Even Jesus loved sex workers! Everyone know that.
I’ve posted a few times here before about Women With a Vision’s (swoon…) NO Justice campaign against Louisiana’s charmingly backwards SCAN law. Last year, they and their legal team successfully lobbied to reduce the sentencing for folks convicted of Solicitation of Crimes Against Nature (felony) to that of regular ol’ prostitution (misdemeanor).
And, now… Ta-da! This week, a federal judge has ordered that all peeps already added to the sex offender registry under newly-castrated SCAN be removed from it in the next 30 days. No takebacks (er… appeals).
As an anarchist with zero faith in electoral politics, I choose to put my time and energy into projects that I believe are trying to circumvent that system. These projects are often informal and small in scale and occasionally oppositional to (or just resentful of) liberal politics and non-profit work.
This campaign is an excellent reminder to me that it takes all kinds. The positive difference in the lived experiences of the ladies & gents who will soon be justly removed from the sex offenders list is almost incomprehensible. Being labelled a sex offender cost them time, money, and friends; job opportunities and access to resources; the simple privilege of being allowed near churches, schools, and children. Not to mention, it left them in a position of severe vulnerability to state and sexual violence. I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into navigating the Louisiana legislature, particularly on behalf (or even as) sex workers. I am personally so grateful for Women With a Vision and their liberal, non-profit work.
Oh, happy day!
Tags: activism, feminism, NEW ORLEANS, sex work
Speaking of affective labor, while little Georgia is finally sleeping in the next room, I found some time to finally finish the first chapter of the Arcane of Reproduction: Housework, Prostitution, Labor and Capital by Leopoldina Fortunati.
It only took me about six weeks.
But, it feels good! I’ve been getting pretty into these retro-rad Marxist-feminists but, four plus years out of college and typically subsisting on a regular diet of sci-fi and celebrity gossip (mostly the latter), I have to admit that it’s a bit challenging. Every few pages, I have to look up a term just to get through the paragraph. Enough to make me blush.
So, any smarty-pants out there who just breezed through it their summer between eighth and ninth grades? Anyone who has read it at all? And, most importantly, do I really have to read Das Kapital? Cause all this time I just assumed it was something that boys used to sound arrogant and out of touch.
10th Annual New Orleans Book Fair
Kickoff party Friday night 11/4 at the Allways on St. Claude starting at 10 pm and a book-themed burlesque show across the street at the Hi-Ho from 10 to 12.
Book Fair this Saturday 11/5 at the corner of Frenchman and Chartres from 11 am to 5 pm. Be sure to check out the Kids’ Space while you’re there!
$LADIES$NIGHT$
For those who don’t know, Ladies’ Night is a radical feminist discussion group that has been meeting almost weekly for over two years in New Orleans. We now meet every Sunday at 4 pm for a kid-friendly, BYOB, no$boys$allowed potluck and discussion. Update! Our new Contemporary Radical Feminisms readers are printed and bound and beautiful! Please shoot us an email for questions, our location, or to get a copy of the readings. (Readings schedule TBA.) ladiesnight@noboyfriends.org
Crescent City Childcare Collective
C4 provides competent and politicized childcare support to local organizations in New Orleans who are already doing amazing work. They will be Kids’ Spacing it at the Book Fair this Saturday but, if you miss em, don’t forget that there are monthly collective meetings every second Saturday of the month at Fairgrinds Coffee House in Mid City. The next one is Saturday 11/12 at 1 pm, immediately followed by a free childcare training for new volunteers at 2 pm at the same location. Check out their blog for more info.
Tags: activism, feminism, NEW ORLEANS
Folks in New Orleans staged a peaceful and unobstructed demonstration and march today starting at noon at Orleans Parish Prison, briefly storming City Hall, and finally ending at their encampment just outside of City Hall at Duncan Plaza. About 300 to 400 participated in the march, with about a tenth of them remaining overnight at the camp. They held a general assembly this evening, coming to consensus on two points: first, this will be a peaceful occupation, and additionally that general assemblies will be held everyday at 1 and 7 pm.
Tags: #occupyNOLA, #occupywallstreet, NEW ORLEANS
The "white shirt" cops are primarily responsible for the entrapment and brutality seen during the occupation.
Hell yeah! The Partnership for Civil Justice filed a Class Action Complaint against Mayor Bloomberg, the City of New York, and the NYPD. The complaint says that the 700 protesters arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge were entrapped by police who carried out “a pre-planned and deliberate course of false arrest”.
The complaint names 5 defendants, all residents of NYC, and includes all 700 who were arrested as part of the class action. The factual allegations in the complaint are right on the mark and include the fact that we were allowed on the bridge and given only inaudible warnings about being arrested.
You can read the full complaint here.
Tags: Occupy Wall Street
