Resisting the pull of cynicism since 1969.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Voices of impatience and principle

Work has me far too swamped at the moment to write anything detailed for Blogging Against Sexism Day (which I have actually officially missed, but hey, I haven't slept yet, so Thursday isn't over yet, right?). So instead here are some wonderful words of wisdom about women's rights issues from Stephen Lewis, from a presentation I attended with him and his son Avi on Tuesday night. And yeah, I know there's some irony in a female blogger deferring to an old white guy on this topic, but come on, it's Stephen Lewis.

6 comments:

skdadl said...

The Nobel for Lewis -- yes!

Thanks very much for this, IP.

croghan27 said...

I have managed to meet two people in my life that gave me faith in the world, in humanity and in people - Stephen Lewis and Grant Notley.

Yes, Lewis is an "old white guy", but his words have no gender and his thoughts have no sex.

Thank you for showing one of them here.

Anonymous said...

Great video. Thanks for posting this. :)

susansmith said...

Idealist, Lewis said that the most important thing to fight in the world is gender equality. I thought about that, because right now there is this whole notion of climate change being the most important thing to fight. My most instant thought, is to suceed at climate change we must succeed at gender equality. Not to be homgenizing [sic] or sexist, or get into a nature vs nurture debate, but women's more voiced concern for children, peace, the earth seems to be in the best interests of the planet.
I am not saying that men don't also advocate these things, but it seems that more women around the world, from all walks of life, seem to priorize the above. Just a thought. I think Steven Lewis is wonderful, and is wonderful to listen to. Quite right, his words have no gender and his thoughts have no sex.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry I missed you there.

Interesting how the two have quite different views on whether to change the system by the masses, or to change it from within the inside.

Idealistic Pragmatist said...

croghan27,

Yeah, I know what you mean. I came to Canada too late to meet Grant, but his daughter Rachel is pretty amazing in her own right, and a dear friend.

dicer,

I wondered whether anyone out there in blogland might have been there, too! We were front and centre, phew. Not something I'll forget anytime soon, that's for sure.