Advertise on podcast: Women Fight Back!

On today’s episode of Women Fight Back,  in historic numbers workers go on strike this STRIKETOBER! Workers across the country from John Deere, Hollywood film studios, Mercy Hospital, Kellogg’s cereal, and more are either on strike  or preparing for one. This is the first time we have seen such a significant number of workers on strike at the same time since the 1980's. We are joined by Rhiannea Shaheen, Local 871 member, 5-year film industry worker and Yasemin Zahra, the Chairwoman of Labor Against Racism and War. 

What does it mean to fight for a world without mass incarceration and police violence? On today’s show we joined by human rights lawyer, organizer, and author Derecka Purnell to discuss her new book titled "Becoming Abolitionist: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom."  We reflect together on how capitalism is at the heart of the continued violence at the hands of the police, and what future is possible beyond this system. Join us in exploring the themes from Derecka's book, like the history of slavery, settler colonialism, imperialism, as well as the love at the heart of the struggle. 

On this episode of Women Fight Back, we discuss the U.S. cold war on China and the treatment of Haitian migrants at the border.   President Joe Biden told the world Tuesday that the United States is not seeking a new cold war without naming the target, obviously being China. What does this mean especially as the US leads the way in developing the AUKUS, a new "defense" agreement comprising the U.S., U.K. and Australia?  Joining the show to discuss is Amanda Yee, host of Radio free Amanda. Later in the show we will hear from Jack Herrera, independent reporter and contributing editor at Politico magazine, speaking on his experiences on the ground in Del Rio. He will be sharing  his eyewitness account from the Haitian migrant camps on the border where recently images emerged of border agents whipping Haitians seeking Asylum.

This week the WFB team and guests dive into the $3.5 trillion proposed budget reconciliation bill, horrific conditions endured by inmates in New York State prisons, and the critiques of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” fashion statement at the 2021 Met Gala. What does this budget reconciliation bill mean for working class and poor people?  What can we do to address horrendous prison conditions due to COVID and Hurricane Ida? Are there meaningful critiques or conversations to be had around AOC’s Met Gala dress despite what “woke” Twitter may have you thinking? All this and more on today’s episode.

On today’s episode we say No Contract, No Snacks! Mondelez Nabisco workers across the country are on strike. On August 10th union members walked off the company’s cookie plant in Portland Oregon demanding fair treatment and a fair contract. Since then over 1,000 other Nabisco workers are on strike nationwide. Jesus Martinez, the President of BCTGM Local 364 and Corey Waddy, a Packing Technician at Mondelēz/ Nabisco join us today to discuss their demands and their ongoing and growing movement. The end of extended unemployment assistance this week marks the largest cutoff of unemployment benefits in history, and spells disaster for the over 7.5 million jobless Americans struggling to pay their bills. Jenna Gerry, Senior Staff Attorney with the National Employment Law Project joins the show to explore what this means for working class people across the country, and why the mainstream media continues to pretend like this isn’t devastating for working people and instead treats this cutoff as some marker of “normal”. 

This week the inhumane anti-abortion bill Texas SB8 went into effect, offering up to $10,000 for private citizens to sue abortion providers providing abortions after 6 weeks. As abortion whistleblowers ask for anonymous tips on “illegal” abortions, netizens have flooded the anonymous tip forms with inappropriate photos and trolled these groups mercilessly. Executive Editor of ReWIRE News, Jessica Mason PIeklo, joins the show to talk about what a post-Roe society may look like, and why we need a militant grassroots women’s movement to protect all women’s rights.  In Louisiana, hurricane Ida made landfall and devastated the community on the 16th anniversary of Katrina. This climate catastrophe puts the disparities of class in stark privilege as wealthier residents turned on their generators while low-income residents saw their houses flooded by another brutal hurricane. Miriam Belblidia, Director of Research and Advocacy at Imagine Water Works, joins the show to discuss how climate crises are felt differently across class boundaries, and what must be done to stop the climate crisis. In Suffolk County, Long Island a bill has been introduced by local legislators to make police a "protected human rights class." This is one of many of these bills aiming to pervert human rights law to give more unrestricted power to police in the U.S. Joining the show to discuss this bill and the state of the police brutality movement is Nia Adams, organizer with Justice League NYC and the Long Island Progressive Coalition.

After the horrific details of Britney Spears’ abusive conservatorship, even members of Congress are saying it’s time to #FreeBritney. One issue at the center of the conservatorship was Britney’s right to reproductive autonomy. The right to quality reproductive healthcare is being fiercely battled for in Texas as well, where the details of SB8, one of the worse anti-abortion bills in America’s history, just get worse and worse. And it doesn’t just stop there - all healthcare is a woman’s issue, and providing universal health care would materially improve the conditions and autonomy of working women.  Legalizing abortion and Medicare for All is popular with the American public; both issues have support from 60% of Americans. The Women Fight Back team asks: What would policy on women’s issues and healthcare look like if the people truly had a say?  

When protests against deteriorating living conditions broke out in Cuba this Sunday, Western media outlets were eager to amplify the protests as indicative of a “failing” socialist system. In reality, the lack of access to food and energy is a direct result of the internationally condemned blockade the United States has imposed on Cuba since the late 50’s. Pambana Bassett, a Black internationalist who has been based out of Havana since February, joins the show to discuss the reality of conditions on the ground and how the Cuban government has been responding to its people’s demands. In South Africa, there has been an emerging crisis after the recent imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, an educator and researcher in Pan Africanism Today, joins us to provide much-needed context about the situation in South Africa and how compromises made in the late 90’s led to the poverty and unrest that South Africa is experiencing today.

It's more than just Derek Chauvin. The whole system is guilty. American filmmaker, musician, speaker, and activist from North Carolina, Bree Newsome Bass joins us on Women Fight Back to discuss Chauvin's sentencing and the right-wing attacks on teaching critical race theory across the U.S. Bree is best known for her act of civil disobedience on June 27, 2015, when she was arrested for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds in the aftermath of the Charleston Shooting. She shares more on her perspective of abolition and the call to defund the police.

Last week, Dianne Morales’ campaign resoundingly imploded as multiple staffers were fired or resigned, citing a culture of harassment and toxic workplace culture. Despite providing lip service to progressive and leftist organizations, Morales lacked demonstrated commitment to any kind of progressive values. Researcher and writer Matt Thomas joins the show to discuss how and why the left chose to rally behind a weak political candidate like Morales and the New York City mayoral race as a whole. Meanwhile in Minnesota, Canadian pipeline company Enbridge is proposing the expansion of the Line 3 pipeline to bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands per day to Superior, Wisconsin. The Anshinaabe people are mobilizing against this expansion, which violates the treaty rights of the Anshinaabe people and other nations in its path. Shanai Matteson, a cultural organizer working in solidarity with the Anishinaabe-led movement to Stop Line 3, walks us through the story of Line 3, the fabric of collective resistance and opposition to the pipeline, and to discuss the major action planned for this weekend to protest its unjust expansion.