NEITHER MAIDS, NOR NUNS, NOR IDIOTS'
insomnia, a terrible sore thimat, even band, but towards my kids. Imagine what it's like for a four year-old who * Or like Irene: "I felt enor denly removed and replaced... with is close to his mother to have her sud mously guilty, not towards my hur the telly!' boils... m KEMENT MAGGIE HER FED
rotate and collectivise responsibilities struggle. In many places they tried to they could bring their children - Tor viewed said that during the weeks of to the collective organisation of the so that no one had all the burden. They could come. They even tried to adopt It is possihle to give lots of different didn'1 helieve they were capable of. disconnection with their nomal daily together: during the struggle there in one way or another: things can never be the same as they were The struggle of the nurses was scctor. Other women's struggles are the nurses siruggles is at the same for the construction of a women s The burdens of these problems ex- plain the attention given from the start inise the number of women who forms of struggle which meant that example when they occupied the of fice of the director of the hospital at examples. All the women we inter- the strike they did things which they These ure experiences they won't for- get, long-tern gains for the move- They talked as well about how the struggle had changed things for them at a personal level; that total the discovery of solidarity among twcen many of the girls who thought they didn't have much in common', I There were also the changes which couples- there were a lot of collective Everybody bad the same conclusion nothing less than the expression of a resurgence of women's struggles. It hospitals: it has relevence for all women, because it directly confronted the problems faced by all working women, especially those in the public likely soon. Leaming the lessons of tonities. The outcome will be decisive women, the pleasure of being Marie-Francoise: 'Arthe hospital yes! tried to hold meetings at 2pm to max- was a different atmosphere, even be- With a qualification from importance goes way heyond the We leave the last word to Isabelle: "Our struggle is historic for the profes on that subjecl time to prepare for future oppor- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 12 February 1989 routine - like a breath of fresh air' A breath of fresh air sion. Perhaps also for all worcere But at home - well, I'm not so sure the experience provoked discussions of 80 or 90 per cent women. Thin ex- plains some of the specific features of the struggle, Entering into struggle is never the same thing for a woman as cal rcasons, but because in the main for ly separate their working lives from weight of the home on their hucks" as Clande put it. "The nurses" strike was Irene emphasised: the women who Everyone talked of the constant for a man, not hecause of any biologi- women its never possible to complete- their "private" lives. Even during strikes they continue to curry the work at an emergency cover level; but it was also the kids in the house in tho ing - even if the "husbands" did a bit more for a while, even if the bousework was left to one side, even if frozen food and sandwiches con- tasks we speak of a double work-day women, but women on between their work at the hospitals, the general assemblies and demonstrations. and their family responsibilities: however interesting it "Fortunately,' notes Clande most of the men at home lent a hand, other- But Sylvic has reservations - "they un- derstooed, more or less." She says they accepted it well at the beginning, but after a month of the strike began to However, there are those who regret not being able to do all that they could to support the strike bocause of the children. And there were those who disentangled themselver from themselves in the movement. but Like Marie-Francoise: 11 neglected my daughter during the strike: I didn't think any more about her homework; F pushed her aside when Icould: she got evening, the housework and the iron family commitments to immerse found that put of themselves felt guil- wise it would not have been bearable'. A lead to Europe: the Manchester nurses' strike which triggered the British protest. strike faced a triple work-day! all was, it was still a burden. mobilised had to assumie find it a bit too much... stituted our daily fare" *And when it's not the image of good belting. Under the slogan of "mother"' it's the flip-side - the image Whichever way it is, nun or whore, they demanded the right to dignity and In February 1988, on the other side massive scale, to gain recognition of co-ordination of nurses. That was the gradually overtured the rules of the ing that the struggle really helonged to and then national co-ordinations, of the randy nurse', says Valerie, "naked under her white coat and who sleeps with all the doctors and interns. you re never recognised as somconc think "feminine intuition' is enough But the nurses" movement started to give this old ideningical claptrap a "neither maids, nor nuns, nor fools! equality. They wanted an end to being bandage wounds; they demanded the right to think. It's just as much their place as women in a very hierarchical universe (85 per cent of doctors are at the Channel, British nurses, often called angels' took strike action on a "Why not do the same over here ton?' said many French nurses... The result tion, and then the birth of a national A large part of the strength of the movement of the nurses and other based on general assemblies in cach hospital, with mandated delegates) involve the maximum number of orderlies, there to simply their training and responsibilities. emergence of a movement which tain their control of the struggle, and from the "days of action" called by the union leaderships, without any con- A 'base' composed, let's not forget, was the massive March 25 demonstra- medical personnel came from the focl- them; the method of organisation which they adopted (local, regional showed the desire to guard and main- people. This was all light years away for this joh.' Old cliches die hard! men) that they are questioning. qualified like technicians. sultation with the 'hase" political gamic. work-day for ...we speak women, but strike faced work-day!" of a double women on working a triple Page 20 Jonh Harris AH.
RE FE El Salvador: FMLN calls
They hope to outmancuevre the guerillas be able to restrain the public cxcesses of the the The FMLN offer has allowed them to appear as the party of peace and democracy and it has undoubtedly won the majority to support thin position. The response of the army, government While in the first instance, under pressure from the US, the any and the Christian region, appears to have been leaning on the hawks in the El Salvadoran army and in the far- right ARENA party to come to a more concil- and rebuild a centre right coalition which would death squad wing of ARENA while maintain- ing the legitimacy of the present political and and the US has been confused and divided. Democrats had said there was some- El Salvador: mothers in the capital pray for the return of disappeared' relatives. liatory position with the FMLN. conomic structure. moment, raising taxes. El Salvador is the US': most costly intervention after Vietnam and The Bush administration faces problems with regard to the whole of Latin America. In the last period the land mass to the south of the US has seen the development of a populist radi- cal altemative to the ruling PRI goverment proclaimed Marxist member of the Workers* Party to the mayorship of Latin America's hig- The Bush administration, although having appointed a noted conservative to avenice the Gram-Rudman Amendment without, for the party in Mexico, the failure of the LIS to remove Noriega in Panama and the election of a self- gest city, Sao Paulo, in Brazil. as a part of the Democratic Convergence. It has has offered to accept the result and to campaign aid the plans of the army, and to decree a four made an offer which has sparked debate While refusing to participate in the March elections because of the inevitable fraud, the FMLN have suggested an altemative: to hold the clection on September 15, El Salvador Na- tional Day, and for the FMLN to take part in To make way for this to happen the FMLN pledged to respect present mayors if they do not day truce and withdrawal from towns and In the last week of January the El Sal- vador liberation forces of the FMEN