Around the world, women protest war
By Kathy Durkin
"No War in Iraq" was chanted around the world on the
occasion of International Women's Day. From Manila to Istanbul,
Seoul to Calcutta, Damascus to Santiago, women poured into the
streets to protest a U.S.-led war in Iraq and express
solidarity with their Iraqi sisters.
The true spirit of International Women's Day--a day first
proclaimed at a 1910 International Socialist Women's Conference
in Copenhagen, Denmark--is shown in the tremendous solidarity
demonstrated worldwide for Iraqi women and their families as
they face the horrors of war.
Filipino students and women activists clenched their fists,
carried "No to U.S. war" signs, and yelled anti-war slogans at
the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Korean women in Seoul demanded
better working conditions for women and protested a war in
Iraq.
Chanting "No war," Taiwanese women in Taipei called for
their government to give humanitarian aid to Iraqi women and
children in case of war.
Shouting anti-war slogans, women activists burned a
Bush-Blair effigy near the U.S. Consulate in Calcutta in a
protest organized by the All India Women Cultural Forum.
In Damascus, Syrian and Palestinian women held a sit-in in
solidarity with their Iraqi sisters.
In Manama, Bahraini women protested a war outside UN
offices. In Islamabad, Paki stan, and in Ankara and Istanbul,
Tur key, women carried colorful banners, flags and mock
coffins. And, of course, the women of Baghdad, Iraq, marched
for peace.
In some cities, as in Tehran, Iran, women denounced a war in
Iraq while promoting women's social and political rights and
condemning all violence against women. Thou sands in Dhaka,
Bangla desh, also echoed those themes.
Egyptian women aimed their protest in Cairo at a U.S.-led
war in Iraq and at Israel's military assaults on Palestinians.
Activist Fatheya el-Assal explained, "The first victims of
aggression and war are women and children. This is why our
slogan this year is set to counter the planned aggression on
Iraq and the barbaric attacks on the Palestinian people."
On the West Bank in Nablus, Pales tin ian women demonstrated
against Israel's military assaults on their people and
destruction of their homes. Sixty-five Palestinian women spent
this year's IWD in Israeli prisons, subject to inhumane
conditions in violation of international laws.
Women in Latin America also voiced opposition to U.S.
military aggression in Iraq. In Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo,
Brazil, many banners and signs read, "Contra a guerra de Bush."
Women Against Violence held an anti-war sit-in at Honor Square
in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
"No a la guerra" was painted on banners and chanted by 1,500
Chilean women who rallied outside Santiago's La Moneda
government palace. They called on their government to say NO to
Pentagon war plans.
Women led some European anti-war marches on IWD, as at the
60,000-strong protest in Pisa, Italy. Fifteen anti-war
demonstrations took place across Ireland to coincide with IWD;
1,000 women marched in Cork, under a "Women against war"
banner.
Australian women took to the Sydney streets to strongly tell
their government not to send troops to aid the U.S. assault on
Iraq.
Many IWD commemorative events demanded recognition of
women's roles in society. In Katmandu, Nepal, women spoke out
for equal rights and decent health care, including reproductive
rights. Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide addressed a
IWD commemoration in Port-au-Prince. Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez expressed solidarity at a Caracas IWD
celebration.
Some IWD protests were held in formerly socialist countries
where women have lost ground since capitalism re-emerged.
Polish women marched to regain reproductive rights and end
increasing sexist discrimination. In Budapest, Hung ary, women
deplored domestic violence.
Women also demonstrated in St. Petersburg, Russia. IWD has
special significance in that city. It was the site of the
women's demonstration for "peace, land, and bread" on March 8,
1917, which sparked the first Russian Revolution. After a
second, workers' revolution, women won the most advanced rights
in the world at that time.
The New York Times of March 9 admits that in the Soviet
Union, "A quota system ensured that women occupied a certain
number of government posts. Women studied at universities
alongside men. Cafeterias, laundries and daycare centers opened
in cities to ease women's burden at home." Yet today, "women
have all but disappeared from top government posts." And social
services, like free day care, are now in decline. But women are
beginning to organize against these developments.
The socialist founders of International Women's Day in 1910
intended to promote worldwide solidarity among working and poor
women. These expressions of solidarity were extended to South
African women in their long, hard-fought struggle against
apartheid, and to Viet nam ese women during the heinous U.S.
war against their people.
Today, women worldwide are confronted with a new imperialist
war. They are resisting, organizing and fighting back with
strength, dedication and solidarity.
Reprinted from the March 20, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
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