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Wanted: Women’s voices from social movements
The United States Congress has 131 women members this year, the largest female representation in its history
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span>The United States Congress has 131 women members this year, the largest female representation in its history. More significant, perhaps, is that the sharpest and most critical voices on social justice and democracy issues have emerged from these women.
Two currently popular figures are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, and Ilhan Omar, whose voices and actions have sparked new hope among those desiring social progress and change.
These two women also represent a sector that has long been underrepresented in mainstream American politics.
At 29, AOC is the youngest ever member of Congress and is of Hispanic descent. She is a member not only of the Democratic Party, but also of the more activist Democratic Socialists, and while she was involved in several Democratic Party campaigns, her last paid jobs were as a waiter and barista.
Omar came to the US as a child, as part of a Somalian refugee family. She became a US citizen at age 17, studied political science at university and threw herself into politics.
Her activism was not through any electoral party, and she was once the director of policy initiatives of the Women Organizing Women Network. She is the first Muslim woman of African descent to be elected to Congress and won 78 percent of the vote in her congressional district in Minnesota, defying the Islamophobic attacks against her. She is the first congresswoman to wear a hijab, but is not known to use or profile religion.
These two women are not products of the Democratic Party machine. In fact, both have had to fight against the established party leadership to be elected, and they are reported to be in constant conflict with the party establishment. If they are not products of the party, where have they come from?
The US has seen the emergence of several militant social movements over the last few years. These include Black Lives Matter, which protest police killings of African-Americans, and the #MeToo movement, which protests sexual harassment of women by men in positions of power.
Massive women’s marches against misogyny have been held since Donald Trump was elected president, and other movements have arisen in solidarity with migrants and refugees. It is from the atmosphere created by this growing activism that we have seen the emergence of women like AOC and Omar.
The election of 131 women to Congress is also a product of this atmosphere, even though some are not all progressive and some are even reactionary.
The election of Omar — who has spoken out courageously against the US intervention in Venezuela and against US support for Israel’s repressive policies toward Palestine, as well as expressed support for refugee rights, free education and higher wages — marks her out as being more than a “representative of women”, but of newer, more radical voices. AOC’s campaign for a “Green New Deal” to fight global warming, and for free education and better wages, puts her in the same category.
In Indonesia, the women’s movement dates back to the early 20th century. The inaugural Indonesian Women’s Congress was organized in 1928, when many women’s political organizations represented diverse ideologies.
The biggest is easily Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Gerwani), which was active until 1965, when it was suppressed with the rest of left-wing movements. Active support of women’s rights continued between the 1970s and 2000s, during and after the New Order.
More recent times have seen gains in affirmative legislation. Most recently, Law No. 7/2017 on general elections requires that 30 percent of political party candidates be women, or at least one female candidate for every three candidates. This has resulted in a slight increase in the number of women in legislative bodies.
Apart from well-known female ministers, vocal female politicians include Rieke Diah Pitaloka and Eva Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo of Gerindra.
However, over time, their energy has been drained by the poor culture of elite politics, with its endemic corruption, the free competition for spoils and the bureaucratic machine. The phenomenon of AOC and Omar has not yet arrived in Indonesia, where massive problems still exist, even in passing the bill on sexual violence.
The policy on affirmative action aims to ensure women’s participation in national politics, but quotas cannot guarantee commitment to progressive policies.
In the last few weeks of the electoral campaign, posters calling for support for women candidates are everywhere, on the streets and online.
However, the rhetoric of female candidates can hardly be distinguished from that of male candidates. More importantly, there have been no signs that critical voices are emerging to challenge the establishment on issues such as wages, sexual minority rights, environmental issues and impunity for human rights violations or even campaigns that call for the passing of the sexual violence bill.
The establishment has come down on them so hard, to the extent that some have even ended up changing their dress: women who did not wear the hijab before are suddenly donning them.
One lesson to take from the US experience — which is probably not unique — in having more and better women in decision-making positions, is that some kind of technocratic reform of political parties is not the answer. The solution is for more of us, especially the youth, to start building active social and political movements in the streets and workplace.
A great example is the persistent militancy of the Kamisan movement, holding rallies every Thursday over many years in many towns to demand action on various human rights violations, including the disappeared activists of 1998.
Women’s marches have also been held in many towns. Labor unions, including those with majority women memberships, have been more active. Movements expressing solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have become more visible.
These movements, however, have not reached the necessary scale to truly create change in the political climate, to impact our deadened political culture.
Whether the aim is simply to increase women’s involvement in national politics to reflect the nearly 50-50 split between women and men in Indonesia’s 266 million population or to strengthen the culture of antisexism and social justice, the solution will not emerge from tinkering with the election laws or from NGOs trying to reeducate politicians.
The energy of Kamisan, of the women’s marches, needs to explode onto the national stage. The laws defending freedom of expression and organization protect our rights, but only our collective energy will bring them to life.
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The writer is an activist, playwright, theater producer and director. The original, complete version was published on April 9 at thejakartapost.com.
