| Written by Women in Stuggle Movement – Brazil |
| Saturday, 14 September 2013 23:11 |
 On the 4, 5 and 6 October, the 1st National Meeting of Women in Struggle Movement (MML) will be held in the city of Sarzedo, metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Women in Struggle Movement is the main movement of working women affiliated to the CSP Conlutas, and was formalized in 2008 at the 1st Meeting of Women of CSP-Conlutas. We attended the International Meeting that took place in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, and also at the 2013 International Meeting in Paris. We are a women’s movement which is guided by the combined struggle against male chauvinism and exploitation, because we understand that capitalism is a system which exploits the working class as a whole and over-exploits a part of it, the women. Therefore we have organized along with the CSP Conlutas and the trade unions, a contribution to a coherent construction of struggle against exploitation, which requires attention to the specific demands of women workers. Simultaneously, our movement aims to gather together working women so that they are ready for the political fight and for the struggles at the trade union, since unfortunately, many traditional organizations of the working class have abstained from this responsibility. The holding our 1st National Meeting has a very important motivation: to organize the struggles of working women in this time of change that has opened in Brazil since June. After many years, the world could see the outburst of demonstrations that took place in our country which has started with the fight against the bus fares rise, but that also expressed a widespread dissatisfaction with Dilma Rousseff’s PT government and all other regional governments of bourgeois opposition. We have no doubt that these struggles were inspired by the struggle that encompasses the international scene, centered in the Arab world struggles, such as Egypt, Syria, and also including Turkey. It is also clear for us that the June days had a reference point in the youth and workers demonstrations triggered in Europe as a result of the impact of the strong economic crisis that hasn plagued major countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. It is due to the references mentioned above and due to the internationalist conception through which we seek to build the Women in Struggle Movement, that we think it is crucially important for the participation of as many comrades as possible from political and union organizations from the most diverse countries who attended the Meeting in Paris. It is also a motivation for holding our meeting, the construction of a conception of the women struggle different from the alternatives which have been presented. The world is gripped by the idea of women’s empowerment. This is expressed due the presence of women in important positions of the bourgeoisie organizations, such as Christine Lagarde at the International Monetary Fund, and also because of a greater presence of women in political leadership in some countries, like Angela Merkel in Germany and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. The presence of more women in power has been the basis for the assertions that the male chauvinism is fading. These arguments are immediately refutable by the data presented by the United Nations (UN), that violence against women is a worldwide epidemic. From the viewpoint of the women’s movement, there are alternatives that are easily swayed by the idea of empowerment: the various organizations that are guided by the gender criteria and not by the social class criteria. This conception leads to political positions opposed to the working women interests, as demonstrated FEMEN – the renowned Feminist international organization which just after the death of Margaret Thatcher, published a pride salutation for the fact of having been a woman leader of an important country such as England. Such a position disregards Thatcher’s disastrous role towards the English working class, which served as a model for the implementation of neoliberal plans worldwide. In our opinion, the empowerment does not solve a fundamental problem: while capitalism continues to exist, no matter whether the rulers are men or women, as these will continue managing a system that exploits the working class and over exploits a part of it, which in Brazil, for example, is nearly 50%. We built the Women in Struggle Movement to organize the working women struggles and to strengthen and consolidate a classist vision of women struggle. A vision that places us in the opposition of governments for its class character and not due to the fact of being a woman or a man in power. A vision that places us on the working class side, because we organize a very important part of it, the women. The 1st National Meeting of Women in Struggle Movement wants therefore to express these objectives that can only be effective if supported by all of the working women struggle’s demonstrations in Brazil and worldwide. That is why we estimate the attendance of several organizations from Brazil and from the world. We provide information about the Meeting through our blog: www.mulheresemluta.blogspot.com.brand also through CSP Conlutas website: www.cspconlutas.org.br. We also provide a contact person on a permanent basis for information on accommodation, food, etc. Through comrades who will be in the leadership, at the forefront of the Meeting organization. If you need more information, please get in touch. secretaria@cspconlutas.org.br We can ensure board and lodging during the days of the Meeting We look forward to counting on the attendance of you all. Classist and Feminist Greetings. Women in Struggle Movement – Movimento Mulheres em Luta (MML) CSP Conlutas / Brazil |