO REPRINT MORE OF THIS IN FUTURE ISSUES. An Angry Response to an Imperialist Venture Against the Women's Liberation Movement. Let us first make one thing clear from the beginning. We are emphatically for women from all over the world getting together to overcome male imposed boundaries between us - territorial, national, imperialist or ideological barriers - all of which are male made and maintained. (Please see the "Open Letter to Our Indo-Chinese Sisters" page 12) We expect to be misunderstood by some women who will no doubt hurl charges of "racist" and "imperialist" at us. All we ask of them is that they listen with their own women's ears and begin to see with their own women's eyes what we are trying to say. But the people we are hoping to communicate with in this Manifesto are our sisters in the Women's Liberation and Feminist Movement and sisters who may just be getting interested in the Women's Movement. We are writing this Manifesto in reply to the way in which a "Women's" Conference is being planned and set up by a group of women who call themselves "anti-imperialist" women. (We do not feel that we have to conceded to these women the title of anti-imperialist since we strongly feel that they themselves are acting as colonial-native (female) administrators for the male defined Left in relationship to other women - in this case especially to Women's Liberation Women.) We find it self evident that women are a colonized group who have never - anywhere -been allowed self-determination as a group. Therefore all women who fight against their own oppression (colonized status) as females under male domination are anti-imperialist by definition. From this perspective we will analyze the assertions implied by the "anti-imperialist" women that they are a super-conscious group somehow more "aware" of imperialism than are the Women's Liberationists and Feminists. In the second half of the Manifesto we will analyze women's relationship (as a colonized group) and the independent Women's Movement (anti-colonial force) in relationship to other colonized groups and their organizations. Since we feel that the leaflet which these "anti-imperialist" and manipulation, we simply present quotes from it with some "explanation" (and exclamations) as the first part of this Manifesto. The quotes show what the "anti-imperialist" women want to do - in contradiction to what the Vietnamese women want. BACKGROUND Some background of the idea and planning of the Conference is helpful to avoid confusion as to exactly what the whole Conference idea was about and how it originated. "The idea of the Conference (between Indochinese women and North American women) was developed in conversations among North Vietnamese, WSP ( Women Strike for Peace) and VOW, an organisation similar to WSP." 1 The Conference is planned to take place in the Spring of '71. The women who sent out the leaflet quoted in this Manifesto are not WSP or VOW women. They define themselves as anti-imperialist women. They also sent a representative later to speak with the Vietnamese women in Budapest. The "anti-imperialist" women had three planning meetings. One in New York City and two in Baltimore. The leaflet was sent out announcing plans for another regional planning meeting to be held in Buffalo N.Y. on the weekend of Dec 5-6. Women's Liberation was to be contacted for this 4th planning meeting in Buffalo. So the leaflet speaks of past meetings and plans for the meeting in Buffalo and for the projected Conference with the Indochinese women in the Spring in Canada. This information is necessary so that the quotes don't become confusing as to references to meetings. Also the first planning meeting in New York picked - or decided how to pick - three women to go to Budapest to talk with the Indochinese women about the projected Conference. They are quotes as relating what the Vietnamese women wanted the Conference to be. There are two separate conferences being planned. One between the Vietnamese women and WSP and VOW and one between Vietnamese women and North American Women's Liberation Movement. CONFERENCE PLANS The Vietnamese women made it clear to the "anti-imperialist" women that they were eager to meet with a large number of North American Women's Liberation Movement women. "These (contacts) have led us to understand that the women are eager to have Women's Liberation as a major part of the projected Conference." p. 1 "The Vietnamese women want to develop a large scale contact with the Women's Liberation Movement in North America beyond individual contacts they have had in the past in order to develop a more substantial understanding of the Movement." p.3 The Vietnamese women expressed to the "anti-imperialist" women what they wanted to have happen. However, the rest of the "anti-imperialist" women's leaflet undermines any real involvement of the Women's Liberation Movement - the autonomous one that is - but we didn't know that there was any other Women's Liberation Movement other than an autonomous one. But the women writing the leaflet use the words autonomous Women's Liberation in contrast to what they define themselves as - anti-imperialist women. The composition of the planning meetings indicates a complete disregard of the Women's Liberation Movement. Composition of the New York planning meeting was from: US People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation Baltimore WL and "Journal" (basically an anti-imperialist journal although originally a Women's Liberation journal) Int'l Comm. & Cuba Trip, NYC US People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation, NYC NYC Women's Liberation ( who's that? Anyone familiar with NYC knows there's tremendous number of WL groups - only some of which work on Left only issues) Red Moon Rising, San Francisco Montreal Women's Liberation ( represented by Marlene Dixon, who said recently that Women's Liberation Movement activities have interfered with her "revolutionary" duties) NYC Women's UNion DC Anti-Imperialist Women's Collective A strange collection of groups to represent Women's LIberation - which they don't and say later that they don't. But the criteria of selection for this first planning meeting is important and will be followed for the next meeting. "Women's Liberation had received invitations from Vietnamese and Korean women to attend the Budapest meeting,.." p.1 Who were chosen as "Women's Liberation"? "...those who had been involved in the delegation which was supposed to go to Cuba ... and/or those who were part of Women's Liberation collectives and groups that had expressed an interest in working on anti-imperialist women's projects." p.1 What makes a women's collective necessarily represent Women's Liberation and what are "groups" expressing an interest in working on anti-imperialist women's issues? How can there be a non anti-imperialist women's issue - since women are not allowed self-determination? But anti-imperialist is being defined in a narrow Left-male context and being imposed upon the women's Movement by Left men through Left women. But one might have hoped the next meeting held in Baltimore would heavily represent truly autonomous Women's Liberation. But it is clear that a strong effort was made to make sure this did not happen. "The women who were contacted to attend the Baltimore Conference were from cities who had collectively selected women to go to Cuba this past summer; (Atlantic, etc.) Washington women who already had the embryo of a functioning anti-imperialist collective, and women known to those at the N.Y. meeting..." p.2, Three women were sent to Budapest and another conference was held in Baltimore. How they choose the "WL" delegate to go to Budapest was very strange. "Based on this decision ( to choose one WL (Women's Liberation) delegate), geographical locations in which there was a strong anti-imperialist women's group and a together enough situation so that someone could be chosen quickly but still collectively were discussed, Washington met all of the above criteria..."p.2 These were hardly criteria or ways to choose women to represent the Women's Liberation Movement, especially when the women themselves, quite correctly, make a distinction between the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement and anti-imperialist women. Let us again quote the statement in which they make the distinction. "There was much discussion about two types of women who are not a part of the autonomous WL Movement, and women in the autonomous Women's Movement..." p.4 ( emphasis - author) IT is important to realize that the "anti-imperialist" women did not make this distinction clear ( although it is obvious) until the issue by speaking as if they represented the Women's Liberation Movement whenever it served their purpose to do so. And this, in spite of the fact that it was made clear to them that the Vietnamese women wanted to speak to and meet with the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement - not with women who defined themselves as "anti-imperialist" in contradiction to being Women's Liberationists. To return again to the point made a number of times in the leaflet that the Vietnamese women wanted to meet with and talk to a large, representative number of women in the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement in North America. The "anti-imperialist" women dealt with this by deciding themselves how representation was going to be made for the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement. "It was decided ... the priority for this Conference will be women in the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement (emphasis-author) This decision was also based on the interest expressed by the Vietnamese women in developing closer contact with and understanding of the Women's Liberation Movement."p.4 (emphasis-author) Now how did these women - who are not autonomous Women's Liberation - decide to choose the representation for autonomous WL? There There were 400 North Americans to be chosen. 20% were to be Canadian. "Of the remaining 80% from the U.S, half will be reserved for Third World women. The remaining 40% will come from the Women's Liberation Movement with an attempt made to reach GI wives, women in the military and women working with GI wives." p.4 Incredible! First that they should determine who represents autonomous Women's Liberation and then that they will emphasize women working with women only because of their connection with a male - GI - who is in the army. This must be what they mean by an "anti-imperialist" "women's issue". Also would they bother to insist that the choice of Third World women to represent Women's Liberation be those Third World women who are also working on women's issues ? Because if not, they wouldn't represent Women's Liberation which is distinct from Third World Liberation. Let us quote again from the leaflet. This is under the heading "Sub-regional Conference, Buffalo N.Y. " This is the point at which the author of this wo-manifesto (who is autonomous W.L) was first informed of this projected Conference. "The primary goal thus far & in the future will be to involve as many women in the Conference planning process as possible so that the Conference representatives will be truly representative of the WL Movement, selected democratically at the grass roots level." p.6 They made sure that wouldn't happen. But the real reason for the 1. This quote & all further quotes are from the leaflet distributed by the "anti-imperialist" women calling for a planning Conference in Buffalo, NY on Dec, 5-6, 1970 6. Vol. 1 No 12 Aint I
Saving...
prev
next
THE FOURTH WORLD MANIFESTO IS A 32 PAGE PAMPHLET WHICH CAN BE ORDERED FROM : WOMEN - FOURTH WORLD, 741 W. BETHUNE, DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48202. 50c EA - FOR ORDERS OF 100 OR MORE 35c EA. WE HAVE REPRINTED EXCERPTS FROM THE FIRST SECTION. THE PAMPHLET GOES ON TO DISCUSS FURTHER THE MEANING OF IMPERIALISM AND HOW IT RELATED TO WOMEN AND THE FEMALE CULTURE. WE PLAN TO REPRINT MORE OF THIS IN FUTURE ISSUES. An Angry Response to an Imperialist Venture Against the Women's Liberation Movement. Let us first make one thing clear from the beginning. We are emphatically for women from all over the world getting together to overcome male imposed boundaries between us - territorial, national, imperialist or ideological barriers - all of which are male made and maintained. (Please see the "Open Letter to Our Indo-Chinese Sisters" page 12) We expect to be misunderstood by some women who will no doubt hurl charges of "racist" and "imperialist" at us. All we ask of them is that they listen with their own women's ears and begin to see with their own women's eyes what we are trying to say. But the people we are hoping to communicate with in this Manifesto are our sisters in the Women's Liberation and Feminist Movement and sisters who may just be getting interested in the Women's Movement. We are writing this Manifesto in reply to the way in which a "Women's" Conference is being planned and set up by a group of women who call themselves "anti-imperialist" women. (We do not feel that we have to conceded to these women the title of anti-imperialist since we strongly feel that they themselves are acting as colonial-native (female) administrators for the male defined Left in relationship to other women - in this case especially to Women's Liberation Women.) We find it self evident that women are a colonized group who have never - anywhere -been allowed self-determination as a group. Therefore all women who fight against their own oppression (colonized status) as females under male domination are anti-imperialist by definition. From this perspective we will analyze the assertions implied by the "anti-imperialist" women that they are a super-conscious group somehow more "aware" of imperialism than are the Women's Liberationists and Feminists. In the second half of the Manifesto we will analyze women's relationship (as a colonized group) and the independent Women's Movement (anti-colonial force) in relationship to other colonized groups and their organizations. Since we feel that the leaflet which these "anti-imperialist" and manipulation, we simply present quotes from it with some "explanation" (and exclamations) as the first part of this Manifesto. The quotes show what the "anti-imperialist" women want to do - in contradiction to what the Vietnamese women want. BACKGROUND Some background of the idea and planning of the Conference is helpful to avoid confusion as to exactly what the whole Conference idea was about and how it originated. "The idea of the Conference (between Indochinese women and North American women) was developed in conversations among North Vietnamese, WSP ( Women Strike for Peace) and VOW, an organisation similar to WSP." 1 The Conference is planned to take place in the Spring of '71. The women who sent out the leaflet quoted in this Manifesto are not WSP or VOW women. They define themselves as anti-imperialist women. They also sent a representative later to speak with the Vietnamese women in Budapest. The "anti-imperialist" women had three planning meetings. One in New York City and two in Baltimore. The leaflet was sent out announcing plans for another regional planning meeting to be held in Buffalo N.Y. on the weekend of Dec 5-6. Women's Liberation was to be contacted for this 4th planning meeting in Buffalo. So the leaflet speaks of past meetings and plans for the meeting in Buffalo and for the projected Conference with the Indochinese women in the Spring in Canada. This information is necessary so that the quotes don't become confusing as to references to meetings. Also the first planning meeting in New York picked - or decided how to pick - three women to go to Budapest to talk with the Indochinese women about the projected Conference. They are quotes as relating what the Vietnamese women wanted the Conference to be. There are two separate conferences being planned. One between the Vietnamese women and WSP and VOW and one between Vietnamese women and North American Women's Liberation Movement. CONFERENCE PLANS The Vietnamese women made it clear to the "anti-imperialist" women that they were eager to meet with a large number of North American Women's Liberation Movement women. "These (contacts) have led us to understand that the women are eager to have Women's Liberation as a major part of the projected Conference." p. 1 "The Vietnamese women want to develop a large scale contact with the Women's Liberation Movement in North America beyond individual contacts they have had in the past in order to develop a more substantial understanding of the Movement." p.3 The Vietnamese women expressed to the "anti-imperialist" women what they wanted to have happen. However, the rest of the "anti-imperialist" women's leaflet undermines any real involvement of the Women's Liberation Movement - the autonomous one that is - but we didn't know that there was any other Women's Liberation Movement other than an autonomous one. But the women writing the leaflet use the words autonomous Women's Liberation in contrast to what they define themselves as - anti-imperialist women. The composition of the planning meetings indicates a complete disregard of the Women's Liberation Movement. Composition of the New York planning meeting was from: US People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation Baltimore WL and "Journal" (basically an anti-imperialist journal although originally a Women's Liberation journal) Int'l Comm. & Cuba Trip, NYC US People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation, NYC NYC Women's Liberation ( who's that? Anyone familiar with NYC knows there's tremendous number of WL groups - only some of which work on Left only issues) Red Moon Rising, San Francisco Montreal Women's Liberation ( represented by Marlene Dixon, who said recently that Women's Liberation Movement activities have interfered with her "revolutionary" duties) NYC Women's UNion DC Anti-Imperialist Women's Collective A strange collection of groups to represent Women's LIberation - which they don't and say later that they don't. But the criteria of selection for this first planning meeting is important and will be followed for the next meeting. "Women's Liberation had received invitations from Vietnamese and Korean women to attend the Budapest meeting,.." p.1 Who were chosen as "Women's Liberation"? "...those who had been involved in the delegation which was supposed to go to Cuba ... and/or those who were part of Women's Liberation collectives and groups that had expressed an interest in working on anti-imperialist women's projects." p.1 What makes a women's collective necessarily represent Women's Liberation and what are "groups" expressing an interest in working on anti-imperialist women's issues? How can there be a non anti-imperialist women's issue - since women are not allowed self-determination? But anti-imperialist is being defined in a narrow Left-male context and being imposed upon the women's Movement by Left men through Left women. But one might have hoped the next meeting held in Baltimore would heavily represent truly autonomous Women's Liberation. But it is clear that a strong effort was made to make sure this did not happen. "The women who were contacted to attend the Baltimore Conference were from cities who had collectively selected women to go to Cuba this past summer; (Atlantic, etc.) Washington women who already had the embryo of a functioning anti-imperialist collective, and women known to those at the N.Y. meeting..." p.2, Three women were sent to Budapest and another conference was held in Baltimore. How they choose the "WL" delegate to go to Budapest was very strange. "Based on this decision ( to choose one WL (Women's Liberation) delegate), geographical locations in which there was a strong anti-imperialist women's group and a together enough situation so that someone could be chosen quickly but still collectively were discussed, Washington met all of the above criteria..."p.2 These were hardly criteria or ways to choose women to represent the Women's Liberation Movement, especially when the women themselves, quite correctly, make a distinction between the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement and anti-imperialist women. Let us again quote the statement in which they make the distinction. "There was much discussion about two types of women who are not a part of the autonomous WL Movement, and women in the autonomous Women's Movement..." p.4 ( emphasis - author) IT is important to realize that the "anti-imperialist" women did not make this distinction clear ( although it is obvious) until the issue by speaking as if they represented the Women's Liberation Movement whenever it served their purpose to do so. And this, in spite of the fact that it was made clear to them that the Vietnamese women wanted to speak to and meet with the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement - not with women who defined themselves as "anti-imperialist" in contradiction to being Women's Liberationists. To return again to the point made a number of times in the leaflet that the Vietnamese women wanted to meet with and talk to a large, representative number of women in the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement in North America. The "anti-imperialist" women dealt with this by deciding themselves how representation was going to be made for the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement. "It was decided ... the priority for this Conference will be women in the autonomous Women's Liberation Movement (emphasis-author) This decision was also based on the interest expressed by the Vietnamese women in developing closer contact with and understanding of the Women's Liberation Movement."p.4 (emphasis-author) Now how did these women - who are not autonomous Women's Liberation - decide to choose the representation for autonomous WL? There There were 400 North Americans to be chosen. 20% were to be Canadian. "Of the remaining 80% from the U.S, half will be reserved for Third World women. The remaining 40% will come from the Women's Liberation Movement with an attempt made to reach GI wives, women in the military and women working with GI wives." p.4 Incredible! First that they should determine who represents autonomous Women's Liberation and then that they will emphasize women working with women only because of their connection with a male - GI - who is in the army. This must be what they mean by an "anti-imperialist" "women's issue". Also would they bother to insist that the choice of Third World women to represent Women's Liberation be those Third World women who are also working on women's issues ? Because if not, they wouldn't represent Women's Liberation which is distinct from Third World Liberation. Let us quote again from the leaflet. This is under the heading "Sub-regional Conference, Buffalo N.Y. " This is the point at which the author of this wo-manifesto (who is autonomous W.L) was first informed of this projected Conference. "The primary goal thus far & in the future will be to involve as many women in the Conference planning process as possible so that the Conference representatives will be truly representative of the WL Movement, selected democratically at the grass roots level." p.6 They made sure that wouldn't happen. But the real reason for the 1. This quote & all further quotes are from the leaflet distributed by the "anti-imperialist" women calling for a planning Conference in Buffalo, NY on Dec, 5-6, 1970 6. Vol. 1 No 12 Aint I
Campus Culture
sidebar
