Women on the March until we are All Free!

Grassroots International ally the World March of Women has launched a Call to Action on the occasion of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2010. The World March of Women is also a close ally of many Grassroots International partners such as La Via Campesina. Grassroots supports and joins the WMW call to action and celebrates International Women’s Day with them and our partners and allies across the globe. Below is WMW’s call to action.

In 2010, we – activists of the World March of Women from all five continents – will be on the march once more. We will march to demonstrate our perseverance and our strength as collectively organised women with diverse experiences, political cultures and ethnic backgrounds, but with a common identity and goal: the desire to overthrow the current, unjust world order that provokes violence and poverty, and to construct the world we want based on peace, justice, equality, freedom and solidarity.

We will march in solidarity with those women who do not have the freedom to do so as a result of war and conflict; the sexual division of work that maintains women prisoners in their own homes; the capitalist and patriarchal systems that determine that the public sphere – the streets, the workplace, spaces of learning, spaces of leisure activity – is the reserve of men; and the lack of time women have, as they juggle their responsibilities as primary care-givers.

We will march to demand our rights. We will march to resist those who would seek to take away the rights we have already gained in our struggle against the offensive of religious fundamentalisms and conservative sectors of society and the State. We will be on the march for the world we want, in which autonomy, self-determination and solidarity are the pillars of the organisation of our societies.
 
We will march in the struggle against the commodification of our lives, sexuality and bodies. We are not objects to be bought and sold! We refuse to be treated as pieces of meat for the pornography, trafficking and advertising industries! We will not accept violence in our homes and workplaces. We will be on the march until all women lead lives free of violence and threat of violence.
 
We will march to denounce the sexist, racist, homophobic capitalist system that exploits the daily reproductive and productive work of women while concentrating riches in the hands of the few. We demand equal pay for equal work, a fair minimum wage, the reorganisation and sharing of care-work and social security, all without discrimination of any kind. We will be on the march until all women achieve economic autonomy.
 
We will march for the immediate end to conflict and to the use of women’s bodies as spoils of war. We will march to demonstrate the economic interests behind conflict – the control of natural resources, the control of peoples, the profit of the arms industry. We will be on the march until women are recognised and valorised as protagonists of peace and reconstruction processes, and in the maintenance of active peace in their countries.
 
We will march in our fight against the privatisation of natural resources and public services. We will march for food and energy sovereignty, and against the destruction and control of our territories and false solutions to climate change. We will be on the march until our rights to healthcare, education, drinkable water, sanitation, land, housing, and autonomy over our traditional seeds have been fulfilled.
 

Join us in our Action!
 

The World March of Women (WMW) 3rd International Action will be organised around two prominent moments:

– The 8th – 18th March, with simultaneous national marches and mobilisations of different types, forms, colours, and rhythms that will also mark the 100-year anniversary of the Declaration of International Women’s Day by delegates of the 2nd International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen in 1910;

– Simultaneous marches and actions during the 7th – 17th October period, with an international mobilisation in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as a way to strengthen women’s protagonism in the resolution of conflicts. 

Mobilisations, actions and activities will also take place between these two key periods, in various different countries and also at regional level:

– Americas: 21st – 23rd August, Colombia

– Asia-Oceania: 12th – 14th May, Philippines

– Europe: 30th June, Turkey
 
The International Action is open to all groups of women and women who would like to join us in our struggle for the construction of the world we want, based on women’s alternatives. Come and march with us!

If you live in a country in which the WMW is organised as a National Coordinating Body (NCB), the first step is to get in touch with the sisters who participate to ask them what activities are being prepared during the year. Please search for their contact information on our website by clicking on the following link: http://www.marchemondiale.org/structure/cn-groupes/en/, or write to us at info@marchemondiale.org for more information. The second step is to get involved!

If you live in a country in which there is not yet a NCB, please feel free to organise your own mobilisations and activities! They could take many diverse and creative forms: marches, rallies, symbolic acts, conferences, debates, the launching of campaigns, the distribution of written materials, cultural presentations (music, dance, films, etc), press conferences and releases, workshops, forums, direct actions, vigils, the use of visual symbols (flags, bracelets, posters, marionettes, bandanas, etc), meetings with authorities, theatre, batucadas (drumming groups), frontier meetings, and the presentation of demands.

We also encourage you to regularly visit this Third International Action website to look at the texts, logos, and other materials that can be used to prepare for the action as well as news from the various participating countries: http://www.wmw2010.info.

And finally, don’t forget that here at the International Secretariat, we are always available to support you and your group in any way we can. Write to us to let us know what you’re planning, who is involved, and how we can help: info@marchemondiale.org.