We, the women of the World March of Women, join our voices to pay tribute to all the historic, energetic struggles of women and feminist movements around the world.

We denounce the global political climate, marked by the growing control of governments by right-wing parties steeped in hatred, racism, misogyny, intolerance and discrimination; we must also confront a rise and radicalisation of militaristic violence used to control our territories: body, mind, land, water, forests, knowledge, and even our historical past, present and future; to perpetuate patriarchy, neoliberal capitalism and colonialism are the dominant paradigms. At the same time, the discourse of development is losing all meaning as elites accumulate wealth, are discredited by corruption and impunity, and as weakened institutions never hold themselves accountable to the people.

Climate injustices are worsening everywhere and destroying livelihoods, causing deaths, especially in poor communities. Nation-states are failing to fulfil their commitments on climate justice and continue to propose false solutions. We call on the world to condemn the President of the United States for the regression represented by his rejection of the climate action plan. Similarly, his ‘America First’ rhetoric empowers US corporations to continue polluting, plundering local communities and exploiting labour worldwide, just as was the case centuries ago with slavery. We know full well that women in the Global South, migrant women, women of colour, Indigenous women and sexual minorities pay the price for economic growth with their bodies and their labour, without reaping any rewards.

In this context, we women of the North and the South must confront the greatest assault on our rights, which manifests as escalating violence in the form of femicide, forced migration (leading to the exploitation of women), trauma and death.

All these reasons are more than sufficient to express our solidarity with our comrades and with all women who are fighting.

• Across Africa, women are resisting numerous forms of neo-colonial violence perpetrated by multinationals in the extractive and agro-industrial sectors, which are invading our communities, destroying our livelihoods and impoverishing us. Faced with these realities, women and girls are subjected to rape, forced marriage and early pregnancy, which limits their access to education and prevents them from living with dignity.

• In the Arab world and the Middle East, women are resisting fundamentalist groups that sow terror in communities and expose women to all manner of violence and brutality, including slavery. Women there are confronting this through mechanisms of self-determination and self-defence.

• In the Americas, the left is being replaced by far-right governments that are dismantling the significant gains of recent decades and reviving neoliberal programmes that serve capitalist interests. Women are resisting by defending fundamental rights, the rights of nature and the commons, and in turn face the criminalisation of their struggle, attacks and murders.

• Asia has historically suffered the effects of colonialism and neoliberalism. Today, as poverty rises due to the intensification of territorial control by multinationals, protected by global neoliberal policies, women are far more exposed to exploitation at work, sexual violence and trafficking.

• Across Europe, women are resisting the rollback of their right to abortion, imposed by increasingly fundamentalist and radical forces that are taking control of state decision-making mechanisms. Austerity and security measures are being used to justify the resurgence of radical nationalism, which fuels intolerance towards migrants and other minorities.

• On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we support the call for an international women’s strike because we believe in the need to build and strengthen our international feminist movement, the driving force behind international women’s solidarity. Women’s self-management in their local, national and regional struggles is essential. We unite as Women of the World, with the same voice we raised at the 10th International Meeting “Women in Resistance: Building Alternatives for a Better World”. For, as we say, our movement is our alternative. We believe that by joining forces with other women’s movements active in this call, we strengthen the struggle on shared concerns and give ourselves more reasons to hope.

We continue to pursue the global actions we planned at our 10th International Meeting, such as:

• 24 April – “Rana Plaza is everywhere!”, an international day on the World March of Women’s calendar featuring actions around the women’s economy (global economic trends), the world of work, women’s economic autonomy, etc.

• 3 June – Global Action: 24 Hours for Peace and Migration

• At the same time, we support calls for regionally organised actions to address regional issues.

Until all women are free, we will keep marching!