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Nicaraguan Women: Unlearning the Alphabet of Submission Was Made Possible in Part by Fund- Ing from W.H $3.00 NICARAGUAN WOMEN i 1 Unlearning the Alphabet of Submission Women's International Resource Exchange (WIRE) Guardianphoto by Jim Levitt Woman cutting meat in a new market in Ciudad Sandino. Guardianphoto by Peter Kelly AMNLAE members march in Managua, July 1984. Guardianphoto by Paolo Bosio Sandinista woman at the funeral of her husband, murdered by contras. Guardianphoto by R. DeFrancesco Survivors of contra raid accompanying bodies of murdered relatives to Jinotega for burial. APIA, Larry Boyd Soldier in Sandinista Army. Cover Design by Linda Briggs Ragged Edge Press Fall 1985 lern CONTENTS We Have the Capacity, the Imagination, and the Will: Milu Vargas Speaks with Margaret Randall 1 The Man Who Loves Me by Gioconda Belli 5 Adrienne Rich Reflects on U.S. Feminism and Nicaragua . 7 Women's Liberation: A Barricada Editorial 9 Women and Agriculture by Aida Redondo 11 The Sandinista Philosophy of Government by Miguel D'Escoto 13 Nicaraguan Prostitutes-Protagonists of Their Own Transformation: WIRE Interviews Jacqueline Cuevas 15 A Necessary Critique: A Barricada Editorial 19 Open Letter to My Aggressor and His Accomplices from Patricia Lindo, AMNLAE Activist 20 The Family in Our Revolution by Jorge Flores 21 AMNLAE: Women's Leadership in the Revolution by Mercedes Mejia 23 Pepe and Maria 27 Nicaragua: Nation of Births by Lauren Poole 29 Nicaragua 1984: Human and Material Costs of the War 32 Dr. Myrna Cunningham: A Miskitu Woman Testifies 36 Gioconda Belli-A Poet and Revolutionary Speaks: A WIRE Interview 39 Song to the New Times by Gioconda Belli 43 Resource List ......................................................... 47 N • National capital • Provincial capitals —-— Pan AnKriaM Highway Map from Sweet Ramparts NICARAGUAN FACTS Laraf Area,' 57,143 square miles (approximately the size of Iowa) Population: 2.8 million (approximately the size of metro- politan Boston) Median Age of Population: 15 (U.S. median age: 30) Language: Spanish (official); English and Indian lan- guages spoken on Atlantic Coast Ethnic Minorities: Miskito Indians—70,000; Sumo Indians-6,500; Rama Indians-500; Black Creoles- 27,000 (estimates) Religion: 90% Roman Catholic; 10% Protestant/ Evangelical Literacy: 87% of the population under 10 years of age (under Somoza: 50%) Gross National Product: (1981) $2.2 billion Chief Products: Cotton, coffee, beef, sugar Miles of Railroad: 215 miles Miles of Paved Road: 1,000 (approx.) Size of Regular Army: 20,000-25,000; Militia- 80,000 From Nicaragua: A Look at the Reality Quixote Center P.O. Box 5206 Hyattsville, MD 20782 i WE HAVE THE CAPACITY, THE IMAGINATION, AND THE WILL: Milu Vargas speaks with Margaret Randall The Revolution is four years old. Nicaraguan women are MR: And all these activities are promoted by growing in it, contributing to it, and are an integral part AMNLAE? of it. They bring their tradition of struggle and their magic, their strength and their compassion. Their achieve- MV: Yes, and there are other areas besides. For exam- ments and problems are those of an entire people in strug- ple, in the Council of State-our parliament- gle, of an entire nation reclaiming its identity by strength AMNLAE's representative has had outstanding par- of dignity and arms. But their condition as women— ticipation: the work she does, the seriousness with which historically elevated as well as subjugated—suffers speci- she confronts the task of revolution, her initiative in fic birth pains in this period of transition to a different and presenting new laws. more just society. I went to see companera Milu Vargas It is important to note that, for us, "being AMNLAE" (head legal counsel of the Council of State/Council of the does not only mean a woman who is affiliated as a People) to ask her to speak about women in the Revolu- member. It involves having certain values and attitudes tion, to describe their problems as well as their gains in as a woman. You yourself know that militancy is not just these four years of youthful victory. Milu's dynamic figure a membership card; militancy is a way of life, an attitude. is well known to those who visit the Council. She talks easi- AMNLAE is undertaking the task of ideological trans- ly, but her answers denote a great deal of concern and formation of values. To "be AMNLAE," to be a revolu- reflection. tionary woman, is not easy. Because our very lives have We settle in at her office and I launch the first question: gradually been transformed in the repressive situation we lived through in the past, in the role we have had to MR: Milii, AMNLAE * has its own history by now. take on along with our male comrades in the liberation It has moved from the concept of a mass organiza- struggle, and with our equal responsibility for the con- tion to that of a women's movement, a product of its struction of a new society. In these conditions, in our very own experience and analysis. Could you say a litr practice itself, our lives have transcended those of tradi- tie about the organization of Nicaraguan women, its tional women. most important tasks, what it means for women in The family, for example. It was based on a vertical con- the popular sectors, its future prospects? ception, the father owned everyone and everything. He was the one who gave the orders, the one who par- MV: Let's try and be organized so we can be clearer. ticipated. Now we see that women have prepared them- Women here are 50.8% of the population (1971 statistics). selves, through their practice, to go beyond that kind of Not all women in Nicaragua belong to AMNLAE, but relationship. There is a more egalitarian relationship. I AMNLAE as a women's organization affects all women's don't mean to be idealistic; I think it's a process which lives. Its task is to lead the struggle for Women's eman- has begun and continues to advance, but is far from cipation. AMNLAE has assumed many activities to finished. There is still a lot to do to complete it. And we're more fully incorporate women into the revolutionary pro- going to keep on working with objectivity. cess and also plays a key role in the ideological transfor- Another thing, the question of reproduction, maternity. mation taking place in this society. Sixty percent of the Previously we had bourgeois values in this area. Your volunteers in the literacy brigades were women. At the greatest fulfillment was in being a mother; beyond that present time women also represent 60% of the People's there was nothing. Today we realize that we can be Militias. Eighty-eight percent of the Popular Health mothers, consciously and happily so, not as a burden but Workers are women. And almost 90 percent of the neigh- as a privilege. And not with a restrictive maternity borhood revolutionary patrols (a fundamental base for which prevents us from fulfilling ourselves in other fields. the defense of the Revolution) are women. We have transcended that. This has often meant guilt for us (because we think we're taking time away from our children). But we have to come to the conclusion that what counts is not the amount but the quality of the time "Luisa Amanda Espinosa Association of Nicaraguan Women spent. And we have gone about looking for some way to Women's International Resource Exchange be with our children for perhaps a short period of time there was a myth for women; no one talked about a but with a high degree of communication. satisfactory sexuality for women; sexuality was con- As far as household tasks are concerned, we used to sidered a conjugal duty. Today we speak everywhere, with think that we had to do all the housework. Today com- our workmates, with a neighbor, and we insist on things paneras who have had concrete experience in this with regard to women's sexuality: one, that a woman par- sense—they talk to the companero and say: look, if I have ticipates too, that she has a right to pleasure. And two, to do revolutionary guard duty, if I'm in the Militias, if that sex must reflect a good relationship, real I'm in the Health Brigades, if I'm in the literacy cam- communication. paign, I can't be totally responsible for the housekeep- And then there's the image of woman. Our com- ing. It's not just an abstract struggle-you do half and munications media are important, because it's not I do half-but the very dynamic of the Revolution which enough for us to change in private life; the changes have has made us transcend these roles. to affect society too. It was interesting for me to meet a The companeros have understood and are doing their companera in Italy who sent me a study she made of two part, some well, others protesting, others still resist (and of our newspapers: La Prensa and Barricada.** She read in resisting become part of a family problem). And we them for a year, clipped everything to do with women, women have gradually been transformed. We're not new and did a study of the image of women presented in each. women yet, that's a long way off, but neither are we the She said to me: the Barricada woman is dynamic, same as before. And we will no longer transmit the same decisive, disciplined, a woman who enjoys living and who old values. We are transmitters of ideology; in this sense participates in all the tasks of the Revolution. In Bar- we have a great effect on our children's education, in the ricada we see women cutting coffee, women militia, example we give them.
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