AF3IRM SF/Bay Area

"Our hearts are breaking and are filled with anger for the workers and families impacted by the shooting in San Jose, CA and for the larger, broader labor movement including our union siblings in the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521. Nine people were killed Wednesday morning, May 26, at the VTA light rail yard in San Jose. Many of them were men of color and public transportation workers attending a union meeting...

As sisters in AF3IRM, as working-class people, women of color, and proletarian feminist organizers we know that this mass shooting was an act of violence against women, people of color, and workers. Both employees and those that frequently use forms of public transportation deserve to feel safe—a reality that does not hold true for most of us. So, we commit to unite as a class to build that reality."

Solidarity Forever: AF3IRM Stands with our Union Brothers Massacred in San Jose Our hearts are breaking and are filled with anger for the workers and families impacted by the shooting in San Jose, CA and for the larger, broader labor movement including our union siblings in th…

“For TRUE s*xual liberation to be possible, we have to liberate our bodies from both the state and the market.”

- Esperanza Fonseca & Khara Jabola-Carolus

The myth of "s*x work" w/ Esperanza Fonseca and Khara Jabola-Carolus and from join host to discuss the relationship between the s*x trade, militarization, and global imperialism.   Support:  

"The question of whether prostitution is work is largely irrelevant to the proletarian or socialist feminist. Whether or not it’s work doesn’t guarantee our enthusiastic approval. “Work” is not a Marxist term, “labor” is. And labor, productive or reproductive, can exist under different levels of coercion and violence. The logic of “s*x work is work” makes no sense because we shouldn’t uncritically endorse an industry simply because it fits under the broad, colloquial understanding of “work.” Especially when that industry has proven to be unable to separate coercion and violence from its standard operating procedure.

Activists such as Mac and Smith, along with their book deals, offer a theory of the s*x trade that is disconnected from reality and invoke empty platitudes to garner support for a political position that is pro-industry more than it is pro-worker. The first step in any campaign that truly cares about women and LGBT people in the s*x trade must be to separate the industry from the person and understand the difference and opposing class interests." - Esperanza Fonseca

The problem with the phrase “s*x work is work” Is s*x work like all other work? And does it matter?

Our hearts go out to our sister and comrade, Esperanza Fonseca, today. This morning Esperanza released a lengthy letter to some comrades detailing her gut-wrenching experience as a socialist, a feminist, a transgender Latina woman, and a survivor of the brutal s*x trade. In her thoughtful analysis, she breaks down the common misconceptions of the industry. For those who share ’s desire to listen to those in the s*x industry, we encourage you to hear Esperanza out. (Link in bio.)

If we’re not centering the most marginalized (by race, class *and* gender) in the s*x trade, then who are we centering? If we’re not willing to recognize and hold the line against the misogynist reality of the s*x industry, then what else are we willing to compromise? If we’re dismissing voices like Esperanza’s who identifies as a former pr******te and REJECTS THE TERM , can we truly claim to “listen to ‘s*x workers’”?

If you’re wrestling with these questions, know that you’re not alone. This is a complex issue with life or death stakes and it’s worth deliberate examination. Esperanza has clearly taken the time to be thoughtful about her own existence and experience, and this letter is for all of us.



Content warning: violence, racism, misogyny, transphobia, r**e

Medium article link:

A Socialist, Feminist, and Transgender Analysis of “Sex Work” CW: R**e

“This is a manifestation of the women’s movement in Hawaiʻi,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the State Commission on the Status of Women about the plan. “I’m an anti-imperialist feminist. I am a transnational feminist, and I’m also a bureaucrat. I get to occupy this space because I had built up a sisterhood around me and that sisterhood existed before me, built by other women.”

The commission was organized in 1964 and, bucking the norm of public agencies having antagonistic relationships with activists, has routinely interacted with grassroots organizations such as the local chapter of AF3IRM, a group that was involved in shaping the recovery plan. Two activist groups, the Micronesian Women’s Taskforce and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, also contributed to the project among other experts."

Hawai‘i’s Post-COVID Recovery Plan Puts Women First The Aloha State is working towards establishing a new, more equitable post-pandemic normal for vulnerable communities.

AF3IRM Del Area de la Bahía reconoce que el imperialismo, militarismo y sistemas de femicido de los Estados Unidos an causado terror patriarcal y violencia s*xual a un nivel global, focalizando a nuestras hermanas en otros países. En la misma manera que demandamos justicia para Vanessa Guillen, también luchamos para abolir los sistemas patriarcales y coloniales de opresión que están a la raíz de su muerte. A la misma vez tenemos que interrogar nuestra opresión internalizada, nuestra complicidad, y los factores que nos empujan a participar en estos sistemas de genocidio.

Entonces, Si, justicia para Vanessa Guillen, pero también hay que luchar para las vidas y la liberación de todas las mujeres que han sido aterrorizadas, violadas y forzadas a ser explotadas en él la trata de mujeres global por la máquina de guerra que es los Estados Unidos. Denunciamos toda la violencia s*xual del militar, doméstica e internacional. Esto es femicidio por el estado y ser 'patriota' es ser patriarcal. //

AF3IRM SF/BA recognizes that U.S. imperialism, militarism, and racialized misogyny are femicidal systems that enact patriarchal terror & s*xual violence on a global scale, targeting all our sisters in the global south. As we demand justice for Vanessa Guillen, we must also strive to abolish the colonial patriarchal systems of oppression that lay at the root of her murder, and simultaneously challenge the internalized oppressions, complicities, and push/pull factors that contribute to our own participation in these systems of genocide.

Yes, Justice for Vanessa, but let's also fight for the lives and liberation of all women that have been terrorized, r**ed, murdered, and forced into the global s*x trade by the imperialist war machine. We denounce all militarized s*xual violence, both domestically & transnationally. This is state-sanctioned femicide and "patriotism" is patriarchy.