Tampa, FL – On March 10, over a dozen Tampa community, student and labor leaders gathered at Lykes Gaslight Park for a protest against President Donald Trump’s anti-woman agenda. Since coming into office, Trump has led an all-out assault on women’s rights, including defunding abortion services, erasing sections of Title IX that protect women from sexual assault and discrimination, and locking asylum-seeking women and children in cages in the southwestern United States. In the spirit of the women’s marches that occurred in response to Trump’s inauguration, protesters chanted “Pro-life is a lie, you don’t care if people die,” and “When women are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!”

Angelica Schreifer, member of Tampa Students for a Democratic Society said, “I’m opposed to Trump’s policies because they’re negatively impacting the lives of women everywhere. It’s important to make a stand against him and his administration and bring awareness to these issues. By organizing and speaking out we can encourage others to get together and do the same.”

The protest was among the many across the country marking International Women’s Day.

#TampaFL #PeoplesStruggles #Florida #WomensDay

New York, NY – A crowd of over 100 protesters gathered in front of the Philippine General Consulate in New York City on March 8, in honor of International Women’s Day. The action, titled “Women Rise Up, Resist, & Unite!”, put focus on ending violence against women and children in the Philippines. This included opposing President Duterte’s wars on drugs and the poor, as well as his remarks approving of sexual violence against women.

Along with the Philippines, speakers represented other movements that have been led by women, including labor, immigrant rights, and political repression. There were speeches about the New York State Nurses Association strike, against Mayor de Blasio’s jail expansion plan, and about the political repression of women activists both nationally and internationally.

After rallying in front of the consulate, the crowd marched to Trump Tower, another symbol of a president who’s made sexist remarks and enacted harmful policies against women and trans people.

Michela Martinazzi, co-coordinator of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle Northeast, closed out the event by highlighting victories women have played a large role in and how we can move forward in fighting back against women’s oppression and U.S. imperialism.

“Right here in the United States, we saw teachers strike for better working conditions, we saw airport workers stop a government shutdown, and we saw activists right here in Queens kick Amazon out. Abroad, we see fighters who stand up to the onslaught of violence brought on by their own government, but also by the United States. Around the world, we see women and non-binary folks who continue to stand up – from Palestine, to Venezuela, to the Philippines!”

The action was organized by BAYAN USA, International Working Women’s Day Coalition, International Women’s Alliance, and Malaya Movement Northeast.

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #IWD #WomensDay

Since its foundation, on 3 of October 1945 until today, the WFTU has always stood on the side of women and female workers all around the globe. The big trade union family of the WFTU, since the very start of its long journey full of struggles and sacrifices, has included in its founding principles the fight for the equality between men and women as an integral part of the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist fight.

This way and on this occasion of the International Women’s Day, 161 years after the 8 March women’s uprising in New York, the WFTU keeps honoring this very symbolic date in memory of all female militants who fought for a world of social and gender equality, a world with no exploitation, imperialist wars and poverty. This year, the WFTU chose to pay tribute to every woman in the struggle in every corner of the world, by celebrating its World Working Women Congress in Panama City, Panama, on 8,9 and 10 March. This Congress proves that the demands which were once written on the first banners and communications of the WFTU for women equality, for equal pay for equal work, for pregnancy and childbirth leave, for respect for the women personality are still a necessity of our times.

At the same time, the WFTU and its affiliated trade unions have been the first ones to appoint female cadres to important positions within the life and activity of Trade Unions, with a substantial and not a decorative role. The WFTU was the first to call upon women and men for joint class-oriented struggles against capitalist exploitation and the aggression of monopolies and of cartels.

We are proud of our history and we continue this legacy. The slogan of the World Working Women Congress is clear: “we fight for the equality of rights at work, in society and in life”, especially in a time when capitalist forces attack the women’s rights and try to turn again workers into modern slaves of the 21st century. That’s why the WFTU underlines that the only way out are the joint struggles for a new society, for the emancipation of women from the capitalist slavery!

Also today, under the conditions of an acute capitalist crisis, we call upon every working woman to join the ranks of the WFTU, to stand up against capitalist barbarity on the side of the class-oriented trade union movement. Furthermore, we reaffirm our solidarity with every woman persecuted for her militant activity; We struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian youngster Ahed Tamimi, for our women colleagues who suffer the anti-union terrorist action of the fascist groups in Colombia, for the women rural workers in India, for every militant who dares to stand up and fight against imperialism in every corner of the world.

This way, we call on all the WFTU national affiliates and friends to honor this special date and we salute every working woman who keeps fighting for her life and contemporary rights.

Long live the International Women’s Day!

The Secretariat

#US #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersAndGlobalization #InternationalWomensDay #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #WFTU #WomensDay