The Most Dangerous Women in the World: Emma Goldman by Sidney Weiss

1896: The Nursing Identity

2021-05-16 19:47:45 UTC

"Nursing was a vehicle to understand people's struggles and as a way of translating political philosophy into meaningful, practical solutions" (Connolly, C.A., 2020)

1916: The Enthusiastic Agitator of Birth Control

2021-05-16 19:51:02 UTC

A newspaper excerpt of an interview with Emma Goldman on her activist work on birth control. "Every woman should have the right to say whether she shall have a child or not. Motherhood should be a voluntary act; not the act of a slave" - Emma Goldman

The Return From Exile

2021-05-16 19:55:40 UTC

A clip about Emma Goldman, a famous immigrant anarchist organizer, discussing the impact of immigrant anarchists on the American society. 2:15-2:50

1917: The No Conscription League

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 12:20:11 UTC

This image is from a pamphlet Goldman and other anarchists in New York City made in response to the draft for World War I in the United States. The group was originally created to defend and assist those who had refused military service.

Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman founded the No Conscription League and were both eventually arrested for conspiracy against the government (Jewish Women's Archive).

Goldman was deported back to Russia, and she eventually made her way to Toronto.

1926: Life in Toronto

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 12:20:37 UTC

"When language couldn't unite anarchists, anti-fascism could."

Emma Goldman was known as the “lynchpin” of multicultural anarchism in Toronto. One of her main community-based initiatives in the city was mobilizing across neighbourhood boundaries to get other ethnic and racial communities involved in the anarchist movement (Panneton, 2020).

Goldman's Residence

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 14:54:36 UTC

Located on Spadina Avenue in Chinatown, picture is a plaque out front of Goldman's former residence she lived at in the late 1920's in Toronto. This apartment was a meeting ground for local anarchists who organized direct-action initiatives against the rise of fascist organizations in Toronto.

ANARCHISM DEFINED

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 15:00:42 UTC

Anarchism is a political ideology that rejects all notions of government and authority, and seeks to structure society on a voluntary basis through co-operation, not force.

Some of the founding principles of anarchism are based upon voluntary cooperation, mutual aid, and direct action. It is inherently anti-capitalist, rooted in the idea of a society with hierarchies.

1936: Emma Goldman and the Spanish Civil War. Anti fascism.

2021-05-17 19:18:15 UTC

Protect the Children

2021-05-17 20:07:12 UTC

Under the words "Emma Earns Her Punishment," this cartoon shows Goldman being led into prison by a police officer. The figure at the right is labeled a "sweat-shop boss," and the paper at Goldman's feet reads: "Lecture: How to protect from too many children." The caption at the bottom has the sweat-shop boss saying: "Hear this scandal! I need kids to work and she preaches against children! To prison with her!".

While advocating for women's right to access to birth control, Emma Goldman also acknowledged a child's right to be born into a healthy, stable, richening environment.

GROUP QUESTION

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 20:18:24 UTC

Anarchism is a controversial political ideology, often associated with recklessness, destruction and disorder — are the principles of anarchism as a political ideology similar to the foundations of community work practice? Why or why not?

CITATIONS

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 20:49:58 UTC

Connolly, C.A. (2020). “I am a trained nurse: the nursing identity of anarchist and radical Emma Goldman”. Nursing History Review Volume 28.

Jewish Women's Archive. "Yiddish Cartoon on Emma Goldman's Advocacy of Free Access to Birth Control, February 18, 1916." <https://jwa.org/media/yiddish-cartoon-commenting-on-goldmans-advocacy-of-free-access-to-birth-control>.

Rainey, H. (2018). “Emma Goldman (1869-1940). Embryo Project Encyclopedia.

Kowal, D. M. (2016). “Tongue of Fire: Emma Goldman, Public Womanhood, and the Sex Question”. SUNY Press.

Hsu, Hui-Chi, R. , (2021). Emma Goldman, "Mother Earth," and the Anarchist Awakening.

Notre Dame Press.

Burns, K. (2020, June 16). Seattle's newly police-free neighborhood, explained. Vox. https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/16/21292723/chaz-seattle-police-free-neighborhood.

Panneton , D. (2020, November 10). The surprising history of anarchists in Ontario. TVO.org. https://www.tvo.org/article/the-surprising-history-of-anarchists-in-ontario.

Goldman, E. (2019, December 29). ." Government, Politics, and Protest: Essential Primary Sources. . Encyclopedia.com. 16 Apr. 2021 . Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/legal-and-political-magazines/no-conscription-league-manifesto.

Jewish Women's Archive. (n.d.). Manifesto of the No-Conscription League. https://jwa.org/media/manifesto-of-no-conscription-league.

1916: A Birth Control Lecture

2021-05-17 21:29:19 UTC

Emma Goldman speaking publicly from an open car to a group of garment workers about birth control.

ANARCHISM IN PRACTICE

sidneybweiss — 2021-05-17 21:44:26 UTC

Last summer in Seattle, CHOP or CHAZ was established in response to George Floyd's murder, and in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement. This 3-week long occupation near Capitol Hill, that stretched about 6 blocks, was created as a police and authority free zone. People from all backgrounds joined and provided different resources and needs for the zone (Burns, 2020).

2021-05-18 01:45:00 UTC

Mother Earth, the monthly magazine published by Emma Goldman, played a key role in sparking and spreading the movement around the world.

The magazine’s broad readership—immigrant workers, native-born cultural elite, and professionals in various lines of work—was forced to reflect on society and their lives.

The active support of foreign revolutionaries fostered a borderless radical network that resisted all state and corporate powers.

Mother Earth was published without interruption from 1906 to 1917.

Early life & Influences

2021-05-18 13:41:40 UTC

Emma Goldman’s hatred for violent authority was a theme that ran throughout her life and career as an activist, of which she noted to be a major factor driving her combative approach to implementing social change. And the physical and verbal abuse Emma was subjected to during her childhood by her Father and other figures of authority may have laid the groundwork for her resentment and her need to combat social injustice. Emma’s resilience and ability to learn from the adversity and subjugation that she experienced during her formative years would allow her to develop into the activist known as “the world’s most dangerous woman”.