March 8, 2019
More than 300 thousand women, lesbians, transvestites, no binaries and a good number of men overflowed the downtown streets of Buenos Aires for #8M.
The massive mobilization arrived at the Plaza de Mayo where a document that served as the closing of the new International and Plurinational Women’s Strike was read. The document states, “This 8M we strike because we are part of a collective and international history and because Macri and the austerity governors, with their capitalist and neoliberal violence, try and steal jobs, bread, health and education. After the green wave that drowned the streets and the plazas across Argentina and the world in 2018, we are organizing massively to demand that abortion finally be legal, safe and free. We strike because with the economic model of Mauricio Macri, the austerity governors along with the influence of the church, as women, lesbians, transvestites, trans, non-binary, fat people and intersex people, we have no future”.
Women of all ages, especially teenagers and young adults, participated in the mobilization that moved from Congress along Avenida de Mayo and the adjacent streets. The flag of the Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion was the first to enter the Plaza de Mayo, while student organizations marched through Diagonal Norte and union groups through Diagonal Sur.
The first women began to arrive at Congress around 3 p.m., and from that time on Mayo Avenue became a catwalk for vendors of handkerchiefs, pins, chorizo and vegan sandwiches. There were also handkerchiefs of all colors: at least 14 political designs that drew attention to violence against women, support for legal abortion, for the separation of Church and State, a stop to animal abuse and for a law on adoption, among others.
Like in Argentina, all over the world, millions turn out to participate and celebrate International Women’s Day including Madrid where it was reported that there were 350,000 in the street.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North American bureau