La lotta per il suffragio femminile: Emmeline Pankhurst e le Suffragette, Traduzioni di Inglese

Scarica La lotta per il suffragio femminile: Emmeline Pankhurst e le Suffragette e più Traduzioni in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The suffragette Movement Women seeking the right to vote through organized protest, who fought for the right to vote in political elections. The Suffragette movement happened in the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century. What is a Suffragette? A woman fighting for the right to vote. What kind of things could women not do before the Suffragettes? - Vote - Fight in the war - Keep the money she earned - Go to university - Wear trousers What started the Suffragette Movement? In the 19th Century, woman had very little rights. They had to look after their home and care for their children whilst their husbands were at work. Women had fought for the right to vote before. However, these attempts had failed. But this time, it was different. Why is Emmeline Pankhurst so important? Which group did Emmeline Pankhurst form? - She became angry about women’s lack of rights. - With her two daughters, she formed the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. This became a very popular group and gained thousands of members. - She wasn’t afraid to use violence to get her way The Suffragette were violent? Yes, the Suffragettes were determined and used a number of violent methods to get their demands listened to. What kind of violent things did the Suffragettes do? - burned down Churches if they didn’t support women’s rights. - broke the shop windows in Oxford Street and vandalized buildings. - chained themselves to the railings of Buckingham Palace. Many Suffragettes were arrested (including Emmeline Pankhurst). While in prison, many suffragettes went on hunger strike and had to be force fed. Why do you think they were force fed? The prison officers force fed them so they didn’t die and become a martyr. Which act was introduced to stop force feeding? The government was highly embarrassed that the Suffragettes had to be force fed so the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ was introduced. If a suffragette went on hunger strike, the officers would wait until she was too weak to cause any harm to the public. She would then be released from prison. It was assumed she would eat and regain her strength. If she then caused trouble, she would be re-arrested. it was assumed that she would then go back on hunger strike. Then the cycle would start again. Why do you think it was called the Cat and Mouse Act? It was similar to the way cats play with its prey before eating it. Do you think the Suffragettes gave up after so many were arrested? No. They refused to give up, and those not in prison kept on protesting. The Cat and Mouse Act made them more determined. The Suffragettes were willing to die for their cause. Who stepped in front of the King’s horse? Emily Davison was horrified about the lack of independence and opportunities women had. In 1913, Davison threw herself in front of the King’s horse and died from her injuries. Hundreds of people attended her funeral, and she became one of the leading names in the Suffragette movement. What did suffrsagettes achieve? The right to vote, age 30 in 1918 - In 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed. This meant women who were 30 years old or over could vote. However, men could vote when they were 21 – so the battle wasn’t over yet. Why women couldn’t vote until they were 30 years old? Because when they were married they were under the ideological control of their husband. Women now accounted for about 39.64% of the electorate. Had women been enfranchised based upon the same requirements as men, they would have been in the majority because of the loss of men in the war. The age of 30 was chosen because it was all that was politically possible at the time. - In 1928, the Representation of the People Act (Equal Franchise) was passed meaning that women could now vote when they were 21 years old – the same age as men could. Although there was still inequality between men and women. - In 1919, legal professions opened to women and the first woman barrister was appointed in 1922, meaning that women were slowly being seen as more equal. The Suffragettes showed that with enough protest and determination, demands could be met – even if they sound outrageous at the time. Emmeline Pankhurst’s Freedom or death: le donne; e c'è una grande quantità di guerre per le quali gli uomini accettano una grande quantità di glorificazione che ha comportato più sacrifici pratici per le donne che per qualsiasi uomo. È sempre stato così. Le lamentele di coloro che hanno il potere, l'influenza di coloro che hanno il potere richiedono molta attenzione; ma i torti e le lamentele di coloro che non hanno alcun potere tendono ad essere assolutamente ignorati. Questa è la storia dell’umanità fin dall’inizio. Well, in our civil war people have suffered, but you cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs; you cannot have civil war without damage to something. The great thing is to see that no more damage is done than is absolutely necessary, that you do just as much as will arouse enough feeling to bring about peace, to bring about an honourable peace for the combatants; and that is what we have been doing. Ebbene, nella nostra guerra civile la gente ha sofferto, ma non si possono fare le frittate senza rompere le uova; non può esserci una guerra civile senza danni a qualcosa. La cosa più importante è fare in modo che non venga fatto più danno di quanto sia assolutamente necessario, fare tutto ciò che susciti abbastanza sentimento per portare la pace, per realizzare una pace onorevole per i combattenti; ed è quello che abbiamo fatto. We entirely prevented stockbrokers in London from telegraphing to stockbrokers in Glasgow and vice versa: for one whole day telegraphic communication was entirely stopped. I am not going to tell you how it was done. I am not going to tell you how the women got to the mains and cut the wires; but it was done. It was done, and it was proved to the authorities that weak women, suffrage women, as we are supposed to be, had enough ingenuity to create a situation of that kind. Now, I ask you, if women can do that, is there any limit to what we can do except the limit we put upon ourselves? Abbiamo impedito del tutto agli agenti di cambio di Londra di telegrafare agli agenti di cambio di Glasgow e viceversa: per un giorno intero la comunicazione telegrafica è stata completamente interrotta. Non ti dirò come è stato fatto. Non vi racconterò come le donne sono arrivate alla rete elettrica e hanno tagliato i fili; ma è stato fatto. Ciò è stato fatto, ed è stato dimostrato alle autorità che le donne deboli, le donne con suffragio, come dovremmo essere, avevano abbastanza ingegnosità per creare una situazione del genere. Ora, ti chiedo, se le donne possono farlo, c'è qualche limite a ciò che possiamo fare oltre al limite che ci imponiamo? If you are dealing with an industrial revolution, if you get the men and women of one class rising up against the men and women of another class, you can locate the difficulty; if there is a great industrial strike, you know exactly where the violence is and how the warfare is going to be waged; but in our war against the government you can’t locate it. We wear no mark; we belong to every class; we permeate every class of the community from the highest to the lowest; and so you see in the woman’s civil war the dear men of my country are discovering it is absolutely impossible to deal with it: you cannot locate it, and you cannot stop it. Se avete a che fare con una rivoluzione industriale, se fate insorgere gli uomini e le donne di una classe contro gli uomini e le donne di un’altra classe, potete individuare la difficoltà; se c’è un grande sciopero industriale, sai esattamente dove si trova la violenza e come sarà condotta la guerra; ma nella nostra guerra contro il governo non puoi individuarlo. Non portiamo alcun segno; apparteniamo a ogni classe; permeiamo ogni classe della comunità, dalla più alta alla più bassa; e così vedete che nella guerra civile della donna i cari uomini del mio Paese stanno scoprendo che è assolutamente impossibile affrontarla: non la si può individuare, non si può fermare. “Put them in prison”, they said, “that will stop it” But it didn’t stop it at all: instead of the women giving it up, more women did it, and more and more and more women did it until there were 300 women at a time, who had not broken a single law, only “made a nuisance of themselves” as the politicians say. “Metteteli in prigione”, dissero, “questo finirà”. Ma questo non ha fermato tutto: invece di arrendersi, sono state le donne a farlo, e sempre più donne lo hanno fatto fino a quel momento. C'erano 300 donne alla volta, che non avevano infranto una sola legge, ma solo "hanno dato fastidio" come dicono i politici. Then they began to legislate. The British government has passed more stringent laws to deal with this agitation than it ever found necessary during all the history of political agitation in my country. They were able to deal with the revolutionaries of the Chartists’ time; they were able to deal with the trades union agitation; they were able to deal with the revolutionaries later on when the Reform Acts were passed: but the ordinary law has not sufficed to curb 5 insurgent women. They had to dip back into the middle ages to find a means of repressing the women in revolt. 5 To curb: limitare, tenere a freno Poi hanno cominciato a legiferare. Il governo britannico ha approvato leggi più severe per affrontare questa agitazione di quanto abbia mai ritenuto necessario durante tutta la storia dell’agitazione politica nel mio paese. Riuscirono a confrontarsi con i rivoluzionari del tempo dei cartisti; hanno saputo far fronte alle agitazioni sindacali; hanno potuto affrontare i rivoluzionari più tardi, quando sono state approvate le leggi di riforma: ma la legge ordinaria non è bastata a tenere a freno donne ribelli. Dovettero tornare indietro nel Medioevo per trovare un mezzo per reprimere le donne in rivolta. They have said to us, government rests upon force, the women haven’t force, so they must submit. Well, we are showing them that government does not rest upon force at all: it rests upon consent. As long as women consent to be unjustly governed, they can be, but directly women say: ”We withhold our consent, we will not be governed any longer so long as that government is unjust.”: Not by the forces of civil war can you govern the very weakest woman. You can kill that woman, but she escapes yo then; you cannot govern her. No power on earth can govern a human being, however feeble, who withholds 6 his or her consent. 6 To withhold: negare Ci hanno detto che il governo si basa sulla forza, le donne non hanno la forza, quindi devono sottomettersi. Bene, stiamo mostrando loro che il governo non si basa affatto sulla forza: si basa sul consenso. Finché le donne acconsentono a essere governate ingiustamente, possono esserlo, ma direttamente le donne dicono: "Noi neghiamo il nostro consenso, non saremo più governate finché quel governo sarà ingiusto". Nemmeno con le forze della guerra civile puoi governare la donna più debole. Puoi uccidere quella donna, ma poi lei ti sfugge; non puoi governarla. Nessun potere sulla terra può governare un essere umano, per quanto debole, che nega il proprio consenso. When they put us in prison at first, simply for taking petitions, we submitted; we allowed them to dress us in prison clothes; we allowed them to put us in solitary confinement; we allowed them to put us amongst the most degraded of criminals; we learned of some of the appalling evils of our so-called civilisation that we could not have learned in any other way. It was valuable experience, and we were glad to get it. Quando all'inizio ci misero in prigione, semplicemente per aver accettato delle petizioni, ci sottomettemmo; abbiamo permesso loro di vestirci con gli abiti della prigione; abbiamo permesso che ci mettessero in isolamento; abbiamo permesso che ci collocassero tra i criminali più degradati; abbiamo appreso alcuni degli spaventosi mali della nostra cosiddetta civiltà che non avremmo potuto apprendere in nessun altro modo. È stata un'esperienza preziosa e siamo stati lieti di averla ottenuta. I have seen men smile when they heard the words “hunger strike”, and yet I think there are very few men today who would be prepared to adopt a “hunger strike” for any cause. It is only people who feel an intolerable sense of oppression who would adopt a means of that kind. It means you refuse food until you are at death’s door, and then the authorities have to choose between letting you die, and letting you go; and then they let the women go. Ho visto uomini sorridere quando hanno sentito le parole “sciopero della fame”, eppure penso che ci siano pochissimi uomini oggi che sarebbero disposti ad adottare uno “sciopero della fame” per qualsiasi causa. Soltanto persone che provano un intollerabile senso di oppressione adotterebbero un mezzo del genere. Significa che rifiuti il cibo finché non sei in punto di morte, e poi le autorità devono scegliere tra lasciarti morire e lasciarti andare; e poi lasciarono andare le donne. Now, that went on so long that the government felt that they were unable to cope. It was [then] that, to the shame of the British government, they set the example to authorities all over the world of feeding sane, resisting human beings by force. There may be doctors in this meeting: if so, they know it is one thing to feed by force an insane person; but it is quite another thing to feed a sane, resisting human being who resists with every nerve and with every fibre of her body the indignity and the outrage of forcible feeding. Now, that was done in England, and the government thought they had crushed us. But they found that it did not quell the agitation, that more and more women came in and even passed that terrible ordeal, and they were obliged to let them go. Ora, la situazione è andata avanti così a lungo che il governo ha ritenuto di non essere in grado di farcela. Fu [allora] che, con vergogna del governo britannico, diedero l’esempio alle autorità di tutto il mondo di nutrire con la forza esseri umani sani e resistenti. Potrebbero esserci dei medici in questa riunione: se è così, sanno che una cosa è nutrire con la forza un pazzo; ma è tutta un'altra cosa nutrire un essere umano sano e resistente che resiste con ogni nervo e con ogni fibra del suo corpo all'umiliazione e all'oltraggio dell'alimentazione forzata. Ora, questo è stato fatto in Inghilterra, e il governo pensava di averci schiacciato. Ma scoprirono che ciò non placava l'agitazione, che sempre più donne entravano e superavano anche quella terribile prova, e furono obbligate a lasciarle andare. Then came the legislation - the Cat and Mouse Act. The home secretary said: “Give me the power to let these women go when they are at death’s door, and leave them at liberty under license until they have recovered their health again and then bring them back”. It was passed to repress the agitation, to make the women yield - because that is what it has really come to, ladies and gentlemen. It has come to a battle between the women and the government as to who shall yield 7 first, whether they will yield and give us the vote, or whether we will give up our agitation. 7 To yield: cedere Poi arrivò la legislazione: la legge il gatto e il topo. Il ministro dell’Interno ha detto: “Dammi il potere di lasciare andare queste donne quando sono in punto di morte, e di lasciarle in libertà su licenza finché non avranno recuperato la salute e poi riportarle indietro”. Si è deciso di reprimere l'agitazione, di costringere le donne a cedere, perché questo è ciò a cui si è realmente arrivati, onorevoli colleghi. Si è arrivati a una battaglia tra le donne e il governo su chi cederà per primo, se cederanno e ci daranno il voto, o se rinunceremo alla nostra agitazione. Well, they little know what women are. Women are very slow to rouse, but once they are aroused, once they are determined, nothing on earth and nothing in heaven will make