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Over 100 women met in Paris in December to discuss common actions on 8 March, International Women's Day. Women came from Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and France — and the National Abortion Campaign in Britain sent a representative. The meeting was the second since the international socialist feminist conference held at Vincennes University in Paris last May, when 5,000 women crowded into the campus ground to discuss and debate the lessons of the struggle for women's The December meeting agreed that the following steps would help to make this 8 March truly international. First, women proposed that all marches occur simultaneously — at 3pm, and that a common poster for the march be designed. Because the women's movement in many countries had met to prepare the Paris meeting — in some cases, a national meeting of the movement had taken place - the French sisters came with a poster already In addition, a common international leaflet was proposed to reflect the experiences of the movement from those who have participated in it. The text of the leaflet has now been translated into English, and will be proposed at a future IWD co-ordinating meeting in London. The themes which sisters felt were important on an international scale were abortion, unemployment, and daily and political repression [especially in Latin America and Africa].
Proposals for future international actions were also considered by the meeting. Plans for a tribunal on repression are going ahead, and the first planning meeting took place in Paris on 14 January. Rome is the venue for an international congress on abortion — scheduled for 4/5 February to coincide with the vote in the Italian parliament on abortion. The congress will plan further international action on abortion.
Finally, the meeting discussed the publication of an international feminist bulletin. Italian women agreed to produce the first issue in time for 8 March, and have asked for articles to be submitted.
The December meeting in Paris marked an important step in building an international women's movement. To date, the British women's movement hasn't had the advantage of the experiences shared at such meetings, although we are fighting similar battles on many issues. Let's change it now, and ensure that the lessons we have learned are not lost to women in other countries!