Feminist International founded in Mexico

The fundamental objective of Feminist International is to promote a common agenda in favor of equality and for the eradication of gender-based violence

April 07, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Over 80 women leaders from more than 30 countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe founded Feminist International in Mexico City, Mexico, on April 1.

Over 80 women leaders from more than 30 countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe met in Mexico City between March 30 and April 1, with the objective of founding the Feminist International, an organization whose mission is to “promote a common agenda in favor of equality and a life free from gender-based violence.”

Veka García, feminist activist and international affairs coordinator of the General Secretariat of Mexico’s ruling MORENA party, told Peoples Dispatch that Feminist International was founded following “the call from women who are part of popular feminist movements with anti-capitalist, anti-racist and decolonial class consciousness.”

María Nela Prada, Minister of the Presidency of Bolivia; Anahí Durand, former Minister of Women and Vulnerable Populations in Peru; Antonia Orellana, Minister of Women and Gender Equity in Chile; Citlalli Hernández, Mexican politician and senator; Eli Gómez, Argentine lawyer; Gabriela Rivadeneira, former president of the National Assembly of Ecuador; Gabriela Montaño, former president of the Bolivian Chamber of Senators; Irací Hassler, Mayor of the Commune of Santiago de Chile, Manuela d’Ávila, former Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil; Daiana Santos, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil; Karol Cariola, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile; Irene Montero, Minister of Equality of Spain; and Paola Pabón, Mayor of Pichincha in Ecuador, were among the leaders who met in Mexico City.

“What really united us was the idea of mainstreaming the struggles that we have in each country. The idea was to open a space of construction and organization among feminist women who are in a space of power, and it was very powerful to meet women from different continents,” said García, one of the coordinators of the meeting.

She added that the convening comes at a time where the feminist struggle is growing and achieving major victories. “There are more and more women who are in different levels of government, assuming very important positions,” she said. “For example, there is a parity in the Chamber of Deputies, in the Senate, in other legislative offices. But parity is not enough.” She added that in Mexico there is a long way to go to end violence against women, and achieve full equality between women and men.

“The Feminist International will work to share strategies and dynamics of what can be exercised within the spaces of government. I think that sharing ideas and sharing strategies and action plans is an advantage,” García pointed out.

Founding Manifesto of Feminist International

At the end of the founding event of the Feminist International, the leaders shared the organization’s manifesto. They shared that the organization aims to build an international network of feminist activism that promotes anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-class actions for a civilizational transformation of societies.

The full text of the manifesto is below:

The convergent existence of patriarchy and capitalism whose mode of reproduction operates at a globalized level, and which throughout history has generated various forms of domination and violence. We declare that our common strategy will be oriented towards its transformation, eradication and overcoming.

Feminism is a strategic path forward for all humanity, which seeks to dignify the form of reproduction of life. It is a project of society that improves the living conditions of humanity and its relationship with the planet, because it is capable of offering answers to the challenges we currently face and of building a democratic, egalitarian and just solution to the current neoliberal and multidimensional crisis.

The massive reach and advance of feminism, with agendas, mobilizations and protests against the systematic oppression of women and LGBTI+, driven by diverse feminist movements, with and without political party militancy, has a common goal: to place itself at the center of debates and disputes over political projects around the world.

The need for the struggle against patriarchy and capitalism demands the collective and international organization of feminists to promote a common agenda in favor of equality and lives free of male violence, strongly expressed in sexual and political violence, fighting for the legalization of the right to abortion and the full enjoyment of all sexual, reproductive and non-reproductive rights, for the redistribution of wealth and income, for the social and economic recognition of domestic and care work, with decent wages and legal rights, eliminating wage and employment gaps, for an education that builds equality without sexist biases from the first cycles of training, for the need to expand the spaces of power occupied by women and LGBTI+, among other historical demands of feminism.

The importance of sustaining cross-border relations, in order to learn from the conquests, experiences and resistances at the global level, and thus, to be able to sustain common international and inter-nationalist tactics and strategies to challenge capitalist patriarchy. In this sense, we stress that in order to cut the chains of oppression, the unity of feminist movements in different countries is essential.

The emergence and visibility of feminist leaders in spaces of influence in public policies in different countries, whether in governments, political parties, institutions or organizations, leading in popular, transformative and democratic projects and movements, serve as a counterpart to a brutal “disciplining” patriarchal political violence.”

The advance of the reactionary, misogynist, fascist, homophobic, and racist right-wing all over the world, has added to violence and systematic attacks against feminist movements, their agendas and leaders, because feminist movements represent alternative proposals to savage capitalism and its neoliberal expression.

Just as right-wing strategies are organized at the international level, popular and community feminist movements should also resist, advance and organize globally.

We maintain that democracy is not possible in extremely unequal societies, which is why popular feminist movements work for the broadening, deepening and radicalization of the democracies of the world, maintaining as a central axis of its praxis the construction of autonomy for all people. Part of the multidimensional global crisis that humanity is experiencing, crosses the democratic systems, so we argue that democracies must be anchored to popular sovereignty and the ideals of equality; having feminist, environmental, peasant, indigenous struggles, Black resistance, important contributions and roles for the construction of this egalitarian sovereignty we need.

We believe that culture is a fundamental support in this construction, as a tool for social and political transformation. The diverse expressions of culture and art achieve the impossible.