Women Of The World

Wednesday September 7, 10-11PM The Women's Show

2011-09-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

A Woman's Take On Men In War. Filmmaker Heather Courtney on the line from Austin, Texas, talking about embedding with the National Guard in Afghanistan for her documentary, Where Soldiers Come From. And what she discovered about post-traumatic stress disorde,r traumatic brain injury, and how these unemployed young men are lured into the military just to pay bills.

Also...Shark Sense: A Conversation with author Charlene Zartman, who wants you all to get in touch with your inner shark.

And...Toronto Film Festival Report. Women at the Toronto Film Festival: Director Zaida Bergroth phones into the show from Finland, as she prepares to take her dramatic feature The Good Son, to the Toronto Film Festival which begins this weekend. Bergroth describes what it's like for a young woman to receive such recognition, and making very personal movies about men.

Listen in at WBAI in NY, 99.5 FM. Or online at: http://archive.wbai.org.

Mumia Abu Jamal: Marilyn Buck Presente! 12/13/47 – 8/3/10

2010-08-18T11:48:00.001-07:00

For nearly 30 long, tortuous years, Marilyn Buck was a political prisoner of the state, a captive in the federal prison system for her role in the liberation of former Black Panther, Assata Shakur.

She wrote gripping lines of radical poetry, often about the lives and plights of her fellow imprisoned women, as well as of prisoners who were active in the Black Freedom and Nationalist movements.

For example, back in 2000 she wrote "Black August", an excerpt of which follows:

Would you hang on a cliff's edge

Sword-sharp, slashing fingers

While jackboot screws stomp heels

on flesh peeled bones

and laugh

"Let go! die, damn you,die!"

could you hold on 20 years, 30 years?

20 years, 30 years and more

brave Black brothers buried

in US concentration camps

they hang on

Black light shining in torture

chambers

Ruchell, Yogi, Sundiata, Sekou

Warren, Chip, Seth, Herman, Jalil

and more and more they resist:

Black August....

Marilyn wrote that poem in 2000.

She was released in July 2010, and recently passed away from the ravages of cancer.

Marilyn Buck was imprisoned so long because of her support of the Black Liberation Movement, which made her a traitor, of sorts, to the White Nation. Like John Brown, she fought to free the unfree.

Her spirit of resistance never left her.

Marilyn was 62.

--(c) '10 maj
===============

The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!

Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org

http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/
Mumia's got a podcast! Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays - Subscribe at the website or on iTunes and get Mumia's radio commentaries online.

Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- has been released! It is available from City Lights Books: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090

Please make a contribution to help free Mumia. Donations to the grassroots work will go to both INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and the FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC).

WWW.FREEMUMIA.COM

Please mail donations/ checks to:
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION
PO BOX 16, NEW YORK,
NY 10030
(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
215 476-8812
212-330-8029

Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:

Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370

WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!

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9th Company Movie Review: A Tale Of Two Afghanistans

2010-08-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

WHAT BURKAS?

Revolutionary Women's Militias Of The Socialist Republic Of Afghanistan, 1979

A Rambo knockoff in more ways than one, Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk's 9th Company not only rehashes the Hollywood war movie fantasy genre concocted famously by Sylvester Stallone, but similarly rewrites history for cash and careerist convenience as well. In the case of 9th Company, Russian music video director turned filmmaker Bondarchuk scripts history his way, related to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and preceding and perhaps also prophesying the US imperialist fiasco in the region today.

So is Bondarchuk's beef with the barefoot belligerent fundamentalist Afghans or the beefy bungling brass of the Soviet Union? Less likely any of the above, than a battle of the blockbusters showdown with Hollywood, as to whose got the bigger bullets.

The story like the Red Army platoon in question, is stretched to the limits, taking its time with grueling boot camp, boozing and balling a seemingly brain impaired bimbo, while taking its time on the way to the Afghan combat zone. We've seen this all before, even those among us who've never served in an army. For there is as usual among the essentially indistinguishable rowdies the bully, the artist and the madman.

And all of them are fond of referring to the enemy with derogatory zeal as the 'Muj', when not stashing away that local female civilian dubbed Snow White because of the color of her hair, then taking turns having sex with her in a barn. And while audiences may recoil at the loathsome misogynistic dehumanization of what appears to be a gullible mentally challenged young woman, the filmmaker aspires to his most elevated romantic moment in the film as the the sweaty sexists out of uniform screw her in succession, to the tune of sentimental flourishes on the soundtrack. While indeed the only potentially significant white metaphor that may be at work here, is the army brass as collective Ahab, pursuing the elusive and dangerous whale.

Getting back to the narrative, such as it is, the soldiers set up an encampment on a cliff, where they're surrounded by armed Muslim peasants vastly outnumbering them, and leaving only a single Russian still standing. Blame for the defeat is heaped upon the Soviet Union - a very trendy fall guy these days - for failing to provide reinforcements in a hurry, and then abruptly retreating altogether.

Meanwhile, there is a not single past or present history at hand to provide context or meaning to it all. Aside from the falsification of what actually took place on that mountain. Which was the victory of the Red Army against the 'Muj' there, and the death of six of the thirty-nine soldiers.

So is this a case of creative expediency, denial or political opportunism? As the saying goes, we report, you decide. Though with the dismal state of historical truth in movies, the function of a film critic is seeming increasingly these days, as that of a teacher relegated to correcting bad homework.

What really transpired in Afghanistan? Marxist theorist Michael Parenti delivers more of the substance and scope of that history in his brief article, AFGHANISTAN, ANOTHER UNTOLD STORY, than the film's entire bloated, extravagant and meaningless big screen tall tale:

'....In 1973, the king was deposed, but the government that replaced him proved to be autocratic, corrupt, and unpopular. It in turn was forced out in 1978 after a massive demonstration in front of the presidential palace, and after the army intervened on the side of the demonstrators.

The military officers who took charge invited the PDP to form a new government under the leadership of Noor Mohammed Taraki, a poet and novelist. This is how a Marxist-led coalition of national democratic forces came into office. “It was a totally indigenous happening. Not even the CIA blamed the USSR for it,” writes John Ryan, a retired professor at the University of Winnipeg, who was conducting an agricultural research project in Afghanistan at about that time.

The Taraki government proceeded to legalize labor unions, and set up a minimum wage, a progressive income tax, a literacy campaign, and programs that gave ordinary people greater access to health care, housing, and public sanitation. Fledgling peasant cooperatives were started and price reductions on some key foods were imposed.

The government also continued a campaign begun by the king to emancipate women from their age-old tribal bondage. It provided public education for girls and for the children of various tribes. A report in the San Francisco Chronicle (17 November 2001) noted that under the Taraki regime Kabul had been “a cosmopolitan city. Artists and hippies flocked to the capital. Women studied agriculture, engineering and business at the city’s university. Afghan women held government jobs—-in the 1980s, there were seven female members of parliament. Women drove cars, traveled and went on dates. Fifty percent of university students were women.”

The Taraki government moved to eradicate the cultivation of opium poppy. Until then Afghanistan had been producing more than 70 percent of the opium needed for the world’s heroin supply. The government also abolished all debts owed by farmers, and began developing a major land reform program. Ryan believes that it was a “genuinely popular government and people looked forward to the future with great hope.”

But serious opposition arose from several quarters. The feudal landlords opposed the land reform program that infringed on their holdings. And tribesmen and fundamentalist mullahs vehemently opposed the government’s dedication to gender equality and the education of women and children.

Because of its egalitarian and collectivist economic policies the Taraki government also incurred the opposition of the US national security state. Almost immediately after the PDP coalition came to power, the CIA, assisted by Saudi and Pakistani military, launched a large scale intervention into Afghanistan on the side of the ousted feudal lords, reactionary tribal chieftains, mullahs, and opium traffickers.

A top official within the Taraki government was Hafizulla Amin, believed by many to have been recruited by the CIA during the several years he spent in the United States as a student. In September 1979, Amin seized state power in an armed coup. He executed Taraki, halted the reforms, and murdered, jailed, or exiled thousands of Taraki supporters as he moved toward establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state. But within two months, he was overthrown by PDP remnants including elements within the military.

It should be noted that all this happened before the Soviet military intervention. National security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski publicly admitted–months before Soviet troops entered the country–that the Carter administration was providing huge sums to Muslim extremists to subvert the reformist government. Part of that effort involved brutal attacks by the CIA-backed mujahideen against schools and teachers in rural areas.

In late 1979, the seriously besieged PDP government asked Moscow to send a contingent of troops to help ward off the mujahideen (Islamic guerrilla fighters) and foreign mercenaries, all recruited, financed, and well-armed by the CIA. The Soviets already had been sending aid for projects in mining, education, agriculture, and public health. Deploying troops represented a commitment of a more serious and politically dangerous sort. It took repeated requests from Kabul before Moscow agreed to intervene militarily.

Jihad and Taliban, CIA Style

The Soviet intervention was a golden opportunity for the CIA to transform the tribal resistance into a holy war, an Islamic jihad to expel the godless communists from Afghanistan. Over the years the United States and Saudi Arabia expended about $40 billion on the war in Afghanistan. The CIA and its allies recruited, supplied, and trained almost 100,000 radical mujahideen from forty Muslim countries including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, and Afghanistan itself. Among those who answered the call was Saudi-born millionaire right-winger Osama bin Laden and his cohorts.

After a long and unsuccessful war, the Soviets evacuated the country in February 1989. It is generally thought that the PDP Marxist government collapsed immediately after the Soviet departure. Actually, it retained enough popular support to fight on for another three years, outlasting the Soviet Union itself by a year....'

CONTINUE TO READ THE MICHAEL PARENTI ARTICLE HERE.

In other words, it might be said that the Soviet Union retreated from a war being conducted, financed and armed by the CIA. And Afghanistan consequently retreated from immense socialist progress for women and the poor, with the complicity between the CIA, the ruling class and religious fundamentalists morphing into Al-Qaeda, backwards by centuries to where Afghanistan regrettably is now.

Prairie Miller
WBAI Arts Magazine

Director Rehana MirzaTalks Stress, Taboo And Indian Culture

2010-08-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

While mental illness is looked upon with shame and denial in any culture, that taboo takes a specific form in Indian-American culture. Not the least of which is negative attitudes in this country towards immigrants that exacerbate stress-related impairments, along with more recent manifestations of racial profiling related to terrorism that has unfairly impacted the South Asian community here. Rehana Mirza is a young female director who explores some of these issues in Hiding Divya, her dramatic debut about emotional breakdown striking one Indian-American family. Here's my conversation by phone with the filmmaker.

What inspired you to make a film on the subject of mental illness in the Indian-American community?

REHANA MIRZA: Mental illness in that community is something that's not talked about, and it definitely has a lot of stigma. So I wanted to create a film that could address mental illness, and try to eradicate some of the stigma. And I feel that film is a medium to reach many people. So that's why I set about making this movie.

Why did you decide to have as the mentally ill in your movie, only females?

RM: For me, I'm drawn to female characters. I want to see strong, three-dimensional nuanced female characters on the screen. I don't get to see that enough.

And I really wanted to create something that had three generations of women dealing with this issue. So I was interested in the grandmother/mother/daughter relationships. So all those things really interested me.

Now, there's also a stigma connected to mental illness throughout US culture. So how do you see it as different, and also the same, in the Indian-American community?

RM: I did do research on that. And the reason I wrote the film, is that a South Asian family friend had actually asked us to create a film about mental illness. Because her family was struggling with the issue, and they had no outlet.

You know, nobody would talk about it, and she had absolutely no guides, and no way to deal with it. And I think particularly within the South Asian communities, there's a real issue with acknowledging any sorts of problems, whether physical or mental.

So there's just not wanting to air these problems, it's like they're meant to be hidden. And so I wanted to make these issues in a particular community more universal, even if the nuances are slightly different.

For example in my research, I learned that a lot of these families will try to use Eastern medicines. And they think those will solve the problem. They also feel that prayer is a solution.

And because marriage is so important in South Asian culture, there's also this guilt that so-called 'bad blood' can be carried on through a family. And that their children will be ostracized in the community, and will not be able to find a good mate.

So those are the issue that may have a lot of crossover into other cultures. But they're very specific in the South Asian communities.

Do the attitudes towards mental illness differ in any way between India and that community here?

RM: I think so. For me, having grown up in the United States and creating this film, I was also looking at cultural differences, and generational differences. And I think in India, there is probably even a greater sense of denial.

Is anything being done to change those attitudes?

RM: Well, I think it starts with dialogue. And for me, creating this film was a way of starting that dialogue. There are also different organizations cropping up here, as well as in India, that deal with mental illness within the community. And offer services both for the person dealing with mental illness, and supportive services for the family.

And what about the stresses that may cause mental illness related to being immigrants or outsiders in this country, especially with the misguided racial profiling now connected to terrorism, and unjustly directed at the Indian-American community as well?

RM: Yeah, that's always an aspect of my work, how others view the characters that I'm creating. And that does have a lot of impact on the immigrant community. For example, in the film the grandmother is ostracized by the other patients.

And a lot of times they don't want to go into these care centers, because they are ostracized. And there isn't that sense of community there. So they are ostracized at both ends. From their own community for having mental illness, and from the community offering services.

Because there are all these stereotypes that manifest themselves, when they see a person of South Asian descent. And that scene in the hospital actually did happen to the family for whom I created this film.

Her father had actually shot himself, and still there was this silence in the community about it. And the staff told her family, there's nothing we can do for him because he doesn't speak English, and he doesn't ask for anything.

And he actually speaks English fluently! But it was part of his withdrawal. So it was actually a symptom of his mental illness, that they were attributing to him being an immigrant.

So there's such a double edged sword, when stereotypes are being used. But there are definitely certain pressures that immigrants face, and there need to be outlets to deal with that.

Would you say there are gender differences in those communities, regarding the mentally ill?

RM: Yes, there's probably a great deal of pressure on males to be the breadwinner, and females to be the caretaker. So if there are any problems with the children, those are blamed on the mother. So that sort of issue arises.

And as for the patients themselves, I think there are stereotypes viewing the males as violent. And viewing the female as like a crazy woman. And that female stereotype of oh, it's just hormones, you know?

But those are just from my own personal observations. I can't say what's true across the board, in terms of what gender biases there are. But I think the biases towards the mentally ill are so strong in general, that the gender biases really even out.

Since we're discussing gender differences, what do you feel are the challenges you face as a female director, and a woman of color?

RM: You know, within the South Asian community, there are a lot of strong female directors that have come before me. So I'm lucky in that way, that I have role models, like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta. But they are coming from a different perspective.

They're more international, dealing with issues within India, and within the UK. But for me, I'm embarking on a very different route. I'm sort of going for the independent, New York City, American film.

And so, it's a mix of challenges. As a woman filmmaker, you look out there, and wonder why is the number of women making movies out there so low.

And then once you go beyond that and just want to make your art and do your work, there are challenges in finding the right team. And people who will believe in your vision.

And finding those who will be inspired by a woman filmmaker. So I think that's really important, as a woman, to find people who are a hundred percent behind your vision.

What about being a daughter in a South Asian family, and how they react to your choice of a rather unconventional pursuit for a woman?

RM: Oh yeah! I started off early trying to defy those conventions. So for me, it's been a long process of working out going against conventions. But it stems from the tradition of wanting a daughter to have a stable life, and be cared for.

But I think that I've shown along the way that I can take care of myself. And that this is a passion, and that it provides for me as well. And in a way that nothing else can.

What do you hope to convey with your film, especially to the culturally diverse audiences out there?

RM: I really wanted to show a regular family, just trying to make it through a normal day and trying to deal with those problems. As opposed to the tendency to romanticize mental illness, as a genius or artistic illness.

So an open attitude would really go a long way towards letting people know that they can seek treatment, and seek help. Or just even begin to talk about it. So I hope my film gives people the strength to go seek help.

And I think it resonates in the same way, for different cultures. And I hope people can recognize themselves in my movie, regardless of what culture they are.

What are you up to next?

RM: I'm working on an adaptation of Alice In Wonderland. And it's set on the Internet!

More information about the theatrical release of Hiding Divya around the country is at: HidingDivya.com and RehanaMirza.com. There is also a college tour planned for the movie with the director present, in anticipation of resonating with a younger generation.

Prairie Miller

Woman Rebel: Resistance And Triumph In Nepal

2010-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

In no way a chick flick, Woman Rebel traces the roots of radical female uprising in Nepal. Specifically, the dangerous but determined journey of one Maoist female guerrilla leader - rebel code name Silu - fueled by political consciousness and mass struggle, from her impoverished and oppressed peasant roots to parliament.

First time filmmaker Kiran Deol gained unprecedented access to the forty percent female People's Liberation Army of Nepal during their rebellion against the monarchy, as they prepare for battle and engage government soldiers in combat. Deol has commented, 'I wanted to showcase a story about women as agents of change, as opposed to victims of circumstance.' And in a country where half the population lives below the international poverty line combined with the violent repression of women, widespread uprising easily emerged as a mass movement against injustice.

A unique notion of feminism that embraces a combined resistance to 'end centuries of class and gender discrimination' the Communist Party of Nepal's armed rebellion has struggled for both 'women's right and freedom for the poor.' In the course of this exhilarating documentary, Silu and her female comrades resiliently move back and forth between everyday personas as dirt poor serfs struggling for meager subsistence, and battalions beaming with pride and political passion.

We come to understand the roots of Silu's sorrow and rage that led her to this radical destiny described as 'bittersweet, as she relates what befell her sister, a face she can't even remember from girlhood, when her sister was sold into marriage at the age of twelve. After being abused and beaten by her husband's family, one day she 'went to fetch wood in the jungle and hung herself. It was the saddest moment of my childhood, and I wanted to prevent other women from having the same fate as my sister.'

Conflict has also resided within her own family, as Silu had to make the difficult decision to fight in a war against her own brother, a government soldier, as well as facing the ambivalence of a worried and scornful mother But she never wavers from focusing on a higher purpose and the greater human family of Nepal. Like the female soldier in her battalion who took up arms to replace her husband killed in the war.

Likewise bittersweet is the eventual declaration of peace, and the emergence of Nepal as the youngest republic on the planet after the monarchy conceded. Silu is seen moving proudly from the secrecy of the jungle battlefields into the Maoist majority parliament as an elected official, and where women constitute a third of the members. And at one resonant moment she can finally reveal her identity in the Assembly chambers to her people and the world - 'My name is Uma Bhujel.'

But frustrated with the less than democratic channels for economic reforms, the Maoists have since left parliament to mobilize for change outside government. And though the future path and strategy is uncertain, Silu remains confident and filled with purpose, 'to fight in a new way. Do the Nepalese have food to eat? Do the Nepalese have clothes to wear?'

And her glowing, inspirational example is captured in a final scene, when she laughs after being asked whether she'd want a boy or girl if she eventually becomes a mother as well. Her characteristically unconventional reply: 'Women have always faced discrimination and violence. I want a daughter who will continue to fight against that.'

Woman Rebel debuts on HBO2, beginning August 18th aand 26th.

Prairie Miller
From The Women's Desk

From The Women's Desk At WBAI Radio:Women In Global Crisis

2010-02-14T06:30:00.000-08:00

Pakistani women in Lahore protest the public flogging of a veiled woman.

A Presentation of the WBAI Women's Collective, airing on WBAI Radio In NY, every second Thursday of the month at 11am, 99.5FM and streaming live worldwide at wbai.org.

Female Guerrillas Of The FARC

The WBAI Women's Collective covers the entire spectrum of political, cultural and intellectual issues crucial to women's lives, from feminism and revolutionary global sisterhood to critical aspects of the mind, body and men.

Israeli Wall Protesters Take On Avatar

2010-02-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

They equated their struggle to the intergalactic one portrayed in the film. Israel says the wall is needed for its security. Palestinians consider it a land grab.

AP & Reuters
Published: 00:00 February 14, 2010

Palestinians, Israelis and foreign activists dressed as characters from the movie Avatar campaign against the Israeli wall during a protest in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah on Friday.Image Credit: Reuters

Image 1 of 2: 1

Occupied Jerusalem: Palestinian protesters have added a colourful twist to demonstrations against Israel's wall, painting themselves blue and posing as characters from the hit film Avatar.

The demonstrators also donned long hair and loinclothes on Friday for the weekly protest against the wall near the village of Bilin.

They equated their struggle to the intergalactic one portrayed in the film. Israel says the wall is needed for its security. Palestinians consider it a land grab.

Symbolic

The protests have become a symbol of opposition. They often end in clashes with Israeli security forces involving stones and tear gas.

The "Avatar" protest comes a day after the Israeli government began rerouting the wall to eat up less of the Palestinian village.

Palestinian officials say tracks have been laid down for a modified route near the village of Bilin.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter before official confirmation.

The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government two and a half years ago to modify the route around Bilin.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Friday as he tried to stab them, an army spokeswoman said.

The man, identified by locals as 41-year-old Fayez Faraj, was wounded in the Hebron shooting and taken to an Israeli hospital, where he died.

Locals said Faraj, a father of 10, had worked in a shoe factory. Television footage showed a small yellow cutting blade lying next to his body.

A large Palestinian city where several hundred Jewish colonists live with an Israeli military garrison to protect them, Hebron has seen frequent violence.

The Women's Desk Maternal Feminism Special

2010-01-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

Taking Feminism To The Next Level...

From The Women's Desk: The Motherhood Movement. What Is It, Who Cares, And Why Do We Need It. Joy Rose of Mamapalooza, Housewives On Prozac and Don't Tell me To Shut Up Radio tackles the issues and talks Maternal Feminism with special guests.

LISTEN TO SHOW HERE

And, Linda Z explores with WBAI Sister Station Sister, KPFK's Sikivu Hutchinson at the LA Women's Desk, the real deal on race, class, sex and single motherhood.

Hosted by the WBAI Women's Collective, Linda Z, Joy Rose and Sikivu Hutchinson. Music By Pollywood.

MAMAPALOOZA Inc. Connecting Women, Mothers and Families through Music, Art, Activism and Education for Cultural, Economic & Social awareness. MOMS ROCK!

The WBAI Women's Radio Collective Does Air America Radio!

2009-12-25T09:47:00.001-08:00

The WBAI Women's Collective Does Air America Radio! Lisa Collins, Prairie Miller and Linda Z in attendance.

WATCH THE SHOW HERE

2009-10-06T16:25:00.001-07:00

Thursday October 8, 11AM-Noon WBAI Women's Collective

Feminist Radio And Beyond..... WHAT BURKAS?

Revolutionary Women's Militias Of The Socialist Republic Of Afghanistan, 1979

From The Women's Desk: Hosted by The WBAI Women's Collective: Code Pink In Afghanistan; The Motherhood Movement: You Say You Want A Revolution; US/Cuba Labor Exchange; Women In Black; Museum Of Motherhood; The Hot Pink Pen, Sister Station Sister KPFK's Sikivu Hutchinson West Coast Women's Desk: MOMS: Missing Or Murdered Sisters; Chicago Women's Desk Report; Women's Media Center. And more.... And In Performance: Elizabeth Ruf Maldonado in Jack London's The Iron Heel, and Joy Rose of Housewives On Prozac.

LISTEN TO THE WOMEN'S RADIO COLLECTIVE AT WBAI WOMEN'S DESK SPECIAL HERE

The Women's Collective covers the entire spectrum of political, cultural and intellectual issues crucial to women's lives, from feminism and revolutionary global sisterhood to critical aspects of movement building, the mind, body and men.

WBAI Women's Collective: Boobs 4 Sale

2009-07-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Women's Collective, Feminist Radio And Beyond....

BOOBS 4 SALE: Exposing female image exploitation and promotion of physical disfigurement in media imposed depictions of women and their bodies - Fallout and Fightback. And how to be comfortable in the skin we're in. Join hosts Vanessa Cooper, Linda Z, and Travis Thomas, with guests Shashana McNeil and Joy Rose of Mothers On Prozac.

The WBAI Women's Collective covers the entire spectrum of political, cultural and intellectual issues crucial to women's lives, from feminism and revolutionary global sisterhood to critical aspects of the mind, body and men. Airing every second Thursday of the month, at 11AM.

Airing Thursday September 10, 11AM-Noon
At 99.5FM in NY and streaming live/archived at Wbai.org

Abortion Re-Examination

2009-06-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Whose body is it?

A woman's body is a vehicle for reproduction and as such, her body is not her sole possession. It belongs to the State.
At this point in history of humankind, without a women's body there is no perpetuity of human life.
The well meaning, good healthy members of The American Commune/Utopia, The Shakers, proved that to be true.

If a women's body is not her sole possession, then autonomy over what is done to or with her body is paramount over the individual woman's right to self determination.

This is the underlying debate on Abortion, women crying out, it is my body and pro life proponents declaring a woman's body their rightful domain. But abortion is not a woman's right. It is a threat to the State! To life as we know it.

God, religion, threats, fears, violent acts must become standard fare to induce more like-minded folks to our way of thinking/acting. Thankfully, people are being born as you read. Not by the hundreds but by the thousands, the tens of thousands. By the millions.

Do not stop their birth!

In defense of Abortion: the numbers speak for themselves.

In the United States, the problem of relative underpopulation is tangible.

We need men and women to send to war, to conquer new territories to replenish those who have served and can serve no more.

We need more under educated, poor menial workers to perform "untouchable" tasks that are the foundation of a society, a people. We need more homeless to help acclimate people to a restrictive life style.

Where to find, to nuture these valuable citizens?

The unwanted, the pregnancies that women tried to get and couldn't, these are the most valuable citizens of our nation.

We need disposable people, unloved, unwanted. We need people who as babies can be taken from the controlling folds of family life to be trained, reared in institutions for the benefit of society.

We need women to give birth at a younger age, when her eggs are fresh, pristine. In parts of Ethiopia the girls get married at age 5, give birth at the moment of emerging puberty. The possibilities are endless.

We need women who aren't independent upward striving, mobile givers to an extreme. We need a military approach, the dominate man in the home to control, to mold the young into followers. We need to increase the gap between child and parent. Don't make the mistake of sounding like a friend to your child. That only confuses them, confusing the issues, blurs the question of why we are born, why do we live.
These are useless question, not worthy of contemplation. Simply put, we don't have time to wonder why.

Too many leaders, like too many women in a kitchen, are a bad thing; impossible to commit them to decisions. to actions. They can't be included in discussions in matters of State if the state is to survive.

Too much individual wealth is a cushion, a basis for dissent. This too must be crushed. Systematic re-ordering of the financial National ownership of individual excess must be achieved no matter what the cost to public opinion; we must persist/commit to take and not give back.

Good health is a problem when used to the detriment of the State, as it too often is.

This experiment in democracy can best be curbed by taking away once and for all. Strip people of their homes, their dignity and what do they have left: Obedience. Nothing like a good cause to capture the rage of senseless citizens.

The focus for our very existence must be and will be on the military at home and abroad: on the continuation of our growth and prosperity for the few. Without the re-ordering of financial foundation, without the curtailment of All
Abortions, without the increase in population, without a fresh new crop of willing and able followers, this country and the entire world will cease to be. We will perish on Earth and in heaven the problems of overpopulation of the free thinkers will persist and persist!

Free the Fetus. Let those precious babies come into the world to join in our march forward forever and ever!

Life today and tomorrow and life projected into a rewarding hereafter can only be possible with children, our children.

Stop Abortion Now!

Linda Z
Women's Collective

AIRING THE HOT FLASHES SYMPOSIUM!

2009-06-18T10:02:00.001-07:00

THURSDAY, JULY 9TH AT 11AM EST, AND STREAMING LIVE AT WBAI.ORG

Hosted By Mary Ann Miller, With Vanessa Cooper
And Guest Producers, Travis Thomas Janet Coleman
Guest: Sheila Santon
Discussion And Listener Calls

CLICK HERE TO TUNE INTO THE SHOW

Stay tuned for The Women's Show television broadcast, on July 13th and July 20, 2009 at 7pm on Time Warner and RCN Channel 56 & 83 or 84. You can also watch it online at the same times on www.mnn.org channel 56/84 or 56/83.
S.A.V.E.D 4 Life.

The Women's Show Airs Every Second Thursday Of The Month At 11am on WBAI Radio, and streaming live at WBAI.org

Tune into S.A.V.E.D 4 Life on Monday June 29, 2009 at 7pm on Time Warner and RCN Channel 56 & 83 or 84 to learn about the continued efforts of educating women and girls on issues surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Visit www.mnn.org on 6/29/09at 7pm on 56/83 or 84 to watch the show online: Go to My space www.myspace.com/healthresourceguide
or www.myspace.com/projectsaved and You Tube www.youtube.com/Iamsaved4life at th end of July to view this Show.