The International Feminist Fight Day on March 8th has been called into existence by the second International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1911, and is in practice since 1921. Even though one of the main demands from 1911 – voting rights for women – has been achieved widely, we continue to fight against ever-present capitalist exploitation and patriarchal violence.
To make a society’s fights emancipatory, they have to include feminist practice.
On September 13th, 2022, Jina Mahsa Amini was murdered by the Iranian so-called “moral police“, because she refused to oblige with the ideological moral ideas of a repressive state’s patriarchal dictatorship. This unleashed protests that are continuing. These protests are against systematic oppression, and for self-determination, especially the (bodily) autonomy of women*. Directed specifically toward the Mullah regime, the regime’s response has been excessively violent.
It’s also becoming clear all over again that the fight for bodily and gender autonomy is only of interest when it concerns countries of geo-political whiteness. The oppression of Yazidi or the struggles of Kurdish women* are being ignored, because Germany gladly supports Turkey in their agressions towards Kurdish territories, and actively participates in the prosecution of activists by criminalizing the Kurdish movement in Germany. The abolition of § 129b StGB can only be the beginning!
In the US and Great Britain, a coalition of “gender critics“, conservatives, and representatives of the Right, attack the rights and threaten the existence of trans people. It’s not a coincidence that parallelly, in the US, rights like access to safe abortion have been limited, criminalized, or even abolished. The situation in Germany isn’t great either. It’s not enough to abolish §219a StGB! Abolish § 218, abolish the criminalization of abortions!
First and foremost: Free, reliable, and safe access to abortions for all!
It’s an achievement of the trans and inter movement and their allies that the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz, a law to secure self-determination / gender autonomy, and the long over-due end of the so-called Transsexuellengesetz, a law that discriminates against trans people, are finally in sight. These achievements need to be protected vehemently against supposed protectors of women! It is unbearable when feminism and bodily autonomy are played against each other. It is no coincidence that the number of attacks against queer people is increasing, for example, when trans man Malte died in Münster, after protecting two lesbian women against an anti-queer attack.
In Germany, about every third day a woman* is murdered by her male (ex)partner. In Bielefeld, Bethel covered up sexual abuse and sexualized violence for years, thus actively protecting perpetrators – still without consequences for those involved! Except of course for the consequences for those affected, who have been left alone completely. These cases also show that people affected by violence cannot rely on the police or the state!
Let’s get together and organize against patriarchal, anti-queer, and anti-trans violence!
Let’s take the streets together!
In solidarity against patriarchy and capitalism!
We want the front part of the demo to be a safe/r space for women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans and agender people (LBTQIA+). Thus cis-men (men who were assigned male at birth, and identify as male) are not welcome in the front part. Everyone is welcome to join the back part of the demo, behind the speaker van. Masks are encouraged!