Brazil:The World March of Women have completed ten days on the road

But yesterday the women, who began the great walk of fight and formation on March 8th in Campinas, left the Santa Fé Center, in Perus, on kilometer 26 of the Anhanguera highway, and arrived in Osasco after marching for five hours and through 14 kilometers.

Throughout these ten days, the militants have conquered a total of 108 kilometers. Each day one of the delegations, which represent all the Brazilian states, lead the way. Yesterday it was the Minas Gerais delegation’s turn. Their women tried something different for the mobilization mystique activity: Working as a front commission, the theater group Obscenas performed an act in memory of the Brazilian women who have been raped and murdered.

As the March approaches the capital of the State of São Paulo, the center of Brazilian capitalism, the more the women interact critically towards it. From Perus to Osasco, the two thousand militants from all over the country passed by the main headquarters of TV station SBT (Brazilian Television System) and the Distribution Center for Pão de Açúcar, a major chain of supermarkets. As they passed the first one, they sang words in protest against the use of women’s bodies as merchandise and the criminalization of social movements promoted by the Brazilian commercial media. When they saw themselves in front of the second one, they booed Antônio Ermírio de Moraes, the entrepreneur who own Pão de Açúcar Group, and protested in defense of food sovereignty and the strength of family and rural agriculture.

On the afternoon, at the Metalworkers Union, where they spent the night in Osasco, the March had an open debate on “peoples interaction as an alternative to the role of the State”. The activity made room for an evaluation of the advances, limitations and challenges faced by public policies nationally and regionally. This Thursday, at 1pm, the walkers leave Osasco towards the Pacaembu Stadium, in São Paulo, in front of which will take place the big public act that will close this 2010 Action.

Peace and demilitarization

While they were still at the Santa Fé Center, in Perus, on Tuesday, the feminists held a debate on peace and demilitarization. The presence of Cuban doctor Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Che Guevara, really moved the militants, some of which acted as true groupis. “It’s good to be here and meet people who are so prepared for the fight, who search for solutions to their problems”, declared the Cuban militant, thanking the warm welcome.

The majority of intelectuals in Cuba is made of women. They represent, for instance, 63,8% of all general practitioners and 65% of graduates. In Cuba, abortion is legal and maternity leave lasts 12 months, which can be shared between the mother and the father. “I was born in a socialist country, where women are treated with respect and equality of rights”, celebrated Aleida. “We can’t give out recipes, or tell you what you need to go. But we can show you our reality and say that, if a small poor country such as ours made it, then so can Brazil”, she encourage.

One of the items included in the World March of Women platform is that the UN pull out its military missions in Haiti and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The UN military presence should by quick and during emergencies. On the Congo, the troops have been there for ten years and have provoked inflation by paying their soldiers in dollar. The path towards peace has got to include the auto determination of women and the sovereignty of the peoples”, defended Miriam Nobre, the international coordinator of the WMW.