ECR's Tribute to Meredith Tax
© Photo by Meryl Tihanyi 2019. All Rights Reserved Worldwide Meryl Tihanyi
It is with utmost sadness that we are sharing the news of the passing of the Emergency Committee for Rojava’s co-founder and Steering Committee member Meredith Tax. The world has lost a fierce freedom fighter and a wonderful human being.
Meredith was a brilliant writer and political organizer who dedicated her entire life, from the 1960s on, to a tireless pursuit of a better world for all. Having given up a promising conventional career path early on, she plunged into political writing and organizing, opting for a life selflessly committed to the cause of radical feminism and social change.
A prominent public intellectual, she made important contributions to feminist theory and history. Her 1970 essay Woman and Her Mind: The Story of Everyday Life is considered a founding document of the US women’s liberation movement; while her 1980 history book The Rising of the Women: Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict, 1880-1917 has remained a landmark study of American labour and women’s movement and was republished earlier this year by Verso Books. An acknowledged novelist, she also wrote two historical novels, Rivington Street and Union Square, telling the stories of indomitable women who, like herself, wanted to change the world amidst the tumultuous events of the early twentieth century.
Never a mere intellectual, she started out her lifelong path as a feminist organizer in late 1960s and 70s by fighting to carve out space for women inside the Left controlled by men and working towards a stronger and more inclusive women’s movement in the US. She co-founded and led many US-based and international feminist organizations such as the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA); The PEN American Center Women’s Committee; International PEN’s Women Writers’ Committee; the Women’s World Organization for Rights, Literature, and Democracy (Women’s WORLD); and The Center for Secular Space. She did all of this while being a loving mother to two children. Her first child Corey predeceased her. Her second, devoted son Elijah Tax-Berman, and her daughter-in-law Jamillah and grandson Gus, were an important part of her life and brought her great joy.
Meredith’s political and intellectual work had a deeply internationalist perspective and she engaged and supported women writers and activists around the world. Later in her life, she became a fearless and indefatigable advocate for the Kurdish movement in Turkey and Syria, writing the book A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State to bring attention to the Kurdish struggle. Beautifully written, it remains essential reading to understand the Rojava revolution and the critical role of women in bringing it to life.
Meredith believed that the success of the Kurdish women’s autonomous organizing within the larger liberation movement presented an answer to the question that she had been preoccupied with from her early days of organizing: “How could we make sure women didn’t end up behind the 8 ball as we had in all the other revolutions?” Moreover, she saw Rojava’s directly democratic system of governance, based on ecology, ethnic pluralism, and the full participation of women, as a model for people around the world looking for alternative forms of social organization.
Meredith was adamant in defending Rojava from ceaseless attacks by Turkey, first co-founding the North America Rojava Alliance and later, the Emergency Committee for Rojava. She remained on the latter’s Steering Committee until the very end, even as she was battling cancer in the last two years of her life.
Meredith’s determination, lifelong organizing experience, and brilliant strategic thinking were crucial for the growth and development of our organization over the last four years. Her genuine care for people, generosity, and love of a good laugh made our meetings more warm and welcoming, fostering the types of relationships that we all hope will be the basis for a better world. Meredith became a mentor, a role model and a dear friend to many of us, and we commit ourselves to carrying on her work with her same dedication, passion, and humanity. She truly was — and will remain — the heart and soul of the Emergency Committee for Rojava.
Rest in peace, our dear Meredith.