Patriarchy Spiraling Down, In Its Death Throes

The bad effects of having so little representation of feminist values in the cabals that make decisions that all of us must live with are increasingly evident.

The rape of the Earth, as in this Hellish operation in North Dakota, or as depicted in this map of fracking accidents, are just two examples of an enormous global problem.

source: EarthJustice.org "Because the earth needs a good lawyer."

The superheating of the planet is evidence of patriarchy in action, as in this example where Australian children and their grandmother cling together in a body of water to escape temperatures so high they required a new color on the weather maps.

photo source: AP Photo/Holmes Family

Guarded over by their grandfather who is taking the photos, it is fitting that they have the appearance of white Europeans who took over land stewardship in the fragile ecological system of Australia that had endured since African descendants arrived on foot over 30,000 years ago.

White European culture is all about patriarchal control. That's why it must fund vicious misogyny in the Middle East, to make itself look benign by comparison (and create the chaos that enables resource grabbing, of course).

Top down management has resulted in governments that are the best corporate lobbyists can buy, corporations that destroy the very ground they live upon in order to generate short term profits.

Another of its results: rape culture.

I blogged earlier this week about the Oscar-nominated film The Invisible War, which is about decades of rape culture in all branches of the U.S. military. It's a pattern of abuse.

Arundhati Roy speaks eloquently of the class and gender politics in India that result in New Delhi being known as the rape capital of the world even prior to the gruesome rape and murder of a female medical student kidnapped along with her escort by a van posing as a bus.

Now comes the hacktivist collective Anonymous with a full release of the Steubenville rape video which constitutes part of the online evidence of gang rape of a drugged 16 year old girl by members of a high school football team. Others, most notably blogger Alexandria Goddard, have offered the rest of the evidence including a photo of the girl being carried as if she were a slain deer. Carried from party to party to be raped repeatedly.

And then the bragging began. You can read DemocracyNow! reporting on it, or view the full 12 minute video of braggart here.

Many who have viewed the video warned that is is revolting, best viewed in small doses. I found it disturbing but less than shocking. For one thing, there are protests off camera from more than one young man objecting to the de-humanizing statements being made, urging the braggart to develop his empathy.

I've been around adolescent males much of my life, so his attitude is not too surprising. What struck me is that it could be used as a textbook study of bullying and what fuels it: the show-off who thinks he is hilarious, enabled by the sycophant (in this case the boy behind the camera) who laughs at everything whether funny or not, and eggs the bully on when he starts to wind down, and fuels the whole performance with his adulation.

From working in schools I know that current thinking on bullying is that, while bullies must experience consequences, don't make the mistake of thinking that will stop bullying. Sadistic behavior is its own reward, and is often addictive (a point made tellingly in The Invisible War). It is the bystanders who hold the key to disrupting the dynamic; the victim often does not have the resources to stop it -- unless he goes home and gets his older brother's shotgun, as happened in the latest school shooting, at Taft High School in California.

So here's the connection to patriarchal culture: the prevalence of hyper-masculine violence as entertainment and glorification of our way of life is the very air the current crop of jocks and soldiers have breathed from infancy. All human beings have both violent and compassionate impulses. Which ones does a culture support and develop? Winner take all, eat or be eaten, dog eat dog, alpha males intimidating their so-called inferiors -- women, children, and "weaker" males by definition -- are the signature style of the sick culture of the U.S. Empire and its outposts.

Commandeering the airwaves to drown out other voices is just one aspect of the problem, albeit a very powerful one.

Seeing the women who sell out to become mouthpieces of such a system is just sad. Check out The Invisible War segments of Susan Collins or Chellie Pingree or DOD spokeswomen to see what I mean.

Seeing the men who are the refuseniks -- Bradley Manning, the husbands and fathers in The Invisible War, or the hacktivist "X" who leaked the Steubenville brag video confirms what we all know -- there is much goodness in men as individuals. It is the sick system allowing sadistic alpha males to control our common resources that is the underlying and very real, very urgent problem.

It is time for patriarchy to step down before this planet is no longer habitable. It is time for all who hold feminist values to withdraw our cooperation from this system.

If you are in Maine or nearby, consider joining a Feminist Values GA-style discussion in Augusta on Saturday, January 26 at the Pine Tree State Arboretum. Small groups of diverse people will discuss how to free ourselves collectively from the death grip of patriarchy. This is 19th in a series of Changing Maine Gatherings. More details are here.

Revised 5:10pm EST - Could not resist including this bit of evidence from the ongoing disaster of NATO/US occupation in Afghanistan where soldiers have murdered, raped, desecrated and pissed on corpses -- among other crimes:

Karzai confident he can get U.S. troops immunity

2013: Indigenous Grandmother Wisdom Rising!

Grandmother Margarita Núñez García 

SOURCE: Curanderismo, the Healing Art of Mexico

Re-posting in honor of Chief Theresa Spence and of all the women around the world who are showing us the way to a new way of thinking and being....

Today in honor of the new year I am re-posting the statement below from Curanderismo's facebook page. You may consider it my manifesto for the new cycle of time just begun.

Two things I am excited about in the first month of 2013: a coming together on Tuesday, January 8 at the Maine State House of an Alliance for the Common Good, diverse groups determined to stand together against austerity and for health and environmental stewardship. Come find us at noon and help us show our new legislators whom they truly swear to represent. AND on Saturday, January 26 the 19th annual Changing Maine Gathering which I am co-facilitating as a discussion about feminist values, how to make a-bun-dance, and a direction forward out of the ghastly battlefields that litter the Earth. If you are in Maine during this time, I invite you to join us.

Wise words from Grandmother Margarita Núñez García, Curandera and Wisdom Keeper, Mexico. Palabra sabias de Abuela Margarita. (Ingles y Español):

1. The awakening Feminine power corresponds to the heart and affects men and women equally. We are born with two possibilities, love and fear, and this feminine force is urging the transformation of fear into love.

2. Change will occur at the hands of women. For thousands of years (during pre-patriarchal times) woman was considered equal to man, and Earth was never poisoned, then both circumstances changed. The role of women is to honor and value herself and to teach men to love and respect the Earth.

3. Sex is sacred and it is being trivialized.

4. Older people are "like spun gold" for society -- at that age it is an ideal time to share experiences and wisdom. According to the Mayan cycles of 13 years, when people turn 52 years of age [note: meaning 4 cycles of 13 years], they "open to universal fatherhood-motherhood," so any feelings we have of victim-hood should stop and we should say "here I am."

5. Death does not exist, our consciousness, our spirit, survives the physical body.

6. We are all sacred beings and we should honor ourselves.

7. Our thoughts have the power to create our reality.

8. Joy is an important ingredient in life.

Shared with deep respect and prayers for the well being of Grandmothers and Wisdom Keepers of all traditions. 

Translated from the Spanish, below, by Grace Alvarez Sesma.

Compartiendo con profundo respeto y con oraciones por el bienestar de todas las Abuelas y los Guardianes de la Sabiduría de todas las tradiciones. Traducido del Español, a continuación, por Griselda Alvarez Sesma:

1. El despertar femenino corresponde al corazón y afecta por igual a hombres y mujeres. Nacemos con dos posibilidades, el amor y el miedo, y se trata de cambiar las emociones hacia al amor.

2. El cambio viene de la mano de las mujeres. Durante miles de años (supongo que se refiere a época pre-pratiarcado) la “mujer estaba considerada igual al hombre” y nunca se envenenó la Tierra, después ambas circunstancias cambiaron. El papel de la mujer es valorarse y honrarse a si misma, y enseñar a los hombres a amar y respetar la Tierra.

3. El sexo es sagrado y se está banalizando

4. Las personas mayores son “oro molido” para la sociedad y es una época ideal para compartir experiencias y sabiduría. Según los ciclos mayas de 13 años, a partir de los 52 años las personas se “abren a la maternidad-paternidad universal” y deben dejar el victimismo y decir “aquí estoy”

5. La muerte no existe sino que la conciencia/nuestra parte espiritual sobrevive a la encarnación física

6. Todos somos seres sagrados y debemos honrarnos a nosotros mismos

7. Nuestros pensamientos tienen el poder de crear nuestra realidad

8. La alegría es un ingrediente importante en la Vida.

Ometeotl.

Chief Theresa Spence on a hunger strike until Canadian Prime Minister meets with her to discuss her First Nation concerns about the proposed tar sands pipeline destruction of the natural environment. As of today she is on the 20th day of her fast and is weak but determined. For more information about her actions and to learn how you can support this effort visit the Idle No More website at idlenomore.com. There is also a good interview here on Democracy Now! with Pamela Palmater, "chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University and spokeswoman for the Idle No More movement."

We Need Feminism Cuz Mother Earth Needs Patriarchy To Step Down Now

Facebook album "I Need Feminism Because" on A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World

Who knows how much progress we've missed out on because of sexism?

Do most young people even relate to the concept of feminism? And if so, what do they mean by that term?

Here I share my short video of just a few out of hundreds of conversations on that topic, and on how to save the world. From the Feminist General Assembly held at the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia, July 1, 2012.

Special thanks to Curtis Cole for much of the video. And for modeling his Bring Our War $$ Home black and white t-shirt on camera -- looking good!

Facebook album "I Need Feminism Because" on A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World

Yesterday I blogged about why Israeli and U.S. policies aim to keep smart young Palestinians down.

Today I'm asking myself, why would elites in the Dominican Republic want to keep smart young women down?

And, can earthlings afford to keep anyone down who might have good ideas at this point in human history?

Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt Source: NASA

Tweet For #AfghanWomen As We Occupy Sisterhood

by Favianna Rodriguez, Oakland, CA

It was a rocking good time to be with women and feminists at the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia during the run up to 4th of July. Besides being there with some of my favorite women from occupies everywhere (SF, LA, NYC, Maine, New Haven, etc) I got to have a workshop which amounted to a long conversation on how our government is using Afghan women's rights as a cover to keep military forces in Afghanistan. About 35 people sat down around a pink Bust Bank Of America banner laid on the shady grass of Franklin Plaza in 100 degree heat, and shared what we knew.

This photo is funny because, like at many Occupy gatherings, there seem to be more media recorders than there are participants. But the great thing about it is, that OccupyFreedomLA was not only livestreaming the workshop discussion, but also archived it here. So that makes it a bigger conversation that goes beyond the temporal space we were in beneath our pink flag (created to help people find the various workshops).

Since I was facilitating and not taking notes, I'll share the things that stayed with me that other people said (what I said is mostly summarized here in an article published July 3 on Common Dreams). A young veteran shared that war is designed to destroy things, not protect people's rights. Also that women are treated horribly both in and by the U.S. military. An older vet shared that Status of Forces Agreements with the governments of countries with military occupations grant immunity to the acts of soldiers, and this is a danger to everyone living there.

Gasps from those listening when I shared that Afghan women currently have an average life expectancy of 51 years, and that the war on Afghanistan costs U.S. taxpayers $230,000+ a minute.

Sarah from OWS saying at the end: "This workshop was really rad!"

I also shared that a bunch of us from CODEPINK and MADRE would be tweeting about how #AfghanWomen should be at the table in talks on security and development (90% of that funding currently goes to army and police instead of toward real development) in Tokyo July 8-9. You can follow that hashtag and join in if you want to help make this demand.

Then I was so hot and exhausted that I retreated to the oasis of a Vietnamese restaurant to enjoy fresh  lemonade and cold noodles. A short nap on the grass and some yoga (thanks to a new friend from OWS who lent me her mat) which may have baffled police who were lurking around but revived me enough to participate in the first ever national level Feminist GA!

About 200 people came together to say how patriarchy affects them and their communities, and what visions they hold for the future of Mother Earth and her humans. Because there were so many of us, introductions happened in groups of three, which joined to make slightly larger breakout groups to discuss why we had come to a public feminist discussion, and the kind of world we had in mind for the future. My group was composed of a young women from South Korea who emigrated to escape the stultifying patriarchy of her own culture, a young man from OWS, a young man from France, a young woman studying science and marveling at its past uses as a tool to manipulate, control and destroy life. Robin, a new contact I had heard give the most rousing call to citizen journalism in front of Fox News during an earlier March to End Corporate Personhood, an older man who seemed like an academic, bringing a queer perspective, and a young man with strong views on mass media images of women. We had a great discussion, mostly because of the engaged listening.

Then came time for the report backs. At first these were shouted out ("Access the collective wisdom of women worldwide!") but eventually people lined up at the microphone to be audible while telling something they had heard in their breakout discussion.

Chris Hedges, who described the blinders of privilege, another guy who started talking about himself at length and was eventually shushed, and Ivanaka, a major organizer of the FemGA. I forget the name of the woman in the hat, who spoke eloquently about how frustrating living under patriarchy can often be.

Eventually from this work came a Feminist Declaration that was read out in public on July 4.

When I find the text of it I'll share, along with the video I'm working on of the Feminist GA from footage shot by me and Curtis Cole. There are also livestream recordings of the GA where you would hear even more voices -- with so many small breakout groups, it would have been nearly impossible to capture them all on video. Check out OccupyFreedomLA's Ustream channel for those.

Did I mention that I got to meet Lisa Fithian, one of my organizing she-ros? She spoke earlier in the day during assembly about being pissed off and using that energy to organize ourselves. Inspiring! Unfortunately I was gone by the time Medea Benjamin arrived so I missed the workshop on how to Occupy Peace (recording here in case you did, too).

A couple of final pictures to show -- better than words could do -- Why We Occupy:

 

Report back from Occupy Maine Summer Camp - Day 1

Occupy Maine Summer Camp got underway yesterday in Kennebunkport as campers began setting up tents, activity stations (banner painting! button making! and drumming circles, natch).  

Signs I brought along: the assephant that Occupy the NH Primary folks gave me, and the No East-West Corridor sign that my friends Abby and Fang gave me. Their friend Bozin made many of them to help us protect our state and its natural resources from the private-public partnership our governor and the CEO of Cianbro Corp. are in cahoots to build across the Maine wildnerness.

 

Some people really have this encampment thing down!

 

 

Following a terrific communal dinner, we held a GA with about 35 people participating. Hearing why everyone was there and seeing the generational diversity was very inspriring. A Norwegian artist named Una Hunderi who is traveling in the US to investigate "idealistic communities" came from the farthest away to be with us. We were also grandparents, young farm interns, and several videographers and writers. Something we all had in common -- the desire to occupy mosquitos!

  

As the GA wound down, who should arrive but a NYC contingent bringing activists from the New School to talk about resisting mountain top removal coal miming in Appalachia. It was so exciting to see the big van I've only seen in photos pull into our bucolic camping site.

 

Codepink Maine members Curtis Cole and Pat Taub posed in front of my favorite side of the first vehicle in the Occupy Caravan. There will be many more assembling over the next few days to head to the National Gathering in Philadelphia. Occupy the Roads!

Today we'll hold a Feminist GA at camp, in advance of the national one at NatGat on July 1.

Why We Occupy: Feminist GA To Gather Collective Wisdom

SOURCE: OccuCards.com Print 'em yourself, buy printed sets, or donate to help them reach others.

One of the chief delights of being alive in the second half of the 20th century, and the first half of the 21st, has been the explosion of ways to share information.

Who knew about OccuCards before, say, five minutes ago? I did not, but a CODEPINK sister on the left coast emailed me a link, and I shared it with a fellow organizer who lives in a house named for Melman and then I got inspired to showcase this particular card in my blog.

And who knows who may see it here, and share it with even more people...

This is why the authorities kick Occupy out of public spaces for no worse a crime than camping. Because our coming together to share ideas is very, very threatening.

One of the chief ways we've been kept from coming together is by systems of control where some people, the very wealthy, have way more power than other people. They control the banks, the Congress, the courts, the White House, and the mass media. Their paid hacks trivialize, marginalize and attack anyone who tries to take their head out of the sand and speak up about what's wrong and what to do about it.


Unfortunately, we all get brought up in this system. We watch "debates" where people shout each other down. We are flooded with false messages so loud, so flashy and so constant that it become a radical act just to shut them off.

We remain silent -- sometimes to save ourselves from annihilation, sometimes out of habit.

One of the amazing features of indigenous communities around the globe is inclusion of all the voices. Collectively humans are far more wise than any one individual. When citizens have to shout and get arrested just to be heard in bodies that allegedly represent the people, it's time for a new order.

I will be supporting and helping to organize Feminist General Assemblies (#FemGA) at various Occupy events this summer. This is not because I am mad at men or think they have nothing to contribute. It is because I know how many young women are silenced by the oppressive powers that be. They are ridiculed for not being gorgeous enough, they are marginalized for not being aggressive enough, they are forced into industrialized labor and childbearing in order that they may never discover the awesome power they embody.

It's time for the patriarchy to step down, and I have no doubt that righteous brothers everywhere are hoping and working toward this end just as women are.

I'm going to do my part to hear from the young women, the women of color, the low income women, the older women--those whom the patriarchy shouts down. I'm excited about the ideas they will share with the rest of us when they get into a space where their voices can be heard.

We can't have it be a contest to get your voice the loudest. That's what we have now, and look where it's gotten us.