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by Luisa Ruiz

The first Women's Day March I attended was in Morelia in 2020 just a couple of weeks before they declared the pandemic and closed everything. On that first occasion I was thrilled to see so many women together, marching, demanding justice, equality, no more disappearances, no more murders.

This year, on Friday, March 8, I attended my second, this one here in San Miguel. It was scheduled to start from Parque Juárez at 5pm. Arriving a little early, I saw women of all ages already gathering. But I was very surprised that most of them were teenagers and other young people. I approached some girls with purple paint. They painted their handprints on my arms.

On the march from Parque Juárez to the Jardín, many women carried signs:

"You are not alone; justice."
"Free, alive and fearless."
"For my grandmother, for my mother, for my sister, for me, for all."
"If tomorrow it is me, remember me full of dreams please."
"If I have right that others do not have, they are privileges."
"Mexicans with a war cry."
"Do we look like many? There are thousands more."
"Sick of telling people that I got to school alive."
A girl had a card on her back that said: "This is fighting like a girl."
"In memory of all the girls they didn't believe."
"May we be protected like monuments."
"We are the hearts of those who are gone."
"Why are we marching? There's a Taylor Swift song that explains it."
"Be grateful I seek justice, not revenge."
"For girls, youth and women without fear."
"Not quiet, not pretty. Never again."
"It's not normal for us all to have a history of abuse."
"I'm the friend of the girls you'll never touch."
"Our struggle is so urgent that even the introverts are here."
"I make noise for those who can no longer."
"Let it hold in the center of the earth, the loud roar of our voices."
"My fear turned into fire."
"To all the mothers searching in San Miguel de Allende."
"They took away so much that they ended up taking away our fear."

During the hour of marching, we did not go quietly. We were given a page of slogans:

"Alert, alert, alert that walks: the feminist struggle for Latin America. And tremble, tremble, and tremble the machistas that Latin America will be all feminist."
"Now that we're all here, now that they do see us. Down with the patriarchy that's going to fall, it's going to fall. And up with the feminism that will win, that will win."
"If the Pope were a woman, abortion would be law."
"The one who doesn't jump is macho!"
"It wasn't a crime of passion, it was a patriarchal male!"
"We are not one, we are not ten. Fucking government, count us well."
"Conscious woman joins the contingent."
"Sir, madam, don't be indifferent. Women are killed openly."

"Take your rosaries out of our ovaries. Take your doctrines out of our vaginas."
"Rapist cock, to the blender!"
"Not one more, not one more, not one more murdered!"
"We're bad, we can be worse, and if you don't like it, fuck it!"
"Abortion yes, abortion no, that's for me to decide."
"With a skirt or pants, respect me, you bastard."
"Quiet sister, this is your pack."
"Woman, sister, if he hits you he doesn't love you."
"Woman, listen, this is your fight."
"The police don't take care of me. My friends take care of me."

Reaching the Jardín, we concentrated in front of the Parroquia. The microphone was turned on and a woman made an invitation for any woman to come up and share her testimony. The first woman who spoke had a photo of her 17-year-old daughter who had been missing for two weeks. Crying, she asked us to help find her. She shared her life had been a living hell day and night, worrying. Many women, most of them teenagers and young people, went through how they were raped, mistreated, beaten, either by their boyfriends, acquaintances, teachers, or relatives.

Every story was heartbreaking. Listening, I imagined the situation, and it hurt. It was a little over an hour of witnessing what each of the girls shared. Some of them said it was the first time they had talked about it. Many commented that their families didn't know anything about their abuse and they didn't want them to know. Some did say the abuser's names. Others didn't. As each woman testified, those of us in the audience called out phrases such as: "You're not alone." "I believe you."

I had already heard similar stories like these but never in a public space, where there was total respect for the speaker who was sharing. From the start we were asked to not use our cellphones. And it was strictly forbidden to take photos or videos. This gave each woman more confidence to stand in front of everyone and tell us what they had been through.

Although there is a lot of violence and injustice in the world. I know that as a society we have advanced. And I know that we can no longer remain silent in front of the reality that we are living. I welcome the courage of women who want to see a world without violence, a just and equitable world, a world where peace and harmony prevail.

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Luisa Ruiz is a chemistry teacher, transpersonal psychotherapist, grief counselor and workshop facilitator, death doula. The Founder of Death Café in Mexico, she has worked for the NGO Uno en Voluntad giving grief workshops. She also worked for Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation as a course and workshop facilitator and as a death doula. She loves reading, writing, hiking and travelling.

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