A Call for 24 Hours of Feminist Solidarity Action around the World
On Saturday June 3rd, between 12:00-13:00 join us in taking a solidarity action for Peace, around the world. You can do a demonstration; you can write a message … just take a photo or record a video and post in our facebook and sending them to our email info@marchemondiale.org
Being a woman is to live in a constant state of war. We repeated this sentence during our 4thInternational Action in 2015 when explaining the context in which we women are living in our homes, communities and territories. During our 10th International Meeting in Maputo in October 2016 there was consensus that violence and terror is spreading very fast around the world. The conservative offensive and the militarization of women’s daily lives has become a common trend everywhere.
From south to north, from east to west, women suffer the effects and consequences of territorial occupation by colonial imperialist regimes, subjugating peoples to inhuman conditions, criminalisation, assassinations and traumatic incarcerations while the rest of the world is watching. That is a form of war against women.
We are witnessing the rise of extreme-right and populist right-wing governments in many countries around the world, pushing back rights gained over many decades of peoples’ struggles for justice, freedom and equality. They preach intolerance, hate and war against women, immigrants, people of colour, indigenous, LGBTQ and gender-non conforming people, while aggressively pushing forward more radical neoliberal agendas as they defend the interests of transnational corporations who supported their electoral campaigns.
We are facing new forms of colonialism, where governments – alongside their Transnational Corporations (TNCs) – invade nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America inthe name of direct investments and development cooperation; they manipulate national governments whose elections they funded through aid mechanisms and within the framework of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and neoliberal policies. They grab land; they displace families and entire communities from their territories and dispossess them of their livelihoods and the natural resources that are essential for life. In these
contexts, communities are facing extreme poverty, violence and fear about their present and future. We women continue to struggle to secure means of survival for their families, while our unpaid labour and care-work is exploited and we sufferfrom perverse forms of violence such as prostitution, early and forced marriages and domestic violence. This is a form of war against women.
The militarization of our daily lives serves the interests of the arms industry. The super power nations produce armaments and sell them to countries where they have strong economic interests. African nations are their preferential markets, especially West African countries and others such as Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. They stimulate debts by supplying weapons to national governments and rebel groups, while promoting devastating civil wars and terrorist attacks.
With the support of national governments, TNCs intensify their extractive operations and insufficient taxes they pay goes back to them in the form of debt payments. In this context, national governments lack the capacity to provide basic services such as health, education, water and sanitation, housing, public transport, and there isno room left for processes of building democratic institutions. Women’s rights violations are on the rise where justice systems only defend the interests of political elites and protect TNC’s impunity. This is a form of war against women.
Democracy has been under attack, failing to deliver fair and just elections and maintaining authoritarian governments in power for many years. Constitutional rights and laws are manipulated and changed in the interests of minority elites. We have witnessed arrests and assassinations of women political activists and the shutting down of their organisations in Turkey, Burundi and many other parts of the world. Regional and global institutions have failed to mediate conflicts and to promote accountability; instead they continue to legitimate such dictatorships. This is a form of war against women.
Thousands and thousands of people are forced to migrate. We are living in a historical period of human mobility in which people search for a safe place for themselves and their families. Africa is the continent receiving the largest numbers of migrant women, men and children from rural to urban areas, and from one country to another.
Thousands of migrants from Africa and Middle East die in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe in the effort to escape from the brutalities caused by wars, hunger and persecutions by the capitalist and imperialist forces mentioned above. Migrants live in very vulnerable conditions and face all forms of discrimination. They lack recognition of citizenship, they have no access to jobs, they are often separated from their families and they are exposed to hunger, diseases and much more. Migrants are human beings with knowledge, cultures, and values and have a role to play in the process of building a better world for all.
We, World March of Women activists, struggle against all forms of war and violence against women. We call all our sisters, friends and allies around the world to join us in an international solidarity action for peace on Saturday 3rd June, from midday to 1pm (12h – 13h). During your action or activity, please write a message, take a photo or record a video and post them on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/marchemondialedesfemmes/
Share your solidarity messages and demands for peace, against war, for migrant’s rights, for women living under occupation, for peoples affected by TNCs…
Women on the March until we are All Free!