Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, March 4, around 20 community members and students attended an International Women’s Day panel, hosted by the Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The panelists included Delilah Pierre from the FRSO, Regina Joseph from Tallahassee Community Action Committee and Cas Casanovah from FSU Students for a Democratic Society.

The speakers covered a wide array of topics, ranging from combatting male chauvinism to the historic role women have played in working-class and revolutionary movements.

International Women’s Day, originally International Working Women’s Day, has its origins in the working class movement.

International Women’s Day began as a way to honor the struggle of working women in New York City. In 1908, women garment workers were engaged in a determined battle to improve their working and living conditions, as well as demanding the right to vote. The German revolutionary Clara Zetkin proposed International Women’s Day as a celebration of women’s struggles against oppression at the International Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910.

The panelists also spoke on the state of the struggle for women’s and reproductive rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and what people can do to fight back against the attacks on women and LGBTQ people.

FSU Students for a Democratic Society (FSUSDS), in collaboration with other Florida SDS chapters and local groups like Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), led the fight against a 15-week abortion ban bill introduced in the state legislature, months before the Justice Alito leak and repeal of Roe. As a result of consistent organizing around reproductive rights, FSUSDS and TCAC were able to lead a 300-person emergency action in response to the Alito leak.

“If you want to destroy the oppressive systems that exist today, you need to know how to fight back against them and build a political organization that can fight back against them. Organize, organize, organize. Organizing is what has changed everything in the United States of America,” said Delilah Pierre.

The Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization will also hold a rally to defend reproductive rights on International Women’s Day on Wednesday, March 8, at 7 p.m. outside the Old Historic Capitol.

For more on International Women’s Day, read the FRSO statement here: https://frso.org/statements/celebrate-international-womens-day-defend-reproductive-rights-fight-for-womens-rights/

#TallahasseeFL #InternationalWomensDay