Jacobin Magazine: The Pitfalls of Radical Feminism

From the beginning, radical feminists have been especially concerned with sexual and domestic violence, seeing it as fundamental to women’s oppression. Andrea Dworkin, one of the most prominent radical feminists of the 1980s, distinguished herself with her crusade against sexual violence. In one of her most famous speeches, “I Want a 24 Hour Truce During Which There is No Rape,” Dworkin implored men in the audience to try to understand the profound fear of sexual violence that women live with every day. [...]

Some aspects of pornography are undoubtedly despicable, racist, and violent. But outlawing pornography would do little to address the immediate, material concerns of women involved in the industry. And it makes no sense to work with conservatives to fight women’s oppression. These are the same people who want to restrict women’s access to reproductive health and roll back the already-meager welfare state. [...]

For many radical feminists, it doesn’t matter what gender someone identifies and presents as — it only matters what gender they were assigned at birth. If men are the oppressors and the source of women’s oppression, it follows that those men maintain that oppressive power, even after they transition. Their socialization as men, no matter how short-lived or plagued by gender dysphoria and violence, renders them agents of female oppression. Thus, many radical feminists ban trans people, and particularly trans women, from their politics and organizing spaces. [...]

Men of color perpetuate sexism just like white men. But their experience of racism also binds them together with the women of color in their communities. As Sharon Smith writes, “the need to fight alongside men in the fight against racism or in the class struggle [has] made separatist ideas unappealing” for women of color.

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Political Critique: What does it mean to feminise politics?

One of the core themes for discussion in the Fearless Cities summit in Barcelona few weeks ago was the feminisation of politics. What it means to feminise politics has been largely written and discussed in Spain the past couple of years: when we speak about politics we mean any physical and symbolic structure where a group of people comes together to reflect, demand and act towards a common socio-political, cultural or economic objective. The debate, which is still developing, has some axes that can help us understand the difficulties of feminising politics without first transforming the political institutions and movements themselves from the inside through daily feminist actions in both public and domestic spaces. [...]

Even if this is a fundamental condition and first attempt at the process of feminising politics, it seems clear that there is a significant difference between the number of women that have a role of representation in political space and the power of decision and action that these women have de facto. The level in which women involve and participate in political debates connects with our historical underrepresentation in the public spaces. Feminism has taught us that it is not enough to reclaim more representation in institutions, we also need to reflect about the structural conditions of society that leave us underrepresented. That is why it is not enough to include more women in the structures that are excluding us “by nature.” We need to think instead about why and how they are doing it. Women need to be more represented but we also need to change the structure of institutions that from nature expels us. [...]

From a feminist viewpoint politics needs to follow a road that moves women out of the traditional social and political marginalisation. On the one hand, feminism is the legitimation of the increasingly active role of women in politics, and the response and patriarchal reactions against this shift. It needs to be used as structure and method and not as object or topic for discussion. This structure needs feminist references and emotional perspectives for the struggle of women and feminists demands. On the other hand, feminising politics also means bringing the responsibility for domestic care into the public sphere, with a double objective of demanding a shared responsibility in the tasks that historically have been assigned to women, and demanding a public debate that highlights the social responsibility of restructuring the domestic work, to avoid delegating it to women, and more specifically, to the most precarious women.

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CityLab: France's Kebab Crackdown

France is currently engaged in a national debate focusing on grilled meat garnished with salad and wrapped up in a flatbread. Kebabs returned to the political spotlight last month, when the city of Marseille announced a crackdown on snack bars in its city center—allowing officials to preempt commercial leases in an area where almost all these establishments are kebab shops. This comes on the heels of a more explicit anti-kebab ban in the city of Béziers in 2015. Meanwhile, several major Italian cities, including Florence and Venice, are trying to banish the hugely popular street food from the city core, too.

The food fight isn’t explicitly about employment, taxation, or foreign policy, but all three do come into play—as does the bigger question of national identity. The kebab, France’s third-most-popular takeaway food, has thus become a focal point for the debate about multiculturalism and how cities imagine themselves. [...]

“There’s a clear connection between economic stress and the birth of this debate over kebab shops,” says Raffard. “Usually, no one explicitly says, ‘we are banning kebab shops because we don’t want foreigners,’ but that this feeling lies underneath is nonetheless quite clear. The same cities that try to clear out kebabs never make the same policies about sushi or pizza or Chinese restaurants, for example, even though these are not specifically local. The target of the discourse are people coming from traditionally Muslim countries.” [...]

A key criticism from opponents is that kebabs are poor quality, trashy food that somehow undercuts and damages local food traditions. This is hogwash. For a start, France’s and Europe’s kebabs vary hugely, from the cheapest most basic wraps that come in at around €4 to gourmet fare sold for twice that. Since most regions and countries have their own local variations, the product is also far from uniform. Certainly the meat isn’t always great at the cheap end, but then neither usually is the ham that goes into a classically French croque Monsieur (a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese, or sometimes a cheesy bechamel sauce). The kebab isn’t a monument to low quality—it’s a happy example of the market providing decent food cheaply.

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Politico: Emmanuel Macron’s choice: Merkel over fast reforms

Before implementing the tax overhauls Macron promised during his presidential campaign, the government led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will first make sure the French budget deficit is brought under the EU-imposed limit of 3 percent of GDP — for the first time in years.

The new president’s emphasis on tackling the deficit to the detriment of tax reform may help reassure the German government of Angela Merkel that it’s at last dealing with a fiscally serious French counterpart, as both countries want to restart the Paris-Berlin motor for Europe. France’s budget deficit has been above the 3 percent limit in 13 of the 18 years since the threshold was adopted, as economist Charles Wyplosz recently noted. [...]

“They had a choice: Forget about the 3 percent, blame Hollande for the miss and start right away on tax cuts; or play the credibility card. They chose the latter,” said a Treasury official, adding that he was happy with the decision.

“There was a debate in French government circles between economists favoring reforms and growth and the Treasury guys intent on the 3 percent limit, and the Treasury guys won,” noted Gilles Moëc, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. [...]

Another reform — the exoneration of financial holdings from France’s infamous wealth tax — has also been delayed until 2019, even though Philippe promised it will be voted along with the 2018 budget, in October.

As for the labor reforms, they will continue unabated, the former Macron campaign economist noted. Macron chose the labor market overhaul as the international symbol of France’s ability to reform its economy. But according to most economists, it will have a limited impact on actual jobless numbers.

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CityLab: Where the Dogs Are in New York

So Rattner, a 24-year-old tech worker and former professional dog-walker, conducted an experiment to test his suspicion of living in the center of the pooch universe. Inspired by WNYC’s 2013 “Dogs of NYC” project, he dove into the extensive public database of licensed dogs (New Yorkers are required to license their hounds, though only about a fifth do) and created a map of dog densities for ZIP codes in every borough. “While a record of New York dogs may not be the most impactful or powerful public database available, it may be the most fun one,” he says.

The results jolted him. The East Village isn’t even in the top 30 most dog-intensive neighborhoods. “It turns out there are other residents sidestepping leashes and droppings more frequently than I am.” A vast furbelt extends across southern Staten Island, for instance, perhaps because people there have something called “yards.” There’s also a concentrated zone of dogginess in the northeast Bronx. But Manhattan does claim 9 of the 10 top dog-infested ZIPs. Brooklyn doesn’t show up until number 24 and Queens makes its first appearance at 27. “If you hate dogs, get out of Manhattan.”

A couple things might explain the island’s canine fecundity, starting with a possible correlation between wealth and pet ownership. “If you look at the top ZIP codes most densely populated by dogs, they are in neighborhoods across downtown Manhattan, the Upper West and Upper East sides, Greenwich Village, and Chelsea,” Rattner says. “These are pricey places to live and, in some cases, are among America's most-expensive ZIP codes. Owning a dog is expensive, and it’s not an affordable luxury to everyone in the city.”

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Al Jazeera: On terrorism, Basque nationalism and a 'bar brawl'

Altsasu, a sleepy Basque town in Spain's northernmost province of Navarre, was shocked on July 4, when a prosecutor's office announced (PDF) that eight of its residents will be facing a total of 375 years in prison on terrorism charges. The eight young Basques had a fight with two civil guards and their girlfriends in a local bar in the early hours of October 15, 2016. Three of the defendants have been under arrest since November 2016.

The eight young men and a woman are facing charges of "terrorist injury" and "terrorist threat" for being involved in what many activists consider a simple "bar brawl", possibly motivated by historical tensions between Basque nationalists and the Civil Guard. [...]

According to the Civil Guard and a considerable number of conservative Spanish newspapers, anyone who demands the withdrawal of the guards from Altsasu, including the eight young Basques involved in last year's "bar brawl", are part of the "ETA environment".

According to human rights activists, however, such accusations are nothing more than an extension of the Spanish judiciary and government's controversial theory dubbed "everything is ETA". [...]

Both the regional government of Navarre and the city council of Altsasu have already rejected the "terrorism" charges eight young Basques are facing. The provincial court also decided that the "bar fight" between the defendants and the members of the Civil Guard did not amount to "terrorism" and insisted that the case should be conducted locally. But the Spanish National Court chose to override the decisions of local authorities and charged the defendants with offences related to "terrorism" anyway.

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The Conversation: Islamophobia is still raising its ugly head in Australia

The main reason why Islamophobia has not been taken seriously could be due to the lack of quality data on the issue. Most research to date focused on surveys conducted on the negative sentiments of non-Muslims. But our new study reports on actual Islamophobic incidents, and stands to change how Islamophobia is viewed in Australia.

The report is based on 243 cases of verified Islamophobic incidents collected over 14 months in 2014-15. In this respect, this is the first study of its kind anywhere in the world. [...]

The simplest definition of Islamophobia is the special form of racism revealing “indiscriminate negative attitudes or emotions directed at Islam and Muslims”. An Islamophobic incident is any act comprising of abusive hatred, vilification and violence inflicted on Muslims going about their daily lives. [...]

Women, especially those with Islamic head covering (79.6% of the female victims), have been the main targets of Islamophobia. One-in-three female victims had their children with them at the time of the reported incident. [...]

Of the perpetrators, 98% were identified by those who reported it as ethnically Anglo-Celtic. Perpetrators were three times more likely to be male. While lone males were more likely to be the perpetrator, lone Muslim women tended to be the victims. [...]

Significantly, evidence presented in the report suggests that Islamophobia is not rooted in Islamic terrorism as previously thought but rooted in Muslims’ presence in Australia.

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Politico: Why the G20 violence is good for Merkel

For Germans watching on television, the three nights of anarchy served as a dramatic reminder of the fragility of their country’s political and social stability. The political impact of the Hamburg riots has yet to fully unfold. But with national elections scheduled for September, it is already plentifully clear that the fallout will be severe. [...]

The pre-election debate has so far revolved mostly around taxation, social benefits, public investment and same-sex marriage. But after the events in Hamburg, issues of domestic security have snapped back into focus. Very likely, they will be the ones that decide the election’s winners.

Perhaps ironically, given that it was Chancellor Angela Merkel who brought the summit to Hamburg, this dynamic will favor German conservatives. Citizens consistently rate Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), as most competent on questions of domestic security. [...]

Casting further doubt on the already slim prospects of a left-of-center coalition unseating Merkel, the SPD’s preferred coalition partners — the Greens and the Left party — will also face backlash from the violence. In their initial responses, both parties appeared reluctant to condemn violent protesters, while putting responsibility for the escalation squarely on the police. This is likely to alienate the many moderates, pragmatists and realists among their potential supporters, and to accelerate the political marginalization of both parties.

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