From Mexico to Palestine to Nepal
International Women's Day protests demand equality and
justice for all
By Kathy Durkin
March 8--International Women's Day--is a day that pays
special tribute to women fighting back against exploitation and
oppression worldwide. This year in over 60 countries--from
Mexico to Palestine to Nepal--women did just that. romoted
women's economic, social and political rights.
To mark International Women's Day, the All-China
Women's Federation and Ministry of Justice instituted a
weeklong campaign to promote public awareness of the rights of
women.
Demonstrations also took place all over Europe on
March 8 calling for women's equality in all spheres of
life.
The imperialist grip of the World Trade Organization and
transnational corporations came under attack for contributing
to the feminization of poverty.
Three thousand women armed with banners marched in
Geneva, Switzerland, demanding an end to poverty and
violence against women, and calling for equality. The
demonstrators, who included Kurdish representatives, marched to
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to the
offices of the World Trade Organization. There they displayed a
huge model of a vampire, to symbolize the insatiable drive for
profits by the corporations. Their signs attacked the effects
of the globalization of capital on women and criticized the
multinational corporations.
In a number of demonstrations held on International Women's
Day, the worldwide impoverishment of women was a major issue.
And the globalization of capitalism deepens the crisis.
Women make up 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people who live
in poverty; 900 million women earn under $1 a day. Millions of
women work in capitalism's sweatshops all over the globe under
terrible working conditions: long hours, no rights, and
subjected to sexual harassment and other forms of abuse.
Austrian women marched against the new coalition
government, which now includes the far-right "Freedom Party."
They said the conservative government is rolling back women's
rights and forcing women out of the workplace and into the
home. Women's groups went to the government's headquarters to
oppose the anti-woman positions of the government's leadership
and called for rights for working mothers and for childcare,
among other demands.
Thousands of Peruvian women march ed in Lima.
They carried a giant empty basket to symbolize the lack of
basic necessities of life faced by millions of their sisters
and brothers. They demanded jobs for women and protested the
government's harsh economic policies.
In recognition of International Women's Day, the
International Commission of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia--People's Army (FARC-EP) issued a statement
recognizing the contribution women make to society.
It says, in part, "On March 8, the world commemorates
International Women's Day. It is a date to remember and to
recognize the formidable contribution made by women in the
uplifting of humanity... [We] send militant greetings to all
the women of the world, especially those in Latin America and
the Caribbean who are struggling amid so much privation to win
better conditions of life for themselves, their children, and
their companions--in the home, at the workplace, or in the
search for the right to work."
Workers World Party events held around the country paid
tribute to the women of Cuba, Iraq, Yugoslavia, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, and to all women struggling around
the world--including here in the U.S.
All these International Women's Day actions worldwide bode
well for the coming year of struggle by women against the
oppressive conditions of their lives and for solidarity with
their sisters who are fighting back against poverty,
exploitation and war.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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