In an op-ed for The Guardian, a group of “feminists” have called for a mass strike on International Women’s Day (March 8).
The Women’s March on Washington spawned more than 600 sister marches in more than 75 countries around the world. The turnout in Washington, D.C., alone far exceeded expectations, with an estimated half a million people turning out, while the worldwide estimate sits above 3 million. But despite the impressive crowds the question remains — what happens next? How about a mass strike, where women around the world walk out of work on March 8th in protest against male violence and in defense of reproductive rights? Well, mark your calendar, because that’s precisely what one group of women is calling for.
In an Op-Ed for The Guardian, a group of feminist activists and writers — including Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation; Angela Davis, founder of Critical Resistance, which advocates for prison reform; and Rasmea Yousef Odeh, associate director of the Arab American Action Network — issued a call for “feminism for the 99 percent.”
They argue that the impressive size of the marches worldwide signified the emergence of a “new wave of militant feminist struggle” and insist it must be harnessed to create a more inclusive and broad-reaching women’s movement.
“Militant” feminist struggle somehow seems appropriate, considering one of these so-called feminists is Rasmea Yousef Odeh, a former PFLP terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison in Israel for her involvement in two terrorist bombings in Jerusalem in 1969, one of which killed two people – but only spent 10 years in prison before being released in a prisoner exchange with the PFLP in 1980.
The victims of her terrorist activities were male, so perhaps that is ok with her fellow “feminists.”
Linda Sarsour would be proud.
Update: Odeh will be a featured speaker at the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) 2017 National Member Meeting.
