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Jewish World Review March 1, 2013/ 19 Adar, 5773 March, March, March By Greg Crosby
But before we march on to April, let us stop and smell the rest of the March roses. After all, there is much more to this month than Easter, Passover, and St. Patrick's Day, no matter what the greeting card companies want you to believe. For example International Women's Day is on the 8th. I know what all you guys are thinking, "Didn't we already have that celebration last month on the 14th?" Well, yeah, sort of, but this one is little different in that you don't have to go out and buy a heart shaped box of candy for your chick. For this one you just climb to the highest mountain top (or rooftop if you live in the city) spread your arms out wide, look up into the heavens and shout out to the world, "THANK G0D FOR WOMEN! WOMEN ARE THE BEST LIVING CREATURES IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! MEN ARE CRAP! MEN ARE WORTHLESS! WOMEN ARE THE GREATEST!" That's about it. According to Wikipedia, International Women's Day was originally called International Working Women's Day, but they changed it when people started to catch on to its Communistic origins. It started with the socialists in America, bless them, and was quickly embraced by Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc as a Socialist political event in celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements and human rights. The political and human rights angle has been promoted by the United Nations, of course, focusing on the social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide. WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE! The Socialist Party of America has its first national Women's Day in the United States on February 28, 1909. Then in August 1910, an International Women's Conference was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen. Inspired in part by the American socialists, German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the establishment of an annual 'International Woman's Day' and was seconded by communist Clara Zetkin. In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February. Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in the Soviet Union. From its official adoption in Russia following the Soviet Revolution in 1917 the holiday was predominantly celebrated in communist and socialist countries. Prompting the slogan, "Better red than in bed with Ted." International Women's Day has been celebrated by the communists in China from 1922, and by Spanish communists from 1936. After the founding of the People's Republic of China (that's Communist China to you and me) on October 1, 1949 the state council proclaimed on December 23 that March 8 would be made an official holiday with women in China. But don't forget, folks, it all started with good old American socialist suffragettes. But if you think that International Women's Day is the end of the story, well you would be wrong, Vladimir. Why just take a day when you can have the whole month. That's right ladies and gentlemen; March is Women's History Month. Three cheers! Or as they say on the Library of Congress' official web site, "The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society." So how did this thing happen? Well, to find out let's go back once again to The Library of Congress web site which states: "Women's History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as "Women's History Week." Throughout the next five years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as "Women's History Week." In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women's History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as "Women's History Month." Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women's History Month. Since 1995, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as "Women's History Month." Your tax dollars at work, folks. But get this, they were so busy passing resolutions and authorizing proclamations that they missed the most obvious opportunity. They should have called it "Women's HERstory Month." The word "HIStory" is so sexist and antiquated that it never should be associated with women's rights. They blew it. Oh well, maybe that'll be the next Congressional resolution. Happy March, girls! March, march, march, sisters suffragette!
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© 2008, Greg Crosby |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||||
