WOMEN

IN THE
LEFT

G ENDER EQUAL I TY I N SOC I AL I SM

W D 2 2 7 | C A M AYA | G A L U R A
 Courtney Desiree Morris (2010)

WHY MISOGYNISTS
M A K E G R E AT
INFORMANTS:
H OW G E N D E R V I O L E N C E O N T H E L E F T
E N A B L E S S TAT E V I O L E N C E I N
R A D I C A L M OV E M E N T S
2008 Protests at the Republican National Convention
Bradley Crowder & David McKay
 BRANDON DARBY

Prominent activist/leader of Common

Ground (relief ops for Hurricane Katrina)
Infiltrated protesting groups at the Texas
Republican National Conventionled to
the arrest of David McKay and Brandley
Crowder
Revealed he was an FBI Informant (but
was actually the insinuator of the Molotov
explosive attempt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html
NOT SURPRISING

Campus police officers spy on radical groups in plain clothes at

University of Texas.
FBI does not dismiss political work that can provoke the scrutiny of
the state.
Kill the movement now before it grows.
Informants + Provocateurs
INFORMANTS

Establish intimate relationships with activists

Joined American-Indian Movement, Black Panther Partytoppled them
Queer activists experienced intense gender violence
IGNORING THE SIGNS

Connections between gender violence, male privilege, and

strategies that informants use to destabilize radical movements
No serious action against men asserting privilege within
movements
Real issues/ serious issues are racism, police, class inequality
(forgetting the rest)
Misogyny is normalized in these spaces, dismissed as personal
DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

Leadership style shows characterwhite male privilege/ male

privilege
Destructive behaviors that undermine the organizations work
Movement would not hold the leaders (men) accountable
because of their work for the group.
MALE PRIVILEGE IS NOT UNIFORM.

White men and men of color are unequal participants to patriarchys benefits
(but they can both reproduce gender violence).
Men of color are a target of more violence.
Communities often do not step up on all vulnerable groups behalf.
Left offers very little support.
IRREPLACEABLE

Womyn had to check their

critique of his behavior at
the door, lest we lose a man
of color in the movement.
TALKING DOWN

Abusive tone and content

Even for minor mistakes
Women offer meek,
diplomatic responses
Taking credit for somebody
elses work
MISOGYNISTS ARE
INADVERTENT
AGENTS OF THE
S TAT E .
WO M E N ( A N D L G B T ) A R E F O R C E D O U T
O F R A D I C A L O R G A N I Z I N G S PA C E S .
RECOMMENDATIONS

Do not underestimate patriarchal behaviors. Nothing slows down movement building like a
misogynist.
We must support queer people and women who have experienced interpersonal violence and
engage in a collective process of healing.
We must initiate collective dialogue about how we want our communities to look and how to
make them safe for everyone.
We must develop a model for collective accountability that truly treats the personal as political
and helps us begin practicing justice in our communities.
 Patricio Abinales (2004)

LOVE, SEX ,AND THE

FILIPINO COMMUNIST
CHAPTER ON SUNNY/NIKKI LANSANG
INTERVIEWING SUNNY LANSANG

= Dr. Sylvia Guy/ Sunny/ Nikki Lansang

Estrada-Claudio
Talked about her experiences as a feminist
health worker and member of the CPPs
legal united front organization, Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan
Discusses her discontents on gender
equality inside the Party
SUNNY LANSANG

Wrote an essay Gender Issues in Revolutionary Praxis

Exposing the movements problems in failing to recognize that some issues
have no theoretical guidancelike sexism
Motivated by the dissonance during the election boycott error in 1986
Questioned why it is not about violating party rules but who violated them
Bayan National Council could have voted to participate in electionshealth
sector wanted to participate in the elections
Dissonance: Do I follow democratic centralism? (DemCen)
Party admitted mistake but she was not rehabilitated.
RECRUITMENT TO GABRIELA

I wanted autonomy, both

ideologically and politically
became inactive in the Party but still
contributed to its general cause
LEARNED ACTUAL ISSUES THROUGH
IMMERSION
Discovery of womens issues and sexual relations
Reproductive rights
Reproductive freedom
Issues of sexuality
Family arrangements
Male-female relationships
Raising children
Own experience: living in, forced to get married, separate social (party ideology) and personal
life (liberal)
FRIEDRICH ENGELS

We have to look at both

aspects of lifethe
reproductive and productive
aspectsbecause both
actually make up the
material base of society.
IN CPP SETUP

There is inequality in household chores

Women designated to household labor, political work done by men
Party prescribes monogamous relationships (need for marriage)
No premarital sex
Actual rules parallel that of the patriarchal system in Catholicism
You can only date cadres or candidate members
There are instructions in sexual relations
Population control was considered as an imperialist ploy
CONFLICT

Sex is also an area for revolutionary change.

Marxists have always rejoiced the body capacity to labor & reproduce.
We are not angry that laborers must work, we are angry that class society
makes productive labor unpleasurable.
PH left was not free from issues like sexual harassment, rape, incest, etc.
There is no problematization of what sexuality should be no theoretical basis
even when NDF recently allowed freedom of individuals to their sexual
orientation
Some consider LGBT to be non-productive and equate it to class love
TOO MACHO

There is a GLAMORIZATION of
violent actions (in the Party) a
reiteration of Philippine macho culture.
REACTION TO THE ESSAY

No reaction from the Party (dismissive?)

No one wanted to challenge it either
Party still considers some sex as opportunism
Party continues to stay with the Mass Linepara sa masa,
thinking that the masses are more conservative than the learned
(PATRONIZING)
LOOSE MORALS

Women were considered to have loose morals if they try to challenge the
male privilege
Perpetuates division of mens work and womens work
How about raising the children? Party is silent on it.
To the Party, everybody needs to SACRIFICE but more burden on the
women and children especially when father goes full time.
COMMUNIST INTIMACY

Still possible (Claudio) but isnt it being suppressed by theory

(Abinales)?
Claudio:
Patriarchy perpetuates consumerism/capitalist class structures
Women are trapped as faithful wife or slut
Should move away from parameters that keep capitalism alive
Monogamous sexual relationships kept bourgeoisie marriagefidelity for
married women but other women are prostituted by married men
THE REVOLUTIONARY FAMILY

Should not have a single model.

Red base would be the dream.
Monogamy would be a truly loving choice:
For men, issue is not his polygamy but that he is fooling his wife
We still need ethical guidelines.