\n

Happy Women's Rights Day

Radical Women

Women’s Rights Day commemorates the date that women in the United States finally won the right to vote on August 26, 1920. However, it took the Civil Rights movement for Black women to get access to the ballot box in 1965. These were important battles led by brave, audacious and radical grassroots organizers. But these pivotal victories have been undermined — most recently by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act. Since the ruling, five states have passed laws limiting the ability of immigrants and people of color to vote. Voting is one of many progressive gains currently under siege.

One thing that mainstream politicians and pundits agree on is that working people and the poor will carry the burden of the ongoing economic meltdown and budget crisis. While the U.S. Congress won’t pass legislation to pay women on a scale equal with men, they did pass the bi-partisan scam called sequestration to cut $85 billion in federal spending. Republicans and Democrats alike consented to eliminate funding for 57,000 low-income kids in Head Start and Early Head Start, chop health care programs, reduce unemployment benefits and slash services for seniors. Neither of these parties of Corporate America care about the 99%, nor do the bosses and bankers that fund them.

But working class women and men are standing up, and women have been integral to the struggles. This summer, the most exploited workers – grocery store employees, fast food workers and migrant farm laborers – have gone out on strike, with or without a union, to push back against starvation wages. People around the nation poured into the streets to protest the racist not-guilty verdict for the murderer of Trayvon Martin and the 20-year sentence of domestic violence survivor Marissa Alexander. Feminists in Texas staged a sit-in at their state capitol to protest the passage of anti-abortion legislation. And the resistance is global—in Egypt women are battling harassment and abuse and stand shoulder to shoulder with male counterparts in an ongoing bid for a democratic state.

Rally to save the City College of San Francisco, March 2013.

Radical Women’s right there in the fight. We’re working on the campaigns to free Marissa Alexander, radical attorney Lynne Stewart and military whistleblower Private Chelsea Manning. We’re mobilizing to save City College of San Francisco, keep abortion legal in the U.S. and make it legal in Australia and are organizing for publicly funded child care, supporting strikers, and speaking out against immigration reform that harms families and migrant workers, militarizes the border and has a “path to citizenship” full of torturous obstacles.

As feminists and socialists we denounce the for-profit system that protects billionaires, bankers, and good old boys. It’s time to create a world that protects the environment, whistleblowers, radicals, abused women, youth of color, queers, students, retirees, and working people. It’s up to us to organize ourselves into a movement that fights to redistribute the wealth. After all, it was ours to begin with – it’s time to take it back.

Are you interested in getting involved, or are already organizing a campaign and want to collaborate? Contact Radical Women at RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com. We’d love to work with you.

In solidarity,
Margaret Viggiani
National Executive Committee
Radical Women

8/24 panel: Farmworker women battle for workers' Rights & dignity


Celebrate Women’s Rights Day 2013

 

 

Farmworker Women Battle for Workers’ Rights and Dignity


Speakers

Angelica Villa
farmworker leader from Lynden, activist with Community to Community, and advocate for women fieldworkers battling sexual harassment

Sandy Restrepo
immigrant rights activist and attorney with the community-based Colectiva Legal del Pueblo; proud daughter of immigrant parents.

Marcelina Hilario
18-year-old striker against Sakuma Brothers Farms from Santa Cruz Yucucani, Guerrero, who has been working in the fields for 6 years

Saturday, Aug. 24, 7:30pm
$1-$5 door donation to benefit Community to Community
for its frontline support of the Sakuma strikers

Northwest Harvest Buffet 6:00pm
$10 donation • Vegan options available
Sliding scale or work exchanges available for strikers and low income

New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle
On the #7 busline or six blocks southeast of the Columbia City light rail station.

Sponsored by Radical Women
Benefit for the $100,000 Freedom Socialist Newspaper fund drive
* Please bring food items and diapers for Familias Unidas Para la Justicia *

Information: 206-722-6057 • RWseattle@mindspring.com. Please make advance arrangements for work-exchanges or childcare.
www.Radical Women.org • Facebook: Radical Women Seattle Branch

Join the local fight to free Marissa Alexander

Free Marissa Alexander

The terrible injustice of the not-guilty verdict for Trayvon Martin’s killer has brought Marissa Alexander’s racist and sexist treatment by Florida courts to center-stage of U.S. and world attention. It is infuriating to think how a white man used Stand Your Ground to avoid any penalties for killing a Black teenager, while a Black woman is serving a 20-year sentence for firing a warning shot that injured no one to stop an attack by her abusive husband. As the national Free Marissa Now campaign has stated: ” The dramatically different outcomes of these cases is a lesson in how the criminal justice system routinely fails to support black people who defend themselves from violence on the streets, in their homes, and from institutions.”

Please come to the next meeting of the Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander to discuss how we in Seattle can be part of winning freedom for this woman.

 

Wednesday, July 24, 6:30pm
LEMS Life Enrichment Bookstore
5023 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98118

 

Join the movement to uphold women’s right to self-defense and to end racism and sexism in the criminal justice system. Please like the Facebook pages for “Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander” and “Free Marissa Now”

For more information, contact FreeMarissaPNW@gmail.com, 206-722-6057.

Mother's Day Parade – Act Now for Women and Kid


Saturday, May 11, gather at 1:30pm, parade begins 2pm
Mother’s Day Parade – Act Now for Women and Kids
Stevens Place Park, Beacon Hill, Seattle
(Intersection of Beacon Ave. S. and 17th Ave. S.)


All-ages fun with a message!
Strollers, tricycles, banners, signs and festive attire encouraged.

Honor moms and highlight the need for:

·        Comprehensive state-funded childcare for working and poor families

·        End domestic violence – Free Marissa Alexander

·        Stop deportations – Keep immigrant families together

·        Increase funding for jobs, public schools, Social Security and human services

·        Tax the rich – End U.S. militarism
Gather at 1:30pm at Stevens Place Park, intersection of Beacon Ave S. and 17th Ave. S. March north on Beacon Ave. S., and conclude with speakers, information and children’s activities at Roberto Maestes Festival Street by El Centro de la Raza. (Distance is approximately 6 blocks.)

Sponsored by Sisters Organize for Survival and the Pacific Northwest Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander

Information: (206) 722-6057, Sis4Survival@gmail.com


Your help is needed!

Sunday May 5, 11 am – 4pm
Sign-making and outreach party
5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, WA

Other volunteer opportunities:
outreach • event setup • face-painters
jugglers • children’s activity leaders
all kinds of help needed –

Contact Helen to arrange:
206-722-6057, Sis4Survival@gmail.com

Sign up for the event on Facebook and invite your friends

Ask your organizations to endorse and announce the parade in their newsletter or calendar.

Buy raffle tickets $1.50 each or 3 for $2.00 or make a donation:
Mail checks to SOS/RW, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98118
Or donate online at: www.SistersOrganizeforSurvival.org
(include note explaining whether the payment is for raffle tickets or the parade as a whole).

Wednesday, May 8, 6:30pm
Next meeting of the Pacific NW Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander
Meeting will focus on preparation for the Mother’s Day Parade

Other ideas for how to help? 

Call or email to arrange

Help organize a Mothers Day Parade: Act Now for Women & Kids

Stand up for publicly funded childcare NOW!

Stand up for publicly funded childcare NOW!
Help build for a Mothers’ Day Parade to demand action for women and kids. Issues include: comprehensive state-funded childcare; justice for Marissa Alexander, an African American mother serving 20 years for self-defense against an abusive spouse; an end to immigration policies that tear families apart; and increasing funds for public schools, jobs and social services by taxing the rich and ending U.S. militarism. Get involved in this action and build a movement for childcare for all who need it!

Saturday, March 30, 2pm
New Freeway Hall,
5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle

(In Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood, one block south of S. Hudson St.) childcare provided.

Sponsored by Sisters Organize for Survival,
a campaign of Radical Women

For more information, call 206-722-6057 • RWseattle@mindspring.com www.SistersOrganizeforSurvival.org • FaceBook: Sisters Organize for Surviva

 

Build a movement for publicly funded childcare!

Sisters Organize for Survival meeting

Working families deserve free childcare Your thoughts and energy are needed in the campaign to win free, quality childcare for working and poor families. The lack of affordable options pushes women out of the workforce and puts a huge strain on families. Help organize a Mothers’ Day Parade to demand state-funded childcare, justice for Marissa Alexander, support for children with moms in prison, and an end to immigration policies that tear families apart.

Saturday, March 16, 2pm
New Freeway Hall,
5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle
Four blocks south of S. Alaska St., on the #7 busline. Childcare provided.

 

 

Radical Women video showing
“Makers: Women Who Make America”

 

Experience the thrilling days of the early women’s liberation struggle. “Awakening,” part 1 of a new PBS documentary, explores women’s break from the repressive 1950s. It reveals the unprecedented wave of female rebellion that burst out in the 1960s and intersected with the racial justice, antiwar, and lesbian/gay movements. Discussion will follow viewing.
$2.00 door donation.

Hearty dinner (with vegan options) served at 6:30pm for $8.50 donation.

New Freeway Hall,
5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle

Four blocks south of S. Alaska St., on the #7 busline. Call in advance to arrange childcare.

For information or to reserve childcare: 206-722-6057
RWseattle@mindspring.com • www.RadicalWomen.org • Facebook.com/RWseattle

2/7 Black History film – 2/9 Mobilize for Childcare, in Seattle

Thursday, February 7, 6:30pm
Black History Month film
“Every Mother’s Son”
This gripping documentary follows three mothers in New York City who became activists after their sons were murdered by police. The 60-minute film showcases the mothers — Puerto Rican, West African, and Jewish — as they come together to seek justice.

West Seattle Branch of the Seattle Public Library
2306 42nd Ave. S.W.

Doors open 6pm. Film-showing 6:30pm. No charge.
Sponsored by Radical Women. For more info: 206-722-6057, 722-2453, RWseattle@mindspring.com. www.RadicalWomen.org


Saturday, February 9, 2:00pm
Public meeting
Let’s build a movement for affordable childcare!

Learn about previous Washington state campaigns for childcare and explore mobilizing for additional state-funded programs now. To build this movement, Sisters Organize for Survival is seeking the ideas, thoughts and concerns of parents, childcare workers and providers, and anyone interested in early childhood education and care. Share your thoughts and voice your needs as we move forward in demanding quality childcare for all who need it.

Delridge Branch of the Seattle Public Library
5423 Delridge Way S.W.

Sponsored by Sisters Organize for Survival (SOS), a campaign of Radical Women. For more info: 206-722-6057, 722-2453, RWseattle@mindspring.com, www.sistersorganizeforsurvival.org.

Ring in the New Year with Northwest rabble-rousers!

Monday, December 31, 8:30pm

A Rebellious New Years Eve Celebration:

Sweep the Globe Clean in 2013!
Make the scene at the red-hot spot for activist movers and shakers!·         Sumptuous Northern Italian Feast (menu below)

·         Dancing

·         A Riotous Year-in-Review

·         Party favors

·         No-host bar with cocktails and champagne
New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave S., Seattle
(Four blocks south of S. Alaska St. at the #7 Hudson St. stop. Six blocks from Columbia City light rail station.) Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible.

Door donation $5.00 • Buffet donation $15.00
Sliding scale and work exchange available for students, strikers or low-income people.

Advance tickets encouraged and qualify purchaser for a prize drawing at the event

For more info or childcare (please call in advance): 206-722-6057
RWSeattle@mindspring.com • www.RadicalWomen.org • Facebook.com/RWseattle

Hosted by Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party.


 

Sumptuous Northern Italian Feast

Antipasti Misto
a bounteous platter of fresh, roasted and marinated vegetables
with an array of cheeses and cured meats

Insalata di Carciofi
greens and artichoke hearts dressed with a  balsamic vinaigrette
__

Choice of:
Pollo Saltimbocca
tender chicken cutlets rolled with prosciutto, spinach and parmesan,
braised in lemon-wine sauce

Arista de Maiale
succulent pork roast infused with garlic and rosemary

Melanzane Ripiene
eggplant stuffed with savory vegan sausage and pesto

__

Polenta con Funghi
traditional ground maize, accented with aromatic mushrooms

Verdure Stufati
tender zucchini and tomatoes simmered with herbs

Pan Italiano — fresh artisan bread
__

Tiramisu
ladyfingers drizzled with espresso and rum,
layered with mascarpone and chocolate

Pere al Marsala
pears stuffed with dried plums, poached in a citrus-marsala syrup

Torta de Noci — buttery walnut raisin cake

Send a NO CUTS message to WA Senate Ways & Means

The Washington state legislature is still engrossed in a special Session.  The House passed a budget yesterday that avoided major cuts to education, but kept the new proposed accounting system for sales-tax receipts collected on behalf of cities, counties and other local governments. This keeps sales tax money in state’s general fund longer for other spending on one-time basis. In other words, the House has no new solutions.

The Senate Ways & Means Committee is considering bills related to budget matters, that impact education and state workers benefits. Their discussion is centering on the House’s budget bill and reaching a compromise on what cuts are acceptable or what accounting measures could temporarily plug the budget hole.  This is an unacceptable answer! Taxing the wealth of corporations and individuals is still needed and possible. Washington State must also petition the federal government to cut war and defense spending and re-direct it to suffering states.

I urge you to communicate these views to members of Ways & Means committee right away. Feel free to use or revise the sample message at the bottom of this message. Follow the email link and paste your message into the contact form.

Ways & Means committee members:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/Committees/wm/Pages/default.aspx

Thanks for taking action,
Gina Petry
Sisters Organize for Survival Coordinator

—————

Subject: NO CONCESSIONS on workers’ retirement & benefits, education and safety net programs!

As budget negotiations continue to be compromised, I call on you to hold the line to preserve workers’ pension and benefits, education and social safety net programs. For a healthy and humane state, there can be NO CONCESSIONS on:

– education at all levels
— public jobs, employee benefits and pensions
– childcare services, language interpretation and all human services

The way to fund these programs is to tax Washington’s wealthy corporations and rich individuals. Rather than manipulating funding to schools, the budget should refuse to pay the interest owed on the state debt. Rather than undermining pensions, the budget should declare a one-year moratorium on tax loopholes that enrich corporations but don’t produce jobs.

If legislators can’t reach consensus on these issues, I urge you to put out the call to unions, the Occupy movement, feminists, parents, teachers, youth, the unemployed, and people living in poverty to come out and back you with the call for a no-cuts budget.  Do not allow band-aid “solutions” to be the outcome of yet another legislative session. Do better by the people of Washington State !

Sisters Organize for Survival meeting and call for action on state budget

Sisters Organize for Survival meeting: Where will the state budget axe fall?

How long will the extended session of the Washington State Legislature remain at an impasse over the budget? There is hue and cry over Republican machinations and the defection of three Democrats to support the Senate Republican budget. But what does the Democratic budget proposal offer and what is that party negotiating away behind closed doors?

Come learn the latest on the status of the budget. Meanwhile, take action now to let legislators know your thoughts on what services are non-negotiable (see below).

Thursday, March 22, 7:00pm
New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave S., Seattle
4 blocks south of S. Alaska St. at the Hudson stop of the #7 busline.
Lights snacks served for donation.

For more information, contact Sisters Organize for Survival at 206-722-5057, RWSeattle@mindspring.com, www.SistersOrganizeforSurvival.org

——————————-

The Washington State legislature is battling out the budget in a special session. Their discussion is centering around reaching a compromise on what cuts are acceptable. Sisters Organize for Survival believes there should be no agreement to cuts to human services, jobs and education.

Please communicate your views right away to legislative leaders who are negotiating the budget with Governor Gregoire. Those officials are Representative Frank Chopp, Representative Ross Hunter, Representative Pat Sullivan and Senator Ed Murray. It’s also well worth sending a note to your own representatives and any others you like. Feel free to use or revise the sample message at the bottom of this message. Click the links below to find a list of legislators and their homepages. Follow the email link and paste your message into the contact form.

http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.leg.wa.gov/HOUSE/REPRESENTATIVES/Pages/default.aspx

Thanks for taking action!

—————

Subject: NO CONCESSIONS on jobs, schools and safety-net programs!

As budget negotiations enter the phase of compromise and concessions, I call on you to hold the line to preserve human services, state jobs and education. For a healthy and humane state, there can be NO CONCESSIONS on:

–Basic Health, Disability Lifeline, food stamps, aid to the needy, care of the elderly and disabled
–public jobs, employee benefits and pensions
–education at all levels
–funds for family planning and abortion

The way to fund these programs is to tax Washington’s wealthy corporations and rich individuals. Rather than manipulating funding to schools, the budget should refuse to pay the interest owed on the state debt. Rather than undermining pensions, the budget should declare a one-year moratorium on tax loopholes that enrich corporations but don’t produce jobs.

If legislators can’t reach consensus on these issues, I urge you to put out the call to unions, the Occupy movement, feminists, parents, teachers, youth, the unemployed, and people living in poverty to come out and back you with the call for a no-cuts budget. The budget should not be negotiated beyond closed doors. Open the process so that everyone can hear the voices of those in need!