From London to Mexico City, 8M was a day of resistance to patriarchy

~ Josefine Peters ~

Marked for over a century, 8 March is a national holiday in numerous countries – but remains a global call to action against patriarchy and the systems of power that drive war, eco-crisis, and violence against women.

In London, close to 3,000 women, non-binary people and men took the streets as part of the International Feminist Strike for Liberation called by 20 feminist and anti-capitalist groups.

Led by Latin American sisters, the bloc included trans women, migrant women, care workers, women of colour, sex workers, antifascists and women organising for liberation of oppressed peoples. After speeches in Russell Square the march went past the British Museum, held Cambridge Circus for a short while and ended at Soho square.

A participant described it as a “joyful intergenerational action”, with many new young feminists joining experienced organisers.

In a statement leading up to 8M, the Anarchist Front of Iran and Afghanistan said that “the liberation of Iranian women will not come from American bombs or Israeli missiles. It will not come from a monarchy that treated women as property before the Islamic Republic treated them as sinners.

“It will come, it is already coming, from the women themselves, from below. They are not waiting to be liberated. They are liberation.”

From Mexico to Brazil, multiple demonstrators highlighted femicide and disappearances.

“We feel bad, we cry, we consumed by rage and pain, but at the same time we cannot stop, we have to mobilise”, said Tatianny Araújo, a women’s rights activist in Rio de Janeiro.

Many marches and demonstrations across Europe called for and end to their governments’ complicity in violence and war.

In Milan, over 40 thousand people joined the march called by Non Una Di Meno, with the lead banner reading “disarm war and patriarchy”.

With over a 150 protests called in France, the focus was on the country’s rising far right and anti-fascist feminism was at the forefront.

Thousands took to the streets in Paris, with slogans of “Woman, Life, Freedom” and Louise Michel looking punk as fuck.

In Montpellier more than 2000 people took to the streets with slogans of class struggle and revolutionary feminism, and banners against war and the far right.

Erfurt, Germany had it’s first Take Back the Night demo, supporting anti-fascist solidarity and bodily autonomy.

In Athens, demonstrators marched past the labour ministry chanting against capitalist exploitation and a recent case of five deaths at a workplace.

Photos: Blade Runner, Shiri Shalmy, Éditions Libertalia (FB), Le Poing, Non Una Di Meno – Milano (FB), Telediario (FB), Radical Graffiti.