IWA is in solidarity with those protesting the murder of George Floyd!
International Women’s Alliance is in solidarity with the international community demanding justice for the brutal murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery and countless others. We wish to express our deepest sympathies to their families and extend the same to the people around the US whose outpouring of grief and indignation is first and foremost a demand for justice. IWA recognizes that the murder of these three individuals are indicative of a system which has long targeted Black, migrant, working class communities through militarized policing which serves to protect bourgeoisie and corporate interests.
IWA calls on our sisters around the globe to demonstrate and speak out in solidarity with the families of those killed in the United States, because we know the impacts of militarization on our communities. All across the world, our sisters have stories to share about the impacts of militarization and imperialism on their communities. And while these stories vary, our hearts and minds are united to take action to bring imperialism to its knees.
Our sisters in the Philippines who have faced decades of martial law, extrajudicial killings, and military responses to humanitarian crises know too well the communal mourning and rage that occurs when more bullets are fired. Our sisters in Palestine understand the generational impacts of military occupation and justice systems which are stacked against our sons, husbands, and fathers. Our sisters throughout Latin America are familiar with the fear and intimidation caused by forces which regularly threaten and disappear them through femicide. Our sisters who are domestic workers and migrant workers around the globe know how little the state does to protect them against abuse, wage theft, and exploitation at the hands of their wealthy employers. Our indigenous sisters whose land has been occupied know the devastation that is caused when corporations plunder the land and target our communities without providing adequate services. Our sisters in Indian Occupied Kashmir know the impacts of state-sanctioned xenophobia and military occupation which can change our communities overnight – separating families and halting the economy. Our Kurdish sisters have experienced what it means to be caught in the crossfires of imperialist wars and proxy-wars for generations, all while being denied their recognition and right to self-determination.
IWA and our member organizations demand that these global militarized systems be held accountable for their anti-people policies and unjustifiable violence. We call on the women of the world to organize ourselves to demand a world free of militarization which serves the ruling class, and to instead fight for a world where all people are free to contribute to society without fear or intimidation. We uphold the protests and anger our sisters and their communities are carrying out in the United States as an example of how to exercise true democratic rights to protest – and we encourage them to continue the fight boldly, with our full support.
