Message from the Feminist Convergence towards the World Social Forum of Transforming Economies
Feminisms, social and solidarity economy for other possible worlds
Feminist Alternatives to Economies for Life
For the past 110 years to the present day, the 8th March, International Women’s Day, the voices of the feminist movement rise up to challenge capitalism and patriarchy, which are interlinked in a system that is extremely distressing. We join the international call for a Women’s Global Strike, demonstrations and mobilizations with the urgency to transform the economy, to fight against the exploitation and precariousness of life, against extractivism and dispossession produced by a model that responds to the interests of national and transnational companies and against all misogynist violence exacerbated by the escalation of fascism. We want to continue to push for a world free of capitalism, patriarchy, racism and colonialism, which is what the feminist movement continues to fight for.
We affirm our commitment to an economy for life sustained by our work, our production and systems of care. We affirm our commitment to the economy that results from initiatives aimed at meeting the basic needs of our societies. The accumulated knowledge and practice of feminist economies that break with the dominant model and that demonstrate existence of other notions of being and doing are what we as feminists all aspire to. We propose that life be the central pillar for economic justice, the ethics of care and solidarity that together will defeat the current dominant system.
We denounce and demand:
In the face of adjustment and precarisation. The exploitation and precariousness of the labour market and care work have been exacerbated during this current phase of neoliberalism. The continual increase in working hours; the exhausting search for income in unstable activities to achieve a basic level of subsistence living; together with exhausting care activities often in adverse conditions, are the rule today. For almost four decades now, wages of the working class have been steadily declining, whilst labour rights which were partially applied and which were entrenched over time ,are fast disappearing (paid rest, sickness relief, retirement pensions, etc.) thus reducing any justice in the frameworks of capitalism. In the face of falling incomes and the lack of public health care, education or housing services, people have been forced into more debt just to maintain a basic quality of life. Public and private debts operate as mechanisms that bind us to capital and its institutions, not only creating dependence on the financial system, but also conditioning our work, will and desires, and through creation of algorithms which administer data in favor of capitalist accumulation. The countries of the North do not escape from this precarious and indebted life, which would be unsustainable without the care work of women and immigrants.
This #8M2020, our struggle is for dignified, valued, visible work, with economic, social and cultural rights and justice and for the right to decide where we live, against forced migration, and the forced fracture within families.
In the face of ecocide. Capitalism reduces nature to an exploitable resource and monetary exchange. It has imposed a logic of dispossession of the land that is in turn monopolized as a reserve of value, as a base for monocultures, as a differentiated rent that increases its profits. The dynamics of concentration extends also to water, which is no longer a human right for the preservation of life and food sovereignty, but rather being privatized and sold in bottles or becomes a factor of intensive productivity in the extractive industry, whilst at the same time being contaminated by pesticides. Nature as a whole is threatened, biodiversity endangered by patent systems and technologies destroy and place seeds and food under the power of transnational corporations that condition the labourers through GMOs and synthetic biology while aggravating the climate crisis. In the face of all of this, rural women, labourers, indigenous and black women continue the fight, defending the territories with their work, whether it be paid or not. Women preserve and try other experiences of care and climate change to preserve the planet. They are the guardians of water, land, seeds, and biodiversity.
This #8M demands from the world, a recognition of the contributions of rural and peasant women in the care of nature, territories and life, and a commitment to follow their example.
Against the advance of corporate power and conservative restoration. The power of the trans-nationals with their drive for accumulation by dispossession has been extended to the maximum, while they continue to extract our capacity to decide on our bodies, territories and vital projects. A neoliberal, authoritarian and neocolonial advance that divides the world and separates it in a hierarchical way goes hand in hand with the sudden expansion of conservative agendas, which include, for example, governments that have destroyed hard-won democratic and redistributive advances over a short period of time.
We propose, from a feminist view, a democratization of power that gives way to decisions for the common good, of the world that integrally gives meaning to the rhythms and times of life, that eradicates forever the privileges of capital and its lethal anti-rights ideology.
In the face of feminicide, rape, harassment, censorship and threats.The cruelty and viciousness over the bodies of girls, teenagers and women, is revealed as the clearest sign of aggressive capitalism and the deepening crisis of male chauvinism. A system that continues to have extended trafficking and violence against children and the militarization of daily life like never before, now led to the increase in the numbers of murder and intimidation of women who defend land, water, food sovereignty, seeds and territories. In the virtual realm, threats to women’s rights are also growing rapidly, from cyberstalking and sexting, to theft and manipulation of personal data, the speed with which this violence is increasing indicates the scope of new threats. The purpose is to discipline us, to keep us quiet, to inscribe a message of fear in our bodies, so that our communities and peoples stop fighting and give in to the interests of business, mafia corporations and the opacity of states.
In the world today there are voices that bring together generations with political and cultural expressions that demand an end to all forms of violence, the full validity of sexual and reproductive rights, those which are partially enunciated in laws and policies – which are often mocked – and all those that are lacking, without which people and societies remain exposed to abuse and impunity, which furthermore seek to be endorsed from retrograde visions, unfortunately institutionalized in some governments and political groups.
In the face of hatred and violence, our commitment is to collectively root out, organise and continue the struggle and we demand lives free of violence and societies of peace.
AN 8M THAT BRINGS TOGETHER, MOBILIZES AND PROPOSALS
As part of the WSFTE, from the Feminist Convergence we walk this #8M with the clarity that this is women’s time. It is the time to put life, solidarity and care at the centre of the debates as alternatives to a world in crisis. We have put out a call to meet in June in Barcelona so that together we can share our diverse experiences and to imagine transforming economies.
Here we are, organized as feminists, to celebrate and unite as one on all the struggles to seek dignity for our peoples, neighborhoods, communities, networks, and relationships. We know that feminist economies are alternatives to the current hegemonic model, weaving and building plural forms of economic organising for contextualised and local problems, rooted in democratic and participatory communities where reciprocal care is what organizes the world of work and daily life.
In the face of the crises that the current system has, the way out requires that we think and imagine other ways of being, doing and connecting. In the upcoming WSF ET we face the enormous challenge of sharing and reflecting on what makes a feminist, social and solidarity economy possible in the face of the urgency of a global transformation.
We call on all women and dissidents, all organizations, networks and groups to actively participate in the WSF TE in Barcelona from June 25 to 28, 2020. Your reflections, experiences and alternatives will contribute to help navigate through the uncertainties. We do not have a unique set or exact answers, only the desire to transform and do it together.
HASHTAGS FOR THE SOCIAL NETWORKS
#8MHuegaInternacionalFeminista
##LaSostenibilidadDelaVidaEnElCentro
#8MContinúaEnElFSMET
Learn more about the upcoming WSFTE 2020 at www.transformadora.org
Link with them on Twitter @FSMET_2020
Organizations- Individuals members of the feminist confluence towards the WSFTE who sign this message:
1. Articulación Feminista Marcosur
2. Asociación Vientos del Sur.
3. ATTAC France
4. Centro Flora Tristán, Perú.
5. Consejo de Educación Popular de América Latina y el Caribe CEAAL
6. Ciranda Comunicación Compartida, Brasil.
7. Comissió d’Economies Feministes de la XES, Xarxa d’Economia Solidària de Catalunya.
8. Cooperação e Apoio a Projetos de Inspiração Alternativa. CAPINA Brasil.
9. Cooperativa de Trabajo Textiles Pigüé Ltda, Argentina.
10. Coordinadora Nacional de Economía Solidaria, Uruguay
11. DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era).
12. Eje de género y feminismos del Centro de Formación /Documentación en Procesos Autogestionarios, Uruguay.
13. Grupo de Acción Feminista Antipatriarcal de CEAAL
14. La Base – Finanzas feministas para la autogestión, Argentina.
15. Mesoamericanas en Resistencia.
16. Movimiento Manuela Ramos, Perú.
17. No Tan Distintas Mujeres y Disidencias en Situación de Vulnerabilidad Social, Argentina.
18. Red Ecofeminista.
19. Red de Educación Popular entre Mujeres. REPEM LAC.
20. Red de Mujeres Transformando la Economía REMTE.
21. Red “Femmes du Monde” – Quartiers du Monde”.
22. REAS Red de Redes
23. Ruda Colectiva Feminista-Ecuador.
24. SOF Sempreviva Organização Feminista. Brasil.
25. Scuola per l’Economia Trasformativa – Università per la Pace delle Marche, Italia.
26. Valeria Mutuberría Lazarini – Argentina. Dto. de Economía Social, Cooperativismo y Autogestión del Centro Cultural de la Cooperación “Floreal Gorini” y IUCOOP.
27. Ana Falu- Red Mujer y Hábitat/HIC
28. Núria Segura Insa – Tècnica de Comunicació del FSMET
29.Coordinadora de la Mujer de Bolivia
30.Espacio de Géneros y Economías Social y Solidaria del Programa Construyendo Redes Emprendedoras en Economía Social (CREES) de la UNQ, Argentina.
Adhesions and supports
31-Campaña por un Currículum Global para la Economía Social Solidaria
32-Asociación Argentina para la Investigación en Historia de las Mujeres y Estudios de Género (AAIHMEG)
33-Espacio de Géneros de la Red Universitaria en Economía Social y Solidaria (RUEES), Argentina.
Translations available
Catalán: https://transformadora.org/8m-vaga-internacional-feminista
French: https://transformadora.org/fr/8m-greve-feministe-internationale
Portugues: https://transformadora.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/8MPortugués.pdf
Italian: https://transformadora.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/8MItaliano_0.pdf