What new things could we say in this March Lotto? ---- The urgency of the moment in Italy regarding "gender issues" (as if these could be separated from the rest...) seems to be represented by the Bongiorno amendment to the bill on sexual violence. ---- The amendment, which reverses the basic concept of the new bill from consensus to dissent, revealing the patriarchal nature of its reasoning, illuminates the issue of sexual violence through the sole light of communication between peers, knowing that "violence is an exercise of power, a form of oppression and control, a way to silence women," as Di.Re writes, and, I would add, marginalized, racialized, and blackmailable individuals in general.
The fear is that there could be a flood of retaliatory complaints, false accusations against many unfortunate individuals, guilty of not having asked for or realizing they were having sex with someone who didn't want it.By introducing the concept of dissent, a victim of sexual violence, if they report it and are unable to demonstrate that they resisted effectively enough, in a manner that is unmistakable, may themselves be liable for criminal charges. For example, they might say: "My lady, he is your husband, if you were freezing[a phenomenon of immobilization in response to a dangerous situation], if he told you it was your marital duty and you were unable to escape, if the children were over there and, in order not to scare them, you bit that pillow and let it happen... we're sorry, but we can't proceed. Bring some emergency room reports. Then we'll move forward."
There are many examples. It has been written in many quarters that this amendment overturns the "gift" that Meloni and Schlein gave to "women" in Italy on November 25 of last year, when they jointly voted in the Chamber of Deputies on a bill amending Article 609 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It was believed that the time had come to adapt the Code of Criminal Procedure to the Istanbul Convention, which Italy signed 13 years ago, introducing the concept of consent and defining it as "free and current" to leave no room for doubt, should there be any. And clearly there was a need.
There have been demonstrations and demonstrations against this new version of the Bongiorno bill approved by the Senate Justice Committee, and there will be more in an attempt to influence the Senate vote, which the government has cleverly postponed until after the referendum "on justice."
Now, it's obvious that when a country entrusts its "progressive" side to the judiciary, it has a problem-in my opinion, a very serious one-in interpreting its general direction.
The judiciary executes the laws by interpreting them, and interpretation is always influenced by the political and social culture of the moment. Laws are themselves products of power relations; they express their systematization. Justice codes are the result of continuous stratifications and modifications.
Laws set boundaries, creating a framework within which to operate, and it is also for this reason that movements should be very careful about what they ask for, because they might see their wishes granted. In this regard, Law 194 comes to mind, which is not coincidentally called "Regulations for the Social Protection of Maternity and the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy." This law effectively established a medical practice, conditioning it, and is now being applied with all its retrograde power through conscientious objection and the presence of "no choice" associations in hospitals, strengthened with ad hoc funding promoted by the Meloni government.
Despite this, it will be important for the Bongiorno amendment not to pass. In fact, recent rulings already took consent into account in matters of sexual violence; reality almost seems to demonstrate that it's better for nothing to change about Law 609.
What happened to the "gift bestowed upon women"? What seemed like a concession, reached with a bipartisan agreement, is now becoming a weapon of the patriarchy.
The point, however, is that I'm not at all surprised by this about-face.
The claim, which I've read from many quarters, that with the Bongiorno bill the right has "betrayed women" is, in my opinion, completely baseless. This is a right-wing government, a fascist government, which does nothing but assert its own political line: security decrees that target migrants and supporters; laws that increase penalties for simple acts of passive resistance; promotion of eviction campaigns surgically designed to target the opposing side; school guidelines that celebrate the Greco-Roman and Christian West as the cradle of culture. And, along with all this, cuts to public healthcare, especially the healthcare that should guarantee independent choices about one's own body, and basic general healthcare; all in favor of the private sector, which is absorbed through "agreements" or in any case facilitated thanks to the absence or severe deficiencies of public services. Thus, for example, counseling centers disappear rather than double in number; they are systematically emptied of their original function, and with them disappears support for understanding and caring for one's sexual system, as well as support for new parents.
From schools to healthcare to criminal law, the model is always the same: that of tradition based on family, homeland, and the Christian and Catholic religion.
And as always, throughout human history, in times of economic crisis, governments-one might say, rulers in general-offer the same bitter solution: rigidity, a return to tradition (things were better when they were worse), internal or external war, or both, to keep discontent and poverty under control.
The economic crises of the capitalist system are partly a necessity and partly an accident, but what they always do is consolidate the structures of power, the institutions that guarantee its survival. This also applies to the so-called state capitalism of certain countries in the former Soviet Union.
In these situations, one element remains central at various latitudes: the control of bodies, and especially of reproductive bodies, which, moreover, due to their "nature," are recognized as caring bodies, the bodies of care.
And Federici says it very well in "Caliban and the Witch": a fundamental element of capitalism, of capitalist accumulation, and of the profit mechanism that is its constitutive and consequent element, is the failure to recognize care work, service, and feminized labor, performed unpaid by women.
For these many national and international reasons, I'm not surprised by the moves of President Meloni's government, which, moreover, is keen not to represent the gender assigned to her at birth in institutions, given that she has chosen the masculine pronoun for her role: how ironic, given the battles against school aliases that her Minister of Education and Merit wages in schools!
What amazes me, however, are the movements that oppose this legislature, which always seem to be far removed from the real world, paying little attention to building bonds of solidarity with those who work and endure the constant harassment and blackmail of the labor market.
21st-century capitalism thrives on those who work 24/7, those who work nonstop, and the social services of large cooperatives or agencies that manage, for example, retirement homes, residential care homes, family homes, caregivers, domestic workers, etc., and who win contracts at the lowest possible price by providing precisely those personal services that mostly employ women. Today's capitalism thrives on the continuous opening of shopping malls, non-stop catering, and call center services. All of these jobs were open on Sunday, March 8th.
And so, when I think of March 8th, I think of the power of the protest that has developed since 2017 with the first strike called for by the transfeminist and intersectional movement NonUnaDiMeno and brought to fruition thanks to the support of grassroots unions.
I think of the power of those words of struggle that uncovered and continue to uncover, without compromise, the violent and patriarchal structure of the "best of all possible worlds," denouncing feminized, underpaid, exploited, and constantly blackmailed labor, denouncing the gender gap, but also the privilege of those who can afford to do other things because there are those who clean, care, and look after. If I think of all this, then Lotto Marzo continues to have a powerful meaning, a day on which to express my struggle and my solidarity.
Argenide
https://umanitanova.org/8-marzo-piazze-di-lotta-e-solidarieta/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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