Quotes from Silvia Federici

The revival of magical beliefs is possible today because it no longer represents a social threat. The mechanization of the body is so constitutive of the individual that, at least in industrialized countries, giving space to the belief in occult forces does not jeopardize the regularity of social behavior. Astrology too can be allowed to return, with the certainty that even the most devoted consumer of astral charts will automatically consult the watch before going to work.

V]iolence against women is a key element in this new global war, not only because of the horror it evokes or the messages it sends but because of what women represent in their capacity to keep their communities together and, equally important, to defend noncommercial conceptions of security and wealth.

The history of Europe before the Conquest is sufficient proof that the Europeans did not have to cross the oceans to find the will to exterminate those standing in their way.

Only from a capitalist viewpoint being productive is a moral virtue, if not a moral imperative. From the viewpoint of the working class, being productive simply means being exploited.

Witch-hunting in all its different forms is also a powerful means to destroy communal relations, injecting the suspicion that underneath the neighbor, the friend, the lover hides another person, lusting for power, sex, wealth, or simply wanting to commit evil deeds.

In capitalism, sex can exist but only as a productive force at the service of procreation and the regeneration of the waged/male working and as a mean of social appeasement and compensation for the misery of everyday existence.

In the name of "class struggle" and "the unified interest of the working class," the Left has always selected certain sectors of the working class as revolutionary subjects and condemned others to a merely supportive role in the struggles these sectors were waging.

A] woman, working fulltime in the home or outside of it as well, married or single, has to put hours of labor into reproducing her own labor power, and women well know the tyranny of this task, for a pretty dress and hairdo are conditions for their getting the job, whether on the marriage market or on the wage labor market.

But the main reason why we cannot enjoy the pleasure that sexuality may provide is that for women sex is work . Giving pleasure to man is an essential part of what is expected of every woman.

se na sociedade capitalista a "feminilidade" foi construída como uma função-trabalho que oculta a produção da força de trabalho sob o disfarce de um destino biológico, a história das mulheres é a história das classes, [...] "mulher" é uma categoria de análise legítima, e as atividades associadas à reprodução seguem sendo um terreno de luta fundamental para as mulheres.

This involved a historic battle against anything posing a limit to the full exploitation of the laborer, starting with the web of relations that tied the individuals to the natural world, to other people, and to their own bodies

Even the unspeakable tortures to which the accused women were subjected acquire a different meaning when we conceive them as a form of exorcism against their powers.

impunerea frumuse?ii drept condi?ie a accept?rii sociale

ofi?erii B?ncii Mondiale ?i ai FMI, care predic? înc? despre valoarea unui b?nu? acelora?i popula?ii pe care puteile dominante ale lumii le-au jefuit ?i s?r?cit vreme de secole.

Capitalismul trebuie s? justifice ?i s? mitizeze contradic?iile încastrate în rela?iile sale sociale: promisiunea libert??ii fa?? de realitatea coerci?iei la scar? larg? ?i promisiunea prosperit??ii fa?? de realitatea s?r?ciei la scar? larg?.

It is essential to emphasize that violence against women is a key element in this new global war, not only because of the horror it evokes or the messages it sends but because of what women represent in their capacity to keep their communities together and, equally important, to defend noncommercial conceptions of security and wealth.

La caza de brujas no sólo santificaba la supremacía masculina, también inducía a los hombres a temer a las mujeres e incluso a verlas como destructoras del sexo masculino.

La caza de brujas alcanzó su punto máximo entre 1580 y 1630. [...] Antes de que los vecinos se acusaran entre sí [...] tuvo lugar un adoctrinamiento sostenido en el que las autoridades expresaron públicamente su preocupación por la propagación de las brujas y viajaron de aldea en aldea para enseñarle a la gente a reconocerlas [...] llevando consigo listados de mujeres sospechosas de ser brujas y amenazando con castigar a quienes les dieran asilo o les brindaran ayuda.

Efetivamente, num sistema em que a vida está subordinada à produção de lucro, a acumulação de força de trabalho só pode ser alcançada com o máximo de violência para que, nas palavras de Maria Mies, a própria violência se transforme na força mais produtiva.

Uma vez mais, muito da violência empregada é dirigida contra as mulheres, porque, na era do computador, a conquista do corpo feminino continua sendo uma precondição para a acumulação de trabalho e riqueza, tal como demonstra o investimento institucional no desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias reprodutivas que, mais do que nunca, reduzem as mulheres a meros ventres.

It seems to be a social law that the value of labor is proven and perhaps created by its refusal.

Homosexuality and heterosexuality are both working conditions ... but homsexuality is workers' control of production, not the end of work.

La caza de brujas ahondó las divisiones entre mujeres y hombre, inculcó a los hombres el miedo al poder de las mujeres y destruyó un universo de prácticas, creencias y sujetos sociales cuya existencia era incompatible con la disciplina del trabajo capitalista, redefiniendo así los principales elementos de reproducción social.

a transição para o capitalismo é uma questão primordial para a teoria feminista, já que a redefinição das tarefas produtivas e reprodutivas e as relações homem-mulher nesse período, ambas realizadas com máxima violência e intervenção estatal, não deixam dúvidas quanto ao caráter construído dos papéis sexuais na sociedade capitalista.