On Wednesday, thousands of people leading by women’s organizations gathered in Washington Square Park near New York University campus. Women of all ages from different national, religious, and ethnic backgrounds were in the park with the call of the platform of International Women Strike. Speakers also reflected the diversity in the demo. From unionists to students, from Palestinians to Kurds, revolutionary women made encouraging and enthusiastic speeches, which are signs of how the struggle in general is going to be shaped in the future. At the beginning of the program, the speaker, Palestinian activist Suzanne Adely, reminded those gathered of the importance and historical character of March 8th in terms of “using economic power of women.” She emphasized also, the importance “to learn a common language, to learn how to work together.” People chanted, “the women united will never be defeated,” “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” “union rights are human rights,” and “feminists fighting fascists, liberation here it comes.”
The March 8th demonstrations for International Working Women’s Day were also mirror of the past, which can be defined as anti-Trumpism. However, when we had talks with people in the field, it was certain that they are anti-Trumpist, because they see Trumpism as a threat against their rights. One could say, “but they are supporting Clinton, and she is essentially no different.” We can say that there were only a few banners showing their support to Clinton. In this sense, the March 8th demo in NYC was far from some simple machination of the Democratic Party.
Representation of LGBTQ communities was unfortunately low, and there were not so many banners to express solidarity with LGBTQ individuals. However, the initiative of the march made their best move in front of Stonewall Inn, which is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. When they were passing in front of the Inn, the people stopped to memorialize the rebellion.
This 8th March in New York was politically mature, colorful, and hopeful. In the future, much like after the Occupy Movement, new pressure coming from women’s movement will show itself in the ranks of the struggle for a new world.
But attendance to the strike was mostly from students, academicians, artists, and immigrant workers. In general, life in the NYC was not stopped; the city was still working. Bus services and subways were working. One could not feel it was a day of strike. Weaknesses in the struggle of the working class is apparent. Although UAW and PSC-CUNY joined to the march, their attendance was not that large. A lesson to be learned from this march is that union organizers, militants, and honest activists of working class have to take more initiative in industrial plantations, factories, schools and hospitals in order to build the working class movement.
Organizations
AF3IRM, Al-Awda The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (National and New York), All of Us or None, American Kurdish Association, American Muslims for Palestine – Upper NY, Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network, Bayan-USA, Black Lives Matter LA, Black Women for Wellness, Capital District Coalition Against Islamophobia, Chiapas Support Committee, Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Women and Girls, Citizen Action Inaugurate Resistance Capital Region, Citizen Action of New York, Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, CodePink San Francisco, Common Notions, Critical Resistance, Dalit American Women’s Coalition, Damayan Migrant Worker’s Association, Democratic Socialists of America, Democratizing Knowledge Collective, Syracuse, DHS/DCFS Give Us Back Our Children (Philadelphia and LA), Dream Defenders, DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving, Endangered Bodies (Global, US, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany), Equality Labs, Every Case Matters, Every Mother is a Working Mother, Existence is Resistance, GABRIELA New York and Los Angeles, Golden Steps Elder Care Cooperative, Global Women’s Strike, Green Party of Philadelphia, GSOC-UAW LOCAL 2110, Haiti Action Committee, Human Rights Coalition, International Action Center, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Socialist Organization, International Women’s Strike / Paro Internacional de Mujeres, Jewish Voice for Peace NYC, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Judson Memorial Church, La4Palestine, Labor for Palestine, Labor Notes, Laundry Workers Center, Long Beach Area Peace Network, Madre, International Women’s Rights, Malcom X Grassroots Movement, Martin Luther King Coalition of Greater LA, Miami Femmes Coalition, Military Families Speak Out (LA and Long Beach), MORE-UFT, Moveon.org, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Lawyer’s Guild (National and NYC), National Organization for Women, National Women’s Liberation, NYC Bodega Strike, NYC SJP, Oakland Women’s Strike Organizing Collective, Omni Commons Oakland, One Billion Rising, Organize Santa Cruz, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Payday Men’s Network, Peace Justice Sustainability Florida, Peacehome Campaigns, Peoples’ Democratic Congress, Philadelphia International Women’s Day Protest, Price of Silence, Project South, Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility, Queer Strike, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Red Bloom Collective, Red Wedge Magazine, Restaurant Opportunity Center United (ROC), Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, SEIU Lavender Caucus, Sex Workers Outreach Project, SF Living Wage Coalition, Showing Up for Racial Justice (MN), Social Justice and Civil Rights Committee of the New York State Nurses Association, Socialist Action, Socialist Party USA (NYC), Solidarity US, Spelman College Women’s Resource and Research Center, Standing Together Against Rape, Student Collective of Turkey at the New School, Topanga Peace Alliance, UAW Local 2325 – Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2865 – University of California Student Workers, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, US PROS Collective, VDay, Veterans For Peace LA, Viewpoint Magazine, Voices of Women, War Resisters League, Welfare Warriors Milwaukee, WESPAC Foundation, Western Regional Advocacy Project, WinVisible, Women and Gender Studies Program, Syracuse University, Women of Color/ Global Women’s Strike, Women Fight Back, Women’s Therapy Centre Institute, Women United to Fight Back (Baltimore)
Individuals
Cornel West, Diana Kilmury, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Dolores Huerta, Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Nawal al Saadawi, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, Winnie Wong (Co-Founder of The People for Bernie)
(The Red Phoenix / New York)
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