Friday, March 24
6:00 pm
Indianapolis Liberation Center
55 S. State Ave., 3rd Floor Auditorium
Join us for our March Liberation Forum. We are at the end of what we in the U.S. call “Women’s History Month,” which occurs in March because International Women’s Day (IWD) is on March 8. Women’s History Month, in essence, is an effort by the U.S. ruling class to avert our gaze away from IWD’s revolutionary, internationalist, global and, in fact, communist origins and legacies. Our forum will celebrate and honor these repressed histories, reclaiming and continuing IWD’s legacy so we can learn, discuss, and move forward to advance that legacy today.
Our first speech traces IWD’s evolution by threading its origins from the original IWD celebration in 1909 in the U.S. to the Bolshevik Revolution–in which women played a leading role–and then to the revolutionary organizing and theory of Claudia Jones to our present moment of intensifying U.S. imperialism. We’ll hear the reason why Jones was arrested and deported as a result of a 1950 speech she gave at an IWD rally and discuss why and how only socialism can end women’s oppression.
International Women’s Day isn’t just about “women” in general; it’s about the need to unite for the liberation of all oppressed and exploited peoples. Our second speech focuses on Shirley Graham Du Bois, a Black U.S. playwright, opera producer, writer and, later, staunch revolutionary and communist organizer. Du Bois remained committed to the communist struggle during the height of Cold War anti-communism, staying determined to the cause and continuing her activities while under FBI surveillance. Because of her and her husband, W.E.B. Du Bois’ threat to the ruling class, the state deported them in 1952.
As the ongoing attacks on trans people continue or intensify, and as we continue fighting back against them, we need to understand the root causes of, reasons for, and solutions to trans oppression. This is our third topic of discussion, which situates these attacks within a longer history of patriarchy and the capitalist oppression of women, demonstrates how the attacks today are meant to distract the ultra-right and conservative bases’ attention away from their complete absence of any vision of the future, and to divide workers against each other to try and prevent our unity around our common exploiters: the billionaires.instead of focusing on our collective exploiters, the billionaires and their politicians, generals, and bankers.
Finally, speaking to the devastating impact of increasing cuts to the already-limited and sparse social programs of the U.S., we’ll hear from organizers about how they fail to protect anyone, particularly the most vulnerable. The only people who can actually live–and live in extreme comfort—without working are the owners–not fellow workers or our poorest neighbors. As we fight for revolution and liberation, we continue to struggle for immediate improvements to our lives and class.
This Liberation Forum will end out “Women’s History Month” by reclaiming the anti-imperialist, internationalist, anti-racist, and revolutionary origins of International Women’s Day. In society at large, male chauvinism, patriarchy, sexism, racism, and other systems of oppression permeate, and they remain a primary obstacle to advancing progressive movements in the U.S. Broad-based unity is necessary for liberation,so let’s forge a higher political consciousness and reach a higher level of struggle.
We hope to see you there so you can get involved in the crucial struggle for women’s liberation taking place and join the struggle for a society free of all forms of oppression!
