Workers cannot put our faith in the courts. Not only is it clear that the court system is skewed to the rich–what worker can afford to go to court against their bosses?–but the courts themselves only decide in favor of the workers when they are forced to by the struggle. The courts are designed to distract us, to draw our desperation away from the struggle and hinge our hopes on nine members of the rich, ruling class.
“Our humanity does not begin and end with the courts,” said Joseph Coco, a queer, trans essential worker. “They are a tool that’s been forced onto us by the rich ruling class. A tool that doesn’t truly belong to the people is a tool that can never grant us true liberation.”
While workers around the country celebrated the defeat of anti-abortion laws, unanimous jury verdicts, and discrimination of LGBTQ people in the courts this summer, the undemocratic, unelected Supreme Court ruled in favor of several anti-worker causes that will especially harm women and all LGBTQ people, including allowing employers to discriminate on “religious or moral grounds,” leaving the door wide open to refusing to serve LGBTQ people at businesses, denying birth control to workers, or discriminating against almost anyone for anything on a “moral” basis.
Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Title VII protecting LGBTQ rights, the Trump administration enacted a policy that shelters could refuse homeless trans people on “religious or moral grounds” as well. The court decision for Title VII means nothing to the Trump administartion’s assault on our rights, nor to the rich ruling class they serve.
They have made it clear that no court decision will stop them from using their power to divide and control workers, pitting LGBTQ workers against religious workers, limiting our ability to engage with society, and making it harder for us to survive. Only a united working class movement can force the courts to bend in our favor.
All eyes are focused on the upcoming presidential election to replace Trump who represents the filthy rich capitalist class. Trump has declared war on workers, women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, the environment, social security and Medicaid, and on all the species of the planet. Trump is funneling trillions of taxpayer dollars to war profiteers, private prison companies, and militarized police, and he is best friend to every racist, ultra-right, anti-working-class dictator in the world.
The Sanders campaign has unleashed a movement that is either anti-capitalist or else critical of capitalism. That many in this movement believe in some form of socialism is a breath of fresh air in the United States. This movement challenges the attacks on social programs that have become the status quo in the U.S. for the last 50 years. Hopefully this movement will grow and continue its political development so as to stimulate a struggle. Already, the movement is more progressive than Sanders himself—especially against imperialist war.
Relying on elections alone puts the movement in a precarious position. Even if Sanders wins the nomination, it’s doubtful the capitalist backers of the Democratic Party will throw their support behind him. The capitalist system is not democratic, as it is presented to be. For example, both parties agree with the undemocratic appointing of the Supreme Court and federal judges for life.
The exploitation of workers, racism, and sexual oppression are built into this system, which will continue to ravage life in order to keep profits flowing to the capitalist class.
If the Democratic Party does not see our movement in the streets on all our issues of concern, they will at best halt the attacks but not reverse them. And Sanders himself, a long-time participant in capitalist politics, needs to feel the heat. He has already indicated he would go to war with Iran, North Korea, and support “humanitarian” (what a lie!) interventions. Notwithstanding a few slipped comments about the great things Cuba has done—which he followed up with the usual imperialist slanders—Sanders ignores the right of self-determination for the people of Venezuela and has done nothing to support Bolivian workers, peasants, and indigenous people in their fight to unseat their capitalist rulers who are violent reactionaries and puppets of the U.S. We cannot separate domestic policy from foreign policy. This error always leads to disaster.
Sanders, who does not want workers to replace the capitalist state with a state for themselves, has sown confusion around his use of the term “socialism.” Sanders is setting the stage for mass disillusionment by merely promising the rewards of “socialism” without promoting the need for workers to orient their struggle towards the total seizure of power from the capitalists.
This has been the historic role of social democrats, especially in Europe, who enjoyed great working-class support and electoral victories. But once in office, their collaboration with the capitalists reversed the course of progress. Failing to really unseat capitalism has led many European workers to turn to right wing parties.
On the other hand, the movement could turn in a revolutionary mass direction.
A movement that does not look to the path ahead will falter. A movement that stays solely in the realm of electoral politics will not win. Many say, “Well, what do you call for? After all, we propose a concrete change.” So do Revolutionary Socialists. We’re not against the Sanders movement—just the opposite: it is potentially a great development. This is especially true for the thousands of young women, women workers, and oppressed women pouring into the campaign associated with socialism.
But why not take this movement into the streets? Laws have always come after the mass movements that won labor rights, civil rights, women’s or LGBTQ advances. Even if the Democratic Party wins, it will be critically necessary to unite and hit the streets so there is enormous pressure and a visible commitment to fight for the needs of the people in solidarity with the workers and oppressed nations of the world.
When the civil rights act of 1966 was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, there were three justices who were in the KKK, and they voted for it. How do you explain that? It was the power of the people in the streets everywhere.
Women are powerful; we are the rock in every industry in every city in every state. The work of women—paid and unpaid—moves society forward. But without organized action, that power is only potential.
Our challenge is to organize, unite and exert a power that cannot be ignored. This is what the women of Chile, Iraq, the First Nations of Canada, India, Brazil, and many more countries are showing the world under difficult circumstances. We cannot be lulled into the false belief that we can change the world by pulling a voting lever alone. We must fight to win.
Title X is a program that provides affordable healthcare options to people with low incomes. Title X was put in the system to give women a right to their own bodies. Donald Trump is now trying to silence women’s voices by taking away the choice of birth control options. Birth control was made for the sole reason to let women choose the option of safer sex and allow more control over their bodies; without it women will no longer have that power within their own skin. 98% of women who have been sexually active have used birth control at one point in their lives.
Trump is trying to criminalize abortions and miscarriages. Back in the day, before birth control methods, some women who got pregnant would use a clothes hanger to abort the fetus because abortion was illegal. It was extremely dangerous but their only option. With abortion now legalized, it gives women a safe way to make their own choices about their bodies. If Donald Trump takes away birth control and makes abortion illegal, it makes women completely stuck.
Planned Parenthood is also at stake. Planned Parenthood helps provide physical, emotional, educational and sexual health care to those who might not be able to afford those services elsewhere. Donald Trump is taking away $60 million in Planned Parenthood funding. If they lose too much money, prices will start going up for patients who already can not afford higher medical prices to begin with.
These laws were put in place to give women their rights to their own bodies. Women who get pregnant should have the right to multiple choices on which way they would like to handle it. Women should also have the right to choose not to get pregnant if that’s where they’re at in their life. But ultimately, it is the woman’s choice. Donald Trump has no right to take away rights that do not affect him.
Since the start of capitalism, women have led the struggle against it. Women have set the foundation to transcend dismal conditions, doing the invisible work of educating workers to organize unions and birthing the next generation of fighters. In New Orleans so many boast of our first elected female Black mayor. She ran on a platform to support fully funded relocation for Gordon Plaza residents, hold the Sewerage and Water Board accountable, and improve the infrastructure. But are we better off as women in this city? Cantrell only allocated $120,000 to healthcare initiatives for hospitality workers in 2019, while tax revenue from the hospitality industry is about $200 million. Only $1.5 million out of $709 million city budget goes to early childhood education.
In New Orleans, the hospitality industry generates $8.7 billion per year, according to a report commissioned by the city in 2018. Hospitality workers are the lowest paid workers in the city, and 57% are women. Hospitality workers in New Orleans make an average of $22,069 annually, including tips, while qualifying income for Medicaid is cut off at $16,764. Infant care in Louisiana costs almost as much as in-state tuition for 4-year public college.
Louisiana has the 7th highest rate of imprisoned women in the world and 80 percent of women in Louisiana jails are mothers. Most are the primary caretakers of their children. We see the federal and state budget mirror this misogyny. They prioritize jails and reactionary tactics and declare war on Black people and women. With women being paid less and disproportionately jailed with no money for healthcare and education, we must stop to analyze this issue.
We must remember that the rich ruling class will never allow the powerful work force to vote away their wealth. We must recognize the contradictions that exist around us and educate ourselves to organize and fight back. Move away from reform and concessions and establish self-determination. Break the illusions of “that’s just how it is” we so easily consume from media and society. The Center for American Progress reports, “Women, on average nationally, fare the best in Maryland and the worst in Louisiana. Over 22 percent of women in Louisiana are in poverty, compared to 11 percent of women in Maryland.” Louisiana has the worst in pay inequity between men and women in America. In Louisiana 35% of employed women work in low or minimum-wage jobs and poverty rates for single-mother families with children is 15% higher in New Orleans (56%) than in the United States (41%).
New Orleans Peoples Assembly meets every first Wednesday to break bread with working women in the city. Join us to celebrate our contributions to this city through the work that drives us. Join us to intentionally discuss the ways our solidarity will empower us to reclaim our stolen tax dollars and declare as one, “NO MORE.” We have the power to organize ourselves.
The Trump administration is carrying out an assault on Title X, a law that created programs to provide birth control and other reproductive health services to millions of workers across the United States. Planned Parenthood and other organizations funded through Title X were recently informed that they must comply with a gag rule that will prevent providers from giving birth control or information on abortion to patients. The administration is moving forward with the gag rule in spite of multiple cases in the courts.
While Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive healthcare in the country, is the primary organization affected, almost all providers of reproductive care will be restricted by this rule. Planned Parenthood alone will lose $60 million in funding, and as clinics who cannot find funding elsewhere shut down, those that are still open are overwhelmed. Some clinics are increasing the number of patients by 70% to make up for the loss. Rates are already going up at clinics as they try to make up for the lack of funding.
The rule is another attack on reproductive rights which attempts to criminalize abortion and miscarriage and prevent the working class from having control of their bodies and lives. By attacking access to birth control and abortion, the ruling class is attempting to prevent women from fully participating in society. The ruling class will still have access to reproductive care, being able to afford providers who do not rely on Title X funding; this gag rule is a specific attack on poor folks, people of color, women, and LGBTQ people.
Though Roe v. Wade has not yet been overturned and the legal right to an abortion still exists, states have been restricting abortion access at an accelerated rate in the past year. Actions around the country have protested each new law, with a coalition of activists in Louisiana even holding a die-in at the state capitol and a major protest that blocked New Orleans’ Poydras St. in midday traffic.
A larger, militant movement is needed to prevent the complete rollback of reproductive rights. Restrictions on reproductive rights not only keep women from participating in society, they also rob women of the autonomy needed to organize for their liberation. Because women’s labor (inside and outside the home) generates enormous wealth for society, capitalists will always have a vested interest in exploiting them. This is why women must step into their revolutionary power and fight back against the capitalists. The path to women’s liberation is bound up in the revolutionary struggle to abolish capitalism.
Activists in British-occupied Northern Ireland have won a major victory for reproductive and LGBTQ rights. With the passing of a new law, a ban on abortion dating back over 150 years has been overturned and same-sex marriage has been legalized. Both will go into effect next year, and those currently being persecuted for having abortions will be freed sooner. A coalition that involved activist groups, trade unions, and more fought for the new laws, bringing an end to some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Earlier this year, the Republic of Ireland also legalized abortion and made it available for free to all people.
Protesters demonstrate against the abortion ban bill at the Louisiana State Capitol building on May 15, 2019, in Baton Rouge.
Backed by Big Oil and War Profiteers; They All Lie, Don’t Care if Children Die
Protesters say: We Won’t Go Back!
The push for laws banning abortion is led mainly by rich white men and funded by ultra-rich capitalists. These are the same people who oppose equal pay for women, civil rights laws, raising the minimum wage, and funding for programs that help women and families raise children. These are the same people that cheer for wars that kill thousands of children. They encourage their buddy war profiteers to raid the federal budget while they try to end programs like Food Stamps and WIC. They are for profit-making jails, religious intolerance and environmental destruction. They deny funds for programs that would address Louisiana’s maternal mortality crisis, where more women die in childbirth than anywhere else in the country—the number of deaths being twice as high among Black women. While they wrap themselves in the cloak of religion, their real motive is to increase profits by further driving women down.
These immoral forces have hidden hands and deep pockets. Their funders include the Koch brothers—oil billionaires and extreme racists responsible for widespread voter suppression—who run the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC gives politicians money in exchange for passing prewritten laws. A majority of the Louisiana legislature are recipients of ALEC funds and are members. Gov. Edwards gave the keynote address at their recent convention. These hypocritical men have always used their wealth to fly “their” wives and mistresses to have abortions no matter what they proclaim. They want to limit the number of heirs to their wealth. Banning abortions will not stop them; it will just mean that more working class women will die.
In Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the other 47 states, reproductive choice rallies took place May 21 and 22. Tens of thousands of people came out. Every poll shows the majority of Americans support choice, including abortion access. Photo: Birmingham, Ala.
WOMEN CANNOT THRIVE OR BE EQUAL WITHOUT REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE
RICH MEN WANT TO FORCE WOMEN INTO CHILDBEARING
Women should be free to choose whether to have an abortion, use birth control, or raise children. Whether her decision is based on concern for the rest of her children, her religious beliefs, health, rape or incest or timing, this is a fundamental right. Without this right, women are deprived of full participation in every aspect of society. Without this right, women will die and be driven to desperation.
At the same time that abortion access is criminalized, women are being driven deeper into poverty, especially single moms. The Catholic Church, like all other institutional religions, has already declared women second class to preserve male white supremacy. They even ban birth control, which most Catholic women use because they are smart and care about their families.
On May 22, hundreds of demonstrators rallied at Poydras and St. Charles Ave. in New Orleans to demand full funding for all programs that help women raise children if they choose to do so, including free abortion access.
REAL CHOICE IS ABOUT HAVING ABORTION ACCESS, BIRTH CONTROL, LIVING WAGES AND SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO HELP RAISE HEALTHY CHILDREN
The recent demonstration in New Orleans organized by Women With a Vision, the New Orleans Abortion Fund, Black Youth Project 100, Peoples’ Assembly, New Orleans Workers Group and the Hospitality Workers Alliance demanded full funding for all the programs that help women raise children if they choose to do so, while so called right-to-lifers are part of the right wing forces opposing this. Pro-choice means fighting family separation by mass incarceration and imprisonment of our immigrant sisters and brothers. Pro-choice means good schools, early childhood education, full-service free neighborhood childcare centers and sex education and abortion access. It means standing against racism, homophobia and transphobia. There are two movements here. The pro-choice movement stands for uplifting the people in all regards. Those behind the abortion bans are also behind every other right wing attack on the people.
NO SHAME IN HAVING AN ABORTION.
THE SHAME IS ON THE IMMORAL FORCES THAT IMPOVERISH AND CRIMINALIZE WOMEN FOR PURSUING OUR ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE
More and more, women workers and youth are coming into movements for social change: unions, community organizations and revolutionary groups. The anti-choice forces want women to be chained, desperate and unable to participate. But Orleans Parish women and women across the U.S. are declaring that whatever laws they pass, we are still the greatest power. Our voices are being raised, louder and clearer—let the ground shake under these greedy, rotten, rich men.
25 years ago, as Michelle Benjamin was walking in the French Quarter, a man solicited her for sex and she refused. Despite saying no, she was attacked and fought back. In the struggle, her attacker died. For that, she was sentenced to life in prison. Michelle was only 16 at the time.
Like Cyntoia Brown, who defended herself against a man who had kidnapped, raped, and abused her, Michelle Benjamin was acting in self-defense. And like Cyntoia Brown, she spent decades in prison being punished for this “crime.”
This capitalist system treats women like slaves—to be used, controlled, kept quiet and submissive. We are supposed to submit to assault from partners or strangers. Killing someone in self-defense is often legal, but for women those protections rarely apply. Of the 219,000 women in prison, up to 30,000 are in prison for killing someone who attacked, abused, or raped them. Racist men like George Zimmerman hide behind “Stand Your Ground” laws for murdering innocent black children while women who protect themselves or their children from real harm are jailed.
Like Cyntoia Brown, Michelle Benjamin wasn’t found innocent. Her case wasn’t accepted as self-defense. She was only granted parole after 25 years of fighting for freedom. In the eyes of the state, she is still a murderer, not someone legally entitled to defend herself. Like Cyntoia Brown, she was not pardoned but was instead given a commuted sentence after a major pushback from the public.
Justice has been denied to Michelle Benjamin and Cyntoia Brown. They won their freedom despite the racist incarceration system because the people rose up with them. After decades of struggle, they won a concession, but justice still eludes them and the tens of thousands of others who have fought back.
Women deserve the right to self-defense & the resources to leave their abusers.
Cyntoia Brown was kidnapped into sex slavery. Michelle Benjamin was attacked for refusing solicitation for sex. Their cases mirror the thousands of women who have had to kill to survive in domestic or stranger abuse situations. Even when their lives are threatened or they are beaten, women who earn their living by selling sex are deemed criminal for fighting back. Even when a wife or partner’s life is threatened or she is being beaten, she is deemed the criminal. According to this unjust system, women are the property of men and have no right to protect their own lives.
Meanwhile, the billionaire class has continued its attack on women by refusing to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, stripping what few legal protections exist for women who try to escape abuse or seek protection from it. While there are many women fighting to push a renewal through, this still leaves many more vulnerable than before.
Many women have no choice but to defend their own lives. Women are 75% more likely to be killed by their abuser when they try to escape. There is no effective protection from the state for those who seek to escape domestic violence, sexual abuse, kidnappers, or dangers to their children.
Over 80% of women who are in shelters escaping abuse state that affordable housing is one of their top needs. Often, abusive men use money to control their victims. Even when a woman has a paying job, the wages are often too low to cover the costs of moving on.
Killing in self-defense is the only way for most women to survive once they find themselves in a violent domestic partnership or other situation. We must stand with women in this situation.
After the revolution in China, when men would abuse their wives, the women in the village gathered together and went in a large group to confront the abuser. They stripped him naked and marched him down the street often giving him the same beating he inflicted on his wife. Domestic violence dropped dramatically.
Moira Casados Cassidy—teacher in Denver who is leading the local teachers’ union fight for better wages and against for-profit charter schools. Teachers in Denver went on strike during the week of February 11th to demand a livable wage.
Zenei Cortez—Registered Nurse and co-president of California Nurses Association. Cortez worked as a nurse for over 40 years, has been leading the CNA’s fight for Medicare for All, and has fought her entire life for the rights of working women of color.
Marie Jacob—United Airlines catering worker. Jacob was a key figure in unionizing 2,700 United Airlines catering workers in Denver, Houston, Newark, Honolulu, and Cleveland. Thanks to her relentless hard work, the union won a $15/hour base pay for herself and thousands of other DIA (Denver International Airport) workers.
Pamela Bourgeois—cafeteria worker and member of the New Orleans chapter of Service Employees International Union. Bourgeois played a key role in securing $15/hour minimum wage for 66 cafeteria workers in New Orleans. She showed up persistently at school board meetings and spoke up against the unjust working conditions that she and many other cafeteria workers face. Speaking at the September OPSB meeting, Bourgeois said: “We should not have to work two or more jobs to make ends meet. We should not have to max out our credit cards to provide for our families. We should not have to rely on our family members for assistance. We need to know that we are contributing to our households.”
Be Marston (left, with coworker)—union bartender active in UNITE HERE Local 8. Be helped win a contract at the Oregon Convention Center which expanded workers’ healthcare coverage. As local president of the Oregon chapter of Pride At Work, the AFL-CIO’s organization for LGBT union members, she focuses on advocacy for trans and gender non-conforming union members.
As I started to research this piece, my intention was to shine a light on the grossly egregious health care female inmates in Louisiana receive, specifically in Orleans or Jefferson Parish. From an initial Google search of ‘women giving birth in jail cells,’ I literally got back 6,750,000 results. Women in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Denver, Texas, Australia, and all over this Earth are mistreated and ignored in prison systems. Human, procedural, and systemic failings have combined to create serious and avoidable risks to both mothers and babies.
In many of these cases, women pleaded and stated the pains and issues they were having to several deputies and nursing staff. In a world where movements like Black Lives Matter are countered by legislation like Blue Lives Matter, it is clear the police don’t care about Black lives or women’s lives.
There are situations like the case of Jefferson Parish resident Tiffini Woodward. She cried out during childbirth and was ignored. At 22 years old she gave birth to her son in a metal toilet, alone. She is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit naming both Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and its private health contractor Correct Health Jefferson.
Any woman who has given birth knows what a spiritual time it is. How emotionally draining it is for weeks and sometimes months after. To imagine being in that situation alone and purposefully isolated and denied help is horrifying to me.
There are currently no state or federal laws limiting the restrictive housing of pregnant prisoners, according to a review by the National Women’s Law Center. Twenty-two states either explicitly allow the use of leg irons or waist chains on pregnant inmates or have no policy on them at all. Forty-three states do not require medical examinations as part of prenatal care, and 48 states do not offer pregnant prisoners screening for HIV.
We call for the release of these women and for them to be provided with all the financial and housing support that they and their children need.
