Which way forward for feminism?: in Eastern Europe and globally, part 1 of 3 with Youri Smouter

“On the Barricades” s06e34

In this week’s release of “On the Barricades,” we welcome back our monthly guest Youri Smouter of 1+1, with us to discuss with host, Romanian feminist and media critic, Maria Cernat. Youri and Maria are delving into the problem of the current state of the feminist movement– divorced from socialism as it is– in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. How did we get here and what is the way forward for feminism, in Eastern Europe and globally?

In Romania in particular, unlike the West, there was no mass movement for abortion rights but rather a take-over of feminist elites following the Ceaușescu regime and its brutal abortion-law ban. The result was a costly distancing from Romania’s socialist feminist roots, an emphasis on foreign-seeming demands for voting rights, and changing conditions for the feminist-leaning elites, instead of social and economic demands for the masses. How did we get here and what is the way forward– in the Eastern European context?