International Women's Day

Last Saturday, I met up with La Perlita, my new collective, for International Women’s Day. La Perlita is made up of a very cool, very diverse group of women of different ages and social backgrounds. I’m impressed by how well organized they are as a collective, but also by how fun and social their meetings and events are. Their work as a collective is primarily “mural activism” – painting murals (and stenciling) in sites around the city, confronting machismo, neoliberalism and homophobia. They also have an awesome drum circle. They participate in other people’s struggles and have social events for the lesbian and gay community. (Check out the website: http://www.fotolog.com/laperlita -- That’s me on the left side of the picture waving La Perlita’s flag in the Plaza de Armas.)



International Women’s Day was officially created by the United Nations to commemorate the struggles and achievements of women around the world. Socialist feminists in different parts of the world celebrate it as International Working Women’s Day, commemorating the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, in which 148 poor immigrant women were burned to death in an industrial accident after being locked in the building by their employer. The tragedy sparked a massive organizing drive by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, which became, for a time, one of the largest and most left wing labor unions in the United States. (It is now part of UNITE-HERE.)

Needless to say, International Women’s Day, like May Day, is not very well-known or widely celebrated in the United States. However, even more shamefully, in many countries including Chile, Women’s Day has become commercialized in the same way as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. There are Women’s Day sales and the expectation that men will buy gifts for the women in their lives. (I’m sure Hallmark is already making plans for an American crossover. . .)

In Santiago, there was a large organized march and protest with participants from various sectors of civil society: students, artists, Mapuche groups, anarchists, socialists, etc. One of the major focuses this year was on the spate of recent femicides – women who have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends – and the need for a proactive response. I’ve included some of the best pictures from the march here:


Conceptual artist at International Women's Day March


"Gender violence is state violence" (Anarcho-Feminist collective)


Modern dance group


Modern dance group


Mapuche dance group


A representation of "La Chepa Indomita", Patricia Troncoso, a Mapuche activist. She recently completed a hunger strike of over 100 days in protest of the militarization of Mapuche land in the south (in the Araucana region, which I visited a couple weeks ago). She and her comrades were jailed in 2001 for allegedly setting fire to a tree farm of a large company operating on Mapuche lands. They were prosecuted under the “Prevention of Terrorism Act” which was put in place during the dictatorship. The hunger strike, therefore, was also aimed at rescinding this act and freeing Mapuche political prisoners, which is a cause that’s particularly popular with university students in Santiago.



And here are some pictures of La Perlita on Women’s Day at the Plaza de Armas:


"One day does not make up for 364 days in which they look at us as pieces of meat"


"Long live the women who fight" (in the sense of struggling for justice), in front of the cathedral


Women from La Perlita making speeches and leading chants


"Lesbians against violence"


"Abortion is a subject for debate", on a bicycle basket


"Caution: Machismo kills"


"Nothing to celebrate, Lots to protest", La Perlita's drums

One thing that I found noteworthy at the protest was the police presence in front of the Cathedral at the Plaza de Armas. Though the police presence during the march seemed more or less appropriate to me, the pacos at the protest were dressed in full riot gear, including helmets and shields, forming a human blockade at the entrance to the cathedral. In fact, the police actually closed the gates to the Cathedral when the marchers arrived so that nobody could enter or exit. I would have loved to take a picture, because it was such a perfect metaphor for the threat that radical feminism poses to the Catholic Church!

As I’ve noted in earlier posts, the Catholic Church remains very powerful in Chile and is a reactionary force. Unlike in other parts of Latin America (such as in El Salvador, under the direction of Archbishop Oscar Romero), the Church here generally supported the dictatorship. Most of the left-wing priests (liberation theology-types) were purged during that time period. Opus Dei is strong in Chile. There are a lot of theories regarding the extent of its influence since its operation is largely opaque. However, it is clear that much of the right-wing economic and political elite belongs to the organization.

The influence of the Church goes a long way towards explaining the persistence of the ban on abortion rights, the lack of sex education and access to contraceptives, the difficulty of obtaining a divorce, and the lack of rights for gay people. Of course, Chile does not permit either gay marriage or adoption (in fact, single people cannot adopt either), but even more basic problems, like employment discrimination, are widespread. Though it is technically illegal to fire someone for being gay, it is a common practice and most people are not open about their orientation. In a country like Chile, where it’s common to ask people when you first meet them whether they’re married or have a polol@, this can necessitate a good deal of lying. It’s like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell without the Don’t Ask part.