Minneapolis, MN – 50 people gathered here March 7, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The event, organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), included speeches, a showing of the film The Eyes of the Rainbow - a documentary about Assata Shakur – and brief toasts from trade union, anti-war, student and welfare rights organizers.

Leaders of FRSO and the FMLN Committee of Minnesota spoke at the program.

Angella Kahn, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Welfare Rights Committee, welcomed people to the event, noting the great contributions women have made to the people’s struggle.

Jess Sundin of FRSO stated, “International Women’s Day is a day to stand up and fight back, to demand full equality in society, and to take our place in the forefront of people’s struggles. On International Women’s Day we should raise the special demands of women for equality in society and the demands of work-class women and women of color must be at the center of our agenda. At the same time, International Women’s Day should celebrate the special contributions of women to the people’s struggles on all fronts. We make up half of the population. Society can’t be transformed without the full participation and leadership all working-class women.”

Sundin continued, “The histories of class and national liberation struggles are the histories of women. Women who have fought not only to improve their own lives for today, but also oppose capitalism and imperialism – women who are revolutionaries and socialists. Many have been brutally repressed by the powerful. They’ve paid with their lives and their freedoms. It should not be a crime for a woman to stand up and fight. This is why the international communist movement, 100 years ago, did not hesitate to create an international holiday to recognize our place in the people’s struggles.”

Sundin concluded, “We will fight not only for our class, and for the liberation of oppressed peoples and nations, but also for real equality for women, both within our movements and in society at large. Long live International Women’s Day!”

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