To the Assembly of the Campaign Against the Europe of Capital and War: 5 March 2002

It is no accident that the Global Women's Strike was left out of the "Latest programe of mobilizations" being circulated by e-mail.  It was agreed at la Comissión del Forum that the Strike on the 8 March be included as one of the Campaign events, and that we send in the programe.  This we did and asked to be included as an alternative to globalization and to be included as speakers in the plenary.  The Strike was included in the outreach leaflet "Now you've got the Euro, do you know what's behind it?", although incorrectly as "Women's Strike", the "Global" having disappeared.  However, in the programe of activities circulating via e-mail, which will be the basis for the campaign's leaflet, the Strike has been removed and the events listed run from the 9 -16 March.

We want not only women to be mentioned or present - that is "identity politics" - but women's struggle, and the struggles of other sectors like that of immigrant people,  - that is "class politics" – to be recognised as a central part of the anti-globalisation movement.  The church occupations [by immigrant people without papers] last year and Papers per Tothom have been a reference point, not only nationally but internationally.   Is it enough to just be getting together, or are we building a movement where "another world is possible"?  To build the movement we must cross the divisions among us, of sex, race, nationality, immigration status, sexual choice, and more, recognising the autonomy of each different sector and ensuring that the struggle of each sector is a visible point of reference to all in the work we do.  How can a document be put out and circulated to represent the movement where women, immigrant people, people’s struggles, work and perspective in the South are absent?  How is that different from the sexist and racist Fortress Europe that we are opposing?

If in the campaign Contra la Europa del Capital y de Guerra women are almost as invisible as immigrant people, what does that mean for immigrant women?  Leaving out the Global Women's Strike is leaving out a massive global direct action, now in its third year, with women organising in over 60 countries, including in Argentina, India and Uganda, as well as in over 20 villages, towns and cities in Spain, which not only has enabled us to promote the demands of women in the north but also has brought the demands and movements of women in the South into the heart of the struggle in Spain and Europe. What does leaving out the Strike mean for the cleaning women at the university?  As you know, the university will be closed for the EU summit, and whilst the teaching and other staff is paid for these days, the cleaning women, contracted by private firms, have been under threat of being sent home and those days are deducted from their holidays.  Finally, they will be sent to other centres within the university, even though the university will still be paying the cleaning companies as if this site was still open.  They have written a statement with their demands which will be read in the Global Women's Strike events at the university and in Plaza Sant Jaume [Barcelona] on 8 March, their third year of participating in the Strike.

It is essential that the consequences of globalization to the different sectors of grassroots people internationally is seen to be central to the movement against it - what it means to us as women, especially if we are Third World at home, or in Europe as immigrants, in overwork and poverty, and what we are doing to defend ourselves, our families and our communities. There are many images of children starving in countries of the South, but the struggle of their mothers to feed them goes completely hidden. If the grassroots struggle, with all its sectors, against capital is hidden, what's left are discussions of the plans against us as if we are passive victims. This does not build the movement against them.  Only the hidden struggle being waged now, and growing, makes another world possible.

Also, we invite you to put the broom out on the balcony, drop the kids off in the free creche in Pati Llimona and come over to Plaza Sant Jaume to denounce women's and girl's poverty and overwork with women from all over the world and demand that the European heads of state INVEST IN CARING, NOT KILLING!  Benefits for all women and their families on a par with those in the rest of Europe; equal for immigrant and native mothers and other carers in recognition of the caring work of others.  From midday to midnight, women on strike and the men that support them, will be enjoying cuisine from all over the world, music, theatre, dance, circus, storytelling, painting, arte ... by women.

Power to the sisters, to all immigrant people, and therefore to the class

Global Women's Strike                                                                  5 March 2002