Call to the European Action
EUROPEAN GATHERING of the 3rd World March of Women Demonstration and Forum
June 30th in Istanbul, Turkey
We, at the World March of Women, are fighting together against gender based violence and poverty, which primarily affect women the world over. Ten years following the creation of the WMW as an international feminist resource, we are once again on the move.
We are well aware that the context our actions addressed has worsened since the year 2000. We are now confronted with an offensive from neo-conservative sectors and economic powers that use crises to impose increasingly precarious working and life conditions, in addition to fundamentalisms of all kinds that deny women’s rights to define for themselves their own reproductive and life choices. Such crises are inherent to the economic system producing them, a system that takes for granted the exploitation of our planet’s resources, and provokes continual armed conflict, from which the civilian population – and women especially – suffer permanently. This is the reason we challenge the foundational and interwoven elements of the systems that oppress us: patriarchy, capitalism and racism.
During the last several years, groups belonging to the WMW have worked in four action areas: violence against women, women’s work and economic autonomy, common good and public services, peace and demilitarization. These areas have been addressed by raising awareness, marching and demonstrating, applying political pressure, and thousands of other ways. Actions have been carried out at times with other social movements, but always first and foremost privileging international feminist solidarity.
Together we participate permanently in resistance and in the creation of alternatives based on peace, justice, equality, freedom and solidarity. Our voices will be heard even more prominently in 2010 between March 8th and October 17th.
Demonstrations of various kinds, colors, rhythms will launch our mobilization from March 8th to 18th, in all countries where the WMW is present, celebrating at the same time the 100th Anniversary of the declaration of International Women’s Day.
A gathering of European feminists will take place June 30th in Istanbul focused on our 4 action areas to be discussed in a Public Forum. This will be followed by a demonstration, in which we will express our solidarity with Turkish and Kurdish women in their struggle for women’s rights and people’s self-determination. We will articulate our idea of an open, democratic and secular Europe where all women can enjoy and benefit from their
rights as full citizens.
This demonstration will take place on the eve of the opening of the European Social Forum. As always, the European Coordination for the WMW is dedicated to strengthening feminist presence in the Forum’s discussions and to ‘contaminating’ the Forum’s allied social movements with our demands.
October 13th to 17th, a large delegation of women from around the world will gather in Kivu (DRC) to
demonstrate our solidarity with Congolese women, to increase the focus on their pivotal role in civil society and to support their work in building sustainable peace. Simultaneous actions will take place around the world to denounce the role of governments and western multinationals in the conflicts.
Women on the march until we are all free!
