World March of Women Political Declaration

We, the members of the International Committee of the World March of Women, meeting in Quebec, Canadá, from the 12^th to the 15^th September 2015 state: Our solidarity to the women of the region of Quebec, place of birth of the World March of Women, and our recognition of their struggles and resistances.

We recognize the value of the feminist political training as the strategy to build ourselves as political subjects in resistance to the system that is oppressing us. Gathered here we worked on a common understanding of our reality, struggling to defend our right to create our own feminist epistemology.

We are working on the building of our own feminist alternatives based on the re-construction of our own knowledge, and our daily practices, both of them intentionally suppressed from the mainstream discourse in order to put women aside.

We are devoted to free ourselves from patriarchy, neocolonialism and capitalism which are the root causes of the oppressive system in which we live. Together in this working space, we came to the conclusion that poverty, violence, forced immigration and terrorism, are also expressions of violence suffered by women, children and marginalized communities, as the consequences of mean strategies such as militarization, extremism and austerity measures that underpin the current establishment.

In this sense, we condemn the attitude of the International Community, specially the European Union, for its response on the refugee crisis that is taking place these days. Once again, we witness horrified how human life is worth nothing, how people is fleeing their country trying to run away of fundamentalism, terrorism and wars - boosted by states as the US, and allied countries, as well as weapon industry -, to find an unachievable fortress in Europe. We speak out against the official response that EU is offering. A response based on the militarism and on the closure of borders and quotas that is against the willing of thousands of Europeans citizens that these days are taking the streets to open their doors for people escaping from Palestine, Syria, Lybia, Iraq, Kurdistan, and other territories of the area.

We continue calling for solidarity from people all over the world, and re-state that refugees are not our enemy, but our sisters and brothers escaping from situations of extreme violence provoked by an unjust system. Racism is spreading widely in many regions. We keep receiving news of forced displacement and human rights violations of communities and native peoples in Brazil, North America and other regions. Governments and extreme right groups use fear as strategy to control public opinion and to justify their xenophobic policies. The rise of killings of black people in the US is producing social unrest and conflicts, but the mass media and social networks keep blaming the same people. Those who are being oppressed are also criminalized when they take action and claim for justice.

Those are the severe expressions of the neo-liberal and neo- colonialist ideologies that are becoming stronger every day, impacting on the life of people from all over the world. Corporations and States are implementing new forms of colonization of the global South. We can see in Africa how multinationals cause the displacement of communities and native populations, how companies are occupying the territories and plundering natural resources and how cultural colonization take place through the capitalist market and the consumption trends, transmitted via the mass media.

We stand up for those women who are criminalized in their struggle to claim autonomy over their bodies and territories. We send our feminist solidarity to Sara Kaya, who was elected last year as co-Mayor of Nusaybin with 91% of votes of people. In this Kurdish city we launched our European Feminist Caravan on the 6thMarch 2015, and she proofed to be highly committed to our cause and our movement. Unfortunately, we got the news that she was arrested and unseated for her declaration on self-determination two weeks ago. We condemn the war and oppression waged by Turkish government against Kurdish communities and we continue to be in solidarity with Sara Kaya and every women that has been criminalized for their struggle for better World. We stand out to Maxima, a Peruvian indigenous woman who has been persecuted because of her resistance in defense of the land and life. We stand for everyone who stands in resistance throughout the world.

We don’t want this inhuman world. We say no, this is enough! And for that, we ratify here again, our commitment to the construction of a new world, in which life is in the center of everything, in which all human beings enjoy new relations, based on justice, freedom, respect and the recognition of diversity, not only among themselves, but also with nature.

We salute the efforts of all the NCBs who are working very hard since the beginning of our International Action on the 8^th March, making the action happen at grassroots level in many regions and territories, mapping resistances and alternatives and improving the defense of our territories, our bodies and land. We salute our sisters achieving victories in the field of politics, namely our comrade Sandra Morán from Guatemala, who just got elected to the National Parliament, in representation of a coalition of social movements.

We are committed to strengthen our relationship with other social movements and strategic allies in the belief that this alliance will make our political project stronger and more coherent. That is why we will keep occupying the political spaces at the regional and international arena, to influence on the decision and policy making processes. Next December we will mobilize women from all over the world to join the international actions around COP21. Together we will speak out to protect Mother Nature, the environment and to demand for a real change in the system, to stop the devastation that is causing climate change.

Is in the hope to reach this society guided by the feminist principles, that we call for the struggle and we keep walking towards our 10^th International Meeting, in October 2016, when militants from all over the world, from all the regions of the planet, will gather in Mozambique to say loud and clear: Women on resistance, building a new world!

The International Committee of the World March of Women,
In Quebec City, on the 15^th September 2015

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World March of Women Political Declaration (May 2015)

28-05-2015

We, the members of the International Committee of the World March of Women, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 to 29 May 2015, had the opportunity to learn about the organizational efforts and community alternatives being built by our sisters from the World March in Switzerland, as well as to listen to the experiences of our young comrades in the feminist caravan crossing Europe.

We were able to share experiences and thoughts and to gain an understanding of the problems migrant women are facing, like discrimination, stigmatization, the effects of austerity policies and growing militarization and armed presences which bring violence into the lives of peoples and women in both the North and the South.

Together we confirmed the aggressive presence of military forces, terrorist attacks by extremist religious groups and the greed of transnational companies plundering and evicting people from their lands, controlling them, employing sexual violence and causing forced pregnancies, illnesses and pollution of the natural goods of indigenous peoples all over the world.

In addition to the above, the consequences of climate change and state policies are causing extreme poverty, destroying public services and engendering unemployment and homelessness, which in turn lead to increasing migration and human trafficking, exploitation and death.

All these problems are a result of the patriarchal, capitalist and neo-colonial system which keeps using women, peoples and nature as objects and chattel for exploitation and the accumulation of wealth, which creates and deepens inequalities between countries and regions.

In this context, we welcome the fact that, in 30 countries around the world, from the North to the South, on International Women’s Day on 8 March and during the 24 hours of Feminist Action on 24 April, we denounced transnational companies, expressed our solidarity with victims and called for justice and reparations for the women who died in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, and for workers in every corner of world.

We salute the resistance and organization of communities, indigenous peoples and social movements that are achieving progressive political change in certain countries, and in which women have played a crucial role, bringing hope to the people.

We call for the continuation of our organization and participation in the 4^th International Action of the World March of Women, to advance the development of alternatives for the lives of the planet’s peoples and women.

We will be on the march until women are all free

International Committee of the World March of Women
Geneva , 28 May 2015

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