Category Archives: Feminism

Vatican backs down and gives mild rebuke to American nuns | World news | The Guardian

But in its most critical passage, Tuesday’s report merely called for the American nuns to “carefully review their spiritual practices and ministry to assure that these are in harmony with Catholic teaching about God, creation, the incarnation and the redemption,” and called for greater dialogue.

This did not entirely lift the cloud cast by the 2012 reprimand from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog for theological orthodoxy, which put the organisation under a mandate involving close supervision, which continues to this day. But the change in tone in Tuesday’s report may reflect a new and more conciliatory policy under Pope Francis.

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It was made clear during a press conference at the Vatican that individual reports had been drawn up. Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the head of the Vatican department responsible for religious orders, said his officials would be sending them to “those institutes whose individual reports indicated areas of concern”.

Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of the Catholic social justice pressure group Network and leader of the Nuns on the Bus project, which tours the US to draw attention to social issues, said the report “reflects the difference that a different pope can make”.

She said: “It was really wonderful to have the document say that religious women, more than most, may understand Pope Francis’s call to care for the poor and marginalised. The invitation to dialogue – I really hope they mean it.”

via Vatican backs down and gives mild rebuke to American nuns | World news | The Guardian.

Photo of Peshmerga Combatant Breastfeeding Her Child Captivates Kurdish Media · Global Voices

Kurdish media outlets are abuzz with a photograph of a Peshmerga woman, sitting beside an automatic weapon, breastfeeding her child. The picture has been widely distributed on social networking sites, highlighting the strength of Kurdish women and the resilience of female combatants in the ongoing fight against ISIS.

via Photo of Peshmerga Combatant Breastfeeding Her Child Captivates Kurdish Media · Global Voices.

It’s The Pussy Riot, Le Tigre Crossover You’ve Been Waiting For | News | Clash Magazine

Pussy Riot seemed to engage with the spirit of the Riot Grrrl movement.

Those guerilla gigs, the short, sharp songs which hit out against authority while embracing a gleeful sense of invention… it was all warmly, richly familiar.

Two members of the Russian group – Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina – performed at VICE’s 20th birthday party at the weekend, tearing through Le Tigre’s ‘Deceptacon’.

It now seems that the Pussy Riot pair are working with Le Tigre/MEN member JD Samson. Le Tigre’s Johanna Fateman initially posted the above photo, with NME gaining a little inside information.

Nadya Tolokonnikova explains that the collaboration is primarily working in visual mediums, with the possibility of new music at some point.

Speaking to the NME, she said: “Maybe at some point in the future we will do an album, but right now we want to make videos.”

via It’s The Pussy Riot, Le Tigre Crossover You’ve Been Waiting For | News | Clash Magazine.

Chilean Activists Change the Rules of the Game | Inter Press Service

Although many of the protests of 2011 — the year of Occupy Wall Street — have faded, Chilean students and workers managed to win many of their demands. This experience offers important lessons for popular movements struggling for similar goals around the world. By focusing on tangible demands, making broad partnerships, and linking to the larger platform of economic inequality, Chilean protesters changed the rules of the game.

via Chilean Activists Change the Rules of the Game | Inter Press Service.

Pussy Riot wins Hannah Arendt Prize | News | DW.DE | 27.11.2014

The jury for the prize, based in the German city of Bremen, said in a statement that it wished to “honour all those who continue to resist reactionary developments in Russia despite persecution.”

Writer and activist Yuri Andrukhovych in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

They were jointly awarded the prize with Ukrainian author Yuri Andrukhovych for his role in the former Soviet republic’s democratic movement.

On making the 54-year-old the joint winner, the jury said it was to express its “respect for the campaigners for an independent and democratic Ukraine.”

The prize, which is worth 10,000 euros, has been awarded annually since 1995 and is financed by the Bremen Senate and the Böll Foundation.

via Pussy Riot wins Hannah Arendt Prize | News | DW.DE | 27.11.2014.

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

Photos from last night’s massive Ferguson protest in NYC that shut down three bridges.

No justice. No peace. What now? #FergusonNext

“Property damage and looting have been the most effective tools of social progress for white people in America.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates

What Ferguson says about the fear of social media.

via Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet.