Category: Class warfare

FIST ISSUES STATEMENT ON THE WAR ON IRAN

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At the time of this posting, the world remains on edge as we wait to hear whether a final settlement of this war is reached, or whether the war will sooner or later flare up again with more violence, death and destruction.  Meanwhile, the killing of civilians in Lebanon and Gaza has continued unabated.  The time for feminists to speak out for peace and in solidarity with our sisters everywhere is now.

Members of Feminists In Struggle have approved by consensus a statement against the U.S./Israel War on Iran and in support of Iranian feminists. 

Here it is below:

FIST stands against the unjustified and reckless war being waged against Iran by the Trump Administration.  The Epstein Axis, led by Trump and Netanyahu is in part about distracting their populations from issues of systemic rape and pedophilia by the elites.  But is also about acquiring and protecting wealth, power, and empire, while being indifferent to the deaths of innocent civilians.

We  must oppose this war as it violates all of the Geneva Convention rules, including starting a war of choice not justified by self-defense, committing war crimes by targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure (hospitals, schools, energy facilities) and openly admitting genocidal intent (Trump’s recent threat to send Iran “back to the stone age” ).

Women suffer from war, often disproportionately, from the increased violence, displacement, poverty and fanaticism it engenders. Clearly, this war is not in our interests.

However, our opposition, as feminists, to this war does not mean we support the authoritarian theocratic government in Iran.

SUPPORT FOR FEMINISTS IN IRAN

While many on the left believe that the only two possible positions in this conflict are to side with the theocratic regime or the U.S. attack, FIST takes the position that we must support neither, but instead support Iranian ​Feminists and other progressives, now being murdered and jailed by their government by the thousands (current figures are 7,000 killed, 40,000 arrested) as a result of recent uprisings. The attack by the U.S. will only strengthen the hand of this cruel regime and worsen its crackdown against its citizens.

Women in Iran face systemic legal discrimination and operate under male guardianship that restricts their rights in marriage, divorce, travel, and employment; legally, a woman’s testimony has half the value of a man’s; inheritance by women is a pittance of what men receive; a woman needs her father’s or grandfather’s permission to marry and husbands have an almost absolute right to divorce, while initiating divorce for women is difficult; Iranian law mandates strict, state-enforced hijab with penalties that include flogging, fines and imprisonment (and in the case of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini murder–which is what sparked the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement of 2022-2023). Women in Iran have been resisting this sex apartheid system since 1979!

.EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE U.S.

The unprovoked attack by the U.S. on Iran is having and will continue to  have devastating effects on U.S. society.  The over one trillion dollars spent on weapons each year benefitting war profiteers, leaves little for education, childcare, healthcare, affordable housing, DV shelters, and public benefits that so many women need to survive.

The war will give the Trump administration an excuse to increase the military budget even further and defund human needs programs (many of which particularly impact women).  Working people will have an even harder time to survive, as prices across the board increase, possibly leading to a worldwide depression. There is also the possibility of a further spread of the conflict (many Gulf states have now been forced to become involved) and a World War III scenario cannot be discounted

While serving as distraction to the scandal over the Epstein files, this war is being waged mainly for reasons of imperialism: the controlling of resources—in this case, oil—of another country, and it reinforces a worldwide economy based on fossil fuels, which can only hasten the ongoing ecological planetary crisis. None of this is in the interest of women in the U.S., Iran, or elsewhere.

For the above reasons, we say NO to Islamic (or any) Theocracy. We say NO to U.S. imperialism. We say NO to government funds going into the pockets of war profiteers and advancing the aims of the warmongers while regular people in all nations suffer. We demand a U.S. government that honors international law, that prioritizes spending for peoples’ needs and centers the needs of women, and that promotes peace throughout the Middle East and the world.

P. T. Barnum Meets Revenge of the Nerds

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In view of what has been happening in Washington, it seems important to look at the larger context in which we women are losing our rights, as well as our social safety net and livelihoods. We find ourselves in the middle of a war on democracy, justice, freedom of speech, science, reality, and sanity, between 2 cults: the MAGA cult on the right, and the gender cult on the Left. In this post, I will focus on the former; I’ll deal with the gender cult in a subsequent post. In both cults, women lose, but in different ways.

The MAGA cult wants to strip us of all of our reproductive rights, our right to divorce our abusers, our right to equal pay for equal work, our dignity as single mothers, our right to choose our partners, our right to live free from fear of male violence and sexual assault, and have even gone so far as to suggest we should be stripped of our right to vote. The MAGA cult would enshrine fetal so-called “personhood” into law, while denying and even criminalizing our right to choose to be child and pregnancy free, and would even deny us birth control. Being anti-abortion and anti-ERA have been articles of faith for the religious Right, which comprise a huge portion of MAGA, for over 40 years. Anyone wanting to learn more about this threat, particularly from the religious Right, should watch the documentary, Bad Faith. The current administration in Washington has been enabled largely by an unholy Trinity of Christian Dominionists, Big Tech, and Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, and, of course, Elon Musk.

While Vance’s role seems to be relegated to being the administration’s attack dog, Musk is given free rein to destroy our government agencies, along with his band of unqualified, pubescent hackers. It is P. T. Barnum meets Revenge of the Nerds. Trump the lying huckster and Musk the incompetent self-promoting technocrat, narcissistic sociopaths selling their followers on the phony narrative of going after the “swamp” and “waste, fraud, and abuse” when they are the quintessential examples of corrupt plutocrats, dismantling every agency and department that stands in the way of their greed and exploitation. If they really wanted to do away with “waste, fraud, and abuse”, they could start by ending Elon Musk’s government contracts. In any case, it is truly amazing that anyone believes the hype that’s coming from the Trump/Musk traveling circus. But they dare not utter one word of protest or risk being shamed, humiliated, and banished from the cult. Total, unquestioning loyalty is required of Trump and Musk’s minions.

Corporate welfare in the form of government subsidies, grants, tax breaks, and giveaways are where the real money is going and how these criminal billionaires are growing fat off the taxpayer’s dime, selling America’s assets off to the highest bidder while sending all the watchdogs and laws and agencies meant to protect the 99% to the trash heap. Goodbye Inspectors General, Goodbye Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Goodbye ethical attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice, Goodbye programs that help the poor and middle class, Goodbye environmental protections, Goodbye to access for journalists, Goodbye to impartial law enforcement, Goodbye to everything the average American depends on in the name of “bringing down the deficit”. This is the billionaires’ idea of “Making America Great Again”.

A lie this huge ought to be obvious by now and this administration would be a hilarious clown show were it not for the reality that actual people all over the world are being harmed, and women, (and children) more than any other group, are once again the major recipients of this harm. This is particularly true for single mothers and older women, the poorest of the poor, who depend on the social safety net for survival. The MAGA cult is enamored with billionaires and vulture capitalism, and blatantly displays its male supremacy. In this world might is right, human beings are commodified, women are chattel, and every interaction transactional. The only values are money, profit, and power, and every action is only worthy if it can be “monetized” or can enhance their domination.

George Carlin warned us that the owner class was coming for us, years ago now, his words compellingly prophetic.

Both political parties are complicit in this sellout to corporate ownership of our government and ourselves, which began long ago, but with this duo and their loyalist enablers we are witnessing a massive transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the ultra wealthy that is breathtaking in its scope. It is nothing short of a heist, hidden behind a shell game intended to distract from their true intention: to transform our democratic republic into a kleptocracy run by dictators hellbent on returning us to feudalism.

Jon Stewart’s monologue on DOGE’s budget cuts is also on point:


Silicon Valley and Big Tech have had these designs for a long time it turns out, and billionaires have been plotting to enrich themselves by impoverishing the rest of us for decades. But now it is coming into full fruition with the Trump/Musk traveling circus who are more than happy to allow the Christian fundamentalist, nationalist, dominionists to turn women into handmaidens as payment for their services in helping them gain power. We must resist with every ounce of our individual and collective strength or we will lose everything, including ourselves.