I have been studying, writing about and practicing Satyagrahi for 25 years and this may be a moment that activists hope for. There is something rumbling out there and I am hoping we can collectively give it a good nudge to see it burst forth. Ultimately what you want, as an activist, is for the opponent to really show their true colors and, even better, for them to righteously demonstrate their true colors exactly when the activists are awake and ready to act.
So what is lining up in this intersection?
- First Woman Speaker of the House
- A woman may be on the Democratic ticket for President
- The Equal Rights Amendment has just been introduced and may be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee
- Roe v. Wade may be reversed, with 5 Catholic Supreme Court Judges
- AAUW reports on the wage gap and things are not improving
- The greening of the US consciousness
The best thing that can happen in a conflict is for the forces to be clearly defined. As MK Gandhi and ML King taught, if you have to, you must push the opponent just as much as is required to illustrate their position. It seems that we may be fast approaching these crossroads.
OK, please let me travel, yet again, down my ERA road. I truly believe that the whole human race will change, benefit and advance when both genders are explicitly included in the US Constitution. Money will be distributed in a whole(some) new way ~ prioritizing health, education, safety, wellness, housing all above death and war. But now, with the AAUW report getting press, we can see that women are paid less. We have some real evidence, real conversation, current numbers.
The Supreme Court, this last week, showed their true colors and what they said is very crystal clear ~ the fetus is a person and the pregnant woman is its incubator for development. They could have opened Thomas Aquinas and read it word for word ~ it is the very basic belief that the female is a vessel and the fetus has a soul. The point is not that they outlawed "partial birth abortions," but that the language identifies the personhood of the fetus and then grant it citizenship.
Here's the good news, most Americans believe that abortions are a private matter, men and women should have equal pay, and (incorrectly that) the ERA passed. So bring it on, bring it on fast, all you conservatives, you just may find women in the Whitehouse, running the Senate, included in the Constitution and flooding the streets, arm and arm with men who all know better, as they join forces to save Mother Earth.









