Three years and five divided calls. The gap that Podemos generated in 8M 2022 in Spanish feminism has once again become evident in the streets of Madrid where not even one of the objectives that generates the greatest consensus – eradicating violence against women – has managed to unite its interests . The dissent around the trans law, the diverse position regarding prostitution and Irene Montero’s contumacious defense of the yes is yes law, despite its unwanted effects, still weigh on a movement that has been divided into two different calls .
Same time, 7:00 p.m., but different routes. It must have been a goddess, Cybele, through whose square the marches have passed with a difference of one hour, the only one who, without resorting to bilocation, has been able to contemplate the course of both demonstrations and glimpse the nuances that distinguished them between a coincident dejected roar. The traditional one, promoted by the Madrid Forum, was redder, with the motto “fight sexism to eradicate violence against women” and with the presence of the socialist ministers, with the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, at the forefront.
The other one was more purple, convened by the 8M Commission of the Feminist Movement of Madrid, with more politicized slogans (Ayuso has not been lacking in criticism) and which, with the presence of the former Podemos ministers, Ione Belarra and Irene Montero, called for the motto « Together, fear changes sides. “Together”, yes, because despite the obvious disengagement, both parties seemed to claim to be custodians of unity, as from the other side the handkerchief of some of Minister Redondo’s companions read: “United against gender violence.” “United” is just what they have not been.
Colder and with an official air, the march organized by the Madrid Forum against Women’s Violence – which has claimed to be the organizer since 1997 – left Plaza de Cibeles shortly after seven in the afternoon. Minutes earlier, the Minister of Equality recalled that feminists take to the streets “to raise their voices, to raise their voices to demand equality and freedom.” “There will come a time when it will not be necessary to commemorate this day of the fight against violence against women, but while it arrives we have to continue advancing in rights and freedom, we have to do it for the 41 women murdered this year.”
To that number, Redondo added, when asked by journalists, the name of Chloe, the 15-year-old minor murdered in Orihuela by her 17-year-old boyfriend. Regarding the dramatic case, he explained that “it will still have to be studied”, but he has warned that youth “feed on social networks”, which together with “pornography on the Internet, is really a problem, we have to be aware of addressing it.” with seriousness, with a lot of analysis, with consensus, which I believe society has.”
After the statements, and on a secondary banner, Minister Redondo, supported on the right and left by her counterparts Elma Saiz, from Inclusion, and Pilar Alegría from Education, followed the pace of the demonstration. They were preceded by a striking group of women dressed in white tunics and with masks of the same color and neutral expressions. They call themselves the ‘Feminist Company’, and to the banner with the slogan “The system fails us,” they added posters with the names and ages of the victims of violence against women.
Hence the slogan “we are not alone, the murdered are missing” has been one of the most chanted. Along with him, the classics “we are fed up with so much machirulo” or “alive, free, this is how we love each other”, with additions that pointed out in a very specific way: “OnlyFans is pornography, it is prostitution.”
When the few thousand participants were already heading down the Gran Vía towards the Plaza de España, where their route ended, Cibeles could hear one last cry: “No means no, the rest is rape.” A little later, and in what could seem like a delayed duel of slogans, he seemed to receive the answer from the other group, when he entered the square: “Only yes means yes.” “No means no”, “yes means yes”. There was no unity in this either.
The march called by the 8M Commission had begun its journey at the same time but a kilometer and a half further down, at the confluence of Atocha Street with Paseo del Prado. There, the leading role, at the beginning, had fallen on Irene Montero and Íñigo Errejón, once a stalwart of this type of events and now disappeared.
Regarding what was her comrade and co-religionist in the ranks of the germinal Podemos, the now MEP of Podemos, explained that “what feminism is changing in Spain is that women are no longer silent, we accompany each other in the breaking of the silence and we no longer tolerate the impunity of the aggressors, nor do we tolerate them or those who want to protect them, excuse them or justify them.” A deep charge against someone who left politics due to allegations of sexual assault.
They were not massive marches. The demonstration that Belarra and Montero joined brought together about 3,000 people, while the one that started from Cibeles added about 3,500 participants according to the first data from the Government Delegation. In total there would be about 7,000 people.
#Feminism #marches #divided #black #day #gender #violence
