Boletín nº 7 Junio 2020
Editorial
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We have been victorious in many battles
In this struggle to just exist Winter swallows smile to us Ayku15- M.G |
In these days, the general conversations in the Continent are about the pandemic, the quick and alarming expansion of COVID-19, the number of infected persons that has reached it highest peak during May, and the deceased that are in the thousands worldwide. It is inevitable to get lost in a situation that is attacking all of us in our territories, but that is not impacting us in the same way. It is also inevitable to follow the sanitary precautions that have been imposed, as isolation for the majority of the population is still the best step, at least for now, as the scientific research has not yet found ways to fight the virus with a vaccine.
What it is clear to the governmental institutions is that they should take advantage of the current moment to decrease social mobilizations and exert social control through police and military forces. Parallel to these measures, the countries’ informative and intelligence services keep trying to pass exceptional measures, decrees, laws, and judgments behind the backs of people; to make declarations “pro-social justice;” to threaten, in the name of regional security, other territories that do not follow their capitalist orders; and to launch communication attacks to other world powers that are disputing hegemonic power.
From all of the information we are getting from our sisters in the Americas, it is clear the situation is the same, the first response of the business sector has been massive firings; a sector that, astutely, has welcomed all measures of public restriction, without caring that thousands of men and women have only one job that allows them to live meagerly from their wages. In average, these men and women live in homes housing 5-6 persons. Often times, these families include elderly persons, who are the most threatened group by COVID-19. The waves of dismissals and firings has brought about a chain reaction of consequences in the homes, such as overcrowding, intra-familiar violence, alcoholism, drug-addiction, sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies, etc.
In these days, women’s daily tasks have been overburden, and their daily work has intensified due to the entire family being locked in reduced spaces. There are women who are doing remote work and, in addition to having to meet their work schedule, they also have to do domestic chores, such as caring for the kids, making sure they do their school homework, etc.
To this situation, we have to add that many of these women are educators and have to prepare schoolwork to send to other kids; or they are health workers who have to fill in demanding shifts in health centers. It is not a surprise then that the major social, physical, and psychological cost will be paid by women during this health crisis and, afterwards, during the economic crisis. It is women who go out to find the food that, day-by-day, is getting more expensive; they are those who have to live with miserable wages, government subsidies, or pandemic vouchers that are not enough to cover their household needs.
Capitalism was able to establish, with the blessing of governors, a perverse and alienating system in our territories, where the State is no longer a guarantor of rights. This has unmasked the consequences of not having free public health. However, abundant in society, are the values of consumerism, competitiveness, and the concept of wealth as a symbol; these values are setting aside concepts such as human rights, friendship, unity, solidarity, exchange, healthy eating, and buen vivir(living well).
This is called alienation and it affects attitudes and thoughts. It was not enough for patriarchal capitalism to engage in extractivism in our territories, but also of our bodies. For many years, us feminists have been warning about this social process, but we were only judged and reviled. Now that our voices are being heard, we have to be united as one force to face this new life, far away from competitiveness and individualism.
The World March of Women has played a prominent role in adverse situations, since the First International Action that brought together more than 150 countries; and five years after as well, when the Women’s Global Charter was presented under the banner of solidarity, and which integrated creativity and mystic through the National Coordinating Bodies. Likewise, the Third and Fourth International Actions united us globally against the militarization in the territories, and against the use women’s bodies as spoils of war.
The 24 hours of Feminist Action has been another campaign of global action to denounce the exploitation by great businesses and international corporations that sustain, throughout the world, the precarious work performed by thousands of women.
In the year 2020, when we were preparing to have our Fifth International Action, we continued to advance in the construction of a movement of feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-racist struggle, denouncing the offensive that capital has launched against life, resisting the increase of conservatism and authoritarianism in the Americas, and throughout the world. For this year, we had identified the closing of our action in Central America; however, we will not be to do it having a physical presence, as the health situation demands it.
We have not been demobilized because of this. The current moment presents to us a challenge, and the women in the national coordinating bodies have not remained silent, as shown by the virtual seminaries and schools had, the actions to relieve hunger, in the shopping together, in the neighborhood soup kitchens. We are convinced that the Feminist Economy will be the proposal and counter-response to capitalist economy. This has been one of the main tenants manifested throughout the various actions that have been organized during these months of quarantine.
We are in times of a global crisis, but as women, we know that the global gives us strength and allows us to articulate ourselves to advance, with a lot of energy, our feminist alternatives for the defense of life, the common goods, and Mother Earth.
What it is clear to the governmental institutions is that they should take advantage of the current moment to decrease social mobilizations and exert social control through police and military forces. Parallel to these measures, the countries’ informative and intelligence services keep trying to pass exceptional measures, decrees, laws, and judgments behind the backs of people; to make declarations “pro-social justice;” to threaten, in the name of regional security, other territories that do not follow their capitalist orders; and to launch communication attacks to other world powers that are disputing hegemonic power.
From all of the information we are getting from our sisters in the Americas, it is clear the situation is the same, the first response of the business sector has been massive firings; a sector that, astutely, has welcomed all measures of public restriction, without caring that thousands of men and women have only one job that allows them to live meagerly from their wages. In average, these men and women live in homes housing 5-6 persons. Often times, these families include elderly persons, who are the most threatened group by COVID-19. The waves of dismissals and firings has brought about a chain reaction of consequences in the homes, such as overcrowding, intra-familiar violence, alcoholism, drug-addiction, sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies, etc.
In these days, women’s daily tasks have been overburden, and their daily work has intensified due to the entire family being locked in reduced spaces. There are women who are doing remote work and, in addition to having to meet their work schedule, they also have to do domestic chores, such as caring for the kids, making sure they do their school homework, etc.
To this situation, we have to add that many of these women are educators and have to prepare schoolwork to send to other kids; or they are health workers who have to fill in demanding shifts in health centers. It is not a surprise then that the major social, physical, and psychological cost will be paid by women during this health crisis and, afterwards, during the economic crisis. It is women who go out to find the food that, day-by-day, is getting more expensive; they are those who have to live with miserable wages, government subsidies, or pandemic vouchers that are not enough to cover their household needs.
Capitalism was able to establish, with the blessing of governors, a perverse and alienating system in our territories, where the State is no longer a guarantor of rights. This has unmasked the consequences of not having free public health. However, abundant in society, are the values of consumerism, competitiveness, and the concept of wealth as a symbol; these values are setting aside concepts such as human rights, friendship, unity, solidarity, exchange, healthy eating, and buen vivir(living well).
This is called alienation and it affects attitudes and thoughts. It was not enough for patriarchal capitalism to engage in extractivism in our territories, but also of our bodies. For many years, us feminists have been warning about this social process, but we were only judged and reviled. Now that our voices are being heard, we have to be united as one force to face this new life, far away from competitiveness and individualism.
The World March of Women has played a prominent role in adverse situations, since the First International Action that brought together more than 150 countries; and five years after as well, when the Women’s Global Charter was presented under the banner of solidarity, and which integrated creativity and mystic through the National Coordinating Bodies. Likewise, the Third and Fourth International Actions united us globally against the militarization in the territories, and against the use women’s bodies as spoils of war.
The 24 hours of Feminist Action has been another campaign of global action to denounce the exploitation by great businesses and international corporations that sustain, throughout the world, the precarious work performed by thousands of women.
In the year 2020, when we were preparing to have our Fifth International Action, we continued to advance in the construction of a movement of feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-racist struggle, denouncing the offensive that capital has launched against life, resisting the increase of conservatism and authoritarianism in the Americas, and throughout the world. For this year, we had identified the closing of our action in Central America; however, we will not be to do it having a physical presence, as the health situation demands it.
We have not been demobilized because of this. The current moment presents to us a challenge, and the women in the national coordinating bodies have not remained silent, as shown by the virtual seminaries and schools had, the actions to relieve hunger, in the shopping together, in the neighborhood soup kitchens. We are convinced that the Feminist Economy will be the proposal and counter-response to capitalist economy. This has been one of the main tenants manifested throughout the various actions that have been organized during these months of quarantine.
We are in times of a global crisis, but as women, we know that the global gives us strength and allows us to articulate ourselves to advance, with a lot of energy, our feminist alternatives for the defense of life, the common goods, and Mother Earth.
Mafalda Galdames
Hacia la V Acción Internacional 2020 Boletín de Enlace |
https://marchemondiale.org¡Nueva Página web!
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