Some 350 women and dissidents participated this Monday in the Feminists meeting with Myriam Bregman along with Lala Pasquinelli and Mujeres Que No Fuen Tapa, at Club 911. Voices, experiences, trajectories and struggles came together to debate how to reorganize the women’s movement in the face of a government that, hand in hand with the IMF, the churches and the majority parties, intends to advance the rights achieved.
The opening was led by Myriam Bregman and Lala Pasquinelli. Later Andrea D’Atri, Celeste Murillo, Ailén Beraldo, Claudia Korol and Martha Rosenberg joined the table. Among the audience, representatives from different organizations and traditions stood out: Yanina Waldhom, Viviana Norman and other members of the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion, the feminist leaders Mabel Bellucci, Natsumi Shokida (Ecofeminita), Zuleika Esnal (Sudestada), Paula Resnik (Adopt Big Kids), Lucía de la Vega (CELS), activists from Women of Arts Tomar, Susana Vaio and Ana Co (Argentine Actresses), the documentary filmmakers Andrea Perdomo and Liliana Furio, the artists Flor Craien and María Pien, as well as influencers, cultural workers and students and a notable participation of workers from different sectors.
The meeting was not a traditional talk. There was a discussion and an assembly, with a lively dynamic where dozens asked to speak to raise concerns and propose lines of action. How to get the movement back on its feet, how to create organizational spaces, how to overcome the divisions between unionized and informal workers, were some of the debates. The most immediate concerns of daily life also appeared strongly: sexist violence, working conditions, the feminization of poverty, and many other issues that cross the movement. Proposals were also heard to promote debates on care and public policies from Bregman’s bench, among many other ideas.
Araceli Pintos took the microphone, fired from the subway after denouncing harassment by a police officer; Garrahan Hospital workers fighting against the persecution they receive with summary proceedings for fighting for their salary. Road workers, gastronomic workers, telecommunications workers and FOETRA; state workers, health workers, teachers, Madygraf; cultural workers and students. Many appreciated the space as a territory of real organization, different from the restrictive climate of their workplaces or certain union structures.
In his speech, Bregman returned to the electoral balance and stressed that the conquest of the bank was collective, the result of a movement that, when organized, becomes unstoppable. He warned about the new parliamentary scenario and the government’s drive to move forward with labor reform and a broad adjustment package. There was a clear indication of the role of Peronism and the union leaders, whose demobilization policy – he stated – contributes to passivity in the face of the ongoing attack. Myriam highlighted the fight for water in Mendoza as an example of organizing from below, and called for rebuilding a women’s movement in the streets. He also pointed out that nostalgia for that green tide movement cannot turn into resignation: 2018 is not a lost milestone, but a reminder that forces exist when they are organized.
In this perspective, there was a call to commit to the upcoming mobilizations, to promote broad unitary spaces that allow the women’s movement to once again occupy the streets and to open the discussion on the need for women themselves to build their politics and their party, in the face of a scenario where Peronism no longer offers a real alternative solution.
La Izquierda Diario will soon publish the full interview.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
