Dear Editor,

The confusion between Red Thread founders and the present members of Red Thread, which we first became aware of in a column in one of the two main daily papers a few years ago, has resurfaced. We’ve tried to clarify this before but it seems necessary to try again.

Red Thread was formed in 1986 by seven women – Danuta Razik, Vanda Radzik, Jocelyn Dow, Bonita Harris, Diane Matthews, Andaiye and myself; these are the group’s founders. But only Andaiye and I remain active in Red Thread, I as National Coordinator and Andaiye as International Coordinator.  Diane migrated in 1990 while the other founders, who remain in Guyana, are all active in different spheres but are usually available to Red Thread as requested for fund raising, training and other areas of support.

We also have other resource persons, here and overseas, as well as overseas members.

The reason we want to clarify this is because we insist on recognition for those who now do the work of Red Thread; outside of Andaiye and me, the main ones are Joy Marcus, Halima Khan, Joycelyn Bacchus, Wintress White, Cora Belle, and Vanessa Ross.

Three members of Grassroots Women Across Race (GWAR), a Red Thread network, also organize with us from our centre and two others in the interior. In addition to all the other work they do, many of these women frequently write letters to the press which they sign as representatives of Red Thread or GWAR, but as Wintress wrote in one of her letters, the fact that they are all working class makes them invisible.

Finally, Red Thread, while building on the work of its founders, has moved in a different direction, especially since we became part of the Global Women’s Strike in 2000.

Yours faithfully,
Karen de Souza
For Red Thread