Sisters Get Ready...

So as i write this here we are in the last few days of Women's History Month 2021, a time for looking back, maybe even for congratulating ourselves and celebrating all that we've achieved?

Now i'll be the first one to crack open the Champagne when there's cause for a party, but this year, here in the UK, this particular month is feeling a little bit different, well actually it's feeling a lot different; many women are feeling restless, anxious, some of us are downright angry. In the one month when we'd expect our sisters to be publicly celebrated we've witnessed the media's grubby sexist and racist vilification of Meghan Markle, the first woman of color to join the higher ranks of our royal family, and the baseless attacks on Nicola Sturgeon, first woman to lead Scotland in modern times. We've seen the breaking scandal of thousands of previously unreported sexual assaults on our young schoolgirls come to light in a rape culture endemic within our education systems, and we've been shocked not only by the Brutal murder of yet another innocent woman in London, but also by the sight of our very own police forces attacking and arresting the women who came to peacefully pay their respects at the public vigil to grieve for her.

If you are in the UK or follow the news here you will also know that these events, combined with our governments sinister attempts to criminalize the right to peaceful protest, have led to vicious police violence and disorder on the streets of Bristol throughout last week, and a pressure cooker of demonstrations breaking out all across the UK even as i type these words....

There is no denying that the heat is rising, it feels frightening, but it also feels exhilarating, a time to roll up our sleeves, take our places, and get our voices heard. So this one's for all the rebel sisters among us, for every woman who has ever decided that the time has come to stand up and bring something to the fight.

If you've ever had that feeling then you're in some pretty good company, so get comfortable, kick off your boots and crack open a beer. Some of these women are fictional, some of them very much real, as is fitting for a month of celebrating women's history they span not only continents but also centuries. These stories speak of courage, and of journeys of transformation. If you ever wondered how to get from being an armchair keyboard warrior to a front line activist or even a revolutionary fighter, then these stories are for you. And like any good radicalization program we're going to start out with the soft stuff, with the glamour and the 'hook', but be warned, we'll be ending up somewhere entirely different...

Thelma and Louise

I want to kick this off with what is probably the most loved women's road-trip movie of all time. I can still remember well when Thelma and Louise hit our big screens, way back when - in 1991. I remember the excitement and the reviews and of course the endless discussions in the newspapers and magazines and pubs up and down the country about that final scene....

This movie was like nothing that most of us had ever seen back in those days, with it's powerful, smart, and funny female leads who were both utterly human and utterly heroic at the same time. As young women in our late teens and early 20's my friends and I were so thrilled to see this fiery homage to the power of female friendship blazing across the big screen, and we were equally thrilled to see these two women, (brilliantly played by Suzane Sarenden and Gina Davis) who we could all relate to, who woke up one day and through a series of misadventures ended up striking out for freedom in a 1966 green T-Bird, their fates in their own hands, and seriously kicking some ass.

When i knew i was going to write this piece i watched Thelma and Louise again for the first time in probably 25 years, and i have to admit i was little apprehensive. I couldn't remember the many twists in this story , i just remembered how much we'd all loved it, but would it stand such a long a test of time?

The answer from me is a resounding YES - If you loved it then you will definitely still love it now. And if you haven't yet seen it then please don't be put off by the fact that's it's older than you are, this one's a true classic, a gutsy story of two women who could be any of us, finally deciding to stick it to the status quo and discovering that they are both braver and more capable than they ever would have imagined...

The Devil's Whore

Now that Thelma and Louise have awakened your feisty and rebellious streak, i want to go somewhere a little unexpected. The Devil's Whore is a short and delicious four part series first shown on the UK's channel 4 in 2008. It has since then been shown in the US under the title 'The Devil's Mistress'.

These are the adventures of fictional character Angelica Fanshawe, but set among the real characters and real history of England during the 1642 - 1651 civil war. This was a truly terrifying period in England's history and a time when women and men of all classes were forced to choose sides in a series of bloody battles and waves of rebellion and political violence. This was a time when women were the property of their husbands or fathers, had almost no rights in law, and could still be burned as witches.

A little like Thelma and Louise, Angelica Fanshawe's life is violently upended by circumstances entirely out of her control. And much like them, she too responds not by falling apart, or hiding behind the men in her life, but instead by learning to live on her wits, and eventually by going against every social rule and expectation for a woman of her times. We see her learn to fight, steal and survive in a violent and unpredictable world, we watch as she becomes self aware, then politically aware, and eventually becomes an all out revolutionary at a time that changed England's social and political landscape forever.

A bonus with this little series is that most of the characters are real people from a well documented history, this is fascinating if you want a glimpse of the past that has shaped the UK. Two of the most engaging real characters are 'Freeborn' John Lilburne, a revolutionary from the Levellers movement and his wife Elizabeth. These were real people alongside the likes of Oliver Cromwell, Edward Sexby, and Charles 1st. The real Elizabeth Lilburne was a working class woman who birthed seven children, but was also an activist, lobbyist and Leveller who spent time in prison for her part in the English rebellions. Hat - tip to you Elizabeth!

Poolan Devi - Bandit Queen

Now i did promise that we would be crossing continents as well as centuries on this jaunt, and i also said it could be a little unpredictable...

our next stop is in India, with a real life woman who in a country considered to be one of the most dangerous on earth to be female, an illiterate woman born in 1963 into the lowest social caste. became an inspiration to several generations of India's women. Meet Poolan Devi, also known as the 'Bandit Queen'.

1994 saw the release of the second film so far to be made about Poolan Devi's life. this time by Hindi film producer Shekhar Kapur. In Hindi language with English subtitles and a touch on the dated and 'grainy' side, the quality is not what we are used to in 90's Hollywood movies, - but just for the sheer force of this woman's life story it's a film i want to tempt you to watch. Poolan could not have been born any lower in terms of poverty, opportunity, human rights...leaving home as child bride to a much older man she was thrust into a brutal life of servitude and abuse, but Poolan Devi was nothing if not a fighter. After several years of surviving some of the worst abuses imaginable she decides to free herself in the only way that she can, Poolan becomes first a bandit, then eventually the leader of one the nations most notorious and feared bandit gangs. She not only avenges herself against the entire village of men who had abused her but also, after serving several years in prison comes out to become the first 'dalit' women to be elected into Indian politics. There's a lot to this story and if you haven't heard of her i don't want to spoil it, so all i'm going to say is watch it...

Winnie Mandela

Still crossing continents on this homage to our female freedom fighters, there are few woman both as influential, and as controversial, as the incredible Winnie Mandela. The 2011 biopic of her life takes an unflinching look at the life of a woman who has fought on the front line for almost 40 years in the struggle that has defined modern South Africa.

Winnie has been much overlooked in Europe and America. While her husband Nelson Mandela became one of the most admired freedom activists on the planet, Winnie has been largely vilified or just plain ignored. And yet who was it keeping the struggle alive in aparthied South Africa while Nelson Mandela was 27 years behind bars? For many of those years it was Winnie. Known in her home country as 'The Mother of The Nation' she too was arrested, jailed, tortured and persecuted. At one point in the film we see how the authorities tried to break her spirit with 400 days of solitary confinement. We also see the journey of a a young and socially conscious country girl, transformed over the years into a battle hardened rebel leader.

One of the common threads through all of these stories is that of transformation, of women coming to realize just how much they are actually capable of. It's a part of what i find so inspiring, all of these women show us their vulnerabilities and then all of them surprise both us, and often themselves, with the incredible shit they achieve when they realize that they have to - and it's on that note that we come to our final story - i also should probably tell you now that i've saved the best till last...

'LAS SANDINISTAS!'

So here we are at our final destination... I could maybe have saved a lot of time by just saying straight up front ;

'look if you really loved Thelma and Louise then perhaps you should consider joining the Sandinista autonomous women's movement?'

but i didn't want to seem too forward, and besides i think going through the full radicalization program is a lot more fun...

From director Jenny Murray, this 2018 documentary film is the story of the women of a modern day grassroots revolution. Crammed with original stills, interviews and news reels from the Nicaragua revolutionary movement spanning years from the late 1960's through to 1980 alongside these are interviews with many women who were then young rebel fighters and commanders, and several of whom are still even now (in their late 60's) , political activists and wanted women.

The Sandinista are legendary among modern revolutionary movements, both for their idealism and also for their victory in the face of such incredibly unlikely odds.. and this film shows what an enormous role young women played in this extraordinary piece of history. This film is by far my favorite thing of 2021, if you have ever dreamed of a revolution, or for that matter planned one, then this sister, is my gift to you.