Montreal women prepare for International Women’s Day in a time of war

Each year on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Women of Diverse Origins/Femmes de diverses origins (WDO-FDO) takes the lead in Montreal in organizing a demonstration to mark this important day in the history of the struggle for equality rights for women. This year the demonstration will take place on Saturday 12th March, 2pm, starting at Park metro. And leading up to it, we organize a teach-in that brings together grassroots activists – local and global who share their experiences and struggles for justice, peace and equality.

This year as we continue to grapple with challenges of Covid which has laid bare systemic and structural inequalities in our societies, and as the world teeters on the brink of what might could be a world war, WDO-FDO holds a teach-in, tomorrow, Saturday 5th March at 11am. We remember how throughout history, from as far back at least since the 4th century BCE and the Peloponnesian war, around the world, women have been at the forefront of peace movements. They led the Peace Conference in The Hague in 1915, women marched on Women’s Day in 1917 in Petrograd for bread and peace, it is women who launched the white poppy campaign to remember all the victims of war – it goes on till today. This is because we know that patriarchal systems, intertwined with capitalism and imperialism are at the root of conflicts that cause death, destruction and misery. And it is women who have pointed out what really matters and what is important for the survival of the human race and for the planet.

In tomorrow’s teach-in, FDO-WDO brings together grassroots activists from Montreal and around the world:

Marlene Hale, Wet’suwet’en nation

Evelyn Calugay, Pinay, (Filipino Women’s Organization)

May Chiu, Defence of Chinatown, Montreal

Marlihan Lopez, Black feminist activist and community organizer

Meenakshi Mannoe, Pivot Legal Centre, Vancouver,

Hala Marshood, Tal’at feminist organization, Palestine

Farida Mohamed, President, Canadian Council of Muslim Women (Montreal chapter)

Navkiran Natt, farmers’ and farmworkers’ resistance India

Vita Telcy, Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen (Solidarité des Petits Paysan.ne.s Haitien.ne.s), Haïti

Juvaria Yasser, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Montreal

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvde-orzgvG9FOXBWziJjK–6jpC1LPCpg