photo: Yolanda Luna
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Mar. 19, 2023
by Irene Fuentes
On Wednesday March 8, the women of San Miguel were not afraid to go out into the streets. Dressed in skirts or pants, covered, uncovered, with makeup or without, girls, adolescents, women, we were not afraid to go out by ourselves, because we were not by ourselves. We were with other women. We were women taking care of women. We were without fear of being exposed to our aggressors because we were not, we are not, the weaker sex anymore. We were without fear of exercising our legitimate right to protest because we know that the personal is political. We know that all of us are the only civil force that makes the authorities tremble in every corner of this country.
photo: Kate Van Doren
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The afternoon started at 4:30pm in Juarez Park with a guided meditation to connect with us, to relax before the march, and to give it insight into the person and the collective. For those who were together for the first time to get calmed and feel accompanied. We made up each other, painted and prepared for the march.
photo: Yolanda Luna
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Women, girls, and adolescents began to arrive with great enthusiasm. In the atmosphere we felt the joy of being accompanied, the collective objective of manifesting for our rights. There were women of all ages, social conditions, and backgrounds, a great diversity all encountering the same intention. Women who fight find each other on the street.
The first call was given and then the second. The expectation grew. When the third call was announced we all shouted excitedly in unison. General instructions were given. It was to be a peaceful march in which mothers with their children would go at the front, then women of all ages, women marching for the first time, and women volunteers to provide first aid.
photo: Yolanda Luna
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We left the park together around 5:30 towards the streets chanting feminist slogans, sounding the drums, using megaphones. We stopped the traffic and marched up Zacateros. On the way, we symbolically renamed the streets in honor of women in the history and current affairs of Mexico as a way of appropriating public space and claiming the right of women to be recognized for their contributions. This is relevant, because, in Mexico, less than 1% of the streets are named in honor of women. The girls participated in this renaming. Excited about making a difference, the experience will remain with them, inspiring lives.
photo: Kate Van Doren
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Arriba el feminismo que va a vencer, que va a vencer, que va a vencer, abajo el patriarcado que va a caer, que va a caer... ¡Alerta! ¡Alerta! Alerta que camina la lucha feminista por América Latina, y tiemblen, y tiemblen, y tiemblen los machistas, que América Latina será toda Feminista... Señor, señora, No sea indiferente, se mata a las mujeres en la cara de la gente... Mujer, escucha, esta es tu lucha... Ni una más, ni una más, ni una más, ni una asesinada más... Hay que abortar, hay que abortar, hay que abortar, hay que abortar este sistema patriarcal... Mujer, hermana, si te pega no te ama...
Up with feminism that is going to win, that is going to win, that is going to win, down with the patriarchy that is going to fall, that is going to fall... Alert! Alert! Alert that the feminist struggle is going on in Latin America, and the male chauvinists tremble, and tremble, and tremble, that Latin America will be all Feminist... Sir, ma'am, don't be indifferent, women are being killed in plain sight... Woman, listen, this is your fight... Not one more, not one more, not one more, not one more murdered... You have to abort, you have to abort, you have to abort, you have to abort this patriarchal system ... Woman, sister, if he hits you, he doesn't love you...
These were just some of the powerful feminist slogans chanted throughout the tour, chanted by all with all force, with all the enthusiasm of being together, taking over the streets.
photo: Yolanda Luna
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We arrived at the Jardín. Before everyone's eyes, we were all together. Taking a good count, we were neither ten nor twenty. We were hundreds; so many that the esplanade was full of proud and brave girls and women, carrying banners, shouting out, demanding justice and dignity, recognizing the legitimate anger for each victim of machismo. And then, a group of women placed the complaints against the aggressors, the protest banners, the demands, all hung on the fence of the Parroquia. Another group went to the area where the "silhouetting" was done, an artistic intervention that consisted of naming the victims of femicide, the way they were killed by their partners, while a volunteer lay on the ground and fellow artists drew their silhouette as forensic professionals do. At the end of each story, all women with our fists raised shout "present" referring to the fact that the murdered women are still present in our memory, that we do not forget them.
photo: Yolanda Luna
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The night fell, and the microphone was open for women who wanted to talk about the violence they suffered, to denounce their aggressors, but, above all, to be accompanied in their mourning, to listen to them, to believe them when so many other people and the authorities themselves did not believe them. I do believe you! You are not alone! We shouted all in unison with each testimony.
photo: Yolanda Luna
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And so ended Wednesday, March 8, International Women's Day, a day in which it is not a question of congratulating ourselves for being women, but of resisting in the struggle, of accompanying us, of sustaining and meeting each other. Women who fight meet each other. The women of San Miguel marched proudly led by the feminist collectives Sororas and Rebels SMA and Revolucionarias SMA.
On March 8th we marched. Today we continue in resistance.
Whenever it is possible, I'll be surrounded by women.
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Irene Fuentes has a bachelor's degree in International Marketing, a master's degree in Social Responsibility, and Special Studies in Equality and Non-Discrimination. She is feminist. She cares for the environment and the animal care causes.
Irene has more than ten years of experience in Marketing, Communication, Advertising, Public Relations, and Social Responsibility, in companies and non-profit organizations. Since 2012, she has focused on developing programs to improve the educational, employability and living conditions of people in vulnerable situations, fundraising campaigns, and procedures to get Social Responsibility badges.
She has advised more than 500 companies and organizations in the adoption of ethical and socially responsible policies and procedures for the protection of children and adolescents and the prevention of violence. She has trained more than 15 thousand people in the prevention of violence against women, violence in the workplace, children exploitation, and human trafficking.
Irene is currently Executive Director of Causas para la Transformación AC, a non-profit organization that seeks to contribute to the full enjoyment of the rights of girls and women. There she manages "Calles con Equidad" (Streets with Equity), a program to make visible the legacies of Mexican women and their contributions to the development of the country through the naming of streets in their honor.
She actively participates in "Sororas y Rebeldes SMA", a feminist activism collective that carries out iconoclastic interventions to make visible the different circumstances that affects women. She is the manager of the music line of "Coyote Urbano", a collective that seeks to help youth through art and music. She also represents Guanajuato State in the group of "Todas MX" (All Woman MX) the national force of political women that seeks to influence legislation to improve the conditions of women in the country.
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