On March 8, women and the LGBT movement must take over the streets all over the world, supporting the third International Strike. Anticapitalist Network and Juntas y la Izquierda have taken the task of overthrowing patriarchy, because it won’t fall on its own, we must overthrow it, attacking the father of all violence, capitalism.
In our country, we must mobilize and fight for a greater visibility in the media and for the declaration os a state of national emergency on violence against women. This is the third consecutive year of the Women’s National Strike, the figures on femicides in Paraguay are not seriously investigated and these crimes continue occuring. We already have too many women to put on our flags and we demand a greater budget for the creation of new shelters and attention centers; according to the United Nations there should be one every 30 thousand people (at least, there should be 200 in this country). This capitalist state is not interested in following the recommendations of its own international organization, because raising the budget means raising taxes on the wealthy and stopping the payment of interests of the external debt, an illegitimate and fraudulent debt. This would mean going against the interests of the bourgeoisie, because it goes against the profit rate they need in this global crisis that started in 2008, though we have felt its effects since earlier in our country. By separating ourselves from the class interests of national capitalism and by stopping the payment of the debt internationally, we could organize a complete national program that includes sex education with a gender perspective, guaranteeing contraceptives, fighting for safe and legal abortion, completely reorganising the judicial system for it to have a gender and diversity perspective, guaranteeing the safety of the victims and labour reinsertion so they can emancipate themselves. Also, the elaboration of a plan of labour reorganization, distributing work hours among apt inhabitants to guarantee full employment and safe labour reinsertion.
Because of this this and many other reasons, this is a class struggle and patriarchy won’t fall on its own, we must overthrow it. We understand this is a political fight, that’s why we build national parties and across the world we’re building our international current, the Anticapitalist Network, has been promoting the construction of Juntas y a la Izquierda to coherently fight politically against the system that oppresses us, to radicalize mobilizations and shake up the world, politically and socially. We are socialists, we are not anti-men because we believe that people can change, but capitalism will not, so this March 8, we will fight the capitalist State and the clergy, which plays a dreadful role against the emancipation of women, so we also demand the separation of Church and State.
The members of the Feminist Articulation of Paraguay will hold mobilizations in several cities under the slogan “We stop the world, our work has value!”. In Asuncion, from the Women’s Square to Democracy Square, as well as in Ciudad del Este, Concepción, Coronel Oviedo y Encarnación.
March 8 is not a day of celebration, but of struggle. In 1908, a fire in Cotton factory, New York, originated this day of anti-capitalist and feminist struggle of the working class. The female workers of that plant declared a strike in protest of the unbearable working conditions. The owner, against the occupation of the plant, closed the doors and set the place on fire. All 129 workers died. Today, we promote the greatest unity of action of women and the LGBT movement to mobilize in the streets, while framing the feminist fight in the strategic struggle of the entire working class, the youth and the people to overthrow the father of all violence: the capitalist and patriarchal system.
We promote in all countries a great general strike with mobilization, demanding the unions declare an active general strike, to make the mobilizations massive, to take over the streets and make the world tremble. We will fight for each and every one of our gender rights and against the economic austerity plans that the IMF, the World Bank, the G20, the European Union and other imperialist agencies push on us and our peoples through the different bourgeois governments.
We are anti-patriarchal because we want to put an end to all gender inequality. We are diverse because those allied identities are also discriminated against and oppressed. We are anti-clerical because we demand secular states and reject all fundamentalism and religious interference in public life. We are anti-capitalist because this system is the father of all violence. We are internationalist because our struggle has no borders and is the same throughout the planet. Since our fight is not only social and cultural but also political, we organize and build national parties and an international current, because our goal is the socialist revolution.
Alternativa Socialista Paraguay