| March at the Social Forum: Massive, Diverse and Colorful
The city of Quito, Ecuador was the setting for the first March of the Social Forum of the Americas, attracting nearly 10,000 participants from Latin and North America. The participants, many of whom came from the Social Forum of the Americas, mobilized first in the Plaza de los Arbolitos (Plaza of the Little Trees) near the center of the city, and later began a huge procession to express their disagreement and resistence across the hemisphere to neoliberal economic policies and free trade agreements.
“If we globalize the poverty, we globalize the resistance” Women were highly visible and active in the march, pounding drums to energize the marchers and carrying banners for a wide variety of organizations with slogans against the war, against poverty, against discrimination and oppression. They also marched and chanted to protest the free trade agreements including the FTAA (Free Trade Agreements of the Americas), because many are afraid that these agreements will mainly benefit the large transnational corporations, and only serve to further increase poverty.
For many, the march offered an opportunity and space to express their solidarity in a peaceful way against oppression and to make visible the resistance and support of women in relation to a variety of issues and social and political movements.
“We are happy that we are participating with all of the Latin American women and reclaiming our rights,” declared one participant. Another said, “For me it is spectacular that so many people came out to oppose the ALCA, because it only creates more poverty, misery and hunger.”
The march passed by the Ministry of Foreign Comerse and the World Trade Center, where marchers chanted and shouted with greater intensity, because these institutions symbolize the center of the free trade agreements and policies. When they arrived at the Minister of the Environment and Energy, some younger protesters started throwing rocks and broke windows, and did so again when they passed by the offices of the transnational telephone company, Bell South.
Women of the feminist movement in the march were upset by these violent actions, declaring, “We don’t agree, because they hurt the march. We are protesting against neoliberalism…what they did only discredits our efforts to seek peace and agreements. This is a peaceful march, we don’t want violence.” Another woman noted that “the march was organizad so that people could come together in our struggles against the transnationals that are pushing to dominate our communities.”
“Not one woman, not one man, not one dollar more for the war,” declared a banner carried by the group called Colombian Women’s Movement Against the War, whose participation was strong in both numbers and visibility. They called for an end to the armed conflict and an end to Plan Colombia. “I feel happy to be able to express our feelings of pain as Colombian people,” said one marcher in that group.
Indigenous women were also a strong presence in the march. Blanca Chancoso, an indigenous leader from the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador said that the women were marching to express the resistance of their people to oppression and also to express their disagreement with the free trade agreements.
A few marchers painted graffiti on the walls along the march route, only to be stopped when confronted by the police, who threw tear gas at the crowd. The march eventually ended back in the same plaza where it began, with a cultural performance by some participants.
For questions or comments please write to Radio Feminista/FIRE at: oficina@radiofeminista.net.
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