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women's movement ten years ago feminists from different parts of the world co-ordinated activities for International Women's Day. The idea of using March 8 to commemorate women's struggles internationally was first proposed at the Vincennes Conference in 1977.
After the Conference several coordinating meetings were organized to discuss the issues of abortion, employment and repression. In these meetings women from Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Basque Country and groups of African and Latin-American women were represented, Furthermore greetings were sent by women from Portugal, Denmark and Sweden. This has been an important step towards better communication among women from different countries, in spite of all the limitations and organizational problems encountered during these meetings.
Some of the events that took place on International Women's Day show us the development of the movement during recent years.
In Canada, 8000 women demonstrated in different cities. The largest march took place in Montreal, with 3,000 women. Different activities about the liberation of women were organised between the 20th of February and the 1Ith of March.
In Spain, for the first time large demonstrations were organized all over the country. Also for the first time the feminist movement had the support of the worker's movement as was seen from the demonstration in Barcelona, In Madrid 8,000 people demanded amnesty for women, the right to work, legalisation of birth men demonstrated in Paris and other cities on the 4th of March. It is significant that for the first time groups of African, Latin-American and Arab women joined the march which was in fact a real proof of international solidarity Women from different trade unions, zations discussed the need to build up alliances with the organized workers and to continue fighting for women's demands through an autonomous women's movement, It was stressed that but a class issue, since it is poor women who have to risk their lives at the hands of unskilled butchers.
repression, the Association of Privet in which 25 trade union federations participated. Some of the demands of the Chilean women are: immediate govermental answer about the disappeared, creation of food centres and country: the restitution of half a litre of milk for each child from birth until the age of ten, the right to health committees for the resistance. In Great Britain, a demonstration took place on the 4th of March. The Women's Art Alliance organized 3 weeks of events where Malaysian, Ethopian, Latin-American and British women's groups participated. On the 8th of March there was a rally where women from Africa, the Caribbean, LatinIn France several thousands of woegle.
In Mexico a week of events about the liberation of women was organized.
political organizations and other organiway.
abortion was not only a women's issue In Chile, under the most ferocious Women Employees announced an event popular restaurants in cach town of the service and the organization of women's the situation of women in their coun tries that have to face the sexist, racist and repressive nature of their societies. On the other hand British groups spoke about some aspects of their local struThis brief report gives evidence of the different aspects that the fight for Women's Liberation takes in the different countries and that a major integration of the women's movement into the struggle of the masses is under The Feminist Movement and the International Activities.
Although the feminist movement has basically developed in the advanced capitalist countries, in the last few years women from different colonial and neo-colonial countries have started to organize independently. However, their struggle has a different perspective, as we can see in the platform of the Chilean women for example, because it centers on the super-exploitation, the poverty and the repression in their countries.
Notwithstanding these differences, we must point out that the radicalization of women from these countries and their organization to put forward their own demands independently have been, to a large extent, influenced by the feminist movements in the advanced capitalist countries. Then, in some countries like Brazil and Mexico, groups of women are emerging, convinced that the only way to understand the character of our oppression and to fight against it must be done through an autono/OMENOF THE mous women's movement.
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As part of the same process, women from these countries living in advanced capitalist countries as political refugees, students or economic immigrants are developing a greater consciousness about their specific oppression, and they, too, are organizing. In this way, we have witnessed the upsurge of African, Latin-American and Arab women's groups in Paris, the Chicana, Puertorrican and black women's groups in the US and here in Britain we find the Black Women's Group, the Latin-American Women's Group, The Asian Women's Group, the Iranian Women's Group, the Irish Women's Group. This phenomenon is repeated in other European countries.
What is the importance of this phenomenon for the feminist movement? What contribution can European women make to the fight of their sisters in the colonial and neo-colonial countries and how could our struggle be related to it?
We cannot go deeply into these questions here, but we will point out some general considerations based on the experience that the groups had in the organization of the Rally for the International Women's Day in Britain. We will stress the importance that such an experience had and should have for an international feminist movement.
The illustration of the oppressive situation that women experience in Africa, Asia, Latin-America and Ireland, shows us clearly that though women's oppression is common to all women it takes different forms according to the objective situation of those countries. The economic exploitation of women, sexism as an oppressive ideology, the role of the family, the role of imperialism adding new elements to women's oppression, the catholic church and other religious beliefs as social forces are vital questions in the analysis of the character of the oppression and therefore of the radicalization of women in those countries. We must realize that all the elements determining women's oppression in advanced capitalist countries will not neces sarily apply in the case of colonial and neo-colonial countries.
British women must develop an awareness of the different factors influencing feminist consciousness in the colonial and neo-colonial countries.
For example we cannot deal with abortion and contraception without considering the way in which family planning is used by the state in underdeveloped countries (e.g. forced sterilization). It is of great importance that the condemnation of these practices are being incorporated into the demands of some feminists groups in advanced countriesl This fact represents a concrete form of solidarity with the sisters of other countries. Rather than being an actively limited to moral support through signing petitions or contributing money, the work of solidarity is taken to be a central part of women's struggle for liberation. Solidarity in many groups has almost exclusively deals with human rights. Although this is an important task, it should not be the only one.
Besides these factors, the feminist movement in the advanced capitalist countries has accumulated experiences that women from other countries should take into account. For example rape and the case of battered women have been the cause of important battles
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in USA and Europe. In underdeveloped countries these two phenomena reach violent proportions unknown by the advanced capitalist countries. Demands of this kind could be used as important spearheads for the mobilization of women from the different social classes in these countries. Without any doubt all of them would find a common ground of action around these issues.
Therefore, ongoing work among the different groups and unified mobilizations are necessary to carry out a more active work of solidarity inside the feminist movement and to exchange experiences in a reciprocol way.
The participant groups in the organization of the rally exposed important aspects of the women's struggle that the feminist movement has not considered in depth. For example the Black Women's Group presented a paper about "Women and the anti-imperialist struggle" in which the imperialist penetration is exposed as a source for new contradictions in the life of women. This debate is crucial for the feminist movement and it should go on.
The Latin-American and African groups, and the 'repression commission" of the French feminist movement, also raised the question of how to develop international work on the repression of women in all forms. Although more discussion is needed some proposals that have already been voiced are: to set up an International Tribunal to judge crimes against women, and to declare an international day against the repression of women with simultaneous activities in different countries. The existence of a French commission on women's repression has been useful in creating a greater awareness of the importance of this kind of work and could be could be copied by women in other countries.
Although the international co-ordination of the feminist movement has taken important steps, some criticisms have already been made, for example the danger that international co-ordinatior involves a hierarchial and centralized structure, incompatible with the way the feminist movement ought to work. Furthermore, there have been weaknesses in communication between the different groups; more detailed and up to date information about cach country is needed. We should not overlook these criticisms, but if they are to be affective, they should be made together with proposals of alternative ways of organising co-ordination internationally.
Finally, we consider that the participant groups in the Rally might become the basic nucleus around which international co-ordination could be organized in Britain. There are some British groups already working on different aspects of repression like the women against fascism and racism and the women's group against rape. It is important that these groups could become integrated in these activities. But the nature, functions and form of organization must be the outcome of a discussion between the different groups working in England.
The British Feminist Movement has a particularly rich history of experiences, fights and theoretical analysis about the oppression of women. Therefore, it can not concentrate its struggle around small local groups that tend increasingly to be isolated.