POLITICS UNUSUAL: Women disrupt the 2018 election cycle

Latest

Women’s March in Chicago in 2017. Women are at the forefront of the struggle for economic survival and for a moral society that cares for us all.
PHOTO/BRETT JELINEK, OLAFIMAGES.COM

 
Women’s History Month finds women vowing to be a tour de force at the polls this year.
When Donald Trump won the election in 2016, Teresa Shook of Hawaii (retired and a first-time activist) shared a Facebook post with a few friends, inviting them to march on Washington. The request exploded into an international phenomenon and led to the gigantic Women’s March of Jan. 21, 2017. When asked what drove her, Shook responded, “Something happened in me with this administration that woke up my love for people and humanity. …”
The Women’s Marches in 2017 and 2018 were among the largest demonstrations on record. The issues of a woman’s right to choose; the #MeToo movement exposing sexual assault and harassment; and the fight for equal pay were on full display. The call for the marches created a perfect storm of resistance to the dismantling of health care; the inhumane assault on undocumented populations, including the DACA “Dreamers”; the Muslim ban; the failure to denounce white supremacists, while giving aid and comfort to senseless killings by the police; the government’s failure to address the environmental crisis that is killing people and decimating Mother Earth, and instead doing the bidding of corporate interests; the gouging of the public treasury by the same corporate interests threatening Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Women are taking these causes to the polls. A former Navy pilot from Kentucky is running for Congress to save health care. A member of the Green Party is running for governor in Michigan to bring resolution to the Flint water crisis. A coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia is running for the U.S. Senate to bring environmental justice to her state. In Alabama, the African American women, in particular, were the driving force that won a Senate seat against the morally challenged Roy Moore—something unthinkable just weeks before. There are thousands more women running in local races around the country.
All this is a reflection both of the historical oppression of women—the oldest form of oppression—and the new economic situation faced by women. Women constitute the numerical majority in the United States. They are also a majority among low-wage workers—at a time when the economic foundation of society has been altered irrevocably. The destruction of the old industrial economy, the decimation of social programs, and the open rule by a tiny corporate class of billionaires has thrust women into the forefront of the struggle for economic survival being waged by all workers. We are witnessing the emergence of a profound new social movement that is being led by women. It is morally based and humanitarian-based. It defies “politics as usual.”
Today’s far-reaching social movement includes street protests and electoral campaigns, candidates running as independents and those running inside the old parties’ electoral structures. While the establishment parties are scrambling to channel the movement in their direction, the impulse for the motion comes from the grassroots. Many women running for office are doing so to highlight the issues of society, not to express blind or eternal loyalty to one party. They stepped forward on their own. And there is no turning back.
Today, the fight of millions of women—and men—for the basic necessities of life and for a humane society can only culminate in the ending of rule by the 1 percent. Today, a women’s place is in this revolution.
 

Women’s History Month


 

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

2 COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Resistance Against Mass Deportations Webinar Scheduled July 17

The Zooming to the Resistance Against Mass Deportations Coalition is planning the second in a series of webinars exploring how people across the country are fighting mass deportations. During the webinar, scheduled July 17 at 4 p.m. Pacific, a panel of fighters from California cities and the East Coast will share their experience resisting the cruel ICE raids.

Mamdani’s NY Campaign Electrifies Those Seeking a Better Life

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, has struck a nerve by voicing the demands of those who are struggling to survive as the cost of living continues to rise.

Another Big Beautiful Betrayal for Rural America

You slash Medicaid, you’re swinging an axe at the heart of our rural hospitals, community clinics, doctors and nurses — and every family that depends on a job for a living. It’s not too late to raise hell.

ICE Terror Campaign Threatens Us All

Several recent Facebook reels show how ICE is ramping up its campaign of terror against immigrants, citizens and protestors alike as the effort to create a police state continues and resistance grows. One creator speaks to the significance of Haitians now being targeted.

Medicaid Defenders in Wheelchairs Arrested Ahead of Senate Budget Vote

Over 60 people, including grandmas in wheelchairs, were arrested in the U.S. Senate Rotunda in a nonviolent protest against cuts like Medicaid and the SNAP food program in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill.”

More from the People's Tribune