Wednesday, January 07, 2004

PA Feedback: Hogging the Dance Floor?

Your Code Pink Dr. Seuss article is the usual arrogant male-supremacist rerun. How dare you say that women being sidelined from reconstruction in Iraq is “too narrow of a parameter.” Maybe if MEN would not have hogged the Earth “dance floor” for the last 5,000 years and destroyed the Goddess societies, maybe the world’s women could “dance” and not be raped, murdered and used as men’s slaves with MEN’S gods permission. Also your speakers and guests are overwhemlingly male.

Also, are you pro choice? If you’re not pro choice you’re not progressive, since mandated pregnancy reduces women to subhuman status. It’s time for women (and not male-identified “women” like Thatcher) to run the world. Enough with male egos about “your” march day as opposed to ANSWER’s. Get over it already.

Elaine C.
Santa Cruz, California


Richard Oxman’s response: Dear Elaine (excuse the expression!): Thanks for the response. How dare I say something? Is it me ... or someone else who has to “get over something?”

Women in Iraq being sidelined, of course, is enormously important, just as International ANSWER’s attempt to organize solidarity against our “macho invasions” has great value. However, with the former, in the process of helping the women assert their rights it’s essential that we not “hand them over” to the macho U.N. That would be like getting rid of Bush to help the American people ... only to hand them over to another war criminal like, say, Wesley Clark, or a would-be war criminal like Howard Dean. That’s what I see the well-intentioned people working with women over there preparing for, in part.

With regard to ANSWER’s march day, I don’t see what my comments have to do with “male egos.” You don’t address the point that the day chosen is ill-chosen on at least two counts. Perhaps you can wait until OneDance: The People’s Summit is over before continuing this dialogue, if we do. And on the question of whether or not our “speakers and guests are overwhelmingly male” I must underscore that that is NOT the case. You’re probably going by the current list of participants on the http://www.onedancesummit.org site, but, as indicated on the site, Sylvie and I (working virtually alone still, after a year plus of 24x8) cannot keep up with the necessary updates.

You might be happy to know that there will be many, many more women involved than you think. However, you might be sad to learn that many, many unThatcher-like women such as Bell Hooks and Angela Davis have not yet responded to invitations (to participate on a basis that would suit their purposes) ... in spite of repeated attempts to lure them into the loop of my/our overly male malestrom; actually, Sylvie, as unThatcher-like as a woman can be, can hold the summit to her breast as hers ... as much as I can. And you also seem to be forgetting that -as per the fourth paragraph in “Open Letter to Dr. Seuss” -I’m a woman wanabee.

As far as the pro-choice business goes, you can rest assured that I’m a helluva lot more pro-choice than the baby-bashing U.N. that Code Pink and Global Exchange want to hand the women of Iraq over to ... as they (CP&GE) perpetuate the disgusting, dangerous, demeaning diminution of ALL of the Iraqi people by doing a dialogue dance along traditional macho male lines with the powers-that-be.

Gotta get back to our revolution for now, but do consider joining hands with us in person (or from a distance), along with the incomparable Marta Russell, Amy Goodman, Dima Tareq Tahboub, Lydia Sargent of Z Magazine, the women at Natural Home Magazine, Jennifer Loewenstein, Cynthia McKinney, Sally Marr, Carol Brouillet, Julie of International Socialist Review (and maybe, still, Keeanga), Deborah of Extra!, the women from JusticeXPress, Donna Wallach, Yumi (What IS her last name? Where is that note?), Leila, Angela of AK Press (I believe there are other women in the collective), and many, many, many, many more.

Let’s “get over” on America. What say? But ... again, say it after we lay the groundwork for the upcoming war.

Blessings in solidarity,

Richard Oxman
mail@onedancesummit.org

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