“We are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be.” —Kurt Vonnegut It has been noted by members of the Alt-Right as well as those in the liberal media the strange tendency for the veil of irony to provide a perfect cover for the incubation of ultra-reactionary ideas. […]
TRIGGER WARNING: the following article contains a frank discussion of rape. We feel this issue is of great importance, but it may cause some readers distress. For as long as they have served in the united $tates military, women recruits have been subjected to waves of brutal sexual assault, abuse and harassment. Nowadays, however, the […]
[Originally written in 1971, The Tyranny of Structurelessness was primarily intended to serve as a constructive criticism for the radicals in the women’s liberation movement which had largely fallen into disarray and was moving increasingly toward irrelevance. The process was already underway which, motivated by an ascendant postmodernism and poststructuralism, had begun to destroy the […]
By Qamar B. and Amber B. Sex work will not continue under communism. This may be obvious to many of our readers, however it has been a continued source of controversy, to such the degree that we find it requires more investigation. While it is inevitable that sex work will, in some ways, regrettably continue into […]
If capitalism is the age of the commodity, then patriarchy under capitalism is the age of commodity sexuality. Capitalist-patriarchal relations are defined by the evaporation (or near-evaporation) of the ‘moral housewife’ model, and the success of new forms of subjugation through liberal or neo-colonial notions of liberation. A truly capitalist sexuality began emerging shortly after […]
TRIGGER WARNING: the following article contains a frank discussion of rape. We feel this issue is of great importance, but it may cause some readers distress. By Freya B. The concept of “consent,” as it applies to sexual relations, is solidified in the laws of some countries and has increasingly come to dominate liberal feminist […]
By Zak Brown Introduction Unlike the stiff and boring Marxism which exist primarily on campus and the internet, feminism is actually becoming cool again. Now, feminism itself invokes all sorts of imagery from every conceivable position on the Left and all manner of terrible outcry from the Right. However, when I say Feminism I am […]
In two major articles already on anti-imperialism.org, we have defined in a preliminary way how we conceive of Global People’s War, and what we consider to be the basic role of revolutionaries in imperialist countries today. The theory of Global People’s War and what role First Worlders are to play in it of course needs […]
[The following has been reposted from Kersplebedeb and as always is for the purposes of discussion] “The great divide between humans and animals provided a standard by which to judge other people, both at home and elsewhere. If the essence of humanity was defined as consisting of a specific quality or set of qualities, such […]
An important question in revolutionary theory and practice is the question of violence. Indeed, one of the advancements of Maoism over social-democratic politics is the recognition that political power is always power guaranteed by means of the gun and not just cultural hegemony. From the social-democratic tradition we can see two main ways of resolving […]
This piece was written by bell hooks, and was originally posted here. All work is that of the original author and has been reposted for education and discussion. Reposting does not imply full endorsement or affiliation on the part of Anti-Imperialism.com, its editors or contributors, or the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement. Patriarchy is the single most […]
Oppression under capitalism takes many forms. It would be entirely incorrect and class reductionist to claim the only exercise of oppression in class society is that between the worker and capitalist. In fact, capitalism reproduces a host of repressive social relations including that of patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, national oppression etc. One generally under-examined oppressive apparatus is that […]
Nowadays, many celebrations born out of political struggle have been made sterile by the existing cultural hegemony. The capitalist class is able to appropriate radical ideas, concepts and history, and co-opt them by changing their meaning. International Women’s Day is no exception. What’s the history of International Women’s Day? Stuttgart, 18-24 August 1907. 884 delegates […]
Bourgeois ideology has long presented us with a vulgar conception of gender which reduces the essence of what it “means” to be a man or woman to a rigid set of biological characteristics. Over the past few decades, a great deal of progress has been made in exposing this idea for what it is: a […]
Given the recent track record in Libya and Egypt, women in Syria are increasingly aware of what is at stake in the struggle against imperialist-backed Islamists. Rather than submit to the dual oppression of imperialist-enforced patriarchy, these women are fighting back.
[This interview was sourced from Ideological Fightback. Re-posting is for educational purposes and does not imply endorsement of affiliation. Generally speaking, the USSR during the authors lifetime was not socialist. This is because it was no longer part of the movement for proletarian revolution. Instead it was led by a ruling class which eventually dismantled against the will of the […]
This is chapter three from the book ‘Patriarchy and Capital Accumulation on a World Scale’ by Maria Mies. The following text will be part of the curriculum of the upcoming second semester of People’s Liberation Universit The Dialectics of ‘Progress and Retrogression’ On the basis of the foregoing analysis, it is possible to formulate a tentative thesis […]
Maoism-Third Worldism is a theoretical culmination of historical revolutionary practice, a science of understanding the world so as to change it. It is the Marxism of today. Maoism-Third Worldism includes several historical and new paradigmatic shifts in understandings regarding class struggle. These include: All hitherto history is the history of class struggle! Maoism-Third Worldism reaffirms […]
Bell hooks was a leading figure in establishing ‘third-wave feminism’: a philosophical and practical branch of feminism centered around the history, experience, and interests of ‘women of color.’ Her writings are directly critical of previous feminist movements which favored white middle-class women, and she is generally critical of the standard feminist framework while finding cause in altering the scope of its discourse. Her central thesis in Feminist Theory, from Margin to Center is that the objective of feminism is not simply for equality between sexes but for an end to sexist oppression and the broader “ideology of domination” which supports it. In the process, she gets many things right in regards to the struggle against oppression while bringing a lot of detail and nuance into the discussion. In some regards, her critiques of feminism are applicable to nominally left-wing movements in the US today. Yet her explicit understandings of larger economic questions are lacking. Though she raises many salient points, these ideas are best understood as part of a broader yet more incisive critique of general social practice and relations between classes and groups.
Betty Friedan is often credited with founding second wave feminism, what is today sometimes mockingly referred to as ‘white, middle-class feminism’ or ‘bourgeois feminism.’ Beyond whatever rhetorical value can be found in such phrases, what do they mean? What is the implication of Friedan’s work in relation to other outstanding social relations besides gender? More […]
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