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This 1986 documentary, directed by Lisa Berger and Carol Mazer, tells the story of Mujeres Libres, the first independent women’s organisation in Spain. All the women in the film were members of the CNT (Confederacion Nacional de Trabejo) and actively participated in the social revolution during the Spanish civil war. Though as Suceso Portales puts it, they “weren’t fighting a war in the ordinary sense of one power against another: we were fighting to create a more just and humane society.”
The Mujeres Libres, a distinctly anarchist women’s organisation was founded in May 1936 with the aim of engaging women in the revolutionary struggle. Spanish women at this time found themselves bound by the “triple enslavement of women to ignorance, to capital and to men”. Women were effectively subordinated to men and this even extended to the revolutionary movement itself.
The work of the Mujeres Libres was not to solely focus on empowering women to participate in the social struggle but to also be a constant challenge to the male dominance of the movement.
This film will be shown at Bristol YHA, 4 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA on 8th March 2013, at 7.00pm. The documentary is 60 minutes long and will be followed by a discussion of the film and its relevance to the position of women in Britain today.