Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell

advocated for feminists to ally with a range of left-wing causes, to bring about wider social change in the United States.

[4] Several politicos within the NYRW, most notable Robin Morgan and Florika Remetier, were inspired by the actions of the Youth International Party, or "Yippies", which had been founded in December 1967 and which sought to promote its message by shocking and offending mainstream American sensibilities.

[4] Other NYRW members, such as Kathie Sarachild and Carol Hanisch disagreed, believing in the need to continue consciousness raising and disliking the idea of adopting deliberate shock tactics.

; among those involved were Morgan, Florika, Peggy Dobbins, Judy Duffett, Cynthia Funk, and Naomi Jaffe.

was inspired by the decision of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to hold hearings investigating alleged communist involvement in demonstrations against the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

[7] The group was established in New York on Halloween 1968,[8] at which point they adopted the name "Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell" and its acronym, W.I.T.C.H.

Witches have always been women who dared to be: groovy, courageous, aggressive, intelligent, nonconformist, explorative, curious, independent, sexually liberated, revolutionary.

were devoted to overthrowing the patriarchal dominance of society,[10] and according to the scholar Cynthia Eller, they chose to do so in "witty, flamboyant, and theatrical ways" by carrying out witch-themed political stunts.

members dressed as witches and marched down Wall Street in order to place a "hex" on New York's financial district.

[10] In January 1969, a counter-inaugural protest was organized by various feminist groups, taking place in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate against the inauguration of Richard Nixon as President of the United States.

members subsequently sent a letter to the Guardian repudiating Firestone's calls for women's liberation groups to divorce themselves from the wider left-leaning social movement in U.S.

[16] The protests also involved turning loose several white mice at the event, which fair attendees began scooping up off the ground.

's approach of promoting a message of "we're liberated and you're not" to other women, believing that in doing so they were distancing and alienating themselves from feminism's base constituency.

[12] The bridal fair event resulted in negative media coverage for W.I.T.C.H., and some dissension among members over goals and tactics.

group, calling itself Women Incensed at Telephone Company Harassment, gathered at St. Paul's Churchyard in New York to protest working conditions at AT&T.

members protested the firing of a radical feminist professor by entering the sociology department of the University of Chicago and leaving hair and nail clippings all over the building.

They interrupted Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough's testimony by chanting and throwing pills at panel members and people in the audience galleries.

adopted the witch-cult hypothesis by claiming that those persecuted as alleged witches in European history had been members of a surviving pre-Christian, pagan religion which the Christian authorities then sought to suppress.

propagated the erroneous claim that nine million women had been burned to death during the witch trials in the early modern period.

included cofounder Robin Morgan, a child television star in the 1950s and a member of the Yippies in the late 1960s, who became an important feminist.

Concerning W.I.T.C.H., Morgan wrote:[25][26]The fluidity and wit of the witches is evident in the ever-changing acronym: the basic, original title was Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell [...] and the latest heard at this writing is Women Inspired to Commit Herstory.However, soon after the breakup of W.I.T.C.H., Morgan repudiated her New Left-aligned politics, and embraced a kind of radical feminism that was strongly opposed to "the male left".

[12] Other notable members included Peggy Dobbins and Naomi Jaffe, who went on to join the Weather Underground Organization.

's key assumptions about the nature of witchcraft and its connection to women's liberation continued as the "wellspring" of Dianic Wicca and other forms of feminist-oriented Paganism.

responded to the patriarchal elements of socialist organization in the early 1960s, criticizing the contradictions between ideals of radical males and their behavior.

Later actions targeted the lack of affordable housing, abortion rights and the Trump administration's condoning of racism and sexism.

[30] Participating members at this event included Jessica Caponigro, Chiara Galimberti, and Amaranta Isyemille Ramos.

Chicago Coven group of 2015-2017 intentionally pulled themselves out of the public eye to make space for the creation of an anonymous W.I.T.C.H.

[32] In response to the 2016 United States presidential election, protest groups formed in Portland and Boston that named themselves after W.I.T.C.H.