Minnesota: More than 1000 march on International Women’s Day

Minneapolis, MN – On Saturday, March 8, the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) and its partners hosted a protest and march on International Women’s Day. The Minneapolis protest drew over 1200 people across generations and justice movements. They filled Mayday Plaza and lined Cedar Avenue, holding signs in support of reproductive, trans rights and immigrant rights. Other signs included slogans critical of President Trump, Elon Musk, and the current U.S. government.

The protest’s goal was to uplift the women of the working class, protect reproductive rights, defend the trans community, and stand with Minnesota’s immigrant communities under attack.

International Women’s Day is a global holiday fueled by the collective efforts of women around the world. It identifies the many struggles that working women face, from low wages and discrimination to sexual violence and restrictions on bodily autonomy, bringing people together to resist. Every year since its formation, MNAAC has participated in local events for International Women’s Day, but this is the first year that the organization brought people into the streets for a march.

Emcees Siobhan Moore and Natalie Berger kept the crowd energized in between speakers by leading chants, garnering supportive honks from cars passing by the plaza. Cheers and chants called out for reproductive rights, labor rights, immigrant rights, trans rights and more

This was echoed in a speech by Dieu Do, a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) who began by highlighting several women who had fought for liberation, including Marsha P. Johnson, Amanda Wing and Roxanne O’Brien.

Do stated, “All of their stories are different, but all the fights are the same because we all know that our collective liberation is rooted in each other. We know when we talk about Black rights, we’re talking about trans liberation. When we’re talking about trans liberation, we’re talking about reproductive rights. When we’re talking about reproductive rights, we’re talking about immigrant rights and human rights.”

Jess Sundin spoke on behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) about the interwoven struggle for women’s rights and labor rights, stating, “Before capitalism, those who bore children did more ‘reproductive labor,’ but it never meant that women only did that, or that this work was less valued, or that men didn’t help.” Sundin continued, “Women and LGBTQ people held places of honor in many cultures. But capitalists changed the rules, and reproductive labor was redefined as ‘not work.’”

Monique Cullars-Doty of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice stated, “I think about the solidarity and the collective pain that we have seen here in America. Indigenous or Mexican brothers and sisters being families are being separated at the border from their families. It is American history. We are now experiencing what it means to have your white privilege taken from you because you are not the wealthiest of the world. So, it is a time of awakening where we can realize we have more in common than we do different.”

Cullars-Doty ended her speech, “If someone wants to do whatever they want to do and it’s not affecting you, mind your business, she said. “No human is illegal. Mind your businesses. And when I say mind your business, I mean the business of liberation as one. That is our business. Liberation and equality for all.”

Representing the Minnesota Federation of Teachers was their president, Marcia Howard. She began her speech noting that over half of the U.S. population is women. Howard stated, “Black liberation is for the liberation of everybody. I’ve been at George Floyd Square for five years and I will jump over my cis-sister for a trans sister any day because I know they’re coming for them first. I want you to think about that now. They’re going to pick on the most vulnerable sisters first. I need you to remember that. And if you ever get even tempted to ignore that – don’t you ever think you aren’t next in line.”

After a series of speeches, the group marched down Riverside Avenue and back, pausing near Augsburg University and the M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center – West Bank. There, they heard from additional speakers including MNAAC’s own Lily Winslow.

“Our government has always laid claim to what we can do with our bodies – which borders our bodies can cross, which essential care our bodies can receive, which bodies are entitled to environmental and economic security – the list goes on,” Winslow said. “In spite of these attacks, we breathe, move, and fight in these bodies.”

Winslow honored the women whose lives were lost to abortion bans: Amber Nicole Thurman, Candi Miller, Josseli Barnica and Neveah Crain. And they invited the crowd to join them in a fight for liberation and also for love.

This rally and march on International Women’s Day was organized by MNAAC, with endorsement from Teamsters 638 and speakers from the following organizations: Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Students for a Democratic Society, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, Families Against Military Madness, Women Against Military Madness, Women’s March Minnesota, Taking Back Pride Coalition, and the MN Anti-War Committee. Rank-and-file members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Unite Here Local 17, Association of Flight Attendants and the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 12 also spoke at the rally.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #WomensMovement #InternationalWomensDay #MNAAC

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/minnesota-more-than-1000-march-on-international-womens-day?pk_campaign=rss-feed