On February 18th, the International Day of Solidarity with Sahrawi Women, we came together with comrades and allies from around the world for the pre-launch of our 6th International Action. This action, which will officially begin on March 8th in Western Sahara, is part of our unwavering commitment to amplifying the voices of Sahrawi women and their ongoing struggle for justice, freedom, and self-determination.
We heard from our Sahrawi comrades the tough and resilient lives women have endured in almost 50 years of Moroccan occupation. We know that violent tactics repeat themselves. As it was said in the talk, the violence faced by our Palestinian comrades today is very similar to the beginning of the Moroccan occupation back in 1975.
We´re now getting ready to march together spreading our alternatives around the world. Let´s join hands and raise our voices for feminist economics, demilitarisation, peace, and the defense of our bodies and territories. In this powerful gathering, we shared insights, strategies, and a collective determination to stand by our sisters in Western Sahara. The road ahead is long, but together, we continue to resist, fight, and build a future rooted in equality and liberation.
📢 Missed the pre-launch? Watch it again on our YouTube channel and join us in strengthening this movement! 💜✊🏾
Pre-Launch of 6th International Action: Press Release
For the last 25 years, the World March of Women has organised an international action every five years, calling on women around the world, social movements fighting for decent lives for all, activists and supporters to participate in a programme of global mobilisations running from 8 March to 17 October. To mark the start of our 6th International Action, we will be raising awareness of the issues facing Western Sahara. On 18 February, we will hold a webinar in solidarity with Sahrawi women and on 8 March, our first mobilisation for the 6th International Action will take place in Tindouf.
The Sahrawi people’s struggle for self-determination and the right to build sovereignty, manage their commons and collectively build and enjoy ‘buen vivir’ (good living) is also a feminist cause, which has been embraced by the World March of Women for years. Through our mobilisations, we show support for the Sahrawi cause. Sahrawi women are role models of struggle, resilience and resistance. Amid the difficult conditions imposed by a postcolonial model of land grabbing, they have shouldered the burden of sustaining life in the camps, as well as overseeing political organisation, boosting the economy and transferring the ‘Sahrawi essence’ to younger generations (to find out more about Western Sahara, see ).
The 6th International Action is the result of decisions made collectively at the International Meeting of the World March of Women in Ankara on October 2023 (read about the meeting on our website. ) and of our analyses of the world we live in and our proposals for the world we wish to see over the past 25 years of struggle. Our decisions, analyses and proposals come together in the slogan for our mobilisation: We
march against wars and capitalism. We defend the sovereignty of peoples and ‘buen vivir’.
Our slogan condemns the use of the capitalist system of war to overcome systemic capitalist crises when the model of accumulation grinds to a halt and exploitation must expand to allow it to continue. To achieve this, the most despicable tricks are used and wars are waged, including unconventional forms such as economic, communication and financial warfare. The beleaguered capitalist system also employs fascism, which is spreading across the world today threatening to purchase land, evict communities and criminalise migrants and land defenders. It exerts blackmail via the international financial system. It draws on worsening religious fundamentalism, entrenched cultural norms and media dominance to ensure its hegemony and perpetuate a system of multiple exploitation that offers luxury and extravagance for the few, leads to poverty for the many and threatens the planet with extinction.
As grassroots feminists who have analysed how the capitalist, patriarchal, colonialist, and racist system affects women differently and more acutely, we decided decades ago that we cannot limit our activities to merely condemning the system or implementing palliative measures. It is for this reason that the second part of our slogan contains our proposals for a better world: We defend the sovereignty of peoples and ‘buen vivir’. With this statement, we call for collective reflection and construction of what we understand as popular sovereignty and ‘buen vivir’. Our 6th International Action involves both public mobilisation and reflection. We have
reviewed and updated our action areas, which you can read about on our website.
▪ Defending the commons against transnational corporations
▪ Developing a feminist economy based on the sustainability of life and food
sovereignty
▪ Ending violence against women and promoting autonomy over their bodies and
sexuality
▪ Bringing about peace and demilitarisation
These documents contain our analysis, critique and proposals for change. As a grassroots international feminist movement, the World March of Women has aimed from the outset to move beyond critique and present alternatives, which we seek to implement in the five regions at different scales. Our action area documents invite our activists, allied movements and people around the world to participate in the collective
construction of grassroots feminist analyses and proposals, taking these documents as a starting point. The symbol for our 6th International Action is the feminist solidarity tent. Tents represent disaster capitalism, war, displacement and migration, but they also symbolise shelter for communities, traditional knowledge and wisdom and resistance in many cultures. Drawing on these reflections, we plan to construct a global feminist solidarity tent embodying what we want for the future of our planet as a grassroots feminist movement.
Our regional and national coordinating bodies are working on local programmes of action in relation to our goals as a movement. This year, the feminist solidarity tent will house our
activities in mid-September in Nepal. On 8 March, the global programme for the 6th International Action of the World March of Women will be launched in Bojador, Tindouf in Western Sahara. The main dates are:
8 March: launch of the 6th International Action in Western Sahara and simultaneous marches and actions around the world. In Tindouf, four days of activities will be held in the khaima (traditional Sahrawi tent), which symbolises the Sahrawi people’s struggle for freedom. You can read our pamphlet about Western Sahara here.
30 March (Land Day): global mobilisation to condemn the Palestinian genocide and show solidarity with Palestinian women. You can read the pamphlet about Palestine compiled by the Middle East and North Africa region here.
24 April to 1 May (Feminist Solidarity against Transnational Corporations): a week of action to condemn transnational corporations and their devastating impact on our territories and commons.
Feminist Peace Boat: our boat will connect three continents bordering the Mediterranean Sea, which has become a cemetery for migrants and refugees, and deliver IFOS training lasting three days. It will sail from Algeria to Turkey, making several stops along the way.
21 September (International Day of Peace): the Nepalese national coordinating body will host the World March of Women’s international gathering from 21-25 September, where the feminist solidarity tent summarising the analyses and proposals coming out of the activities for the 6th International Action around the world will be presented.
17 October (24 Hours of Feminist Action against Capitalism and Wars): Close of our 6th International Action, with activities organised by every national coordinating body from 12:00 to 13:00. Our feminist power to transform the world will be circling the globe. To be part of the 6th International Action, keep an eye out for regional and local calls to action.
We march against wars and capitalism, we defend the sovereignty of peoples and ‘buen vivir’!
*For more information, please contact action2025@marchemondiale.org