Feminist Forum at The Sydney Opera House

This past week there were a series of speeches and a forum on feminism at The Sydney Opera House. I had a good inspiring time listening to them today. There are two talks up -one by Germaine Greer and the other by Naomi Wolf. Lets just say whoever organized the talk was not looking to shy away from controversy with those two up there.

There was also a forum discussion including Clem Bastow, Germaine Greer, Eliza Griswold and Naomi Wolf talking about 'Global Feminism and its Future'. Its an enjoyable time to see them all argue and disagree and then agree and then disagree again. I've always found Greer to be a bit ridiculous - or maybe its that I can't tell the difference between her looking to cause a stir and her actually believing what she's saying. But she got in some wonderful insights in this talk. My favorite part was this true-ism.

When you accept that a penis is a thing that can destroy you, you are accepting a phallocentric mistake. The penis is the most vulnerable part of any man. Its the only part of a man that I actually know what to do with. The rest of him is a total mystery to me.
-Germaine Greer

Naomi Wolf has also long been a feminist that people love to have crap with. She definitely has her eccentricities but there is a very soft spot in my heart reserved for her. One part of the forum discussion I found interesting was when Naomi says that from her work with girls (she has a leadership institute for girls called the Woodhull Institute) she realized that its socially and culturally encouraged for girls to put themselves and other down. Its not welcomed to talk yourself up and it takes a lot of work and creating new habits and support systems to get to a place where you actually give yourself props for how smart/hard working/fabulous you are. Greer says something similar about how all her female students work too hard - they never see themselves as worthy and probably spend too much time studying and not enough time getting drunk and having fun. At least that's how she puts it.

While I think its great that feminism has moved into a place of talking about global issues and not just bullshit yuppie white lady issues, I was pretty disturbed by how much of the discussion revolved around Muslim women's issues without actually having a Muslim woman in the discussion. To hear a bunch of white women from Judeo-Christian backgrounds arguing about headscarves, genital mutilation, and Muslim views on the enlightenment was really frustrating. It made me wish they'd evened out their controversial woman forum and added Ayaan Hirsi Ali to the mix.

Anyhow, its annoying but I can't seem to embed the videos here so you can go to this website to watch them.
http://play.sydneyoperahouse.com/index.php/media/1562-The--Word-Feminism-Forum.html?catid=866&field_name=value1

Grace Lee Boggs and the call to action

Grace Lee Boggs is a force to be reckoned with! Born to Chinese immigrants in Providence, RI in 1915 she made a life of activism -fighting for the rights of all people through labor, civil rights, black power, asian american, women's, and environmental justice movements. Her achievements are so wide ranging that I was really surprized I'd never heard of her before. Yet, even today, ninety four years, later she's saying what needs to be said.

In this video from about a year ago she talks to Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) about her hopes for Obama. Its interesting to hear someone whose seen so much explain her support of him. Though she acknoweldges that Dennis Kucinich has much better policy plans, she's direct enough to point out that Obama has the leadership qualities that people need to feel inspired, and that is what will eventually put policies into place. Yet, the most important point she makes is that change and progress depend on all of us taking an active role in the direction of our country... filling the roles of local leadership and "and reassessing what it is within our capacity to do."

One of my favorite authors, Naomi Wolf, put out this book last fall about what we can do to start actively participating in our democracy. Give Me Liberty gives an explanation of the concept of democracy that our country was founded on, for instance that the Declaration of Independence is not so much about what we deserve but that we have a duty to hold our government accountable when they abuse their power. The latter half of the book is dedicated to explaining direct and practical methods for participating in local government. This is especially important to remember in a time when everyone seems to be watching and judging Obama's moves. The direction of our country depends on more than just the president.

Everyday I've been meeting people who confuse Obama's stimulus package for a big bandaid in an effort to not think about whats happening on a local level. Lately, for a job I've been working for the Working Families Party. I've mostly been working on the issue of the New York State budget deficit. Governor Paterson's proposed budget would cut huge amounts from schools and hospitals, not to mention other health services, senior centers, and the police force (and tuition increases for SUNY and CUNY). So we've been getting New Yorkers to write their state senator asking them to instead support the Fair Share Tax Reform Plan which would follow the example of states like Connecticut and New Jersey in creating a more progressive tax system to help bear the burden of the NY budget defecit. Yet, every day I talk to people who only follow the huge headlines of Obama's latest move - which won't protect them from the cuts to so many state services.
Involvement doesn't have to involve something so extreme, as Lee Boggs points out it could involve starting a community garden or simply being open to a dialogue.

As Grace Lee Boggs herself says "I think we have to rethink the concept of "leader." 'Cause "leader" implies "follower." And......I think we need to appropriate, embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. "

Here's a video a co-worker made about what we're working on. You can see me around the 1:06 point looking like I'm thinking about something.