Chapter Five

The essay below is both parts of the essay that was published in two parts in rabble.ca

I have spent the last year mostly away from the mad activism that has characterized much of my adult life. After the G20 and its aftermath, I decided I needed a break. It was finally time to write the memoir that I had wanted to write for several years. So I decided to take three months totally off from activism. It turned out I needed more time. With some exceptions, I have stepped back from organizing, blogging and most speaking. You may be surprised that during that time, when Rob Ford was elected mayor of Toronto and Stephen Harper, prime minister, I have become more hopeful about possibility of actually making the world a better place.

Last year I spent December 6 in Montreal to attend a conference on the 20^th Anniversary of what in Quebec they call Polytechique.  Below are my reflections following the conference and picking up on some of the extraordinary discussion that took place there.  We fought hard for December 6 to be marked every year as a day of action against violence against women and it continues to be even by women and men who were not yet born on that terrible day.   This year, like every year for the last 21^st I wil

Today the Voice of Women For Peace celebrates its 50th Anniversary with a free conference at Hart House and a gala dinner.

My last book Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution  starts in the early 1960's with the emergence of an extraordinary group called Voice of Women for Peace that challenged the anti-communist monoculture of the Cold War with a warm embrace directed towards the women who were supposedly our enemies. The Voice of Women, as pioneer feminist Ursula Franklin points out below was the seedbed for the feminist revolution in Canada and we were lucky it came before preparing the ground in many ways. 

 I don’t usually pay much attention to Mother’s Day. It isn’t just the commercialism. All holidays are commercialized.   If the truth be told, I’ve never really valued motherhood all that much.   I come from the generation of women that fought for women to be recognized for qualities beyond being mothers and wives. I grew up wanting to be the opposite of my mother who I saw as subordinate to a man who was unworthy of her. In the fierce battle to claim women’s ability to do whatever men could do, many of us denigrated the importance of what mothers contribute to the world.

Imagine my delight when there on the front page of my morning paper was Medea Benjamin, the creative, non-stoppable leader of Code Pink.  Just having returned from leading a feminist mission to Gaza for International Women's Day,  Medea and her fearless crew of pink clad women were protesting the appearance of the CEO of AIG.  The contrast between the designer suit clad AIG boss and the women with Pink T Shirts saying, "Give us back our $$$' couldn't have been clearer. Speaking for millions of Americans, this was direct action at its best.  Bravo Sisters.

March 8 is International Women’s Day but in Toronto, it is the Saturday closest to March 8 that we celebrate and as I usually do I went to the rally and march that has been held every year since 1975. On Sunday March 8, I had lunch with my friend Velcrow on Toronto Island, where he lives.

Code Pink Poster for IWD

On International Womens Day 2009, a new transnational womens movement is emerging focussed on peace, equality and justice.  Code Pink the extraordinary feminist anti-war group in the United States is sending a womens delegation to Gaza.  It's obviously working since finally the Globe and Mail has a positive article a

We may have to erect a tombstone on Parliament Hill and inscribe it "Here lies pay equity," if Canada's MPs support the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act, buried deep in C-10, the Conservatives' Budget Implementation Act.