Respect:
our new moral guardians February 8 2007
Anne Mc Shane reviews Ariel Levy's Female chauvinist
pigs: women and the rise of raunch culture (Pocket Books,
2005, pp240, £7.99)
Decriminalise
sex work January 4 2007
How should the left relate to sex workers? Following
the murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich, Peter Manson
spoke to Ana Lopes of the International Union of Sex
Workers (www.iusw.org)
Sex
and the human revolution November 30 2006
Socialist Worker has begun a series of articles by Sally
Campbell. They purport to explain the origins of women’s
oppression. However, there exists an obvious lacuna
in her account. If women became unfree, when and how
did they become free? Camilla Power of the Radical Anthropology
Group insists that sex played a big role in the human
revolution - a taboo subject for the SWP
Victims or workers?
October 19 2006
At its October 7-8 conference, the Scottish Socialist
Party opposed the unionisation of sex workers and agreed
to support legislation for the sex industry only if
it is “designed to eradicate prostitution”.
For the SSP, the liberation of sex workers must be delivered
from above. Ana Lopes of the International Sex Workers
Union believes differently
Beyond legal
and formal equality March 2 2006
Mary Godwin looks at the origins of International Women’s
Day and the long struggle for women’s rights
Science
and social choices February 10 2005
Abortion is a social question that needs to be decided
at the level of society, not science; and science is
of course by no means neutral, writes Anne MacShane
Autonomy,
separatism and women’s liberation November
18 2004
Communists link every battle for democracy within capitalist
society to the working class and its task to free itself.
This is not to narrow the fight for women's liberation,
but to raise this struggle to a higher level, argues
Mark Fischer
Women’s
‘active role’ and the veil November 11
2004
Yassmine Mather of the Iran Bulletin and Middle East
Forum takes exception to the SWP's Elaine Heffernan's
article in the latest Socialist Worker
Haunted
by the past November 11 2004
The SWP seems to have dropped its idiotic claim that
abortion is “not an issue”. With a double-page
spread in last week’s Socialist Worker the
comrades are now trying to cover their left flank -
and, says Tina Becker, to justify why at Respect conference
they voted down a motion for a campaign to make a woman’s
right to choose a reality
A
question that won't go away October 28 2004
Anne McShane reports on the second meeting to discuss
the launch of a pro-choice campaign - but no agreement
was found on the nature of the campaign, as there was
opposition to fight for a woman's right to choose an
abortion at all stages of the pregnancy
An
issue that cannot be ducked October 14 2004
The recent attacks on abortion rights by the Sunday
Telegraph show that the left must start an offensive
to defend and extend a woman's right to choose, writes
Anne McShane - against the wishes of the Socialist Workers
Party and Socialist Action
Women
only and class October 7 2004
Women's liberation is not only a task for women, writes
Elaine Harrison - and argues against women-only organisations
Women's
rights under attack September 2 2004
While the Republican Party tries to present its moderate
face, nobody can be in any doubt as to George W Bush’s
real agenda. He represents plutocratic, conservative
America and the politics of social control. But what
of John Kerry? As Anne Mc Shane makes clear, he is on
the retreat and now simply markets himself to women
as the lesser evil
Across
the Irish Sea May 27 2004
The catholic church is once again making abortion a
major political issue. Despite this attack on women..s
rights, Respect..s sole MP, George Galloway, uses the
press to highlight his opposition to abortion. Meanwhile
the Socialist Workers Party opts for diplomatic silence.
Anne Mc Shane examines the struggle in Ireland, where
the church still holds sway over abortion rights
Battling
for control May 20 2004
Over recent years 'pro-lifers' have not so much attacked
a woman's right to choose directly: they have adopted
salami tactics. Eddie Ford revisits the fight for safe
abortions, the history of counterattacks, and questions
Respect's significant silence on this vital issue.
Abortion:
make the position clear May 6 2004
An open letter to the Respect executive committee
After George Galloway's reactionary, anti-choice statements
to his interviewers at the Independent on Sunday, Mark
Fischer, National Organiser of the CPGB, demands an
unequivocal statement from Respect supporting abortion
rights, and reasserting democratic control over our
Respect leadership by the rank and file.
On
abortion and politics of conscience May 6 2004
Mike Macnair directly challenges the trite bourgeois
orthodoxies on the subject of abortion: that abortion
rights are a matter of individual conscience, that christianity
and islam forbid it, and that democratically accountable
representatives should be allowed a 'free vote' on the
question. He brings the debate back to the real issue:
the rights of individual women.
Women’s
rights, political islam and secularism December
4 2004
Radical Iranian writer Chahla Chafiq shared a platform
with Salma Yaqoob at last month’s European Social
Forum. The two sharply disagreed over the role of islam
in politics. Afterwards she spoke to Peter Manson
