Women Unfree Shall Never Be At Peace

March 8th: International Working Women’s Day

In its annual March 8th message the Irish Republican Socialist Party has hit out against the Turkish Regimes state forces, during what can only be described as a brutal assault on protesters over this years International Working Women’s Day demonstrations, at which least 70 people were beaten and arrested.

Irish Republican Socialist Party Derry

Tel. 02871 262999

March 7th 2005

Press Release

Re: Women Unfree Shall Never Be At Peace

In its annual March 8th message the Irish Republican Socialist Party has hit out against the Turkish Regimes state forces, during what can only be described as a brutal assault on protesters over this years International Working Women’s Day demonstrations, at which least 70 people were beaten and arrested.

In a statement a spokesperson for the IRSP, Yvonne Dalton said "International Women’s Day in one of Europe’s newest bedfellows, dramatically turned in to a virtual whirlpool of violent assault on innocent protesters and onlookers.

"Several hundred political activists from women’s groups, prisoner support groups to human rights organisations participated in the demonstration through the Turkish capital of Istanbul. The scenes that followed were brutal, with men and women pushed to the ground, kicked in the head and sprayed with gas in the face. Many were left crouching in a ball with their hands protecting themselves.

“Unfortunately this is a scene which is played out on an all to familiar bases by this Fascist regime. Despite what the Godfathers in Brussels would have us believe, Turkey in 2005 is truly in the grip of patriarchal traditions and violence against women from its westernised cities to is sunny holiday resorts and it remains a serious problem. It is something that cannot be overlooked in the power houses of the Euro state.

"Throughout the past four years, the Turkish state has been unable to break the resistance of the political prisoners and their supporters in what can only be described as one of the largest a high profile prisoners campaign for political status since the 1981 hunger strikes. Despite solitary confinement, torture, arrests, force-feeding of hunger strikers, brutal assaults, and more, the fight continues.

"As a republican socialist, I would like to pay tribute to those activists who have taken to the streets and in the prisons of Turkey to demand equality, justice and an end to this regime. We can clearly see that once again Turkey, your terror mask has slipped.

“On March 8th can I state that it is not about middle class coffee or wine parties or superficial art classes. It is about real class struggles of the past, present and future struggles of working class women and the liberation of our class. As a gesture of international working class women’s solidarity on this day, our party call upon all those who believe in equality and social justice, all those who oppose fascism, to join us in supporting Kurdish and Turkish political prisoners in Turkey, and the continued fight against that regimes campaign of isolation in the prisons, in the homes and on the streets at home and abroad."

STATEMENT ENDS