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A revolutionary Los Angeles contingent of Afghan women’s rights supporters plan to march in the annual Global Women’s Strike, Friday, March 8, 2002 in downtown LA.
“You need to find some way to take the day off and join us,” said Sonali Kolhatkar, vice president of the Afghan Women’s Mission, which works closely with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan to support projects for Afghan women and children. “Or be bold and tell your boss you’re going on strike. I promise you it will be worth it.”
The Afghan Women’s Mission calls on all those who are freedom-loving and anti-fundamentalist to support RAWA and AWM at this march, to help carry the massive banner at the forefront of the march. The theme of this year’s march, coordinated by the International Wages for Housework Campaign, is “Invest in Caring, Not Killing.”
The march will begin at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd. at Berendo, at 11:30 am. It will visit many areas on Wilshire Blvd., including the state’s welfare office and the garment district. Participants are encouraged to bring pots and pans to bang as they march. A rally in MacArthur Park will end the march.
Live music and puppets, street theatre, and rousing speeches will also be held during the day. Participants are invited to celebrate the day at Alexandria House, in the Pico Union area, at 6:30 pm with food, music and speeches – families with kids are welcome.
“Since Afghan women are still suffering, and are the victims of a bombing campaign and foreign-sponsored fundamentalism, participation is a symbolically very important step in solidarity with women all over the world who are struggling alongside RAWA,” added Kolhatkar.
Women from over 64 countries take part in the Global Women’s Strike, held every year on March 8th, International Women’s Day. The Global Women’s Strike calls on women to walk out of their jobs whether they are in a factory, office, or the home, and make the world stand still for a day to emphasize women’s crucial and undervalued role. The march will expose and oppose draining resources from women and communities globally and to demand that military spending be redirected toward caring, feeding, healing and learning.
RAWA’s struggle resembles the struggles of women all over the world. The three-year-old movement, which demands equality for women all over the globe, focuses on women’s economic disempowerment, victimization by war, and all the other relevant issues that Afghan women have dealt with for decades.
For more on the Global Women’s Strike, see their website at http://womenstrike8m.server101.com. For more information about the struggle for Women’s rights in Afghanistan, visit https://www.afghanwomensmission.org or http://www.rawa.org.
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