Since 2003, we feminists have come together at the Feminist Night March on March 8. The Feminist Night March, which we will hold for the 16th time this year, began with nearly a hundred women, reached tens of thousands in recent years, and became an expression of our collective rebellion.
The Feminist Night March also has a special significance for us because it is now almost the only feminist action we hold every year. It is a space where we, as women who are organized or unorganized, who come in groups or individually, can feel we belong and articulate our feminist words directly without relegating them to second place; we place great importance on keeping it this way.
In spaces other than the Feminist Night March, we mostly engage in platform-based politics and politics among constituent organizations; consequently there are various forms of representation and various groups on whose behalf these representatives speak. The Feminist Night March’s difference is that, from the beginning, it has existed on principle as a space where we all speak in our own names and no representation, including that of independent feminist organizations, carries more political weight than a woman who has come on her own. It grew in this way, and thanks to this.
In recent years, when holding mass actions has become difficult, the women’s movement in general, and especially the increasingly crowded Feminist Night March, has been able to open up a different space. The most important reason we have been able to open this space is that we can articulate our feminist words without representing any organization and stand together as women without dividing by institution. In other words, what has made the Feminist Night March grow so much is that those who come, each group of friends, each woman who comes alone, know it is their own space, are certain they have a place there even if they belong to no organization, and can enter comfortably and join the crowd without having to wonder which contingent to join.
We would like to remind everyone that the March 8 Daytime Rally, where we articulate our words separately through our political affiliations and carry our separate flags and banners, already exists, and we are glad it does.
This year, at the 16th Feminist Night March, we will again meet behind our shared banner, with our placards bearing no organizational signatures. Of course everyone will bring the placards they have made at home, at school or at work, express their own rebellion however they express it, make the space colorful and walk closer to their own friends. But we hope not to face a situation where political organizations distinguish themselves very visibly, especially at the front of the march, creating an appearance of separate blocs; where a different political message or a particular organization is made visible almost in front of the leading banner, overshadowing feminist words; where women joining the march are given the feeling of a situation they cannot enter, that does not belong to them (and we know this has happened before). To this end, as the women who have come together to organize this year’s Feminist Night March, we address all women who are organized: We have created, are creating, and hope to continue creating the Feminist Night March as an independent feminist space, which of course also has organized participants. We hope you will show solidarity with us in maintaining these principles.