Solidarity with women worldwide

Int’l Working Women’s Day protest

IWWD rally, March 17

The International Working Women’s Day Coalition held its annual rally, march and forum here on March 17 to reinforce its decades-long theme that every issue is a woman’s issue. The rally gathered in front of busy Penn Station, where various women and gender-oppressed activists spoke on the plight of nurses in New York, who have voted to go out on strike; the massacre of Muslim worshippers in New Zealand; the fight for decriminalization of sex workers; the war on transwomen of color; and more.  

Following the rally, the group marched and chanted inside Penn Station to show solidarity with low-wage women workers at Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, KFC and other shops.

The march ended with an indoor forum, where a panel of representatives from Migrante — a Filipino women-led im/migrants rights group — Domestic Workers United and Picture the Homeless led a discussion on strategies and tactics their groups are currently exploring. They stressed that having strong alliances with others is key to building a global movement to defeat capitalism and imperialism.

The issues of human trafficking and sexual violence were discussed in the case of Cyntoia Brown, a 31-year-old African-American woman who has been imprisoned since the age of 16 for killing her abuser.  International support has won her an impending clemency release from prison on Aug. 7.

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