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GUEST: Thandisizwe Chimurenga, Ida B. Wells Institute

Sisters, Where Is Thy Victory? Mid-term elections were touted by many to be a victory for women but, “which women?”

Nancy Pelosi’s ascendancy to Speaker of the House of Representatives has been hailed as smashing “through a political glass ceiling that has kept women out of the upper echelons of power throughout U.S. history.”

With Pelosi – said to have a strong record of support for abortion rights – as Speaker it is believed that she would be in the best position of keeping anti-choice justices off of the Supreme Court should there be a vacancy.

That’s all well and good, but there should be more to the story than that.

Well … I’m waiting …

It looks as if simply putting a female face on a position of power is enough for some people, specifically the mainstream women’s movement. But the case of Gloria Arroyo, President of the Phillippines since 2001, should serve as a fresh reminder that this is woefully inadequate. As of the end of October 2006, 761 community leaders and activists had been murdered under Arroyo’s reign and of that number 80 were women, half of whom were members of GABRIELA, a mass-based, anti-imperialist Phillippine women’s organization.

Not exactly the model for female leadership one would hope for.

But we don’t have to go all the way to the Phillippines to find disappointment.

According to womensenews.org, “With the Democrats in control of the House, women are in line to advance to high positions in party leadership and on committees. Four women are in line to take over control of House panels, and numerous other women are poised to control House subcommittees.”

Sadly and treacherously, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia won’t be one of them.

On top of the usual fare of isolation, disrespect and contempt she has had to endure since September 11, 2001, the fall-out from McKinney’s charge of racism after an assault by a Capitol Hill Police Officer earlier this spring was particularly ugly and included complete abandonment by her colleagues in the Democratic Party under the direct leadership of Nancy Pelosi.

It was Pelosi who, working through lackeys in the Congressional Black Caucus, put the word out that McKinney should be completely shunned and so it was – up to and including McKinney’s so-called colleagues disappearing from the scene of a press conference where the Congresswoman was to apologize(!) for continuously speaking in the media on her assault as an instance of racist profiling, and, it was Pelosi who, as House Minority Leader, denied Cong. McKinney her seniority status (after 10 years in Congress) when McKinney handily won re-election in 2004 after a well-orchestrated Republican-led campaign ousted her from office in 2002.

The treatment meted out to Cynthia McKinney under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership and directives should be a cause for alarm for Black women and others. But there’s more.

While being a staunch supporter of the state of Israel, Pelosi has remained deafeningly silent on flagrant Israeli abuses of the human rights of the Palestinian people, as Palestinian women continue to bear the brunt of the brutal occupation of their land. Within the last six years, it is estimated by the Palestinian Health Information Center that 10 percent of pregnant women in the West Bank and Gaza who needed to give birth in medical centers or hospitals were delayed by Israeli forces at notorious ‘checkpoints’ for 2-4 hours; during this period, a total of 68 women gave birth – right then and there – at these checkpoints while four mothers and 34 newborn babies died.

Since the election, Pelosi has reiterated her party’s platform of ‘Six for ‘06’ – the areas of focus for the new Congress’ first 100 hours. National security, jobs and wages, energy independence, affordable health care, retirement security and college access for all are indeed important areas, but precisely where and how these areas encompass the case for the impeachment of George Bush, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and the displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina has yet to be laid out.

Black women and others must remain vigilant as this new Congress settles in. Sisterhood may be global but it sho ain’t immune to white supremacy.