ALIANZA POR LA SOLIDARIDAD SUPPORTS THE FEMINIST STRIKE ON THE 8TH OF MARCH, 2018

¨FREE WOMEN IN FREE TERRITORIES¨

We unite at the global call to claim a society free of oppression, exploitation, and sexist violence.

The International Strike convened last year from the movement «Ni una menos, vivas nos queremos»  that launched the Argentine feminists and managed to get millions of people from 70 countries out to the streets to make our demands visible to our productive and reproductive work; areas in which women are devalued, invisible and discriminated and who join the multiple situations of sexist violence that do not recognize our sexual and reproductive rights; areas where Alianza por la Solidaridad works in a coordinated manner with feminist and women’s organizations from different countries.

In 2018, women´s and feminist organizations around the world are coming together at The International Feminist Strike, a space of wider vindication that goes beyond a labour strike. It positions the participation of women as the central axis in all spheres of life: care, consumption, and student and associative life.

As Alianza por la Solidaridad, we join this call and raise our voice against sexist violence, violations of sexual and reproductive rights of women, inequality of work, and discrimination in access to economic, social, and environmental resources, and the invisibilization in the work that many women do around the world. As an organization, we want to acknowledge the women who will not be able to participate in this strike because they work in precarious, informal sectors or without any guarantees (domestic service, field workers, senior care, etc.).

As a development organization, we work in alliance with organizations in more than 10 countries supporting this strike as part of a GLOBAL movement. This strike is for ALL THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD and therefore we will join organized activities in the countries where we are present with our partners in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Spain.

We unite and support the claims of indigenous and Afro-descendent women with whom we work with in Bolivia and Colombia, those that use art to claim the right to decide about decisions pertaining to their of bodies and sexuality in Bolivia, women that are leaders and environmental and social rights defenders in Central America and Colombia, as well as women councillors and candidates, in rural areas and vulnerable sectors of Peru and Bolivia who suffer political violence every day.

Likewise, in the Middle East, we joined the Syrian refugee women, whom we worked with in Jordan for their most basic rights such as health, prevention of physical and sexual violence, prevention of child marriages, and the protection of their livelihoods. We worked with Palestinian refugee women in the Gaza Strip for access to essential services, such as health services, attention to and prevention of violence, their participation in decision-making processes, peace-building, and their resilience to the occupation.

In Africa, in countries of the migratory corridor like Mauritania and Morocco, we work with migrant women. We unite for their right to be protected by their countries of origin, in cases of violence and discrimination, and to be guaranteed access to services and resources for their health, education, and decent jobs. In Senegal we work for a woman´s right to own land and for access and control of natural resources.

Likewise in Spain, we unite for the demands of migrant women, refugees and people in transit, that day to day their rights are violated as Europe is increasingly focused on border-closing policies rather than ensuring the welfare of people.

Alianza por la Solidaridad completely supports the strike and calls on all its allies and territorial offices abroad to support on the 8^th of March:

• All the women that join the Feminist Strike and the organizations that support it facilitate the free exercise of the right for all workers to strike.
• We also call upon men to give support, accompaniment, and collaboration to allow for the participation of women, while performing the minimum services in the work spaces and carry out the work that will remain undone.
• Participate in demonstrations or spaces claimed by feminist organizations.
• Establish spaces of reflection before the strike around problems with organizations and groups of our environment.
• Be aware of our workspaces in support of the International Feminist Strike. http://hacialahuelgafeminista.org/espacios/
• Our presence on social media. #FeministStrike #HaciaLaHuelgaFeminista, #8M, and through our hangtag #AliadasParamos.

We are many, but we will be more because: If we stop, we stop the world.