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Payday - a network of men Payday is
an international and multiracial network of men which works with the
Global Women’s Strike. We
have groups in London, the Philippines and in Philadelphia.
We work with other men in
other countries, including Chile, Canada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Italy,
Kenya, Spain, Uganda and Venezuela. We are
from many walks of life, waged and unwaged, urban and rural, fathers,
carers, immigrants, gay, bisexual and straight, of different races, ages,
members of community organizations and trade unions. Like the rest of the
Strike, we are independent of political parties. We
organise on the basis of the Strike’s central demand: that society must
Invest in Caring, not Killing -- that money spent on military budgets must
go instead to communities, which means first of all to women, who are
internationally the primary carers. All our
organising is done in close consultation with women from the Strike to
ensure that we do not ignore or contradict women’s and children needs. We have benefited from the leadership provided by the Strike,
whose starting point is the worker who does (most of) the caring, and are
encouraged to know that the revolution in Venezuela has also been
spearheaded by women, which is acknowledged by President Chávez. (We are happy to know he has said publicly that he wants to
join the Strike.) Finding
ways to work with women and children, and other men is, we believe, our
biggest challenge as well as our only chance for survival. Over the
years we have been involved in many campaigns and initiatives, namely: in
defence of welfare, anti-deportation, anti-war, support for waged workers
on strike (the Fire Brigades Union was the latest), pay equity disputes,
and many anti-racist initiatives, including No School Apartheid:
protesting the segregation of the children of asylum seekers, mainly Third
World children of colour. Our main
initiative in the last few years has been Refusing to Kill: gathering
support around the world for men (and increasingly women) who refuse to
torture, maim, rape and kill for the military.
Until an end for any need for them, armies must be used to defend
and support communities -- as in Venezuela -- not for aggression.
We have
initiated international campaigns in support of refuseniks in Israel,
Turkey and the US; and highlighted the key role that women play in
supporting conscientious objectors, “deserters”, draft evaders and
whistleblowers. The Strike
journal we will be bringing has information about the growing global
movement refusing the military and war we are involved in. In
2004 we supported Alex Izett, Scottish veteran from the First Gulf War in
1991, who went on hunger strike demanding the recognition of Gulf War
Syndrome, which has killed or disabled thousands of soldiers and members
of their families. His
protest won the Independent Inquiry in London and official recognition
that the Syndrome exists. We
have been networking with organisations in the US, in France and Italy on
this issue. In the
United States, we have been part of an anti-racist self-help campaign to
inform students and parents of their right to Opt Out – to refuse to
allow schools to give military recruiters access to students’ home phone
numbers & addresses . Young
people in Black, Latino and other low-income communities in the US are
targeted by military recruiters, despite broad and increasing opposition
to US wars, especially in communities of colour. We have
helped expose the appalling level of rape (of women and men) perpetrated
by, and going on within, the armed forces.
In fact, when Payday first got together, in 1977, it was to support
an anti-rape action in London by women, who founded the Global Women’s
Strike, accusing the State of defending and encouraging rape, especially
by soldiers. Since
we began we have said that as long as women are financially dependent on
men, men can’t be sure whether women are with us for ourselves or for
survival (little as that money may be).
We refuse to do the job the State allots to us men, to use our
greater social power to discipline women and children. See our Refusing to Kill website: www.refusingtokill.net for the latest news about the actions and views of men who have dodged the draft, silently or vocally refused orders, refused to serve, or used our knowledge of the military against the military. Why men are supporting the Global Women's Strike Sans Papiers: the new autonomous movement of immigrants and refugees campaigning against deportation. Started by African people and led by women, this movement initiated church occupations, hunger strikes, women's marches, caravans and other actions and has spread throughout France, Spain, Italy Portugal and beyond. Asylum seeker Hussein Kasujja demands the right to stay Peter Gichura disabled activist released - deportation cancelled! Blow to machismo as Spain forces men to do housework Guardian Friday April 8, 2005 To contact us email: payday@paydaynet.org
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