Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Buenos Aires to the National Congress building on Friday to mark International Women's Day.
The rally had a strong political aspect. Feminist collectives in Argentina said they rallied "with renewed strength" as they repudiated recent measures by President Javier Milei, notably his "chainsaw" plan to cut public spending.
"I came with renewed strength because they are cutting our rights everywhere, but we are not going to allow it," Natalia Furlán, a 49-year-old teacher who carried a sign with the slogan "take the chainsaw out of our rights.”
The rally culminated in a mass gathering at the Plaza del Congreso, outside the National Congress building. There, a group of feminist organisations came together to read out a statement that was fiercely critical of the government.
"With our strike, we vindicate and honour the struggles of women workers who came before us. With this day of struggle we say that freedom is ours and not of the markets nor of the governments," a group of feminist organisations said in a document read out in front of the National Congress building.
The statement condemned the “political violence” of Milei’s government and criticised the move to shutter the Télam state news agency.
"They intend to silence the protest, repress and discipline as the dictatorship did in the most terrible days of this country," it said.
Among other demands, the mobilisation's main slogans were the struggle "against hunger and austerity," the continuation right to legal, safe and free abortion; against dismissals and "macho violence".
Women’s groups also voiced criticism of the new “repressive” anti-picket protocol introduced by Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, which is designed to prevent the streets being blocked.
People of all ages were seen at the ‘#8M’ march. International Women’s Day is a popular demonstration in Argentina, the country where the Ni Una Menos anti-gender violence movement was born in 2015 and where a green wave of protesters successfully campaigned for the passage of abortion reform law in 2020.
Demonstrators on Friday vowed to defend the right to abortion and condemned sexist violence, human-trafficking and the austerity imposed by Milei’s government. Argentina is suffering from inflation running at more than 250 percent per annum and more than half of the population lives in poverty.
Challenging Milei’s denunciations of the “political caste,” protesters carried signs saying “the caste is us” – a reference to normal people suffering from the quick removal of price controls, subsidies for utilities and soaring public transport fares.
As part of his cost-cutting “chainsaw” plan, the right-wing leader has eliminated the Women, Gender & Diversity Ministry and recently announced the closure of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI).
He has also moved to prohibit the use of inclusive language in the Armed Forces and throughout the national public administration.
In a speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum back in January, he called feminism a "ridiculous and unnatural fight between men and women" and said the movement only serves to "give jobs to bureaucrats who have contributed nothing to society.”
Milei is as a vocal opponent of abortion, which was legalised in Argentina in late 2020. When giving a speech in front of students on Wednesday, he characterised pro-choice supporters as "murderers” and described abortion as "aggravated murder" due to the "familial bond" between mother and foetus.
"For me, abortion is an aggravated murder by the familial bond… and I can prove it to you from a mathematical, philosophical and liberal perspective," said the far-right president before an audience of schoolchildren at the Cardenal Copella Institute, a Catholic educational establishment that the President once attended.
Milei described those who supported the abortion law as "murderers of the green scarves,” in reference to the emblem that characterises feminist struggle and that became the flag of activism for legal abortion in Argentina.
Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni sid that the government will deduct a day's pay from the salaries of public employees who do not show up for work on International Women’s Day.
In a move that Milei undoubtedly knew would create headlines, the government also announced on Friday the renaming of the Salón de las Mujeres at the Casa Rosada, a room where tribute is paid to outstanding women from Argentina's history.
"The Hall of Women is going to be called the Hall of Heroes, by decision of the secretary general of the presidency," said Adorni, referring to the president's sister, Karina Milei.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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