The Common Ills: Moving Forward

Friday, December 25, 2015

Moving Forward

I'll note this press release but I can't go along with the pretense that Afghan women's lives have improved. For reality, you can check out this 2015 page at BillMoyers.com about Sarah Chayes, and you can read this 2014 article Chayes wrote for POLITICO, and this 2015 interview Chayes did with Tim Lewis (GUARDIAN). You can also refer to Arghand for one of the few efforts at success and change. Eleanor Smeal spins on Afghanistan because, in case you missed it, she came out endorsing continued war on Afghanistan earlier this year. I also need to be very clear that the silence from Feminist Majority on the attacks on women's rights in Iraq -- attacks that have continued throughout the US-led war on Iraq and the occupation of it -- is shameful.

Dear Common Ills,

Don’t let the year end without taking advantage of the last opportunity to make a tax-deductible, special gift to the Feminist Majority Foundation.

We just released a major digital advertising campaign asking: “When did the Right to Life Become the Right to Harass, Intimidate, and Terrorize Abortion Provides?” We are determined to expose anti-abortion extremism and violence, and we need your help to do it!

Our last Clinic Violence Survey revealed 51.9% abortion clinics—up from 26.6% in 2010— reported facing targeted threats and intimidation tactics, including pamphlets and WANTED-style posters targeting providers, home picketing, and stalking of doctors and staff.

FMF’s National Clinic Access Project has been on high alert all year working to protect and assist targeted clinics in FL, CA, AL, MS, NC, KS, CO, NE, MD, and VA, to mention just a few.

We are moving forward in our fight for women's equality and we can't do it without you!

We're constantly fighting to block right-wing attacks on women’s rights in the United States.

We are investing in the future by conducting the largest women’s rights campus program in the nation, now with groups in 44 states and D.C! In 2016, we will mobilize student voters, especially young women, with our Get Out Her Vote campaign.

Globally, since 1997, we have been working to help Afghan women and girls as they fight for equality. They are making impressive strides in education, health care, and employment advancement.

And if all of this is not enough, we are entering our 14th year of publishing Ms. Magazine, both digitally and in print. Ms. Facebook now engages 65 million people yearly!

In good times and bad, we are moving forward for women’s rights and lives. So please give a generous, end-of-year, tax-deductible contribution. Thank you for all you do to support equality and women’s rights. Together we are making—and will continue to make—a historic difference.

Happy holidays!

For women’s lives and equality,