On this Thursday, 18th March, around 2,000 activists of the World March of Women arrived to Sao Paulo after walking during 10 days from Campinas, where the Brazilian action started on the 8th March, to its final stop, the Pacaembu stadium, in Sao Paulo. In total, around 3,000 women from the 27 Brazilian states took part of the 2010 action.
Women in Brazil walked 116 kilometers, including the entries to the cities of Valinhos, Vinhedo, Louveira, Jundiaí, Várzea Paulista, Cajamar and Osasco, besides the districts of Jordanésia and Perus. During Their daily routine during those 10 days was to wake up at 4 am in the morning, starting march at 6 am up to 10-11 am. In the afternoon, after lunch and resting, they had different activities (debates, plenary sessions, testimonies, cultural events) around the four areas of the action: common good and public services, peace and demilitarization, women’s economic autonomy and violence against women.
People’s integration and the role of State
The last panel of debate during the action, held on Wednesday (17), in Osasco, was focused on people’s integration and the role of the state. During the activity, Vera Soares, WMW and solidarity economy activist, explained that “We struggle for the increase of minimum wage, to build good public childcare and against the criminalization of abortion. These are demands that are in conflict with the values of a patriarchal, racist and capitalist society in which we live. This is the why our battle is hard and transforming, because neoliberalism along the 90’s gained hearts and minds”.
The struggle against the Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) and against the World Trade Organization (WTO) has united different movements in resistance to neoliberalism. “Women took advantage of the opportunity to strength themselves. From that struggle onwards, the debate on people’s integration gained visibility” reported Nalu Farias, from the Brazilian WMW coordination and the Sempreviva Organização Feminista (SOF). She reminded as well that Latin America was the cradle of some concepts that today reanimates worldwide the struggle for socialism, like food sovereignty (concept presented by the peasant’s movement) and the well being/buen vivir (brought by social movements from Bolivia and Equator). “We have elected left presidents in many countries in Latin America. It was a people’s signal to stop neoliberalism. These elections represented advances, but also challenges: it obliged us to create spaces to dialogue with governments”, said Nalu.
The risk of fragmentation and cooptation of social movements by the State in this scenario was also recorded by Angela Silva, militant of housing movement in Sao Joe dos Campos, and by Terezinha Vicente Ferreira, from the Articulação Mulher e Mídia, both WMW militants. “The fact that Brazil has not recognized Honduras government imposed after the coup d’État was a good example of regional solidarity. But I ask myself if, in case the coup had took place here in Brazil, we would be able to persist in resistance as Honduras’ people. I guess not, because the left in Brazil is fragmented”, assess Angela. “The State, as we know it, historically was built by imposition. And the dispute to occupy its spaces and positions has divided Brazilian social movements”, argues Terezinha.
Tatiana Berringer, from the Popular Assembly, has stressed the importance of confronting the fragmentation of the left and accumulate people’s power in order tot transform society. “I believe that the World March of Women is an example of this accumulation”, celebrates. Elaine, from the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Bahia also agrees with this assessment. “We, from the MST, know very well how this integration with the society hurts. The WMW accomplishes a little bit this role of integrating different movements”.
We will be on the March!
All over the world, the actions along this first moment of struggles (8 to 18th March) are not finished. On the public action held in Sao Paulo it were presented the Walkers build in workshops during the 10 days march. These marionettes will be representing Brazil during the second big moment of the action, from 7 to 17 October, in the Republic Democratic of Congo.
For further information on the Brazilian action:
http://www.sof.org.br/acao2010