Frieda Afary Lecture

Frieda Afary is an Iranian American author and activist. In Socialist Feminism: A New Approach, Afary critically examines systems of oppression and posits the necessity for a return to humanism to confront the racist, patriarchal, heteronormative society in which we live today. She argues for the need for international feminist solidarity and urges us to look towards an alternative to our current social system- one that rejects Capitalism's dehumanization of many. As written in the summary of her book on Pluto Books, "[Afary] looks at global developments in gender relations since the 1980s, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the distinct features of twenty-first century authoritarianism and current struggles against it, drawing out lessons for revolutionary theorising, organising and international solidarity including the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements." Afary is also a well respected writer for truthout, an independent journal that reports on social issues around the world.