"Christian women
At the beginning of the 1970s, I was invited to a Bible circle in my congregation. We compared God's written word with what was happening in the society, and I saw how badly it tallied. We learned that we should not be have to ashamed of being poor, and that we were not poor because we were lazy, as we had always heard.
organize politically"
That was a difficult time for us. We got into personal conflicts. We were afraid of new knowledge that inbig changes for us. How would our husbands and children take it? What was a "Christian socialist"? But we learned and become stronger because we
We understood that it was not enough to
A DELEGATE to the July 25-August 2 congress of the
Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (PRT,
Mexican section of the Fourth International), who came to the party from a Christian base organization, was interviewed by Marit Andersson.
The interview with this revolutionist, Laura, appeared in the September 3 issue of Internationalen, the paper of the Socialist Party, Swedish section of the Fourth
International.
OU MADE a trip to Nicaragua in 1985. What were you're impressions?
I managed to go with a coffeepicking brigade to Nicaragua. The PRT paid, and it was the trip of my life. I was able to see how the people were fighting against imperialism. They were suffering a lot, but at the same time they were so determined.
Contras came in, but they didn't come out again. How could they let them get out when they came in to kill? I met mothers whose children were burned to death by the contras, but they had not lost their spirit. They were determined to defend the
Another thing was that men were better in Nicaragua than here in Mexico. Men in
Nicaragua are ready to go out and fight almost before their umbilical cords are cut. I got the impression that the revolution had changed human beings, given them a moral quality that has led them to love their work and their fellow human beings.
The men did not have a disrespectful attitude to women. Of course many traditions survive, but not the sexist shame.
That cames from the fact that people love the revolution and there are women in it.
I felt at home in Nicaragua, but not in the brigade. The comrades felt I was too old.
Of course, I could not pick us much as the others. The first brigades determined how many barrels should be picked in a certain time, and we did not manage to meet that norm.
But the most important thing is what we
### "I have never regretted joining the PRT...they have great human resources" do when we come home, how we work to build solidarity. I do a lot of solidarity work. Right now we are having a campaign called "A Flower for Nicaragua."
In the brigade, we had military exercises. It was the first time I have seen a gun without being afraid of it. We learned how to carry out evacuations, handle weapons and clamber up and down mountains. We women did not have it any easier; we got the same treatment as men. I even got praise from the Sandinistas.
They say in the solidarity movement and in the PRT that I am too sensitive and that I have an idealized picture of Nicaragua. And of course I loved the people in Nicaragua already before I went there. The people in Mexico have not yet begun to fight, and I love any people that is fighting for its rights. We have to support the victorious people in Nicaragua. Mexico is the spitting image of the old Nicaragua, and we are going to need the Sandinistas' support in our fight. • How did you become a member of the PRT?
discuss, and we women together published a paper for laid-off workers. Everyone helped to circulate it. But then we came to the poor area around the station, where a lot of homeless people were concentrated. Most of them were unemployed, there were widespread abuses, and 80 per cent were illiterate.
There was not much point in circulating the paper there. Instead, we, the Women's Christian base group and political parties, started a dressmakers' cooperative and a lot of courses in economics and nursing.
The PRT participated in this work, and the comrades saw how important it was to organize and fight together. A front was built to defend the political prisoners in Cuernavaca. That was when I joined up with the PRT. I have never regretted it. There are great human resources in the PRT, and we old folks are well treated. We can be of use, even if we have less energy. • How has your involvement affected you and your family? I am 48 years old. That is two years older than I realized. That came out when I applied for papers for my Nicaragua trip. I got married 30 years ago, and have had nine children. None of us had been involved in any struggles, but I already thought that it was important for women to determine their own lives. There were quarrels when I talked about such things.
It was not easy to leave the house. I had a very bad conscience many times. But as my insight into women's oppression increased, my self-confidence grew.
Now I dare to speak out, but I don't explode and shout the way I used to. I am not repressed any longer, I don't cover my head like in church.
I never left my family out of things. My children come with me to meetings, and now I have support for what I do. Besides, everyone in the family is taking part in the struggle now.
I think that it is important for Christian women who only go to church to let their faith lead them to involvement in society. Women have to organize politically to fighu for their rights and take their respon 25 sibility in society. * November 23, 1987 • International Viewpoint
marked by scandals, measures taken against almost a the forced resignations of members of the government.
SYRIA
Hands off the
Communist
Action Party!