Anti-imperialist Int'l Women's Day worldwide

Protesters targeted U.S. imperialism on March 8, International Women’s Day. In cities around the globe from São Paulo to Seoul, women activists demonstrated against U.S. wars and against U.S.-led or supported occupations, militarism, and economic and political domination.

Brazilian women led a demonstration of tens of thousands down São Paulo’s main street to protest U.S. President George Bush’s five-nation Latin American trip. They turned their International Women’s Day march into an anti-imperialist one, chanting anti-Bush slogans, with signs reading, “Out with Bush,” “No to war,” and “For the women of Iraq.”

Organizer María Fernanda Marcelino stated: “Women are demonstrating to say ‘no’ to North American imperialism, ‘no’ to neo-liberalism and ‘no’ to the domination of one people over another.” (www.nst.com)

Women in the Brazilian MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement), trade unionists, students and activists were among the participants, showing that the struggles of women, workers, landless farmers and the Indigenous are fusing with anti-imperialism and class struggle in Latin America.

Guatemalan women focused their International Women’s Day demonstrations not only to denounce Bush’s trip to Latin America but also to vociferously protest U.S. government repression of immigrants from their country.

Prensa Latina explained that “the backdrop of the march was [the recent] arrest of 500 immigrants in a factory in [Massachusetts], including 321 Guatemalans and 183 women, who were separated from their 100 children, who were placed with strangers.”

The Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) brutally sent these workers to Texas, far from their children, including nursing babies. The U.S. government deported over 18,000 Guatemalan immigrants in 2006.

Their sisters in Venezuela, where President Hugo Chávez is a fierce, stalwart leader in the Latin American anti-imperialist movement, demonstrated in opposition to U.S. aggression and the ruthless war in Iraq with its horrifying toll of Iraqi civilians. They demanded, “Bush, get out of Latin America.”

Rallies and marches also took place in Colombia, Uruguay and Mexico, where protestors decried Bush’s visit to their countries.

In a stunning show of strength, tens of thousands demonstrated in Oaxaca, Mexico, site of recent militant anti-government struggles and a women-led takeover of TV stations. The Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), peasants’, and women’s groups, including the Coor-dination of the Women of Oaxaca and teachers’ unions, joined the March 8 action.

Across the globe, women in the Philippines defied the U.S.-backed Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Thousands marched throughout the many islands of their country on March 8, demanding their rights and an end to political repression.

In Manila, demonstrators chanted, “Women resist U.S.-Arroyo terrorism now,” and stood up to riot police who stopped them on their way to the Malacapang Presidential Palace. Led by the mass women’s activist network Gabriela, they denounced the “anti-terror” law used to stifle political dissenters, including women’s organizations.

Nationwide, protesters strongly condemned the military’s violence against women activists. Eighty-three women organizers have been murdered since Macapagal-Arroyo came into office in 2001.

Gabriela’s Secretary-General Emmi de Jesus emphasized, “As the government unleashes its own brand of terrorism on women, the hundreds of thousands of Gabriela members all over the country remain steadfast in our fight to resist the government’s attacks on our lives.” (GMANews.TV)

Women activists in Seoul, South Korea, paid tribute to the unknown number of women killed in the devastating U.S. war on Iraq. In front of the Defense Ministry, they demanded the withdrawal of South Korean troops and held signs which read: “Withdraw the Zaytun unit from Iraq.”

Palestinian women led several militant protests on International Women’s Day against the continuing incursions, assaults, imprisonment and murders of their people during the many years of U.S.-backed Israeli occupation. In the last year, 36 Palestinian women have been killed by occupation forces. Many are in jail.

Holding high Palestinian flags, women demonstrated and defied Israeli border police. Some attempted to get through the Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah on the West Bank. Others rallied at Hawara checkpoint to protest Israel’s recent invasion of Nablus. They carried photographs of loved ones killed and imprisoned by the Israeli occupation forces. Other women marched in Gaza City.

Over 1,500 women joined in a march in Istanbul, Turkey, to demand their rights and an end to anti-woman violence. Many Kurdish women carried pictures of their imprisoned leaders and demanded their freedom.

Thousands marched in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Multan, Pakistan, insisting on equal rights and an end to discrimination. The Working Women’s Association was a key organizer for these actions.

Chanting for their rights, disabled women led a strong march of women and their supporters in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Protests demanding equal rights were held throughout India. In Mumbai, demonstrators pushed for higher wages for working women, including domestic workers. In that city’s Churchgate Railway Station, women called for an end to the super-oppression of Dalit women and for solidarity with all oppressed women.

International Women’s Day saw protests in every area of the world, throughout all of Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Strong, determined women stood their ground and made their voices and struggles heard. They demanded an end to women’s oppression in all spheres and the right of women to political, social and economic equality.

On March 8, millions of women came out around the world to connect the struggles of women to their forceful opposition to U.S. imperialism and the world-wide effects of capitalism, militarism and globalization.

Additional sources for this article include: Gabriela Network USA, Indybay.org, Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.