Report on the Mothers March held in Mahdia, Guyana, March 8, 2010

Marbell and Marcy(organisers in Mahdia) leading the march in Mahdia

Middle section of march, Joycelyn (Campbelltown) & Loraine from Central Mahdia

Middle section of the march with Elfrida ( Micobie) holding placard

Last section of the March

Children from the Kindergarden (nursery) school in Central Mahdia looking on as the march passes

Donna (Tumatumari) speaking on the issue of water at the benab in Campbelltown

Elfrida (Micobie) speaking on the issues violence and water in her community in the benab

Norma (Rt drop in centre self help group) and Susan GWAR, hold banner.jpg

Nicola (Red Thread) speaking on the issue of the high cost for free education in the benab

Norma from Red Thread self help group speaking on the issues of water and affordable electricity in the benab

Nicola and Elfrida in small section of the speak- out at the benab in Campbelltown

On International Women’s Day, March 8th 2010, women from the Guyana coastlands joined women from the interior in a powerful Mothers March marking the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The march, called by Red Thread and its network Grassroots Women Across Race, was held in the interior region of Mahdia, and organized on the ground by GWAR organisers Marbell, an Indigenous woman subsistence farmer and Marcie, an Afro-Guyanese woman small vendor. The over 100 women who took part included women from several communities on the coast as well as the capital, Georgetown, while the women from Mahdia also came from different communities. Together these women, joined by a few supportive men, were from all the main race groups in Guyana – Indigenous, Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese and Mixed. They also included a few women with disabilities who rode in a vehicle to take part in the march.

(Click on a picture to get a slide show of all pictures)

As the marchers made their way from Central Mahdia through 7 Miles to Campbelltown, women, children and men came out, most shouting supportive remarks, the children sometimes joining in the march itself. In these tiny communities and narrow, hilly streets, we 100 plus women made a loud noise and a big impact.

The messages on the banners read: “Mothers Count, Count Mothers Work” with photos of women of different races breastfeeding, cooking, picking shrimps, grating cassava, farming, carrying cassava bread, and selling; “Global Women’s Strike Women say No Racial Violence, No Racial War”; and “Invest In Caring Not Killing”, while the placards and chants demanded affordable clean running water, affordable and reliable electricity, an end to all forms of violence, and more money for old age pensioners and people on public assistance (who are mostly women). Chanters also ensured that those who saw the march understood that they were looking at a historic coming together of women from coast and interior, across race, making joint demands on International Women’s Day.

In solidarity with the grassroots women of Haiti struggling to rebuild their communities after the earthquake, we also carried a banner which said, “Haiti will rise again!”

The march was a strong political message to women (and men), participants and lookers-on, about recognizing the unwaged work all mothers do as work, the low wages and incomes we receive for the work we do outside our homes, and our rights as carers to money and the other resources we need to reduce the time and energy we spend on caring for our families and communities.

After the march we held a speakout in the benab (an Indigenous meeting place) in Campbelltown. We arranged a photo exhibition on the walls (though a benab doesn’t have a lot of wall space so we had to improvise), with pictures from different countries which are part of the Global Women’s Strike. We did this so that we would be strengthened by the reminder that we are not alone in organizing for the change we all want – for a world that invests in caring, not killing.

At the speakout women from the interior and the coast spoke out passionately about what was affecting them as mothers and other carers, what action they had already taken and what action they wanted to take. All the women had similar demands: money, affordable clean running water, affordable reliable electricity and a right to live free from all forms of violence.

A message of solidarity from Selma James, co-coordinator of the Global Women’s strike, was received with loud cheers.

We won a small on the spot victory when the Regional Chair, who had been invited to hear our demands directly, promised to install pumps in three communities - Tumatumarie, Micobie and Princeville.

The march will be remembered as a great political wake up call in the communities along its route, and the call will reecho throughout Mahdia.