A massive feminist protest? When? Where?
Last Wednesday, a massive feminist strike paralyzed the streets of Barcelona, with thousands of women and their allies shutting down traffic and the subways, spray-painting feminist slogans all over city walls and occupying the offices of powerful political and economic institutions.
What massive feminist strike, you say? Maybe you didn't hear about the thousands of Spanish feminists taking over Barcelona because not a single major English-language news source reported on it.
The strike was part of a series of protests in Spain recently regarding the painful economic situation there - which may be something we'll see here in the Unites States in the not-too-distant future.
Spain has seen many labor-related general strikes in recent years, but rarely do those acknowledge women's issues. The list of problems left out of the conversation, according to the site, includes (roughly translated from Catalan) "compulsory maternity," violence against women, "labor reforms that deepen inequality already faced by women" and the cuts to social welfare and utilities that "increase the hours women devote to the care and attention of people."
While [you] may have read about Spain's three-day student strikes that also took place this week, you probably...didn't read that Wednesday's Vaga De Totes ("Everything Strike") brought together more than 600 different feminist and community groups over the course of a year of organizing that culminated in one riot grrrl-like takeover of Barcelona.
Take a look at the
entire article. There are photos, links, and a video.
Vaga De Totes says they are organizing an even bigger women's strike in the spring of 2015. Maybe by then, the international press will have learned to care about masses of women marching through the streets.
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