“The path for the left and social movements will have to be a path of social struggles and class conflict, feminist and ecosocialist and throughly anticapitalist, aimed at exploding the causes of the crisis, while resolving its most immediate symptoms with short-term material solutions.”
In 2019, Chile exploded in a mass uprising against authoritarian neoliberalism. What role did the Chilean feminist movement play in fomenting this revolt?
Women on general strike in Chile
Women on general strike in Chile
Santiago de Chile, Mar 8 (Prensa Latina) Millions of women in Chile are readying for a massive mobilization on Monday to demand their rights and the elimination of patriarchy, under the slogan The Feminist General Strike Go!
On the occasion of March 8, International Women s Day, various organizations are planning an extensive day of demands with marches, a productive and reproductive strike, tributes to eminent figures of feminism, artistic performances and mobilization actions on social networks, throughout the South American country.
In this capital, women will be marhing along the central Alameda; similar actions will be replicated throughout the day in at least 40 other cities, for which feminist organizations called to take a series of precautionary measures in correspondence with the situation that the country is living due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
By Macarena Figueroa de la Fuente
In Latin America, March 8 is seen as a day of commemoration for those who are not present anymore, a day to fight, to demand equality in the most unequal region of the world, and a day to remember that women continue to be marginalized, discriminated, excluded, and murdered.
It is the fight to decide on their bodies, to demand significant changes, and to draw attention to the demands of millions of women in the region.
In Latin America, only Cuba and Uruguay have permitted the complete interruption of pregnancies. The majority of other countries allow it only under specific circumstances such as fetal unviability, the risk of life for the mother, or in the case of rape. Some countries like El Salvador, even punish women who interrupt their pregnancies with up to 8 years imprisonment. Argentina, Mexico, and Chile have recently spoken out strongly on this topic and introduced changes in their legislations.