A feminism that is truly anti-racist and anti-imperialist must also be anticapitalist.

Feminism for the 99% was an impulse buy and read, and I am so glad that I picked this book up. Feminism for the 99% is a series of theses that critiques capitalism and highlight how capitalism has resulted in racism, discrimination, gender inequality, gender violence, ecological destruction and hetero-normative behaviour being entrenched as acceptable behaviour in our society. This book is inherently political and calls out capitalism as a problem; the book also serves as an attack on liberal and capital feminist like Sheryl Sandberg who it openly critiques throughout for her "lean in" doctrine. However, this book is titled as a manifesto and is clearly a call to arms for women to strike and take action. Therefore, I don't think this book has to be or should be objective in its arguments. This book does not pull punches as it rallies for the socialist/marxist cause and promotes equality in its truest form. If you do not have leftist political leanings then you probably would not appreciate the arguments in this book.

The book also feels especially relevant in the current climate, which is why I think it felt so stark reading it, as the authors highlight how the structures and system of capitalism does not benefit the people. In the UK at the moment, we are seeing how the government has prioritised the economy over the safety of the people. The government plans to send primary school children back to school as a means of providing free child care, so parents can return to work. This evidences the way in which capitalist culture and society prevails and does not protect the weak and the vulnerable, and is exactly the arguments this book puts forth.

The book is very high-level in its approach and there is no bibliography to the research that these women have clearly done to inform their arguments. However, all the authors are professional academics who have written extensively on their subjects. Furthermore, this book didn't need the research and footnotes to support its arguments as their examples are so clearly demonstrated in key cases we see in the news. One example would be the question about the justice systems ability to deal with violence against women. The authors argue that the justice system disproportionately targets poor and working-class men of colour. We have seen, particularly in America as this book focuses on, only recently with the shooting of the jogger Ahmaud Arbery, the justice system targets people of colour. The justice system, especially in America accuses and shoots first on people of colour and asks questions secondly. Another instance of the justice systems failure to protect women is the gang-rape of the teenager in Cyprus last year. The young woman was then vilified and given a suspended sentence for public mischief despite being a victim, highlights how across the world the justice system is not working to protect the vulnerable. It shows that these arguments that are put forward do not need footnote documentation when we can see the real-life examples so clearly around us right now. This book is also a manifesto, so it would draw away from the pace and punch of the arguments.

Feminism for the 99% is entirely persuasive and well-written as I found myself utterly absorbed and agreeing with the arguments that were put forward throughout the book. At times some of the language was a little academic as the authors talk about neo-liberalism, social reproduction, imperialist and colonial behaviours etc. However, in the authors note at the back, the authors unpick some of the terminology they use, their credibility for writing this piece as women academics involved in extensive research around these topics, as women involved in the strikes for women around the globe. They bolster and support their piece effectively in their authors notes and articulate both why and how they chose to write a manifesto which I think is important and relevant. This is definitely a book that is reaching out to the masses, and I think its accessible at just under 100 pages. Although you may need to google some terms if you're not familiar this book feels incredibly relevant.

Far from proposing to obliterate or trivialize them, our Manifesto advocates that we fight against capitalism's weaponization of our differences. Feminism for the 99 percent embodies the vision of univeralism: always in formation, always open to transformation and contestation, and always establishing itself anew through solidarity.

I especially liked the focus on interweaving feminism with topics of racism, LGBTQ+ discrimination, Islamphobia etc. The book highlighted how nations show 'enlightened toleration' in one area and use it as a way to vilify other communities; for example they spoke about how certain European nations show increasing liberalism to LGBTQ+ communities, but then use this to actively discriminate against Muslims who they argued don't show this 'enlightened toleration'. When it comes to issues of race, a lot of their arguments drew back to the impact of colonialism and the exploitation of workers under colonialism, apartheid and the international division of labour. The authors called out how the exploited workers have roughly always coincided with the "global color line". They also spoke about how women of colour were predominantly in the service of their white women counterparts and the disadvantages and exploitation that left them open to. I liked how clear these messages were.

I think it was incredibly important that this brief manifesto connected together all these issues so clearly and at a really high level connected the various problems to show how they are all a feminist issue. This book feels like a good introduction and call to arms to bigger problems in regards to global feminism, inter-sectional feminism and true feminism that believes in equality for all. I only wish for me there was a bibliography as a stepping stone to reading about more areas these women spoke about, however, I think the next step will be to look up their other works.