2006 Feminist Night March

2006 Call to Action Hello, I do not know how many years it takes for an action to become a tradition, but I had already begun claiming this action was a tradition after its first year. Now it is entering its fourth year. So it has certainly become a tradition... I am talking about the “traditional” feminist action held in Taksim on the evening of March 8. As we know, women's histories are histories women tell themselves. That is why I want to recount the process that brought this action into being and the need that keeps taking us insistently to Taksim: at least so it does not vanish, so it remains written down somewhere, and in the hope that surely some people are curious. Four years ago, the women's liberation movement was continuing to lose strength, and feminists' demands and words occupied an ever smaller place in the various women's events being held. Meanwhile, almost all components of the women's movement were embracing many feminist formulations/ideas, above all “male domination”. The ideological/political background distinguishing feminist from non-feminist women had become quite blurred. There were also many feminist friends who did not attend March 8 rallies, for reasons such as the forms of action preferred by the women's movement and men's endless enthusiasm for attending March 8 rallies, but who actually wanted to spend March 8 on the streets. That is why we began talking about holding a feminist action separate/different from the actions we joined and were part of. So its emergence was collective too. We organised the actions with the participation of independent feminist women and women from feminist women's groups. We used no signature other than Feminists... We always tried to make it everyone's action, with nothing else and no one else taking precedence. That is why we agreed not to use placards, flags, banners or any symbols bearing signatures and/or identified with an organisation. So far, we have succeeded... We wrote and painted the action's banner and placards together, gathering in one place, without taking the easy route of saying “everyone make something and bring it”. On March 8, 2003, there was the American occupation, and we were in Taksim with the slogan “Bush, Blair, Teacher: All Men, Is That a Coincidence?” (Without forgetting to add a moustache to Theacher's photograph.) On March 8, 2004, Güldünya had only just left us. This time violence against women and honour killings were on our agenda. “Men Hit, the State Protects Men” and “We Want Shelters, Not Cemeteries!” were our main slogans. We marked March 8, 2005, with the slogan “We Do Not Obey the Male-Dominated Order!” and a call to all women to rebel and join the feminist struggle. In 2006, we meet with the main slogan and banner “FEMINIST STRUGGLE AGAINST PATRIARCHY” at the tram stop in Taksim Square at 8 p.m. on Wednesday evening, March 8. Destination: Galatasaray... We will walk to Galatasaray with our slogans and women's songs and folk songs, and read our press statement. After ending our action, we will disperse to other venues for the “celebration” part. This action is first and foremost the action of all feminist women... But in fact there is room in this action for every woman who says “Feminist struggle against patriarchy”. See you at the feminist gathering on the evening of March 8... SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT LIKE READING LONG TEXTS; WE MEET AT THE TRAM STOP AT THE ENTRANCE TO TAKSIM SQUARE AT 8 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 8. OUR SLOGAN IS “FEMINIST STRUGGLE AGAINST PATRIARCHY” OUR SIGNATURE IS “FEMINISTS”... PLACARDS, THE BANNER, AND FLAGS AND PENNANTS READING FEMINIST WILL BE DISTRIBUTED AT THE SITE. FOR THIS REASON, WE ARE NOT BRINGING PLACARDS, FLAGS, ETC. BEARING THE SIGNATURE OR SYMBOL OF ANY WOMEN'S GROUP OR MIXED-GENDER ORGANISATION. THIS ACTION IS FIRST AND FOREMOST THE ACTION OF ALL FEMINIST WOMEN... BUT IN FACT THERE IS ROOM IN THIS ACTION FOR EVERY WOMAN WHO SAYS “FEMINIST STRUGGLE AGAINST PATRIARCHY” . HOPING THOSE WHO HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE ACTION WILL PASS IT ON TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT... AND SEE YOU AT THE FEMINIST GATHERING ON THE EVENING OF MARCH 8... Meriç Eyüboğlu Source: kadinkurultayi@gmail.com Source: feminist@yahoogroups.com Date: February 11, 2006

2006 Press Statement - Kurdish FEMINIST STRUGGLE AGAINST MALE DOMINATION, THE STATE, MILITARISM AND CAPITALISM Rebellion Liberates! Women, Towards Liberation; Today millions of women whose names we have never known, whose faces we have never seen, turn their faces towards the sun across the world; their languages are different, but their spirits shout the same slogans together... Today is March 8... Long live women's liberation struggle... Our rebellion; Is against those who disregard our history, who try to make it forgotten Is against those who want to break our spirit of struggle and solidarity Is against those who reckon the future can be built without us Is against those who think the future can be built without rejecting all oppression, exploitation and relations of power. History is the history of our oppression as women... and it is the history male domination has written according to its own interests, so that we women do not awaken and rise up... We learned from those who wrote the history of women's freedom through the prices they paid how to say “WE EXIST!” to those who deny us... From the Fouriers, Olympes, suffragettes, Kollontais, Clara Zetkins, Emma Goldmans... Once again we stand by those burned on accusations of witchcraft, sent to the guillotine for demanding the right to vote, killed for demanding bread and roses, excluded for not wanting a revolution in which they could not dance, living in prison in the country where they made the revolution, and confined to psychiatric hospitals for opposing those in power... Exactly 150 years after the burning of the working women who created March 8 in 1857, women workers are still burning... Because we have said let no more people die, let night shifts be abolished, Because our labor in workplaces is seen as cheap labor and we are made to work without security, insurance or unions, Because we face a sexist division of labor and sexist practices, Because our labor at home is appropriated in the name of contributing to the family budget, To make our neglected domestic labor visible, Because we say no to state violence and war, To expose harassment and rape by village guards, soldiers and police, Because we resist militarist, occupying war policies based on dying and killing, and we have never been and will never be agents of those policies, Because we want all the wounds of women harmed by war and migration to be healed, To stand against racist and extermination policies directed at Kurds, Because we say no to disregarding Kurdish women's language and culture, Because we say “No!” to a uniform and obedient society, Because we say “No!” to a heterosexist society that disregards different sexual identities, Because we say “No!” to harassment, rape and violence within the home, Because, even though we do not want to be anyone's honour, we are killed by men in the name of honour, Because we say “No!” to sexual abuse within the family, Because we say “No!” to co-wife arrangements and exchange marriages, Because we say “No!” to the killings of women committed under the guise of suicide, Because we say “No!” to male domination, militarism and capitalism, Together! And stronger! We say “Long Live Feminist Rebellion”... Because we know this world will not change until we change it... We will not let them count our dreams, our hopes, our right to live in another world as nothing... We will claim our labor, bodies and identities... We will not obey! We will change it!

2006 Press Statement FEMINIST STRUGGLE AGAINST PATRIARCHY, THE STATE, MILITARISM AND CAPITALISM Rebellion Liberates! Women, Towards Liberation; Today millions of women whose names we have never known, whose faces we have never seen, turn their faces towards the sun across the world; in different languages but with the same spirit, they shout the same slogans together... Today is March 8... Long live women's liberation struggle... Our rebellion is against; Those who deny our history, who try to make it forgotten; Those who want to break our spirit of struggle and solidarity Those who reckon the future can be built without us Those who think the future can be built without rejecting all relations of oppression, exploitation and power. History is the history of our oppression as women... And it is history written and told as male domination wishes, so that we women do not awaken and rise up... We learned how to say “WE EXIST” to those who deny and oppress us from those who wrote the history of women's freedom through the prices they paid... From the Fouriers, Olympes, suffragettes, Kollontais, Clara Zetkins, Emma Goldmans... Once again we stand by those burned as witches, sent to the guillotine for demanding the right to vote, killed for demanding bread and roses, excluded for not wanting a revolution in which they could not dance, living a prison life in the country where they made the revolution, confined to psychiatric hospitals for opposing those in power... Exactly 150 years after the burning of the working women who created March 8 in 1857, women workers are still burning to death... Because we say there must be no more deaths, night shifts must be abolished, Because we are treated as cheap labor at work and made to work without security, insurance or unions, Because we are subjected to a sexist division of labor and sexist practices, Because our labor at home is appropriated in the name of contributing to the family budget, To make our disregarded domestic labor visible, Because we say no to state violence and war, To expose harassment and rape by village guards, soldiers and police, Because we oppose militarist, expansionist war policies based on dying and killing, which we do not want and of which we will never be agents, Because we want all the wounds of women harmed by war and forced migration to be healed, To stand against racist and annihilation policies directed at Kurds, Because we say no to the denial of Kurdish women's language and culture, Because we say no to a uniform and obedient society, Because we say no to a heterosexist society that denies different sexual identities, Because we say no to harassment, rape and violence within the family, Because men kill us in the name of honour, even though we want to be no one's honour, Because we say no to sexual abuse within the family, Because we say no to being co-wives and to exchange marriages, Because we say no to femicides committed under the guise of suicide, Because we say no to patriarchy, militarism and capitalism, Together! And stronger! We say “Long Live Feminist Rebellion”... Because we know this world will not change unless we change it... We will not allow them to deny our dreams, our hopes, our right to live in another world... We will claim our labor, bodies and identities... We will not obey! We will change it!