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The March at the Meeting of the World March of Women of the Americas

Mar del Plata, Argentina (November 1, 2005)
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Women on the Move Change the World


On the afternoon of November 1, World March of Women activists attending the 3rd Peoples' Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, held a meeting to trade experiences and put forward suggestions of how to continue after the end of the 2005 world actions (the Relay of the Women's Global Charter for Humanity and the 24 hours of feminist solidarity). Present at the meeting were women from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Québec, Uruguay and others.

Addresses by March representatives from Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and a woman from Vía Campesina- Dominican Republic, were the starting point of an open discussion on the main themes that focus feminist actions on the continent: femicide and the increase in domestic and workplace violence, free trade, militarization, food sovereignty, political participation, inequality and class hierarchy among women, and the growing privatization of nature.

The meeting identified as major challenges from now on the need for training in political action and popular education aimed at women and based on the feminist values of solidarity, peace, equality, freedom and justice. The World March in different countries has also set itself the challenge of continuing to build real alliances between women's movements and in regions where common problems and struggles exist (such as the region under NAFTA or border areas experiencing conflict). The women voiced their resolve to build the WMW as a feminist movement in permanent struggle, to change the bases of gender relations and create new bonds of solidarity between men and women. They are also determined to continue being part of a broader movement opposed to neoliberal capitalist hegemony, having a comprehensive view of the pressing and necessary changes in the Americas and the rest of the world.

Another permanent challenge is to denounce the connection between the more specific and daily oppression of women and the economic processes that concern the whole continent. Femicide, the murder and disappearance of women on a mass scale, especially in the maquilera zones of Central America, is a theme requiring immediate mobilization; it reveals the direct relation between the increase in violence against women and processes of trade liberalization and the resulting deterioration in working conditions. The women of the March continue organizing campaigns in their countries against free trade at all levels: free trade agreements, the FTAA and the World Trade Organization. This was the subject of a workshop organized jointly with REMTE (Latin American Network of Women Transforming the Economy) and the CLOC Vía Campesina. The focus of the discussion was the existing connection between free trade agreements and the deepening poverty and vulnerability of women, and the importance of uniting the struggles of rural and urban women.

Julia Di Giovanni, World March in Brazil, Mar del Plata 03/11/05

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Last modified 2006-04-06 12:43 PM
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