Dallas celebrates International Women's Day with rally, march and panel
Dallas, TX – Despite rainy weather, over 300 participants came out to Civic Garden Park to commemorate International Women's Day. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) partnered with several organizations to put together the rally and march.
The rally began at 2 p.m. It was emceed by Freedom Road member and student organizer, Seraphine Pecson who began the rally with chants, such as, “Not the church, not the state – women must decide their fate!” and “Half the sky, we hold it up, half the world, we’ve had enough.”
Kyra from the FRSO, told the crowd, “stripping women’s bodily autonomy, tearing down workplace protections against harassment and discrimination, they’re inciting violence against trans people – giving a free pass to bathroom vigilantes, and even though multiple court rulings blocked the executive order, trans women have been transferred to men’s prisons, left to face the worst violence with no escape or end in sight.”
Brinda Gurumurthy from the Young Active Labor Leaders and the Democratic Socialists of America, stated, “I think about teaching, I think about nursing, home health care aides etc., all of these professions fall under the umbrella of care work and our capitalist society expects us to do these jobs without being compensated fairly. I'm a high school math teacher and the phrase we hear a lot is that we do this for the outcome and not the income. But does the outcome pay for the income? Absolutely not.”
Despite the pouring rain the crowd of people mobilized behind a banner that read “Women hold up half the sky.”
Led by Seraphine from Progressive Student Union, the rally became a march circling downtown Dallas with participants chanting. “Stand up with the women of Palestine,” “Stop the deportations keep families together” and “Stand up fight back!”
The march was stopped at the intersection of a busy street, and Ebonee Taylor from National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – Dallas stated, “Women have always been in the fight alongside the working class to stand up against sexism, exploitation and white supremacy.”
The march stopped again and Jumana Deh from the Dallas Fort Worth Anti-War Committee and CODEPINK-Dallas spoke to the crowd, “I am speaking to you as a nationally oppressed woman indigenous to Palestine.
“We have to remember that International Women’s Day is more than a celebration, it is a struggle. It was forged in 1908, when garment workers took to the streets in New York City to protest the exploitation in sweatshops.
“It was fought for by Claudia Jones, a Black communist who organized during the height of the anti-communist Cold War hysteria, who in 1950, on this day, gave her historic speech that was rooted in the contemporary moment of the class struggle in the long history of the fight for Black liberation, women’s emancipation, peace, and socialism.
“We find stories of resilience from Vo Thi Thang. In 1968 she was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in a prison camp by the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government. When the judge delivered that harsh verdict? She smiled and faced the judge and calmly said, ‘20 years? Your government won’t last that long.’
“We look for the unwavering spirit and defiance of Palestinian women, like Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who hijacked an airplane to defy the Zionist Israel, and Ahd Al Tamimi, nicknamed the lioness, a 13-year-old Palestinian activist, who confronted Israeli occupation forces and slapped an IOF soldier across his face.”
The march was led back to Civic Garden Park, with the crowd still in high spirits. The organizers of the march then directed people to a panel on International Women's Day hosted by FRSO at Pan African Connection bookstore.
At 5:30 p.m., 30 people arrived for the panel discussion. It covered a range of topics, from the history of International Women’s Day to the material needs of the present day as well as means to stay connected to the movement.