by Carolyn Antonio
Friday, Mar. 11, 2005 at 1:24 AM gabnet@gabnet.org (212) 592-3507 PO Box 403, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10036
From California to New York, GABRIELA Network, a Philippine-US women's solidarity mass organization, commemorates Intl Women's Day, demand end to war and occupation, calls attention to the impact of these on women of Philippine ancestry.
From coast to coast, GABRIELA Network commemorated March 8th, International Women’s Day with dozens of women’s and progressive organizations. Hundreds of women marched and rallied in New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Berkeley, California, demanding an end to wars of aggression, US military occupation, and calling attention to the impact of these and of imperialist globalization on women of Philippine ancestry.
In New York, GABNet, joined by Radical Women, Women’s Anti-Imperialist League, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Women in Black, and Code Pink, marched through a snowstorm from 5th Avenue in mid-town Manhattan to the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the United Nations headquarters. At the Dag H. Plaza, the group rallied and listened to impassioned speeches and performances from, among others, Linda Abad of DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, Raging Grannies, and GABNet National Secretary General Dorotea Agustin Mendoza.
“It’s important that we hold this rally in front of the UN,” GABNet NY/NJ Chapter Coordinator Rebecca Libed said. “The UN 49th Conference on the Status of Women/10th year review of the Beijing Platform for Action is occurring right now (February 28 through March 11), inside plenary halls and conference rooms in these buildings. Our action, our presence out here, speaks of how women, especially poor and working women, are marginalized in the very discussions on policies that affect their daily lives.” Despite the blizzard, 25° (Fahrenheit) temperature, and icy streets, the women in New York carried on with their program, observed silently by police officers and media members.
Meanwhile, in sunny, 80° degree San Francisco/Bay Area, GABNet marched with the Global Women’s Strike and rallied at San Francisco State University. Newly established GABNet Berkeley held a candlelight vigil.
Last Friday, March 4, 2005, GABNet SF/Bay Area and Berkeley joined Women in Black in a mass action to demand “US troops out of the Philippines and an end to violence against women in all forms.” GABNet members held placards in the shape of tombstones, bearing the names of the 11 GABRIELA women killed over the past two years in the Philippines because of their stance against the government’s anti-women/people policies.
On Saturday, March 12, 2005, GABNet continues its commemoration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month in Los Angeles with GABNet LA chapter’s Blue-Collared: Babae Unstitched. This third annual political fashion/art show will depict the current state of Filipina working women. The event will be at Remy’s Temple, 2126 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, from 6PM to 10PM. (For more info: losangeles@gabnet.org or (323) 459-7458.)
Later this month, GABNet NY/NJ will hold Kuwentong Babae / Women Talk, an intimate sharing of women’s stories and experiences. It will be held in downtown Manhattan on Sunday, March 20, 2005, 1PM-6PM. (For more info: nynj@gabnet.org or (212) 592-3507.)
GABRIELA Network is a multi-racial Philippine-US women’s mass organization. Established in 1989, GABNet works on issues faced by women of Philippine ancestry. # # #
Photos by Erica Liza Miguel, GABNet NY/NJ member and co-founder of GABNet's Kataga Women Writers/Artists Collective.
