Ten years on: feminism lives!
to free abortion on demand, to be paid for by the state health system, unti full recognition is achieved of the right of women to make the decision
WOMEN national level around national
Coming out of the conference there was a proposal for a summer university and also for broad activities on March 8, 1986.
Socialist Party minister for women's affairs addressed the conference. She tried to excuse her lack of action on so many issues saying that she was all alone in
AFTER MORE than ten years in existence, the women's movement is still alive and well. This was the conclusion from two very successful national conferences of the women's movement in the Spanish state and France in
November and December 1985. At the Spanish state conference, attended by 4,000 women, an open challenge to government anti-abortion measures was made when it was announced that during the proceedings two abortions had been performed in a closed workshop.
JUDITH BAKER
The jornadas feministas in the
Spanish state took place in Barcelona on November 1,2,3. Two thousand expected and 4,000 turned up. Among them were many who held their own and also women from the
Womens Assembly of Euskadi, representing many different organisations estimated that over 80% of the women were representing local groups of one kind or another, a fact that demonstrates the grass roots support for workshops on les-
There were women and peace. (which bianism, was attended by 400 women) young women, sexual violence and new reproductive technology, amongst others.
*We have brought you together to tell you that in line with the deciin the workshop on abortion turn the new law, and the women have announced that they will all declare themselves guilty, thus posing the authorities severe problems. The abortions were filmed on video.
This incident demonstrates the continuing combativity of the women's movement and its willingness to challenge the state in an active and campaigning way.
Women from the women's movement in the Spanish state received a rapturous response also from the conference of one thousand women which met just outside Paris, France on December 6 and 7. Again the conference was attended by hundreds of women active in local groups and campaigns, and was an attempt to draw the movement together on
The conference showed that feminists are linking up with other strug particular the fight against racism which is very important in France at the moment. A delegation of women and a speaker were sent te -the SOS-racisme demonstration on the and racism decided to call a day of action on women and
Furthermore issues like the new flexibility of work bill which the government is introducing and which will particularly affect working women were taken on board. To counter the increasing violence against women (protests have occurred recently around three particularly serious rape cases) the women in the commission concerned proposed days of action and 'reclaim the night' demonstrations throughout France every third Friday of September, every year.
Both these congresses show that in France and the Spanish state feminism will not go away and cannot be co. opted, but on the contrary will continue to pose a challenge to the establishment, and can begin to show the broad mass of women a way forsion rights in the Spanish State and follow- Statement of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), Spanish State ing on the discussion on Friday in commissions and groups and in the
With respect to the two abortions carried out last weekend in Barcelona plenary, this morning our commis- in the conference commemorating Ten Years of Struggle by the Feminist sion performed two abortions.' This Movement, we wish to express our total and unconditional support for this announcement on the Saturday after- action by the feminist movement. If it provoked such a scandal in the media noon of the conference brought and in the ranks of the right, that is because it touched a wound from which massive applause and support from women suffer, and at the same time pointed up the wretchedness of the women present. [The one dissenting PSOE's partial depenalization of abortion...• voice came from Lidia Falcon of We consider, therefore, that this action represents a very important step the Feminist Party.] forward in the fight for the right to abortion in its clear and resounding de-
This action was a direct challenge nunciation of what has been touted as a progressive law and which has served to the pathetic law introduced by only to hand aces to the right, the Church, and the middle class to deceive and confuse the people, to deny an elementary right to women, and to force the the Socialist government earlier this few who can meet the conditions set down in the law to beg for it. At the same year see International Viewpoint time, the law allows Social Security doctors who refuse to perform abortions No 76, May 20, 1985), which only benefits about 2 to 3% of women We hold that the feminist movement has the full right to force de facto seeking abortions. recognition of the legitimacy of its demands by carrying them out in prac-
When the police arrived in the We approve of and support all the actions and methods of struggle that evening demanding to know who was the feminist movement and specifically the Right to Abortion Committees responsible for carrying out the [Comisiones pro Derecho a Aborto] may use to advance the cause of recog abortions, the women present shouted nition of women's rights and specifically the right to abortion. "Todos somos responsables' ('we are Therefore, we express our solidarity with the actions referred to above, all responsible'). The baffled police- and once again declare our commitment to continue fighting for the right men had no choice but to retreat.
The stand taken by the women on the abortion issue marks the beginning of a wide campaign to oversection of the Fourth International.
to go on doing so with impunity.
affecting their lives.
Madrid, November 5, 1986