Reminder to Progressives: Abortion is an Economic Issue

[moonshaz]

Bernie Sanders traveled to Nebraska this week to throw his support behind Omaha Democratic mayoral candidate, Heath Mello, who is running against the incumbent Republican mayor, Jean Stothert. A Mello win, Sanders has said, would give hope to other “progressive Democrats” in conservative states

Comments

[maynardsong]

Yeah, I'm REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY over brogressives who keep using the word "neoliberal" and throw women under the bus. Also, fuck Bernie. I'm done with him. And I'm done with the Jacobins.

[rainbows_]

I'm a woman who uses the word 'neoliberal'!

Here are some definitions/tweets to help explain neoliberalism:

"Neoliberalism is a form of capitalism in which the state deregulates the economy, destroys unions, decreases taxes on the rich and corporations, and defunds public goods, while repressing and policing the poor, particularly people of color."

From:
Well, @deray dared you to define neo-liberalism, and @DemSocialists have you covered: https://t.co/n3j0WD2AKi
- Blind Melenchon (@JAMyerson) April 20, 2017

neoliberalism is liberalism that overtly hates unions and the poor.
- Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 20, 2017

scab orgs like TFA, for example, are textbook ex. of neoliberal. Nominally progressive, funded by white billionaires, designed to gut unions
- Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 20, 2017

neoliberal starter pack pic.twitter.com/x8vBJ67sXp
- the waluigi left (@mechapoetic) April 20, 2017

[maynardsong]

TLDR "GOD why must you keep bringing up gender? Fuck gender issues, focus on class! Fuck focusing on misogyny, focus on the CORPORATIONS, man."

[liliaeth]

Especially since Bernie and his people are way too willing to throw women and minorities under the bus.

[moonshaz]

Yes, that's why I posted this. I am DONE with anyone who wants to throw actual humans under the bus sand still call themselves liberal or progressive.

If being progressive means supporting candidates who want to take away the reproductive rights of women, count me out!

[lollycunt]

The latest democratic VP candidate was in favor of restricting women's reproductive rights. It is unfortunately not exclusive to the progressive wing of the democratic party.

[moonshaz]

No, he wasn't. That's simply not true. He drew a firm line between his personal beliefs snd what the law should be. Which is fine with me.

There is plenty of documentation on this; here's one article I found on a quick Google search: https://thinkprogress.org/tim-kaines-journey-on-abortion-rights-781b1f877aa3

[lollycunt]

As your article points out, he had an anti-choice voting record prior to 2012. He continued to support the Hyde Amendment, which is *law* that restricts reproductive rights by making abortion less accessible, well into 2016.

So no, he did not draw a firm line between his personal beliefs and his thoughts on what the law should be.

[moonshaz]

I thought we were talking about his stance when he was running for veep, not at some point in the past. The stance he held as Hillary's running mate was fine, afaic, and the past is, well, the past.

Mello is not pro-choice by any definition. Bernie's supporting him doesn't BEGIN to make up for that, afaic, and it makes Bernie look rather out of touch with an issue that I believe is extremely important to most Democratic and progressive women. I'm not saying Bernie IS out of touch in that way. I don’t know if he is or not. I'm just saying this makes him LOOK out of touch to a lot of people, and it's making some of us like and respect him a bit less

[lollycunt]

He was supporting the Hyde amendment in public statements in 2016 - that is supporting a law that restricts reproductive care. This was after he was announced as VP

[rainbows_]

I agree! Especially about the issue that this is a larger problem within the democratic party itself. Both with progressive/moderate/neoliberal democratic politicians, they try to play both sides. You can't be both anti-choice AND an progressive advocate for abortion rights. You can do one side really well, or you can compromise, attempt to do "both sides" and end up with a solution neither side really wants or likes. Another example, you can't be both an advocate of the working class + middle class AND favor big business interests and the wealthy. The democratic party needs to clearly choose a side, and point out the enemy, who is responsible for destroying the country to counter the racist Republican narrative of who is to blame. "America is already great" will not cut it in a country where child poverty is among the worst in the developed world. In the richest country in the world, 1/3 kids live in poverty.

"In the same interview, Sanders said that they had to “have the guts to point the finger at the ruling class of this

[rainbows_]

"While the state plays an important role in safeguarding the rights of women, a state in hock to the neoliberal project can damage the health of vulnerable sections of society. Black women, in particular, are alive to the contradictions that the state polices their communities more heavily and uses harsh immigration rules instead of better resources when we turn to it for protection against issues like forced marriage."

From: Has neoliberalism knocked feminism sideways?"There is no place on Earth where neo-liberalism has not poisoned. It has allowed a handful of private interests to control as much as possible of social life in order to maximize personal profit. It has poisonous effects especially in the Third World, where imperial powers continue to pirate natural and human resources to fill the pockets of transnational capitalists. Initiated by Reagan and Thatcher, for the last two decades, neo-liberalism has become the dominant economic and political trend for much of the leftist (so they identify themselves) governments as well

[moonshaz]

But why is it called "neoLIBERALISM"? That's what I don’t understand.  NONE of the things your sources call "neoLIBERAL" sound remotely liberal to me.

I know the mindset you describe exists; I just don't understand labeking it as "neoliberal." It's not "liberal," in any way, shape, or form, sfaic. That’s why I called it a misnomer in a previous comment.

Sorry, but I just don't get what's "liberal" about neo"liberslism."

[rainbows_]

kat1031's comment was helpful in terms of explaining this

[moonshaz]

So "liberal" means different things in different contexts? I guess I shouldn't be surprised since that's trùe of a lot of words.

From what I can see, a lot of people who identify as "liberal" don't fit tne definition of "liberal" used in political philodophy OR the definition of "neoliberal" as I uunderstand it. All the people that would fit the definition of "neoliberal" are people I would describe as conservatve! Which makes me feel like "neoliberal" is a confusing term that is more useful in a college course on political science/philosophy than in the "real" world. But maybe that's just me, lol!

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this. I still have VERY mixed feelings about the term "neoliberal," and  tbh, I still find it alienating, but at least I see where it came from now..

[rainbows_]

"Saladin Muhammad, long time union organizer, veteran of Black Liberation Movement and spokesperson for the Black Workers for Justice, captures the view of a number of black activists who are naming neoliberal capitalism as the enemy: “structural policies of global capitalism like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), must be opposed and challenged by the Black working-class as part of the struggle for Black liberation and social transformation.”The logic of Saladin’s comment is grounded in a critical analysis of the relationship between African Americans and the capitalist political economy that suggest that the debased conditions of black working class existence in the U.S. is produced and reproduced as a result of the inner logic of this system