A collection examining the trailblazing lives and movements of radical women who have shaped the modern world
Rosa Luxemburg, Claudia Jones and Leila Khaled may have joined Lenin, Mao and Che in the pantheon of twentieth century revolutionaries, but the histories in which they figure remain unjustly dominated by men.
She Who Struggles sets the record straight, revealing how women have contributed to revolutionary movements across the world in endless ways: as leaders, rebels, trailblazers, guerrillas and writers; revolutionaries who also navigated their gendered roles as women, mothers, wives and daughters.
Through exclusive interviews and original historical research, including primary sources never before translated into English, readers are introduced to largely unknown revolutionary women from across the globe. The collection ultimately presents a hidden history of revolutionary internationalism that will be a must read for activists engaging in feminist, anticolonial and antiracist struggle today.
About the Editors
Sorcha Thomson is a historian and an associate research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She is co-editor of the book Palestine in the World and an editor of the History Workshop magazine.
What People Are Saying
‘Exhilarating and immensely valuable’ Priyamvada Gopal, Professor, University of Cambridge
'Captivating ... captures the resolute vision of revolutionary women in anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggles' Shahrzad Mojab, Professor, co-author of 'Revolutionary Learning'
'Powerful, complex and compassionate ... a meaningful intervention – not only in women’s and revolutionary history, but in world history' Dilar Dirik, author of 'The Kurdish Women’s Movement'
Table of Contents
Introduction: She Who Struggles - Marral Shamshiri and Sorcha Thomson
1. Melba Hernández: From Cuba to Vietnam, Under One Roof - Sorcha Thomson
2. Mabel Dove and Aoua Kéita: Feminist and Internationalist Struggles from Ghana to Mali - Yatta Kiazolu and Madina Thiam
3. Mary Mooney: A Story of Irish and African Diaspora Solidarity - Maurice J. Casey
4. TESTIMONY: The Power of Women’s International Solidarity with the Palestinian Revolution - Jehan Helou
5. Shigenobu Fusako: From Japan to Palestine in World Revolution - Jeremy Randall
6. Marziyeh Ahmadi Osku’i: Guerrilla Poetry between Iran, Afghanistan and India - Marral Shamshiri
7. Madame Bình and Madame Nhu: The Vietnamese Woman as Icon of Solidarity in Palestine and Iran - Thy Phu, Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi and Donya Ziaee
8. Sakine Cansız: Women’s Liberation and the Kurdistan Freedom Movement - Elif Sarican
9. Lindiwe Mabuza: Culture as a Weapon of Resistance in South Africa - Kebotlhale Motseothata
10. Where Are the Revolutionary Women of West Asia and North Africa? - Kanwal Hameed and Sara Salem
11. Delia Aguilar: Dissident Friendship and Filipino Feminist Thought - Karen Buenavista Hanna
12. Sister Cities: Salvadoran Refugees and US-Salvadoran Solidarity in the Americas - Molly Todd
13. INTERVIEW: Building Socialist Feminism on Southern Ground: The Women Democratic Front on the History and Politics of the Left in Pakistan - Mahvish Ahmad, Marvi Latifi, Ismat Shahjahan and Tooba Syed of the Women Democratic Front in Pakistan