Notice board ‘Growing a pair’ is not necessary to assert our dissent
l Glasgow and West of Scotland Historical Association will hold their next meeting at 10.30am sharp tomorrow at Kelvinside Parish Church, Saltoun Street. Dr John Clark will be giving a presentation titled ‘'From the Long Wood to the Hill Head – Napoleon and Glasgow''. Arrive early for tea/ coffee. Free event, all welcome.
l The Radical Independence Campaign (Edinburgh branch) are hosting a public meeting on Scottish Independence and Internationalism from Below at 7pm on Wednesday, March 13 at Augustine Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. There will be speakers from the campaign against the arms trade, SNP trade union group, and Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. All are very welcome.
l Author Kate Foster will be talking about her new book The Maiden, which is Waterstones' Scottish Book of the Month, at 6pm on Wednesday, March 13 at Waterstones, Perth. The novel is a 17th-century-set whodunit revolving around a noblewoman accused of the shocking murder of her lover.
l Lesley Riddoch is touring with her new film Denmark: The State of Happiness. There are screenings at 7pm on Friday, March 15 at Adelaide Baptist Church in Glasgow; 1pm on Saturday, March 16 at Erskine Arts; and 6.30pm on Thursday, April 4 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. Lesley will be doing Q&A sessions after the screenings. To book see lesleyriddoch.com/events.
l Screenings of To See Ourselves, Jane McAllister's documentary about the 2014 independence referendum, are taking place at 7pm on Friday, March 15 at Ayr Town Hall; 7pm on Saturday, March 16 at CCA, Glasgow; 6.30pm on Friday, March 22 at Strathearn Arts, Crieff and 2pm on Sunday, April 7 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director. For tickets see tosee ourselves.film/see-the-film
LYUDMILA Navalnaya, whose son was imprisoned and murdered by Putin’s authoritarian regime, knows something about resistance. Using the powerful tropes of motherhood in successfully claiming the body of her son, she arranged a funeral which was attended by thousands of brave Russians in defiance of the regime.
Meanwhile, here a chorus of voices encouraged us to be fearful when confronted by threats. “It’s time to be very afraid, be very, very afraid” commented Richard Walker in The National recently about Westminster’s plans to police public order (When politicians come after our right to protest it’s time to be very afraid, Mar 1). In tandem with this way of thinking I often read on social media exhortations to “grow a pair” or “grow cojones”, even a backbone, as though brute strength will effectively challenge injustice.
Women’s campaigning for social justice – in our case for selfdetermination – has taken a different shape. In 1955 Rosa Parks lit the flame of a civil rights movement in refusing to give up her seat for a white bus passenger in racially segregated Alabama USA. Like Navalnaya, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo led years of resistance from 1992 to military dictatorship in Argentina. At Greenham Common in the 1980s women camped until the American missiles were removed. In other less spectacular instances, acts of defiance against the dictates of patriarchy, challenging the imposition of stereotypical social roles, have inspired revolutions in how we behave. Women’s support groups during the miners’ strike of the 1980s sadly continue through our role in running food banks. Reasoning and discussion, taking advantage of opportunities in our everyday lives can support others in challenging repressive ideas and behaviour.
International Women’s Day has always been about solidarity, from its beginnings in the 1840s in protest at women being barred from speaking at an anti-slavery convention in the USA. However, the principle of “if you stop us resisting in one way we will spring up again in a different form” is deep rooted in women’s politics. Resistance isn’t about “growing a pair” or having brute strength but is about having the will and guile to confront injustice by asserting our dissent through empathy.
Cathie Lloyd
Edinburgh