For a third year, women are mobilising for their annual march throughout North America. It all started in January 2017, when millions of women throughout North America gathered to oppose Donald Trump’s election, playing a crucial role in the opposition to this warmonger, misogynist, transphobic and homophobic, racist and xenophobic, fascist-friendly US President.
The last two marches are credited as counting among the biggest women rights events in the recent years. Last year, the march was linked to the #MeToo movement, a movement followed by millions of women across the world denouncing gendered violence. More than a simple hashtag, this movement showed that women throughout the world are willing to mobilise and play a role in the global fightback against patriarchy and misogyny in a time where right-wing populist and fascistic movements on the rise keep perpetrating these ideas. Embedded in these ideas is also racism and xenophobia to further attacks on the youth, progressive movements and on the working class.
In this context, women’s marches play an important and uniting role in building popular resistance against the ultra-right and against corporate attacks on women. In our country, led by the “feminist” Justin Trudeau, it would take 170 years at the actual pace for women to achieve pay equity; justice hasn’t been done for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, like Tina Fontaine whose murderer continues walking freely in the streets, and for young Palestinian women like Ahed Tamimi continue being jailed or murdered by an Israeli apartheid state supported by Canada.
All this to say that women continue being among the first victims of the barbarity of imperialism, of corporate attacks and of capitalism in general. Building a feminist resistance is key to build a broad, strong, and organised popular resistance.
Mobilising once a year is a first step, but we need more. For example, in India, 5 million women organized to form a 620 kilometre wall to protest for the cause of women’s rights. In Spain,over 7 million women went on strike in over 120 cities on March 8th last year under the leadership of feminist organisations and labour unions, including the Communist union, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO). This is what we need: a massive and coordinated feminist movement able to connect their struggles with those of the youth, working class and other progressive movements.
As we are entering an electoral year, we can only hope that Saturday’s march will have in impact to ensure that women issues won’t be overshadowed during the different debates as it is too much the case usually. Therefore, as a proud feminist publication, we highly encourage our readers to mobilise and take part in the demonstrations, and make of this Saturday once again, one of the biggest feminist mobilisations to massively denounce patriarchy, misogyny, violence against women, but also the system that perpetuates women’s oppression and inequality, capitalism.
Here is a short list of marches happening this Saturday. You can find a more exhaustive list here : https://www.womensmarchcanada.com/2019_marches
Calgary :
12 :00 PM at Bankers’ Hall (315 8 Ave. SW)
Edmonton :
1 :00 PM at Sir Winston Churchill Square (10221 100st NW)
Nanaimo :
10:30 AM at Maffeo Sutton Park (100 Comox rd)
Victoria :
11:00 AM at the Legislature building
Vancouver :
10:00 AM at the Vancvouer Art Gallery (750 Hornby st.)
Winnipeg :
11:00 AM at the Legislature building
Fredericton :
1 :00 PM at the Fredericton City Hall
Hamilton :
9 :45 AM at the Hamilton City Hall
Ottawa :
11 :00 AM at Parliament Hill
Toronto :
12 :00 PM at Nathan Philip’s Square (100 Queen st. W)
Montréal :
11h, Place des Arts
Regina :
10 :00 AM at 1940 McIntyre St.
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