Open Letter to Feminist Organizations
We of the D.C. Area Feminist Alliance are writing this open letter to other feminist organizations throughout the United States because we want to establish communication ties among radical, multiissue feminist groups for the political work which we will all be doing in the coming decade. We want to connect with other groups which share our political beliefs so that we can discuss future strategies for the women's movement and create at least an informal national network.
The D.C. Area Feminist Alliance is a multi-issue feminist organization of individual women and women's groups uniting to struggle against sexism. We understand this struggle to be inextricably tied to
Reproductive Rights Newsletter
the fight against all other forms of oppression: racism, class oppression, imperialism and age discrimination. We participate in progressive coaltions that form around single issues or areas of op-
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pression. At the same time, we stand behind the necessity for an autonomous women's movement and for an uncompromising position on issues of sexism, including homophobia, inside and outside of the large progressive community. We work with community and political organizations whose goals we support (including those with male members), but we are an all-women organization because that is the context in which we feel we can best carry out our work.
We have not adopted any of the traditional labels for feminist organizations. We, as an organization, do not characterize ourselves as socialist feminist, for example, although opposition to capitalism is a central part of our politics; nor have we self-defined as a lesbian feminist organization, although a majority of our members are lesbian; nor do we call the Alliance radical feminist, although most of us probably come from that part of the movement. We try to let our beliefs and our actions describe our politics, in part because all of these labels are imprecise and susceptible to many meanings, often different ones in different cities. We are committed, however, to keeping a multi-issue focus and to presenting a feminist, left, anti-racist and pro-lesbian and gay voice in local political work.
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The Alliance began in early 1977 when members of area feminist groups met to discuss the need for a city-wide organization with politics more radical than those of NOW, the only other comparable group. At that time in D.C., the women's community was a network of single-issue groups and women's businesses. We felt the lack of a women's political organization which would and could address a range of issues, respond with a radical perspective to various developments as they occurred, and provide a base for both direct action and theoretical development. In addition, the smaller groups in which we were involved also wanted a forum in which to share concerns, needs and skills. Our founding members included women from a newspaper and a journal, the
Update on Land Project
For women who missed our announcement in the last issue of What She Wants, The Land Project is a group of 14 women who presently own 20 acres of land in Northwest Pennsylvania.
We have planned three open weekends for this summer (the June weekend is completely filled). Remaining weekends are July 26-27 and September 13-14. The deadline for registering for the second open weekend is July 1.
Plans are to leave Cleveland Saturday morning and return Sunday evening. We would provide food, a sleeping space and transportation for a fee of $13. There would be structured and free time. We want to limit the number of women on each weekend to 15, feeling that's about all the land (space) could handle. We do not want alcohol, drugs ör pets brought to the land and there will be no smoking indoors.
The farm is a 21⁄2 hour drive from Cleveland. We will all have to go together in order to find it. There is plumbing, electricity and a phone. Due to the number of women, there would not be showers available (we get our water from a spring which could go dry). Participation is on a first come, first serve basis.
If there is response from mothers with children or women who would like to attend a weekend with children, we will make the July open weekend available for this purpose. Male children ages 5-12 and female children over age 5 are welcome. To date, no one has registered with children, so this may be 1.
Pigs27 What She Wants/June! 1980%
adult women only.
The tentative schedule is as follows: Saturday morning-leave Cleveland Afternoon-arrive, tour land, eat lunch, free time Evening-dinner and campfire
Sunday morning-early breakfast, group work project (move trash, clean barn, garden) Afternoon-lunch, free time Evening-leave the land.
Registration Form Land Project Open Weekends
Name
Day Phone
Night Phone
2.
Weekend choice: (july, sept) 1. Can you drive?
How many can you take?
If applicable, do you want to bring your children? Number of children? Ages
Would you come on a weekend with children?
Are you part of a group that would like to come together? If so, how many in the group?
return form to:
Land Project
c/o 2953 Berkshire Road Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
women's center, rape crisis center, cultural and media groups, a law collective, two bookstores and a distributor and the local NOW chapter, among others.
In the three years since the Alliance was formed, we have done various kinds of political work. Our first effort, which was quite successful, was to elect pro-abortion and pro-lesbian rights delegates from D.C. to the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. Our political education projects have included a seminar on radical economic theory for activists, a program on combatting racism in the women's movement, a feminist theory workshop, a forum on the crisis in D.C. housing, a series of speakers on International Women's Day, and a program on grand jury abuse. Direct actions have included organizing a march and rally to end violence against women, co-sponsoring a demonstration against congressional cutoff of funding for medicaid abortions in D.C., doing support work for a nurses'
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USSR Feminists Harassed by KGB
The following letter was reprinted from the MayJune, 1980 issue of Union WAGE:
A group of feminists in Leningrad has produced the first feminist journal in the Soviet Union. The first issue of Women and Russia, an Almanac appeared in the fall of 1979, circulated underground in the USSR, and then was republished in French translation by des femmes hebdo, 70 rue des SaintsPeres, 75007, Paris. The journal had articles on the position of women in the Soviet family, obstetrical and gynecological services (particularly the conditions under which abortions are performed and the rising infant mortality rate), the care and instruction of children in Young Pioneer camps, a letter from one of the editors in prison, information on the young women in detention camps and juvenile detention homes, and a discussion of women in Russian. religion.
The appearance of the first issue brought immediate reaction from the KGB. One of the editors, Tatiana Mamonova, an artist, was warned that she would be arrested if a second issue appeared. The other two editors are Julia Voznesenskaya and Tatiana Goricheva. They decided to heed the KGB warning, and ceased publication of Women and Russia.
The same people began a journal called Maria. The first issue was near completion at the end of February, and I don't know what has become of it since then. The material included articles on the working conditions in the jobs that go primarily to women, the role of men in the Soviet family, information on the harassment of the editors of the first journal, and a psychiatric analysis of the difficulties of functioning as an adult in a paternalistic, authoritarian society.
1 spoke at the end of February with one of the authors. She said that there was tremendous interest in the first journal, and much enthusiasm in putting out the new journal, and for continuing feminist discussion in women's lives in the USSR. The group is trying to operate as openly as possible, and to include many people. This contributes to their strength, but it also increases their vulnerability to harassment and arrest. The editors stressed that the journal is a forum for social investigation, and that they do not consider themselves involved in political action. This may be important in their legal defense, if they are arrested. News of the arrests would probably appear in Newsweek and the New York Times. Feminists in the US should know that such people exist, and be ready to support them if they are arrested. -Karen Brooks, Chicago