Toward a grassroots feminist movement against imperialism, Zionism, and reaction, and for the liberation of women and peoples

On the eighth of March, the world commemorates International Working Women’s Day, a historic day of struggle symbolizing the fight of working and toiling women for freedom, equality, and social justice. This day serves as a global station to renew the pledge to continue the struggle against all forms of oppression and exploitation faced by women under the imperialist capitalist system and the patriarchal structures that reproduce discrimination and violence.

Our commemoration of this international day comes in an international and regional context characterized by escalating imperialist wars, economic, social, and environmental crises, the aggravation of hegemony policies and the looting of peoples’ wealth, and the increase in forms of violence and exploitation directed against women—especially working women, female farmers, and the toilers who bear the greatest burden of the results of neoliberal policies, imperialist wars, and armed conflicts.

In the Arab and Maghreb region, the suffering of women is worsening as a result of the dependent economic and social policies pursued by the prevailing political regimes, which have led to deepening class disparities and widening circles of poverty, unemployment, and social fragility. Many countries in the region are also witnessing dangerous retreats in terms of rights and freedoms, where feminist activists and militants are subjected to arrest, arbitrary trials, and harassment because of their positions against tyranny, corruption, and neoliberal policies.

The suffering of women is also doubling in the context of the wars waged by US imperialism and the Zionist entity, which are devastating several countries in the region, where women are the primary victims of these wars. Women in Palestine face a war of genocide practiced by the Zionist occupation machine, yet they provide a militant model of steadfastness and resistance. Women in Sudan suffer from the woes of war, displacement, and grave violations; women in Lebanon experience the effects of Zionist aggression and the destruction it has left behind; and women in Iraq, Libya, and other conflict areas suffer from tragic humanitarian conditions.

In the same context, we are witnessing a dangerous escalation of the imperialist and Zionist attack on the peoples of the region, manifested in the military attacks and aggressions targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran in an attempt to impose hegemony and subject the peoples of the region to the dictates of imperialist powers. We condemn this US-Zionist escalation against Iran and consider it a serious threat to peace and stability in the region, and we affirm our rejection of all forms of wars and aggressions led by global imperialism to reshape the region according to its strategic interests.

In the African continent, European imperialist interventions continue in many countries, where old colonial powers still seek to maintain their economic and military influence and loot the wealth of African peoples. In this context, we salute the positions of some African Sahel countries that have begun taking steps to restore their national sovereignty and liberate themselves from neo-colonial hegemony, reflecting the will of African peoples to break free from dependency and build a future based on sovereignty and dignity.

We also express our solidarity with the peoples of Latin America who continue to resist imperialist interventions, and we salute the steadfastness of Cuba and Venezuela in the face of the economic blockade and political pressures imposed by the United States of America and its allies in an attempt to subject the will of their peoples and undermine their sovereign and developmental choices. We demand the immediate release of the President of Venezuela and his companion kidnapped by the US administration.

We, in the International Peoples’ Assembly in the Arab and Maghreb Region, strongly condemn all forms of imperialist and Zionist aggression, and we affirm that global imperialism, led by US imperialism, constitutes one of the most important sources of wars, hegemony, and the looting of peoples’ wealth. We also denounce the normalization policies pursued by some regimes in the region, which seek to legitimize the Zionist entity and normalize its crimes.

The reality of exploitation and discrimination faced by women are not isolated phenomena, but are linked to the patriarchal capitalist structure based on class exploitation and gender discrimination. Therefore, the struggle for the liberation of women and the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination against them requires struggling for a radical change in the economic, social, and political structures that produce this reality.

Women’s liberation cannot be achieved under capitalism and imperialist exploitation; rather, it is closely linked to the liberation of the working class and all popular groups from the hegemony of capital and from all forms of tyranny and oppression.

Based on this militant consciousness, we emphasize the necessity of building a revolutionary grassroots feminist movement rooted in the struggles of female workers, farmers, and toilers, capable of linking the feminist struggle with the class struggle and popular resistance against imperialism, Zionism, and reaction, in the prospect of building a socialist liberation project that puts an end to all forms of exploitation and oppression.

We, in the International Peoples’ Assembly in the Arab and Maghreb Region, declare:

• Our internationalist solidarity with the struggles of women in Palestine, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, and in all countries of the region and the world.
• Our categorical condemnation of the ongoing Zionist aggression against the peoples of the region and its crimes against women and children.
• Our absolute rejection of all forms of normalization with the Zionist entity and our call to expand the boycott and anti-normalization movement.
• Our solidarity with women victims of wars, conflicts, and economic, social, and political violence.
• Our demand for the release of all female political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the region – in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and the rest of the countries.
• Our call to unite the struggles of feminist, leftist, and progressive forces in a broad combative front against imperialism, Zionism, capitalism, and reaction.

We believe that the uprising of toiling women constitutes a historical force capable of changing the world, and that building a revolutionary grassroots feminist movement linked to the struggles of the working class and oppressed peoples is the path toward true liberation.

When women rise, the world rises

Women against imperialism, Zionism, and capitalism

For socialism and the liberation of women and peoples

International Peoples’ Assembly in the Arab and Maghreb Region – Women’s Team

Statement on the Occasion of March 8 – International Women’s Day