Milwaukee, WI – Over 1200 people joined the 4th annual International Women’s Day celebration organized by the Milwaukee IWD Coalition, a broad coalition consisting of numerous grassroots organizations.

This year’s event began with a rally, followed by a brief march to the Milwaukee Turners, an historic building with a progressive socialist history that is located on Vel R. Phillips Avenue, named after a trailblazing civil rights leader from Milwaukee. At the Turners, the event transitioned to a panel discussion with various organizers, and a keynote address by Alondra García, a public school educator and immigrant rights activist.

The celebration began with a rally at Red Arrow Park, also known as Dontre Hamilton Park, and the event’s emcee, Kayla Patterson of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, reminded the crowd that “Dontre’s killing by Milwaukee PD in 2014 sparked a movement led by his mother, Maria Hamilton, and so many other mothers and sisters whose loved ones have been taken away by the police.”

Locating the significance of IWD within the mothers involved in the movement to end police crimes helped weave together the connections across the various movements represented today. Janan Najeeb, co-chair of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, spoke to the significance of Palestinian women, particularly the mothers, carrying forward the struggle for Palestinian liberation amidst an ongoing genocide.

Once the crowd entered the venue and settled in their seats, García kicked off the program with a keynote address reminding attendees that “there is power in numbers, and we are many. Our voices will not be silenced, and our presence is louder than ever. We will continue to take up the space and make noise.” She echoed Najeeb’s reminder at the rally that “they may be billionaires, but we number in the billions!” This revolutionary spirit to fight back against the current Trump regime and imperialism more broadly resonated throughout the streets and inside the Turners.

The panelists – Carly Klein of Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee; Julie Velazquez of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; Rhen Lutz of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Local 5000; Fernanda Jimenez of Comité Sin Fronteras, and Christina Stradwick of the Milwaukee Antiwar Committee – provided perspectives informed by the struggles they’re involved in in order to drive home the point of uniting against a common enemy: imperialism.

The Trump regime is attacking all of our movements, and it will only be by coming together in a broad united front that we will be able to defeat it. Giving into despair or staying off the streets and issuing complaints online will not get us any closer to overthrowing monopoly capitalism. It will take the various movements represented today, coalescing into a broader, more militant movement to deal critical blows to our enemy. This IWD celebration served as a reminder that whether it be in Gaza, on the shopfloor, or in the streets in Milwaukee, the place for women is in the revolution!

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