From full houses to gray streets

Assembly. – Welcome to the parole meeting. Since we are so many here, this year we will have a vote with patches, not by hand. Good choice!

The voice of a pretty woman in 8. the march committee fills the tasteful hall at Fagforbundet in Apotekergata, almost midway between the Oslo District Court and the Norwegian Supreme Court. It is Tuesday night this week, and the fighting for the International women's day 2013 will be decided.

Facsimile: Issue 9, 1. March.

Parole meeting ahead of 8. The March train in the capital usually attracts 30-40 women. This year, the number is around 120, which has led to the floor also serving as seating. The good turnout is probably not only because this year is 100 years since women gained universal suffrage in Norway. The advance notice of the Young Right and Young Left politicians has led to mobilization from the various camps this evening 26. February 2013.

While some women, who are the only ones with the right to vote here, are at the meeting as representatives of an organization or political party, others have come alone to vote 10 slogans among this year's 55 proposals, submitted by both organizations and individuals. Representatives from the Women's Group Ottar, the Pro Center, SU, the Mirasenteret, "Women with pails and shovels", the Crisis Center Secretariat and Skeiv Verden look through the lists of parole proposals this evening.

The bourgeois youth politicians also look serious. But even they seem to have a limited belief that they can get a majority for the words "Quoting is discrimination" or "Socialism is not feminism".

Right-protest

And then: The buzzing stops. The March 8 Committee's working committee (AU) provides information on the evening's progress. It is informed of emergency exits, in case of fire, it is said, but possibly also considering that someone gets a burning desire to leave the parole meeting. This year, it is said, the committee has selected ten appellants in advance to present at the March 8 event at Youngstorget.

Then bring one buzzer in again. The first one to rise represents Young Right. With support from the side woman, who represents Young Left, she is the first to speak from the assembly.

- We would like to see that we got to choose appellants for this year's event. Either one should stick to universal women's advocates who only talk about women's rights, or one should set up a political meaning diversity on March 8, said First Deputy Leader of the Young Right, Jenny Clemet von Tetzschner.

CONVERSATION: – We work well with Fokus and go with them on the March 8 train, says Benter Adhiambo in PanAfrican Women's Association in Norway (Pawa) (left). Here in conversation with Sissel Thorsdalen in Fokus. photo: new time

It is not only in Oslo that the Young Right women are active ahead of this year's March 8th. Both in Stavanger and Bergen it has been reported that bourgeois will flag their own passwords in the March 8 train. In the capital, it is more difficult to make an impact. Clemet von Tetzschner says that the Young Right did not receive any invitation to the parole meeting, but became aware of the possibility of submitting proposals just hours before the deadline expired. She continues:

- I think it's a shame that you do not get quiet on the train with slogans that contradict the main slogan. On a day like Women's Day, where women's rights and women's issues are to be promoted, I believe it is particularly important to reflect the diversity of opinion that exists among women in Norway. Not all women are socialists. A March 8 train should also be able to reflect that, says Clemet von Tetzschner to the audience.

Some throw themselves into the debate, but the March 8 committee interrupts the discussion. It will take too long to discuss things that have already been decided in advance, they explain. Despite not having the right to vote at the parole meeting, some men have also found their way to tonight's meeting. The discussion moves on to parole proposals and women's park at Ekeberg.

Closer to 23 o'clock Tuesday night, after over four hours of debate, ten parole proposals have been selected, ready to be painted with red paint on a white background. None of the Young Parish's three parole proposals were approved. Thus, the murmur continues about how inclusive International Women's Day really is.

Feels left out

"We never doubted we would win."

This quote from the women's rights activist Gina Krog (1847–1916) is central this year on the voting rights anniversary website. But the Norwegian women's movement, and the «female we», do not always turn out to be as unified in 2013 as the powerful the quote from that time was supposed.

- I do not rule out that it may be relevant with own alternative March 8 trains in the future, declares Liberal feminist and Liberal leader Trine Skei Grande to Ny Tid.

FULL: Over 120 women, and a few men without voting rights, had come forward to vote for this year's 10 passports on the March 8 train in the capital. Several had to sit on the floor. PHOTO: MODERN TIMES

She explains how the Liberal Party in 1913 was central to making women independent political individuals, with the introduction of universal suffrage. Krog was the initiator of both the Norwegian Women's Affairs Association in 1884 and the Women's Voting Rights Association in 1885, both associations with a background in the Liberal Party – long before the new feminist wave of the 1960s. In light of this year's anniversary of the right to vote, the Liberal leader from Overhalla is ready to begin the process of taking back Women's Day.

- In the anniversary year 2013, we have postponed our central board meeting to the weekend of March 8 – precisely to focus on the fight for equality. I will probably not promise my own trains in my opening speech, but I do not rule out that there will be my own trains in the future, says Grande. She points out that it is important to tread carefully if it is real influence that is the goal.

- Often the attempts to create a more inclusive March 8 have been more marked by attacks than by real attempts at influence. We see this, among other things, we have seen in Oslo, where the Young Conservatives have proposed the slogan "Socialism is not feminism".

This is a completely wrong way to do it. We should be very careful to provoke opponents in such a way. I do not want to take away from people the commitment, as we have experienced ourselves, says Grande.

Central to the planning of the voting anniversary is the current leader of the Norwegian Women's Affairs Association, Torild Skard. She thinks it is a pity that no longer participates actively in the March 8 mark, but states that the opportunity exists to make their own train, if one feels excluded. Previously, it was common with several trains, not just one now. Her call to Grande is: Engage more!

- In previous years, we had several March 8 trains. If you want to represent a cause or organization, and do not get a pass for your slogan on the train, there is nothing in the way of making your own train. If you want to start your own train, it's really free, says Skard to Ny Tid.

And from the Oslo Police's side, it opens up to approve its own trains, already now March 8 – even if you apply as late as Friday March 1. In principle, you must apply to the landowner and the police for permission to go by train, and the police basically want 14 days of processing time. But on International Women's Day, the Oslo Police have respect for:

- Everyone has freedom of expression and is welcome to apply to go by train on 8 March. We are service-minded and take it on the heel if applications appear with a short deadline, an officer at the Greenland police station informs Ny Tid.

Different celebration

There is a difference between the village and the city when it comes to women's day markings, says the leader of the Liberal Party.

PLANS: Benter Adhiambo (TV) regularly contributes to Marit Sørheim, Helene Langsether, Sissel Thorsdalen, Mette Moberg and Ingvill Aalborg before this year's International Women's Day. PHOTO: MODERN TIMES

- I have celebrated Women's Day since I was politically active in Nord-Trøndelag in the 1980s, but it has been a long time since I have taken the train. We in the Liberal Party have rather found other ways to mark the day. The tradition in Nord-Trøndelag was inclusive, and raised broad questions related to what it is like to be a woman in Norwegian society. It included all types of women's associations, from the sanitation association to the rural women's team, says Grande.

- But are you and other liberal feminists not to blame for being outside? There are democratic processes around the March 8 slogans, is it not just to get involved?

- Yes, absolutely. And of course it should be part of my job to go to the slogan meetings and make suggestions. But we have tried, but have not exactly been welcomed with open arms. I have even experienced being thrown out of a slogan meeting in the 90s, says Grande.

- Why do not you go by train now?

- Because the slogans have said things I directly disagree with, and there have been issues that are so far from what I think is important, that I have not felt at home. When you even attack the Pro Center, which works with some of our society's most outcast women, it tears me to the core, she says, and adds:

- Women's Day has been dominated by the far left in politics. They have been given a monopoly on March 8, and then there is unfortunately no room for us liberal feminists, says Grande.

All welcome

But Left leader Grande meets little understanding from the working committee of this year's March 8 committee in Oslo:

- Everyone has the opportunity to submit parole proposals before the deadline, all women have the opportunity to vote, and everyone is welcome to participate in the train, Lone Johansen from the Crisis Center Secretariat answers

Together with Tina Skotnes (Women's Front), Mona Nesje, Monika Ustad (Red), Anna Elisabeth Uran (Trade Union) and Daisy E. Sjursø, she is the working committee of this year's March 8 committee.

- We try to embrace a wide range and want to reach as many as possible. We have made sure to regularly update information about deadlines and events, and to make the information as accessible as possible. Even though the women's movement was traditionally something that was created in working-class circles to fight for women's rights, everyone is welcome to participate to achieve the goal, says Johansen.

Tuesday's parole meeting she describes as successful. Ten passwords were adopted out of the 10 proposals that were submitted.

- We feel that what was decided was broad. In general, I would say that we had a broad collaboration on slogans, which lays the foundation for an inclusive women's day celebration, says Daisy E. Sjursø to Ny Tid after the slogan meeting. She is happy that representatives from Unge Høyre and Unge Venstre were also present at the vote.

- It was exciting that also representatives of these parties were here and participated in the meeting. I think it is good that they also get an insight into what a women's day and a women's day celebration also means for participation in later years, says Sjursø.

Seventy squad split

Feminists choose to refuse parole and "extreme left feminism" is not a new phenomenon. From 1976 to 1982, two trains were arranged in the capital on March 8, says researcher Trine Rogg Korsvik at the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Research at the University of Oslo.

- The women's front was affiliated with the AKP (ml) and the two trains were largely due to the fact that other parts of the women's movement believed that the AKP had couped on 8 March. There was also disagreement about what kind of slogans one should have. While the neo-feminists had slogans such as "Do not kill love with forced flushing", the Women's Front was afraid of rejecting so-called ordinary women and men. By the way, they all agreed on slogans about self-determined abortion, the right to work and free day care for all children. Until 1975, the two feminist camps went together by train, says Rogg Korsvik to Ny Tid.

She does not agree that the far left now claims to define the March 8 celebration. At the same time, she believes it is appropriate to highlight political disagreements on International Women's Day.

- It is important to point out that March 8 is a political day of struggle, and that it is therefore obvious that there are disagreements between the women. Women's Day should not be a day where all women should aim to agree and be celebrated in light of being women. It is good that there is disagreement. No one has a patent on what feminism is, says Korsvik.

In the early 1980s, an initiative was taken to re-assemble the two trains, and in 1982 a combined train wandered through the streets of Oslo. Since then, interest in marking that women's day has varied. In the 1990s, there was a decline in the commitment, now Korsvik believes to see increased marking desire.

- It may look as if the March 8 celebration has received a boost, especially this year towards the anniversary of the right to vote, says Korsvik.

The election in September also means that she can be a factor in the increased engagement this year around this year's Women's Day. She points out that Venstre also has a proud feminist tradition, such as the first party that introduced gender quotas and got a female party leader.

- It will be interesting to see if this year's March 8 interest is just a bluff, or if the bourgeoisie intends to continue the engagement, Korsvik concludes.

And thus, this year's parole meetings are also decided. Then only March 8 remains. ■

(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 01.03.2013. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)