Gabriela LA: “U.S. War with Iran Reveals Women’s March’s Indifference to Women’s Rights Globally"
Los Angeles -- Gabriela Los Angeles, a chapter of the progressive grassroots international Filipino women’s alliance, will join Saturday’s 2020 Women’s March to push march organizers and participants to demand U.S. elected officials end foreign policy that infringes on human rights and sovereignty of women worldwide, including its unjustified aggression against Iran.
The following is a statement from Ariana Rodriguez, Secretary General of Gabriela Los Angeles:
“Since the first march in 2017, the Women’s March has largely if not completely ignored the destructive impact of U.S. foreign policy on women across the globe. The assassination of Qasem Soleimani and threats of war against Iran ordered by the Trump administration should help us all realize that the national conversation around women’s rights blatantly disregards women in the throes of U.S.-led war and exploitation abroad.
“The billions in tax dollars funding the US’s war in Iran are the same tax dollars funding the US’s proxy war in the Philippines, where it is sponsoring Duterte’s violence against women and children, activists, human rights workers, farmers, urban poor people suspected of drug use, all under the guise of a “war on terrorism” and “war against insurgency.”
“The Women’s March should be demanding that the proposed $718 billion going to war be instead used for the housing crisis that has gripped Los Angeles and the rest of the country, for free education and the ballooning student debt, improving infrastructure and public transportation, and feeding the 40 million Americans experiencing hunger.
“Whether the administration is headed by a Democrat or Republican, poor and working class women and their families continue to be given the short end of the stick because of the relentless cuts to social services and ongoing global economic crisis in favor of ballooning the defense budget. In the same way US domestic policy harms women and families here, US imposed sanctions on Iran have undermined people’s right to life and safety.
“We oppose the continuous disinvestment from human life, which is an assault both on women and children in the U.S. and abroad. If supporters of the Women’s March want to genuinely call for justice, equity, and power, we urge them to join us in linking arms with women and families abroad and extend the fight for women’s right beyond the borders of the U.S.”
“Even the exclusion of key voices, particularly Black Lives Matter LA, points to the Women’s March’s disinterest in its own declared principle of solidarity. The wider progressive movement can shout ‘solidarity’ all day Saturday, but that solidarity is ineffective if it’s not international solidarity.
“Gabriela Los Angeles calls on everyone to echo the following:
No War with Iran! End U.S.- Led War!
From Iran to the Philippines, Stop the U.S. War Machine!
Women’s Liberation has No Borders!
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GABRIELA LA is a grassroots organization serving Filipinas in the Los Angeles community to address the rights and welfare of women through education, organizing, campaigns, and cultural work. We strive to build a mass movement recognizing that the problems Filipina women face are linked to the root problems of the Philippines.