Public Story
Together, We are All: International Women's Day March on Oaxaca
The percussion of pots and pans banging and the echoing of chants vibrated through the pavement. Together, We Are All. A sea of womxn spanned as far as the eye could see, and moved through the city with the force and power of a great storm. Together, We Are All. Women in droves pulled out cans of spray paint and stencils, totally concealed just moments earlier, to defile the walls of the city with denunciations of local violadores and cries for change. Together, We Are All. Bank windows were smashed, government vehicles demolished, and every wall was marked with the rage and grief of Mexican women. Since the beginning of the year, there had already been 24 femicides in the state of Oaxaca and a total of 267 in all of Mexico–in just over two months' time. Together, We Are All.
Marching through the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico on March 8th for International Women’s Day feels like a lifetime ago. Back in the United States, the poorly-handled pandemic, exposed corruption of our upcoming election, immense political division, and experience of daily state-sanctioned violence against peaceful protestors has cast a bleak future over the possibility of collective resistance. The candles lit on International Women's Day have long blown out, the flowers withered and the walls of the city painted over, but the message that together we are all rings hope in my ears. Standing together to demand justice gives us the power to create real change (and people all over the world are beginning to realize it).
Together, We Are All.
1,759
