Coalition Urges Everyone to Join Movement Supporting Sanders to Secure a 'Feminist Future'

On the eve of International Women's Day, a coalition of well-known feminists published a joint statement on Medium Saturday urging "our friends, families, and comrades to unite with us in the broad passionate movement supporting Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign, and to work to heal the relationships necessary to create a new era for our communities, this country, and the world."

Sanders is set to face off against former Vice President Joe Biden in a series of primaries the next two Tuesdays. Over the weekend, the U.S. senator from Vermont campaigned in the Midwest, secured endorsements from Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Justice Democrats, and rolled out a reproductive justice plan that tackles GOP attacks against healthcare and the nation's Black maternal mortality crisis.

"All across this country and globe, women and children have been working toward a shift in collective consciousness. A feminist future requires political change by men, women, and gender non-binary people not just in the structures and laws but in our collective values and behaviors," declares the coalition statement, which was published on a new Medium account entitled A Feminist Future.

"It requires an end to violence against women, girls, and all femme people. A feminist future demands the spirit of cooperation," the statement says. "We are inspired and motivated by the grassroots movements brewing across the globe and here in the United States of America for decency, dignity, and respect. We amplify poor, unemployed, and working people behind this political moment aching with passion and anxiety toward the uncertainty of tomorrow. We must strategically rally and rise together."

The statement addresses the campaigns of Biden as well as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who exited the race Thursday after struggling to secure voter support in the Super Tuesday primaries; Warren's withdrawal from the contest amplified calls from progressives for the Massachusetts Democrat and her supporters to join Sanders' "Not Me, Us" movement in taking on the Democratic Party establishment forces coalescing around Biden.

"We write this statement alongside the broken-hearted people of this country and we welcome the courageous risk a feminist future requires. Our 'we' is bigger than any one campaign, person, or agenda," the statement says. "Senator Sanders cannot guarantee a feminist future, it is up to us. But between him and Biden, Sanders is the clear choice."

Broadly, the statement explains, "we envision a world that boldly confronts its past so that we can begin the corrective process of atonement, repair, and healing." Some of the specific topics highlighted include attacks on reproductive freedom, environmental degradation, war, white terrorism, discrimination, and the oppression of African-American, Puerto Rican, Palestinian, and Indigenous people.

"For the nurses, teachers, cooks, domestic workers, bus drivers, farmers, librarians, organizers, caretakers, writers, sex workers, shamans, and waitresses: there's another America waiting for us and we are ready to greet her," the statement continues. "We need you to participate, to cooperate, to be a part of shaping our future on this planet together. Join us."

Some vocal backers of Sanders are among the statement's signatories, such as author and activist Naomi Klein, Sunrise Movement executive director Varshini Prakash, Missouri congressional candidate Cori Bush, and feminist icon Eve Ensler. Other signatories include Princeton University professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich, May Boeve of 350.org, environmentalist Winona LaDuke, and biologist Sandra Steingraber.

Read the full statement below:

We are a coalition of feminists contending with both our differences and our commonality in age, race, class, religion, labor, and sexual orientation. We meet at the intersection of our fluid identities. Though our experiences are different, we share a vision of a feminist future.

We urgently call in our friends, families, and comrades to unite with us in the broad passionate movement supporting Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign, and to work to heal the relationships necessary to create a new era for our communities, this country, and the world. We support the volunteers, door knockers, and movement to elect Senator Sanders because his proposed policies are ideas whose time has come. All of our lives we have been creating movements and art organized around the critical basic human dignity of all people. We support the movement to elect Senator Sanders because engaging electoral politics is a part of the larger strategic democratic movement for solidarity and a feminist future to take hold. We believe an end to patriarchy demands an end to class and racial oppression.

All across this country and globe, women and children have been working toward a shift in collective consciousness. A feminist future requires political change by men, women, and gender non-binary people not just in the structures and laws but in our collective values and behaviors. It requires an end to violence against women, girls, and all femme people. A feminist future demands the spirit of cooperation. We are inspired and motivated by the grassroots movements brewing across the globe and here in the United States of America for decency, dignity, and respect. We amplify poor, unemployed, and working people behind this political moment aching with passion and anxiety toward the uncertainty of tomorrow. We must strategically rally and rise together.

Time is not on our side.

We are explicitly naming the ecological disaster we are facing and we must vote for a future where our environment and our planet are treated with the utmost respect and protection. A world where our rainforests are protected, where clean drinking water is not a privatized commodity, and the earth is finally free of fracking and extraction. We are voting for a future to end poverty and rebuild the corrupt dehumanizing state of our world and the fragmentation of ourselves. We choose a politics of collectivity. We choose a future that honors social responsibility and connection.

We stand with the abolitionists, healers, and storytellers who pursue a world where we are brave enough to consider one another and fight for each other. We envision a world where discrimination, war, and white terrorism are laughed out of the room and become a thing of our past. Where we honor the dignity, respect, and self-determination of the Palestinian people. Where the people of Puerto Rico are free of colonial debt and domination. Where our government commits to the transformational power of an authentic apology and restorative process with millions of people displaced and torn apart by corporate interests masked as foreign policy.

We envision a formal acknowledgment and apology to the First Nations of this land and accountability for the millions of African-Americans oppressed by this country's denial of the generational repercussions of slavery and Jim Crow. We envision a world that boldly confronts its past so that we can begin the corrective process of atonement, repair, and healing.

We vote for a future free of state inflicted, sponsored, and sanctioned violence. In the not so far and brilliant feminist future, we look forward to communities free of dominance, aggression, isolation, and separation. Where no child is caged. Where schools and communities are free from police and prisons. We envision a world without violence.

We envision a country and world that prioritizes mental health and therapy as universally accessible. We look forward to a future where comprehensive high-quality childcare and education are free. We believe in a future where nobody gets evicted or has to choose between medicine or food. Where we each have the access and ability to vote and be counted.

We look forward to the day of true sexual autonomy and personal reproductive freedom. Where access to safe abortions, contraception, and quality health care is a human right. Where all forms of violence against all women, cis-gender, transgender and non-binary are a distant memory.

We write this statement alongside the broken-hearted people of this country and we welcome the courageous risk a feminist future requires. Our "we" is bigger than any one campaign, person, or agenda. We know that Senator Elizabeth Warren has inspired so many women who care about justice and freedom. Because of their values, and because they are women and non-binary supporters, they have faced skepticism and misogyny. Many of us, including Senator Sanders, have condemned these attacks and continue to do so. We invite Warren supporters to continue to fight for a future that she believes in with us- Medicare for All, a bold Green New Deal, student debt cancellation, and a world where people are not attacked on the basis of their gender, sexuality, race, class, immigrant status, disability, or criminal legal status.

We also know that people may consider Joe Biden because he seems safe or a return to normal but through Biden many people who are sick will continue to die because he opposes universal healthcare. The planet will perish because his climate plans are weak. Immigrants looking to rebuild a home will be deported and Black people will continue to be murdered by police. We deserve more. We are all we got. Senator Sanders cannot guarantee a feminist future, it is up to us. But between him and Biden, Sanders is the clear choice. Biden represents the worldview that brought us enormous income inequality and injustice.

For the nurses, teachers, cooks, domestic workers, bus drivers, farmers, librarians, organizers, caretakers, writers, sex workers, shamans, and waitresses: there's another America waiting for us and we are ready to greet her. We need you to participate, to cooperate, to be a part of shaping our future on this planet together. Join us.

Read this statement aloud with your friends. Share it in your communities. Post it on your platforms. Let's organize for a #FeministFuture #IWD2020 #Bernie2020.

In struggle and with love,

Melina Abdullah, Thandiwe Abdullah, Hamdia Ahmed, Zaina Alsous, Taina Asili, May Boeve, Cori Bush, Rosa Clemente, Patrisse Cullors, Molly Crabapple, Dr. Victoria Dooley, Jonel Edwards, Jodie Evans, Eve Ensler, Zillah Eisenstien, Barbara Ehrenreich, Laura Flanders, Rachel Gilmer, Kim Gordon, Sandra Guzman, Alexandra Halaby, Leah Hunt-Hendrix, Saru Jayaraman, Mahdis Keshavarz, Naomi Klein, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Rachel Kushner, Winona LaDuke, Sarah Leonard, Annie Leonard, Aya De Leon, Thenjiwe McHarris, Jane McAlevey, Anuradha Mittal, Aja Monet, Helen Pena, Carmen Perez, Derecka Purnell, Varshini Prakash, Barbara Ransby, Shana L. Redmond, Linda Sarsour, Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Sarah Schulman, Sandra Steingraber, Susan Stryker, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Astra Taylor, Sunaura Taylor, Opal Tometi, Amy Vilela, Kenidra Woods

If you'd like to add your name please sign on here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScS8tZ1JG_n5Oo3p01n0ixWyqNGg8cVIhXUNSEO6KFVhCOU5A/viewform?usp=sf_link