8-18 March: the first key moment of the Third International Action!

Africa
 
From Algeria and Morocco in the very north, to South Africa and Zimbabwe in the very south, many hundreds of WMW sisters were mobilised on the African continent at the beginning of March to launch the 3rd WMW International Action and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the declaration of International Women’s Day. Actions organised in 14 countries included marches and demonstrations through towns and cities and camps, round table debates, the launching of a campaign, events and talks, cultural activities, a sit-in, training seminars and debates.
These activities were carried out in Algeria (the launch of the “Kif Kif” – equality in law – campaign), Benin (demonstration in Cotonou: “Equal rights, equal opportunities, progress for all”), Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (marches in Bukavu, Kinshasa, Lumbumbashi and Mbujimayi: peace, violence against women, equality between women and men), Kenya (although the main 8th March demonstration in Nairobi was prohibited by police), Mali (training seminar: consolidation of peace and security in the country), Morocco (sit-in to demand the end of violence against women), Mozambique (talks, sharing of experiences and cultural activities in an event in Maputo), South Africa (launch of the 3rd International Action, round table discussions), Sudan, Western Sahara (marches in the Saharawi refugee camps) and Zimbabwe (march: presentation of the WMW, violence against women, economic empowerment). 

Women from Benin

Americas
 
WMW activists from 18 American countries – in South, Central and North America and in the Caribbean – organised or participated in International Women’s Day demonstrations and other activities on or around the 8th March.

Winnipeg, Canada

In Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Martinique, Mexico, Peru, Quebec and Venezuela, our sisters mobilised under the WMW flag and the slogan “Women on the March until we are All Free” as part of the 3rd International Action. Actions included street demonstrations in capital and other cities – in Chuquisaca,  Cochabamba,
Oruro, Santa Cruz and Tarija, Bolivia; in Santiago, Chile; in San Salvador, El Salvador; in the city of Guatemala and other cities, Guatemala; in San Cristobal de las Casas and Mexico City, Mexico; in Arequipa, Chiclayo, Junín, Lima and Puno, Peru; in Fort-de-France, Martinique; in Montreal, Quebec; in Caracas, Venezuela –, a 10-day march in Brazil (from Campinas to São Paulo) and other street interventions in Argentina (Buenos Aires), Cuba (Havana) and Ecuador (Quito).
In Canada, Paraguay and the United States, feminist activists allied to the WMW made the most of the launch of our International Action to share our Action Area analyses and develop their own demands related to them, while mobilising interest in our movement. While in Haiti and Honduras, WMW activists were present in street demonstrations and activities together with other feminists, resisting the coup d’état in the former, and in remembrance of our sisters Magalie Marcelin, Myriam Merlet and Anne Marie Coriolan in the latter.

Ecuador
 
Asia-Oceania
 
All 6 of the WMW’s Asia-Oceania National Coordinating Bodies who sent delegates to the VII International Meeting in Galicia, as well 3 other NCBs in the region, mobilised sisters in their countries for 8th March street actions. 

Demonstration in India

National demonstrations took place in: Dhaka and Rajbari in Bangladesh (marches in which talks and cultural activities also took place; more than a thousand participants in Rajbari alone); Tokyo, the capital of Japan (2 different marches: a “Mimosa Parade” on the 7th March (anti-globalisation, lesbian rights, abortion, anti-militarisation, etc) and a central rally and march on the 8th March with 800 participants), Kathmandu (Nepal), Manila and 11 other strategic centres of the Philippines archipelago (in Manila many hundreds of women marched under the slogan “Militarism, Sexism, WTO, Arroyo: Retreat!”), and Seoul, the capital of South Korea (6th March, 500 participants took part in the 26th Korean Women’s Festival and WMW for the reorganisation of care work and to defend women’s rights).
Local, but just as well attended, street actions took place in Raipur (Chattisgarh District, India) – a celebration with more than a 1000 women of the historic struggles of women in the world and to assert the rights of women in the family, communities and in society – and in Lahore (Pakistan) – a 10km march of 1500 women in the centre of the city.
In Sri Lanka activities in 6 towns concentrated along the northwest coast (fishing communities) the main theme discussed was women's role in achieving democracy, while in New Caledonia a national mobilisation in a central square of the capital Nouméa launched the 3rd International Action and debated the 4 WMW Action Areas.
 

Europe

Of the 13 countries on the European continent who had shared plans with us for on or around the 8th March, only one of them – Catalonia – was not able to put those plans into practice, due to very heavy snow. WMW activists in the other 12 countries were seen and heard in the streets of their capital and other cities participating in the following activities:
National demonstrations: Brussels (Belgium); London (England, thousands of women); Paris (France, 5000 women); Athens (Greece); Santiago de Compostela (Galicia); Bern (Switzerland, 8000 women).
Local marches and street gatherings: Durres and Fier (Albania); Zornotza to Orereta, and Bilbao, Bizkaia, Portugalete and Santurzi (Basque Country); Havre, Marseille, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Valréas (France); A Coruña, Ferrolterra, Ourense, Pontevedra and Vigo (Galicia); Porto (Portugal); Diyarbakir (Turkey, thousands of women).

Meeting in Macedonia

Other activities: Lezha (Albania); Milan (Italy); Skopje (Macedonia); Coimbra and Lousã (Portugal); Base, Geneva, Neuchâtel (Switzerland); Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul (Turkey).
As well as these actions at national and local levels, a WMW Balkans regional activity was also organised, from the 19th – 21st March in Tirana, capital city of Albania. 65 sisters from 6 countries in the region – Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and Romania – participated in this historic meeting in which the WMW Balkans Network was founded. Participants agreed to join together in solidarity and action organised across borders in the region, in the struggle against neoliberal policies and patriarchy.