Women in Ireland call March 8 strike

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Women in Ireland are going on strike to protest the country’s ban on abortions.

In Ireland it is a crime to have an abortion, and the procedure carries a 14-year prison sentence. There are no exceptions for rape or incest or when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb due to a fatal ab­ normality. This abortion prohibition is in a clause in the Irish Constitution, which states that the fetus has the same citizenship and rights as a pregnant woman. This is called the Eighth Amendment.

The only way to remove a clause from the consti­ tution is a referendum calling for repeal, which then receives majority support. The Irish government pre­ viously agreed to hold a referendum on the Eighth Amendment but has repeatedly failed to carry out its promise.

This women’s strike is not generalized around a number of women’s issues; it has only one demand. The statement of the organizers of “Strike 4 Repeal” state their demand clearly:

“We are an ad hoc, non-affiliated group of activists, academics, artists and trade unionists preparing a nationwide Strike For Repeal on the eighth of March 2017. Our demand is that the Irish government call a referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment by the 8th of March. If not, Ireland will strike.”

They are also asking people to wear black to remem­ ber the women who have died because of illegal abor­ website: http://socialistaction.ca tions. This strike comes after the victory in October, when the women in Poland went on strike to oppose an anti-abortion law being considered by the Conser­ vative government. The law was withdrawn.

The women in Ireland will not be alone as they strike on March 8. Women in countries around the world will be marking International Women’s Day with strike action.

Currently, there are 25 countries in which women are organizing strikes. This will include Russia, South Korea, Australia, and Turkey, as well as countries in Central and South America and Europe. n of a feminist serves an economic establishment that profits from the exploitation of female workers by dint of precarious employment, unpaid internships, two-tier wages, shrinking health benefits, and un­ available employment insurance?

How does Trudeau’s “feminism” stack up against the lack of affordable, national childcare? The Liberal Par­ ty’s Canada Child Benefit does not come close to cov­ ering the costs that young parents face, adding to the double burden on women—unpaid domestic labour, and often no services to mind children so women and men can equally pursue good paying, full-time jobs.

Although abortion is legal in Canada, northern and rural women often cannot find safe, quality medical treatment where they live.

The lack of decent, affordable housing is a crisis in Canada. It harshly affects women and children. Frozen welfare rates compound the problem. Grow­ ing inequality and poverty, so blatant in indigenous peoples’ communities, belie Trudeau’s sanctimonious pledges to realize reconciliation with First Nations. At the same time, he approved new gas and oil pipelines that violate native land rights, steps that accelerate the oncoming climate catastrophe. Violence against women persists. It is not mitigated when there is woe­ fully inadequate funding for women’s shelters, and where the courts disbelieve most sexual assault com­ plainants.

Trudeau’s trade policy, reflected in the efforts of his Foreign Affairs (and former Trade) Minister Chrystia Freeland to salvage the odious CETA and TPP deals, puts big corporate investor interests far ahead of the interests of women and workers generally. Ottawa’s devotion to NATO, its promotion of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, and its deployment of armed forces in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have nothing to do with women’s rights, and everything to do with imperialism and the maximization of profits for the merchants of death.

If feminism is more than an opportunist’s slogan, if it is an agenda for social justice, then Justin Trudeau is a proven fraud. The feminism that craves action for the vast majority—socialist feminism—requires mass independent working class political action – not to “inspire” Justin’s government, but to remove it. n dian family incomes have risen, millions struggle with food and housing