Celebrating International Women’s Day

On this International Women’s Day, Grassroots International celebrates the organizing work by women and gender non-conforming people of color across the globe, as they confront the multiple forms of violence embedded in our existing systems while building alternative systems grounded in collective wellbeing, healing justice, and the sustainability of life.

At this moment, our partners including La Via Campesina, World March of Women, and many others are out en masse mobilizing globally. As La Via Campesina asserts in its #8M23 Call to Action, “By rebelling, we sow popular peasant feminism, build food sovereignty, and organize against crises and violence!” The violence they are confronting takes on multiple forms — from violence against the bodies and identities of women, LGBTQ+ populations, and people of color, to violence against territory and Mother Earth.

Movements are also using today to call attention to the care work predominantly carried out by women and gender non-conforming people of color that often goes invisible yet is essential to life. This type of work – and efforts to value it, share it collectively, and support it (including through public policies) – forms the basis for grassroots feminist economies that grassroots feminist movements are increasingly working towards. To learn more about these efforts, check out these fantastic new videos by World March of Women and Friends of the Earth International.

In recent years, Grassroots International has been honored to accompany a convergence of grassroots feminist movements from across the world to connect, exchange, and develop shared frameworks for grassroots feminist economies. An important convergence space has been the Berta Cáceres International Feminist Organizing School (IFOS) led by Grassroots Global Justice Alliance in collaboration with Indigenous Environmental Network, World March of Women, and Grassroots International. After completing a remarkably successful first year last year, the focus has been on diffusing and applying the powerful frameworks developed through IFOS at the local level across the globe.

On Friday, March 10, we will be joining others to celebrate the launch of the IFOS Facilitators Guidebook – a new tool for resistance, organizing, and alternative building. Join us for what is sure to be a powerful event, and stay tuned for further updates on this work.