Thurs 8/1: Mobilizing Boston to the March on Washington

Thursday August 1st, 2013, 7 PM

Spontaneous Celebrations
45 Danforth Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Call/text (617) 506-3762 in case you get lost!

RSVP on Facebook

Proposed Agenda
(1) Mobilizing Boston to the March on Washington
60 minutes
Suggested resources
The fight against racism doesn't stop here
The part of the dream they forget
Standing strong against the NYPD

(2) Learning through discussion and struggle: Socialist education & division of labor
45 minutes

This year is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. What was planned as a commemorative march in D.C. has transformed into a full blown nationwide mobilization -- bolstered by the protests in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict. How can we organize across the city, alongside civil rights, feminist, labor, and environmental activists, to bring people down for the march? As socialists, what is our role in helping to mobilize people, and how do we navigate working with liberal and non-revolutionary groups?

Finally, come to our meeting to discuss plans for a day school on Marxism-Feminism -- specifically Black Feminism & Social Reproduction Theory. If we hope to be solid activists in the struggles of today, we need to educate ourselves on important theory.

4/11 Public Forum

From Delhi to Steubenville:
Fighting Rape Culture and Sexual Violence
Featuring Tithi Bhattacharya

April 11, 2013, 3:30pm
UMass Boston, McCormack Hall 2nd Floor, Room 0116

A public forum hosted by the UMass Boston International Socialist Organization & Sponsored by the Women's Studies Department



While most sexual violence committed against women is hidden in silence, two recent cases have become very public and have forced a national discussion about rape culture and sexual violence against women. A movement against sexual violence exploded in cities across India following the violent gang rape of a 23 year old women in Delhi that resulted in her death. Another attack that was brought to light because people spoke out was the rape of the 16 year old woman in Steubenville, Ohio. Two men raped the young woman after a night of drinking and she didn't even know what happened until seeing pictures on the internet the next day.

Both cases are all too familiar for women around the world but the fact that people decided to stand up and say enough is enough is something new and refreshing. The public outrage has pushed many people to ask the tough questions. Questions like, why is there so much violence against women? How has rape become so normalized in our society? And most importantly, what can we do to change this? In response to violence against women we all too often hear things like, “she was too drunk” or “she was dressed slutty” or “was it really rape?” It is clear that there is an urgent need for movement that can unapologetically fight for a society that doesn't encourage sexism but one that actively fights sexism.

With the decline of the women's liberation movement that fought to combat sexist ideas in society and fought for better conditions for women, we continue to see the rollback of it's gains. Sexual education that promotes consent and sexual health is absent from our schools, the advertising industry heavily relies on photographs of highly sexualized women to sell products and most women have very little access, if at all, to health services such as birth control, abortion and other services that allow women to control their own lives. The attack on women is only getting worse and will continue to as long as there isn't a mass movement of women and men that demand for something better.

Join the discussion April 11th at 3:30 where we can talk about where sexual violence against women comes from, what sexism looks like today, and what we can do in the here and now to fight it.

Tithi Bhattacharya is a professor of South Asian History at Purdue University. Her first book, "The Sentinels of Culture: Class, Education, and the Colonial Intellectual in Bengal" on the political economy of nineteenth century Bengal and class formation was published by Oxford University Press in 2005. She is currently working on her second book on the Indian Maoist movement. Her essay on this issue is in the current International Socialist Review. Professor Bhattacharya is also working on a smaller project on social reproduction theory and its particular relevance at a time of capitalist crisis. This talk is part of that project.

RSVP on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/451694051577935

Branch Meeting 3/28

Steubenville is the norm:

How can we fight rape culture?

Thursday March 28, 2013, 5:30 PM

Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Room 2545, UMass Boston

Proposed Agenda:
1) Discussion: "How can we fight rape culture?" -- 30 min
Please read the article "How can we fight rape?"

Additional resources:
“Guilty verdicts are only a start”
“The Fight Against Rape Culture & Sexual Violence” (video)
3) Building for our forum "The Fight against Sexism & Rape Culture" -- 60 min
4) Socialism 2013: What it is and why you should go! -- 30 min

RSVP on Facebook

The case in Steubenville, OH has shown a light on a reality that has been obvious for many women all along. We live in a deeply sexist society -- one that sympathizes with the perpetrators of sexual violence while all too often blaming their victims. Through the activism of thousands, both online and offline, Jane Done has received support and some justice. But what comes next, especially for the millions of Jane Doe's and others out there?

"The two guilty verdicts are a start, but we also have to build a society that tells young men that they aren't entitled to have access to women's sexuality. We have to address what real consent means. And we especially have to challenge the institutions--the sports teams and coaches, the frat houses and college administrations, the military officials--that perpetuate a sexist culture in which rape is allowed to happen." - Nicole Colson, from SocialistWorker.org

Join the International Socialist Organization to discuss the recent case in Steubenville and how we might fight sexism today.

3/21 Branch Meeting

Education Meeting
Women's Liberation & Socialism:
Where does sexism come from, and how do we end it?



Thursday March 21, 2013, 5:30 PM

Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Room 2545, UMass Boston

Proposed Agenda:
1) Introductions/go-around -- 10 min
2) Education discussion: "Women's Liberation & Socialism" -- 60 min
Please read Chapters 1 & 5 from "Women & Socialism" by Sharon Smith
Don't have a copy of the book? Read Chapter 1 here, and Sharon Smith's fantastic article "Marxism, feminism, & women's liberation"

Additional resources:
“Turning Back the Clock? Women, Work and Family Today”
“The Origins of Women's Oppression” (audio)
“Marxism and Women's Liberation” (audio)
3) Building for our forum "The Fight against Sexism & Rape Culture" -- 45 min
Please read "Guilty verdicts are only a start"
4) Proposal on branch organization -- 10 min

RSVP on Facebook

"If women's liberation is unthinkable without communism, then communism is unthinkable without women's liberation." -- Inessa Armand

From Dehli to Steubenville, from the attacks on women in the halls of Congress to the victim-blaming media -- sexism is far from dead. We need to fight against sexism in today's society -- but how can women achieve permanent liberation? The feminist movement of the 1960s made real gains -- so why have nearly all those gains been rolled back? For socialists, women's oppression is rooted in class society. As long as there is a 99% and a 1%, there is a basis for sexism to live on.

Join the International Socialist Organization to discuss the origins of women's oppression and how to achieve real liberation.