Feminists and Sandinistas in Nicaragua: Then and Now

Abstract

This collection of papers responds to increased interest in Nicaragua, the new Latin American left and the contradictory gender and sexual politics of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) following its national re-election in 2006. The Sandinista popular revolution of the 1980s brought Nicaragua to the world's attention, in part because the FSLN's historically stated commitment to women's rights and organising was relatively strong as compared to other left-wing revolutionary movements. However, disagreements gradually grew between the expanding women's movement and the FSLN over the decade and in 1991, a year after the FSLN's electoral defeat, the movement declared its autonomy from the FSLN. On the threshold of the 2006 elections, the FSLN voted in favour of banning all forms of abortion, and the contradictions between the party and feminists came to the fore. This specific conjuncture ties in to a long and complex history of interactions between political parties and governments on the one hand, and women's and feminist movements on the other.These articles on women's and feminist organising and its ties to the FSLN, as well as the actions of FSLN governments, address specificities of the Nicaraguan experience and explore their links to salient themes in Latin America. Many of the articles focus on similar periods and actors while shedding light on different facets, such that they are informed by and contribute to several current debates regarding the study of social movements and the state. Some of these themes and debates are: historical links between feminist and women's organising and related FSLN policies today, as compared with either first-wave feminism (1920-1950s) and the Somocista women's movement (1950-1979s) (González-Rivera) or the Sandinista popular revolution (1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990) (Heumann, Jubb, Kampwirth, Lacombe); issues related to internal organisation and leadership and how they shape the feminist/women's movement process and outcomes of their work, as well as relevant differences within the women's and feminist movements (Figueroa and Barbeyto, González-Rivera, Heumann, Lacombe); key issues for the women's and feminist movements and related FSLN interventions, violence against women (Figueroa and Barbeyto, Jubb) and LGBT, sexuality and reproductive rights (Heumann, Kampwirth); charting autonomy from the FSLN and the relevance of this struggle and the FSLN's legacy to how women's and feminist movements articulate