“If they kill me, I will get my arms out of the grave and I will be stronger!”
Minerva Mirabal
By Impulso Socialista and Grupo de Trabajadores Socialistas
Fighting tirelessly against regimes of hunger and death, fiercely opposing dictatorships and organizing in search of a better world, has cost the lives of thousands and thousands of women and men around the world.
Why is November 25 commemorated?
On November 25, 1960 in the Dominican Republic, three women who had organized to confront the dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo were tortured and murdered. Patria, María Teresa and Minerva Mirabal are the reason why every November 25, women, men and gender dissidents take to the streets to denounce that even today, macho violence is still the order of the day. Governments, which have the obligation to stop it, do little or nothing more than budgetary trifles and eloquent pronouncements that do little or nothing to stop the gender violence that is increasing in the context of the current capitalist crisis.
In Colombia, women and sexual dissidents have mobilized, for example, against sexual abuse in Transmilenio and have organized in universities against gender-based violence. Between October 31 and November 5, several cases of sexual and gender-based violence and several femicides were made public, which shook the country. This is why we call to continue fighting, packing the streets to commemorate this historic date.
To organize against gender violence is to fight against capitalism!
In Colombia, gender violence is expressed in various ways in the context of a global capitalist crisis, where working women and women from the popular sectors live in conditions of greater precariousness.
According to DANE, women are the most unemployed with 14.1% as opposed to men who represent 9%.
Between January and November 2022, there have been 588 reports of femicides according to the observatory of Feminicides Colombia. And according to the trans community network, there have been 11 trans-travesticides during the year.
In the National Strike of 2021, women fighters faced rape, disappearances, torture, assassinations and imprisonment for confronting the government that intended to move forward with a tax reform that loaded the entire weight of the crisis on the shoulders of the working class and popular sectors.
We could fill entire pages of data that show the serious situation of women and sexual dissidences, however, it is urgent to discuss how to fight and defeat the conditions that this system generates to maintain the class and gender inequalities that we live today.
During the uprising of April 28, 2021, large sectors confronted the Duque government and the Uribist and paramilitary regime, but in the absence of a revolutionary leadership to help deepen the struggles to overthrow this government via strike, mobilization and organization, this process ended in an institutional solution such as the elections, where the “alternative to the right” led by Petro and Francia Márquez, have conciliated the whole progressive program, for which a large section of the people voted for the Pacto Histórico, with the bourgeoisie and in general the right wing that they claimed to fight. This policy of class conciliation has meant that no deep measures have been taken during these first 100 days of government to change the conditions of the working class and the popular sectors. On the contrary, insufficient measures have been taken which, in the midst of the economic crisis, only take care of the pockets and privileges of the rich.
Backing non-compliance or going out to demand?
The feminist sector of the country was one of the sectors that most mobilized votes and placed hopes in the current government, many feminist and women’s organizations campaigned for Francia Márquez, because of what she represented and for Petro, because he was her political “companion”.
Understanding the panorama of the elections, in which it was not possible to allow the advance of a reactionary program such as the one represented by Rodolfo Hernandez, various sectors called to vote for Petro and Francia, with the aim of stopping the misogynist businessman of Hernandez. However, it is important to be clear: the program of the Pacto Histórico and its position of negotiating the rights of working men and women in order to take care of its governability and maintain the essence of capitalism, will only lead us to the same scenario of crisis, austerity and repression in which we were.
This has been reflected in the insufficient measures taken by the government to address the serious situation of gender violence, what have been the measures? We ask ourselves the same question. The coalition that was the standard bearer of the feminist struggle has not gone beyond vain statements and appointments of a Ministry of Equality of which there is still no word on how it will work. We hope that it will not be a cardboard ministry, loaded with progressive speeches, but without sufficient budget and harnessed in bourgeois and patriarchal justice. Therefore, we demand that the government take seriously the urgent situation of sexual violence, femicides, trans-travesticides and disappearances of girls, women and sexual dissidents.
We warn of the danger that everything will be diluted in false illusions and that the most backward bourgeoisie will recover from the electoral blow, the organizations and the working class must, together with the feminist movement, call for assemblies and mobilizations independent of the government to push for the fulfillment of the necessary measures to stop gender violence, taking a strong stance against the traditional parties and Uribism that are shown as opposition. Faced with the crisis of gender violence, the Pacto Histórico will not be able to respond with press releases and famous phrases saying that they have the most inclusive cabinet of all. It will have to allocate resources and high budgets to ensure more shelters for victims of violence, increased hiring and salaries for staff to deal with complaints, progressive measures to move forward with the socialization of household chores, release of political prisoners of the popular uprisings. We do not want speeches, but real solutions.
“¡Ni una menos!” is without capitalism
As socialists we know that under this system of exploitation the liberation of women and sexual dissidences will always be a bargaining chip that can be used or thrown away, and that is why it is not enough to conquer some rights, we must make revolutions that transform society and destroy capitalism.
This 25N, we will honor the lives of our women fighters, who have faced dictatorships, repression and sexist violence, those who have defended the interests of the working class and the popular sectors by making use of our independence and building revolutionary organizations.
We demand
An urgent increase in the budget for attention to gender-based violence, to guarantee access to protection programs and decent working conditions for the female workers who deal with the cases.
Control of the budget by feminist, women’s and sexual dissidence organizations of our class and popular sectors.
Socialization of housework and care tasks through quality community kitchens, laundries and nursing homes.
Election by popular vote and revocable mandates of judges and prosecutors. Removal of judges and prosecutors who cover up gender violence. Training with a gender perspective to address cases.
Against all discrimination towards the LGBTIQA+ population that leaves them exposed to violence and drags them into sexual exploitation. Full equality of rights: trans labor quota.
November 23, 2022