revolution

"Because of the separation of women, we have created societies where we are cut in the middle. And when women have gone into public life they are forced to go into public life like men," says Gioconda Belli, Nicaraguan poet and author and former Sandinista revolutionary and later government member. Gioconda and her female comrades formed "The Party of the Lusty Left" in response to continued sexism by the revolutionary party. Gioconda is in New York for the PEN World Voices festival, and joins Laura in studio for a conversation about what modern revolutionary movements need, how women are leaders in the fight for equality, and why media matters.

On April 15, thousands of miles away from Bahrain, protests took place in Washington D.C. going from the Saudi Embassy to the White House, and finally ending in Central Park as thousands of Muslims and sympathetic Americans from around the world attended to show their support of the "forgotten oppressed."

"We live in one world, not three. I'm very much against that we have three worlds. We have one world dominated by the same system," says Nawal El Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist thinker. In part two of her conversation with Laura, Dr. Saadawi elaborates on what real democracy would look like, in Egypt and around the world, on the connections between capitalism, patriarchy, and religious fundamentalism--and not just Islamic religious fundamentalism. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"Now we have the opportunity to open our books and write our history. Now we're baking the bread and we're going to make them eat it," says Maria Isa, hip-hop artist and activist. Maria and fellow Puerto Rican artist Lah Tere were in Puerto Rico when protests began last year--protests that have seen students and workers in the streets over budget cuts and tuition hikes, seen peaceful demonstrators teargassed by police. Protests as dramatic as anything in the UK, Egypt, Tunisia, or Wisconsin--yet almost never seen on US news despite taking place in the US. Maria and Lah Tere join Laura in studio for a conversation about Puerto Rico's uprising, the role of artists and musicians in keeping action alive, and ways to get involved right here in New York. If you are in New York City on Saturday, March 5th, check out Lah Tere and Maria Isa at Momma's Hip Hop Kitchen at Hostos Community College – Main Theater- 450 Grand Concourse, in the Bronx. The event runs from 2-5pm, and is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit: http://www.mhhk.org/ Distributed by Tubemogul.