The Women Incendiaries

admin — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 03:03:00 +0000

The Women Incendiaries was reprinted in paperback this year from the nonprofit book publisher, Haymarket Books. This classic feminist text was first published in France in 1963 and translated to English three years later. It describes the role women played in the Paris Commune, an anarchist-socialist government that took hold of Paris for two months in the spring of 1871.

This book is not a light read, but for anyone who has interest in the current political atmosphere, this revolutionary tale provides historical significance. It was a time, much like our own, when military defeat and poor political leadership encouraged an ever-widening disparity between rich and poor. The disillusionment of the working class was at an all time high, and personal dignity was often sacrificed in the name of survival.

And of those who suffered, women were one of the most transgressed. Their mother-wife role in the patriarchal society was clear, but as the working poor they were unable to live up to this moral standard, and those with money and power condemned them for it. Many of the female revolutionaries of the time rightly believed that women’s rights were an inextricable part of worker’s rights, and you could not have one without the other. With this conviction in mind, they took a large part in organizing and fighting within revolutionary organizations, including the French socialist movement that gave rise to the Paris Commune. The role they played in this battle for dignity, and its effect on the future of women’s liberation, is not mentioned in history books. But thanks to historian Edith Thomas, we have a detailed and unflinching account of these inspiring feminists.

Unfortunately, the author isn’t writing for the uninitiated. Her audience is primarily women’s studies students and historians. Thankfully, she takes extensive footnotes, and leaves a trail of books to which the reader can go for more information. If you’re a fan of classic feminist literature, this book is a must for your collection.

Written by: Jessica Star Rockers, September 1st 2007

Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot by U.S. Forces

admin — Wed, 30 May 2007 19:03:00 +0000

By Giuliana Sgrena

Haymarket Books

In the United States, Giuliana Sgrena is known as the Italian journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq, held for a month, and then, on the day of her release, shot at by American troops on her way to the airport; the Italian secret service man escorting her was killed and Sgrena herself was severely injured. In the weeks following, while the U.S. military insisted that Sgrena’s car had failed to stop at a checkpoint, Sgrena claimed that the shots had come without warning. In Italy, where Sgrena is known for her long career of courageous reporting, she became a national hero. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets to demand her release, and her kidnapping brought together a national movement to demand the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.

In Friendly Fire, Sgrena tells of her experience of being confined to a single room for four weeks by two gun-touting men who call themselves “Abbas” and “Hussein.” Left mostly in the dark with the barest of necessities, Sgrena cautiously engaged her captors in conversation, demonstrating great intelligence and acumen—qualities that have no doubt served her well in her career. But in her book she does not shy away from revealing her own fears and vulnerabilities, keenly showing what it was like to have her life in the hands of these two strangers and the organization to which they belonged.

This would make a fascinating story in itself, but Sgrena gives us so much more, interweaving her personal experience with keen observation and analysis of Iraq under American occupation and the sectarian violence that is pulling the country asunder. She describes the political and religious dynamics behind this apparent chaos while imbuing her writing with a pervasive sympathy for the ordinary Iraqis caught up in what has become a living nightmare.

Her chapter on women is particularly instructive, describing the deterioration of conditions for women generally in Iraq and how, with some parts of the country now effectively ruled by extremists and under Islamic law, women have become the conflict’s most unseen (literally—forced to wear the veil and leave public life) victims. A compelling read, her book makes real the enormous risks taken by reporters to tell the story of Iraq and other war-torn parts of the world and leaves the reader with an enormous admiration for this journalist in particular.

Written by: Elaine Beale, May 30th 2007