Julie Bindel e Harvey Jeni take the bull by the horns: since there has been no possibility of dialogue with the left for too long, can radical and gender critical feminism look to the right without taking risks? A theme that we in Italy are well aware of and that agitated the entire election campaign that ended with the overwhelming victory of a right-wing woman, Giorgia Meloni, who has never declared herself a feminist.
The fact that the right-wing in Italy today is represented by a woman further complicates matters for feminism: on the one hand there are those who reject any form of collaboration with Meloni, on the other hand those who do not want to see her as an enemy and that they hope to engage in dialogue -or even that they voted for it-.
As in the UK, the USA and all western countries, in Italy too Radical feminism has always favoured political reference to the left: a complex dialectic that has seen many moments of conflict. But for a few years now, the left has seen fit to discontinue the interlocution with feminism radical, espousing gender identity politics and a transfeminism deemed more 'modern' and electorally more promising -clients better, in short-.
We are, as it were, facing a double suffering: the repudiation by the left and the break with the homosexual movement and also transsexual with which radical feminism has always been in close relation: it also means, as we know, personal relationships falling apart, sacrificed on the transactivist altar.
In Italy, the double rupture took place on two topics: surrogacy -to which we here give the name of surrogacy-, an issue on which the Left has never intended to unravel its ambiguities; we record just in these hours the fact that In Cuba from now on, poor women, in addition to being prostitutes, will be able to 'freely' rent out their wombs, conspicuous new business for that communist regime. And the Zan law, promoted by the left, which intended to surreptitiously introduce gender identity into our legislation (a bill that was later dropped in the Senate, thanks also to our extraordinary mobilisation and bare hands).
On both issues we have stubbornly and desperately sought an interlocution with both the left and the homosexual movement, but we were ignored, mocked, deplatformed, pilloried in all the ways we know. On both issues, on the other hand, the right -and in particular the party of Giorgia Meloni- expresses the same positions as us.
Who among us thinks of the possibility of a tactical alliance with the right wing to obtain political results on these and other issues -urgent, on the agenda, the question of the martyrdom of the girls and boys sacrificed to the transfiguration- it knows well that on other issues, prostitution being one of them, this alliance will not be viable. Above all, it knows that this alliance is unlikely to be strategic: if our horizon is a female-rooted civilisation and the ultimate liberation from patriarchal gender stereotypes, at least part of the right might be tempted by a restoration of the patriarchal model and traditional gender roles. This may not be the case for Giorgia Meloni herself, but it is probably the case for at least part of her party.
What to do then? It is probably useful and necessary to enter into dialogue with Giorgia Meloni - the first woman premier in the history of Italy - by offering our knowledge and experience and counting on the fact that she herself will have to come to terms with the machismo of her political party.
On the other side is Interesting what is happening in Spain and can offer a good model.
For years Spanish feminism, associated in the Contraborrado, is fighting against the horrible Ley Trans promoted by the left-wing majority (PSOE and Podemos). Even the Spanish sisters, who have always been linked to the left, have been obscured, mocked and deplatformed by that same left. And in recent times - by now the Ley Trans is in the home stretch - they have decided for a unscrupulous move, breaking the historical friendship with the PSOE and opening dialogue with the moderates of the People's Party (there will be general elections in Spain in 2023, and it will probably go down to the last vote).
This move probably comes after a long ordeal and much internal discussion, but it could be decisive: in fact, it was probably this break that gave a boost to PSOE progressives - Federación de Mujeres Progresistas- who have 'betrayed' their own party siding with feminism against Ley Trans.
Even in Italy so far it is completely lacking - by their own will - dialogue with militant and elected women in left-wing parties, aligned, corrupt or simply silent and unavailable for confrontation. The move, therefore, could be to not give up in the face of this wall, still try to awaken their consciences counting on the fact that they are women like us, offer them support and arguments because can break with the transphilic mainstream of their line-up which has been defeated in Italy today.
The other move is to wrenching gays, lesbians and transsexuals out of the transgender politics of that opportunist officialdom claiming to represent them politically while does not represent them at all: we know that most of the homosexual community, as seen with the birth of the LGB Alliance, no longer feels represented by associations such as Stonewall -or in Italy Arcigay- but the courage for a clear distance is often lacking. Making friends again, starting from where the alliance against the common enemy, the dying heterosexist patriarchy, broke down.
Rediscovering the reasons for common political work.
Marina Terragni
