Feminisms were clearly one of the highlights of the new session of the World Social Forum (WSF) held in the city of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil from 13 -17 March 2018. Once again, women and representatives of a vast diversity of feminisms flooded the Federal University of Bahia and more than 10 different places in the same city where WSF global linkages and mobilizations for equality, democracy and social justice converged. They did so with the momentum and energy of March 81 and of the massive, history-making strikes and rallies held in more than 150 countries. Towards the closing and evaluation of the WSF, many members of the WSF International Council agreed that feminisms were considered, par excellence, one of the political entities of this new edition of the Forum.
It must be admitted that this has not always been the case. At times in the past feminist and women’s movements have received little recognition, but there has been a remarkable evolution in the relationship between feminisms and the WSF since the first was held back in 2001.
“The revolution of feminism has challenged the movements themselves, insisting on the fact that women’s fight is not contradictory and cannot be subordinated.”2
Currently, the different feminisms and women’s movements from the South have managed to include, more strongly, issues that have enlarged the WSF agenda itself. These were reflected in the thematic pillars of the 2018 session: Feminisms and women’s struggles and LGBTQ activisms and gender diversity. Out of more than 2,000 self-organized activities, there were debates that lay at the heart of the forum: legal, safe and free abortion; the fight against violence and discrimination of different women’s groups; women and labor reforms; the struggle of environmental justice; natural resources and land advocates; and the struggle against fundamentalisms and in favor of democracies. Feminists’ presence were crucial in the meetings of the social movements’ platforms against free trade or to strategize against the G20.
There’s still a long way to go but we continue moving forward by way of convergence and in coordination with other movements as well as with feminists from other movements (for example LGBT, indigenous people, trade unionists) for the advancement of an intersectional feminism within the WSF.
This past session of the WSF represented a turning point for the Forum, as a process and event, wherein many of its founders questioned its validity and relevance. WSF returned to Latin America, a region without conflicts but the world’s most violent one. According to Oxfam’s report, it is one of the most dangerous regions in the world for activists, where 65 percent of the human rights activists are murdered every year. Additionally, the Forum took place in Brazil where its people are suffering the most serious assault on democracy since the coup perpetrated against president Dilma Rousseff through an impeachment process. This is how the call for international solidarity with the Brazilian people3 describes it.
Feminist and women’s movements stood firm in this challenging context. In the massive rally on March 13, several voices were heard — young Afro-descendants, indigenous women, Quilombolas [descendants of slaves], lesbians, peasants, students, unionists, activists, women of different age groups, land advocates, women from across the world but mainly from Bahia—yelling “Out with Temer [Brazil President],” “It’s my body” and “Feminist alert!” They walked holding up signs saying: “Machismo kills!” “Remove your rosaries from our ovaries” and “Women against corporate power” among others. It was a moving and amazing prelude that prepared us for what would happen in the days to come.
TOWARDS THE WORLD WOMEN’S ASSEMBLY
The workshop titled “Evaluation of the International Strike of 8M” convened by DAWN jointly with SOS CORPO (Brazil), Gender and Trade Network, Articulación de Mujeres Brasileras (AMB), Articulación Feminista Marcosur, Espacio de economía feminista of SEC and Cátedra Libre Virginia Bolten (Argentina) served as a “starter” to understand the content of feminist debates at the WSF. The type of questions posed included: What are the lessons learnt from the feminist strikes and 8M, in their different contexts? What is our capacity to coordinate efforts and actions to exert influence on the Forum debates? Which issues do we want to take to the World Women’s Assembly? The results were extremely positive, with clear messages. The Forum space was confirmed as a unique place to coordinate agendas, settings and movements.
The following women took a strong stand and showed great organizational abilities: local Afro-descendant women, female human rights advocates with their agenda on body and land defense; representatives of Afro-descendant youth with their own discourses, strategies and demands; lesbians and trans women with a strong agenda on violence in their countries. There was less presence of women from Asia and Africa, but a clear need to incorporate debates on imperialisms and on how corporate power imposes a new development model that brings a new form of slavery and setbacks in human rights agendas. All this went hand in hand with common issues such as the defense of democracies, institutions, freedoms and autonomies.
On this road paved by workshops and preparatory meetings, DAWN was one of the coordinators of the World Assembly together with a group of more than 10 local and international women’s networks. We had the difficult task to collect ourselves and move forward with the World Assembly a day after receiving the news about the political murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco in the city of Río de Janeiro. Pain and powerlessness did not stop us; we felt united in solidarity and this redefined the Assembly that was named after her.
TOWARDS THE WORLD WOMEN’S ASSEMBLY: MARIELLE FRANCO PRESENTE!
The World Women’s Assembly was the only WSF activity of the morning held in Pelourinho. This activity gathered more than 3,000 women with the aim of meeting each other, recognizing our diversities and agreeing on the ten non-negotiables of women across the world. The meeting was framed by solidarity
and love messages, crying: “Marielle Franco, presente!”.
Women and feminists from more than 120 countries reached out to express their demands, struggles and slogans, amid capoeira [Afro-Brazilan martial arts dances] and encouraging messages. Apart from condemning the murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco, women from other countries took the stage to condemn all the assaults suffered and to claim the liberation of their territories.
Thus the Assembly took different expressions and could not escape the Brazilian context. Manuela D’Avila, Communist Party candidate, participated in a remarkable way by denouncing the coup and assault on democracy in Brazil. Sonia Guajajara, Socialist and Liberty (Psol) Party pre-candidate for the vice presidency took the stage with a group of indigenous women and stated that “a full history of the struggles needs to be made and we must overcome inequality.” Fábia Reis, Secretary of Promotion of Racial Equality of the government of Bahia (SEPROMI, by its Spanish acronym) also attended the assembly and mentioned the need to continue the struggles of “Quilombolas” and indigenous peoples. Nora Cortiñas from Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora was also present, showing her solidarity by reading a poem dedicated to Kurdish women. She was warmly welcomed by a crowd shouting “Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, the people embrace you.”
10 NON-NEGOTIABLES
The 10 non-negotiables were read in this emotional context. The first of the 10 approved non-negotiables was to fight for the full recognition of productive and reproductive work, as all women are workers regardless of place, whether at home, in the market or community. Then followed the demand of equal opportunities and equal pay; a stop to moral and sexual assaults in the workplace and implementation of public policies that guarantee them. The Assembly also addressed the eradication of femicide and all forms of violence; and the right to make our own decisions about our bodies, feelings and thoughts, without the interference of the state, religious fundamentalisms and corporate power.
Activists closed the Assembly with the conviction that there is an urgent need to unite all struggles for economic, social and cultural emancipation, without violence. In this spirit, the rally moved towards the city hall, yelling: Against misogyny, silencing and invisibility! Against patriarchy and all forms of violence! A LUTTA CONTINÚA (The struggle goes on).
NOTES
1 The International Women’s Strike or the International Feminist Strike of 8M was a mobilization held on March 8, 2018, on the International Women Workers’ Day/International Women’s Day.
2 Massiah Gustave (2017) “Seminar on the interna-tional context”, Social Forum of Resistances, January 18, Porto Alegre. https://dawnfeminist.org/feminist-resources/sites/default/files/enews/DawnInforms_201703.pdf
3 https://wsf2018.org/en/chamado-a-solidariedade-internacional-com-o-povo-brasileiro/
This article is published in the DAWN Informs July 2018.