liberation

The Cartoon tributes to Murray Ball, 1939-2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Moore: The mainstreaming of feminism

With its mainstreaming in New Zealand, feminism has lost its radical and anti-Establishment edge. No longer is feminism decried as an unsavoury ideology for hairy-legged, braless angry young women, but now feminism is for everybody. In this guest blog, John Moore argues that the mainstreaming of feminism has reduced a complex and varied set of tools and theories - regarding women’s oppression - down to a simple catchphrase of “If you believe in equal rights for women, then you’re a feminist”. So, if everyone can be a feminist now, has the term really been emptied of all content? That is, has feminism been turned into feminism-lite – feminism without the critical analysis, without the radical spirit, and without the nuance?

 

Everyone must be a feminist now

Militant feminists of the 70s-era in New Zealand saw their battle for gender equality and women’s liberation as a fight against the old boy Establishment that ran New Zealand. For the women liberationists of the late 60’s and 1970s, the fight for women’s rights was one that necessitated radical societal change. Radical action was what was needed, and the bastions of patriarchal power needed to be totally dismantled. The state, organised religion, and the rugby establishment to boot, were the enemy.

For the feminists of this period of counterculture and transformation, their struggle was not about just getting a few elite women into the bastions of mainstream power. Their struggle was for a total transformation of society and a smashing of patriarchal power structures. Sexist culture in all its forms needed to be challenged.

But that’s all old hat now. Modern liberal-feminism is all about joining forces with the Establishment, mainstreaming watered-down feminist thought, and elevating elite women into elite positions of power. Now it’s all important to pressure elite political leaders to call themselves feminists, rather than to bring about radical systemic and societal change.

Now we have rightwing TV and radio presenter Mike Hosking declaring himself a feminist. A huge gain for women? And Establishment capitalist Theresa Gattung is apparently leading the feminist cause forward. God help us! If only our anti-abortion prime-minister would embrace the feminist label. Then full equal rights will be on the horizon. And so it seems we are all expected to be feminists now.

 

Feminism is more than about equal rights

Feminism - as a radical and emancipatory theory and praxis - has been collapsed into a set of easily digestible catchphrases and slogans. When everyone is expected to be a feminist now – regardless of one’s political views, social position, or general belief system – then the term seems almost meaningless. Liberal feminists have reduced the term to a feel-good identity, and a means for liberal virtual signalling. But this modern day liberal projection of feminism buries a rich and diverse feminist tradition.

 

Feminism’s diverse traditions

To reduce feminism down to simplistic slogans such as “women are humans too” defies the diversity, contradictions and fullness of the living history of modern feminism. Whereas trendy commenters tell us we can all be feminist now, feminism is in fact not one single idea, but a range of believes, theories and approaches to questions around the position of women.

Rather than there being a single, easily digestible feminism, there are in fact a range of feminisms - from liberal feminism to socialist feminism, from lesbian feminism to Muslim feminism. And along with this diverse range of feminisms, comes a variety of approaches to political action, organisation and theory.

 

Beyond liberal-feminism

It time to put aside the lib-splaining that goes for feminism these days. Those of us who identify with women’s liberation need to delve into the rich and diverse history of the women’s movement. We need to talk to a few old hands from the women liberationist days. And we need to reject the idea that women’s liberation and feminism is for everyone. Let’s make women’s liberation radical and anti-Establishment again.

 

John Moore is a blogger and student radio political pundit – post-gender and anti-Establishment: Jaz Moore (@jazmoore)

Top tweets on the Superannuation age rise

Here's some of the more interesting and insightful tweets in reaction to the National Government's announcement of the age of superannuation entitlement rising. The most recent tweets are first. More to be added.

 

Tim Murphy‏ ‪@tmurphyNZ

 

Sorry, but any temporary party of government saying they'll start doing something in 20 years time is just fanciful.  ‪#upto67

 

Emma Hart‏ ‪@Ghetsuhm

 

Superannuation age change will hit exactly the cohort who got super-interesty student loans. Yay us!

 

Simon Wilson‏ ‪@simonbwilson

 

Is this the last vestiges of John Key's legacy in tatters or is there something else he defended to the end that I can't remember right now?

 

Cathy O'Sullivan  ‏un ‪@CathyKoo

 

Time to get those fake IDs from your uni days ready, Gen Xers.

 

Matthew Hooton‏ ‪@MatthewHootonNZ

 

Actually I was born on 15 March 1972 so even I'll get me super at 65! I applaud the bold new policy!

 

KOSH‏ ‪@koshrecords

 

Pity for all the millennials planning to use superannuation to finish saving for their house deposits

 

Vikram Kumar‏ ‪@vikram_nz

 

2040 is the new 2020. Long-term goal that's so far away that no one cares, no one around to take responsibility

 

Philip Matthews‏ ‪@secondzeit

 

The years 2037-2050 are going to be a great time for this government's promises.

 

Toby Manhire‏ ‪@toby_etc

 

John Key is going to have to resign as prime minister now.

 

Eric Crampton‏ ‪@EricCrampton

 

Great to hear ‪@pmbillenglish moving on NZ Super. Scheduling a shift early enough and phasing it in was always going to be the best approach.

 

Eric Crampton‏ ‪@EricCrampton

 

Great to hear ‪@pmbillenglish moving on NZ Super. Scheduling a shift early enough and phasing it in was always going to be the best approach.

 

Ryan‏ ‪@strewnryan

 

2040 is setting to be one hell of a year, we can almost swim everywhere, pests will almost be eradicated & some workers will be extra tired

 

Hamish Rutherford‏ oun ‪@oneforthedr

 

Can everyone over 45 please agree to be quiet and let the people affected by this talk about it sensibly?

 

Tim Watkin‏ ‪@Tim_Watkin

 

No, no boomers, that's fine. Don't feel the need to contribute more. You've done enough, like...

 

Jenna Raeburn‏ ‪@JennaRaeburn

 

It's a bold policy in the sense that the Govt gains absolutely nothing from it other than it being the right thing to do.

 

hamish mcneilly‏  Verified accoun ‪@southernscoop

Will the robots get superannuation? What about the ROBOTS!!

 

Ingrid Hipkiss‏ ‪@ingridhipkiss

Poor me & my generation .. too young for super at 65 or free education ... too old to get my head around Snapchat

 

Jenna Raeburn‏ ‪@JennaRaeburn

 

So 45+yos are safe. Under 40s probably never thought they'd retire at 65. Can NZ First scaremonger enough to shift the polls?

 

Idiot/Savant‏ ‪@norightturnnz

 

Generation X: National wants to fight the election on making _you_ worse off. Again. ‪#BoomerGovt

 

Thomas Le Bas‏ ‪@thomaslebas

 

Let’s just promise to solve all our problems in 2040. That should do the trick.

 

Idiot/Savant‏ ‪@norightturnnz

 

"The change will be legislated for next year". English betting he won't be in coalition with Winston then.

 

Matthew Hooton‏ ‪@MatthewHootonNZ

 

So all baby boomers get to retire at 65 but X and Y will have to wait until 67? ‪#WorstGeneration

 

Ben Thomas‏ ‪@BenThomasNZ

If this is true then Bill English (with Steven Joyce) will have already established himself as a more noteworthy PM than his predecessor

 

Laura McQuillan‏ ‪@mcquillanator

Bracing for Bill English to suggest millennials quit smashed avo, cancel feng shui appointments, move home to save for retirement.

 

Toby Manhire‏ ‪@toby_etc

 

90% of superannuitants 67+ to be swimmable by 2040

 

Lew‏ ‪@LewSOS

 

So quite soon, a lot of people are going to realise that abstract debates about superannuation are going to hit them first. That's positive.

 

David Seymour‏ ‪@dbseymour

 

.‪@1NEWSBreaking start making change in 2037? Verging on satire. Super costs rising a billion dollars a year now, need to start now. Sad.

 

Baron Bundaberg‏ ‪@jgmccl

 

I'm not fussed about any changes to superannuation because I honestly do not expect it to exist when I retire.

 

Greg Presland‏ ‪@GregPresland

 

More copying of earlier Labour policy which was to increase age of retirement to 67 by 2031 ...

 

Bayden Harris‏ ‪@BaydenHarris

 

Turns out this PM uses the old PMs tricks - Implement Labour Party policy.

 

Cartoons about Jacinda Ardern and her rise to the top