International Women’s Day 2022

 

This past Sunday we—along with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Pensacola Dream Defenders, a speaker from the Poor People's Campaign, and passionate members of the public—held a rally for International Women's Day (IWD). We rallied around the history of women, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals' struggle and the ongoing fight against bigotry & injustice. We rally because we are tired, we are hurting, and we are angry. Angry that those in power continue to show us who they are by denying us justice and stripping us of our humanity.

As many speakers pointed out, the struggles faced are systemic issues that cannot be fixed alone. They weave through our lives and intersect where they cannot be untangled from one another. We must recognize that true women's liberation is tied to the liberation of all, and more specifically, to the liberation of the most marginalized.

It is clear that poor and working class women, gender non-conforming people, & non-binary people continue to suffer under capitalism. As rent and utility prices skyrocket; as those in office write and pass anti-trans & anti-abortion legislation; as black, brown, & trans people are murdered, dehumanized, and denied true justice: we, the people, are under attack.

As we watch brave educators in Minnesota strike and rally in the streets today, we are reminded of the working class history of IWD & how it started. Beginning in 1909, American socialists started the national holiday to honor striking garment workers in NYC. The following year the holiday came to have an international impact as a million working class people around the world, lead by German communist feminist Clara Zetkin and other activists, followed the lead of the American socialists in demanding equality & liberation for all. The holiday’s tradition was solidified in 1917 when the Soviet Union declared it a holiday at the urging of Alexendra Kollontai & Lenin.

As we look through the lens of history & witness over a century of struggle, we see that IWD finds its roots in the working class fight for liberation. We must honor this day by realizing our collective power and using that power to organize. To demand better for all working class people. So, when they show us who they are, when they tell us they will continue our suffering and profit off of our pain: we tell them no, we organize, and we show them who we are.

In Solidarity,

Faith & Travis

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