It was not another March 8. All eyes were on the leaders of the demonstrations and their power to convoke, on the possible confrontations between the different sensibilities of the feminist movement and on the place occupied by the main political leaders. It was time to gauge the impact of the government’s fracture on the street, staged with special harshness this Tuesday, just a few hours before the great day of feminism. Never had the left come so on fire to 8-M. And the division was evident in Madrid, where, as in other cities, differentiated demonstrations were called.
The most crowded tour, convened by the 8M Commission, left the Glorieta de Atocha in Madrid after 7:00 p.m. Its motto, “We are the necessary cry”, preceded a legion of banners and flags that reinforced the “trans-inclusive” spirit advanced by the organizers, that is, their defense of the trans law. Half an hour earlier, with less success from the congregation and also from Atocha, the march of the Feminist Movement of Madrid started, contrary to that same law and which demanded the resignation of Montero and the disapproval of Pedro Sánchez. The closeness of both demonstrations puzzled thousands of attendees. “We have confused ‘mani’, aunt,” an assistant commented to her friend while they changed direction.
The division, so obvious at the head of the different marches, became blurred as progress was made on both routes. There, far from the spaces occupied by the political parties, the demands were identical. “Here we are the feminists”, “Calm down, sister, here is your herd” or “The fight is in the streets, not in Parliament” were the most repeated chants. Groups of friends, couples, mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters chanted slogans against sexist violence, the wage gap, glass ceilings, the vulnerability of pensioners and migrants and the risk of collapse of public health, among other issues that moments made a meeting point seem possible.
Against Irene Montero
In the demonstration organized by the 8-M Commission, the main political forces coincided, including PSOE and Unidas Podemos, government partners. Together but not scrambled, each one by their side and with their motto, banner and personalized messages. The coalition ministers, with an open wound after the ‘only yes is yes’ vote, walked apart, no matter how much the feminist struggle may unite them.
Video. Alternative feminist march in Madrid, in which the resignation of Irene Montero was requested.
PS
Irene Montero marched accompanied by Lilith Verstrynge, Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda, and Ángela Rodríguez ‘Pam’, Secretary of State for Equality. To counter the requests for resignation heard from the other march, its defenders launched proclamations such as “Irene, brave, here are your people” or “With Carmen Calvo we are not safe”, referring to the former vice president of the Government, a historic feminist and a one of the most critical voices against Montero and his management at the head of Equality. The minister already saw how in the morning a group of women interrupted an act that was held in her ministry to reproach her for the approval of the trans law. The second time that has happened to Montero in just a month.
The leader of Podemos congratulated, already before the beginning of the demonstration, that women “within their diversity” overflowed the country’s squares with another 8-M. “We celebrate the conquests of rights that we are making in recent years and saying very clearly that we are more and that we are not going to take a step back,” he said in a statement that evoked the “only yes is yes” and the controversy with the socialist wing of the government.
On behalf of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero took the floor and, in the face of the obvious discrepancies between her party and Unidas Podemos, tried to send a message of unity. one with our banner as always: that is very important because we give a unitary image of the feminist movement, ”said the number two socialist and finance minister. The first vice president Nadia Calviño and the ministers Carolina Darias, Reyes Maroto, Isabel Rodríguez, Raquel Sánchez and Pilar Llop also participated in the demonstration. Along with them was Begoña Gómez, wife of Pedro Sánchez.
The National Police, deployed throughout the route, had to intervene to withdraw a group of protesters who tried to boycott the march of the socialist group under shouts of “Macho out with our ‘manis’!”
The route of one march and another in Madrid was practically identical. The objectives too, but the gap within the feminist movement became wider than ever. And that of the government partners too.
Demonstration in Barcelona.
EFE / PE
40,000 protesters in Barcelona
Thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona on the occasion of 8-M. The call text advocated the feminist struggle against the “cishetero, patriarchal, racist and capitalist system”, as well as against wars, sexist violence, and in favor of the right to one’s own body. According to the urban guard, the concentration would have brought together 40,000 protesters in Barcelona. The concentrations extended by all the cities of the country.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.