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What's happening for International Women's Day?

category national | gender and sexuality | feature author Thursday March 05, 2009 22:33author by mechano/mechana

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International Womens Day

According to Wikipedia International Women's Day started in the States in 1909, spread to Copenhagen and other parts of Europe and by 1911 was being celebrated by over 1 million people. Its an official holiday in many countries throughout the world and though it doesn't have this status in Ireland it is being marked by a number of groups and events over the next few days. Heres a selection from the events listed on Indy's Events Calendar.

Links & Views:
• InIternational Women's Day - Why we celebrate on March 8th

• Amnesty.ie Launches Campaign against Female Genital Mutilation

• Ógra Shinn Féin Video: Ní saoirse go saoirse na mBan

The Communist Party are hosting a talk by the General Secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women in Liberty Hall on the 5th.

Sinn Fein are celebrating International Women's Day with a talk by Nell McCafferty hosted by Mary Lou McDonald.

As part of the Anarchist Bookfair there's a screening of 'An Anarchists Story' in Seomra Spraoi. Its a movie about Ethel MacDonald, a working class Scot, who travelled from Glasgow to Barcelona to cover the Revolution taking place during the Civil War and who worked in an anarchist radio station. If you're interested you can read find out more about Ethel here and the movie here.

On the 7th, éirígí in their own words, "will be holding a short ceremony at the grave of Kathleen Lynn - Medical Doctor, Marxist, Feminist, Republican and Internationalist" to mark International Women's Day at her grave in Deansgrange at 12p.m. More details here.

Again, as part of the Anarchist Bookfair will feature a talk by Martha Ackelsberg entitled "The Trials of Theory and Practice: Spanish Anarchism, Mujeres Libres, and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women" on Saturday the 6th of March at 4.30. A well known academic her book 'Free Women of Spain' developed out of the desire to examine male/female relations in the Spanish anarchist collectives. Her other writings focus on women’s community activism in the US and the world, gender and feminism.

On Sunday the 8th of March the 'Progressive Film Club' hosts an International Women‘s Day Film Festival where they will screen "a number of films by and about women".

Choice Ireland, the RAG collective and the Lashback collective are planning to celebrate International Womens Day with their second Feminist Walking Tour. In their own words "The tour will tell the stories of women throughout our history from Granuaile to the women of the Ladies Land League and Irish Women Workers’ Union to today's women activists who work to reduce poverty and exclusion in our city... The walking tour is an educational and entertaining way to celebrate the courage and achievements of women past and present and an ideal way to mark International Women's Day." If you want a flavour of what to expect check out coverage of last years tour here.

If you have details of anything else going on please add it in a comment!

Comments (9 of 9)

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author by Eric Blairpublication date Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:34author address author phone

Angela Walsh, captain of Cork's 2008 All Ireland winning Ladies Football team adds her support to women human rights defenders for International Women's Day 2009. Pictured in Youghal at a photo op to promote an Amnesty Fundraiser in the Walter Raleigh Hotel on March 21, Angela endorsed Cork Amnesty branch's campaign to draw attention to the plight of women in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.

Angela Walsh, Captain of Cork's 2008 All Ireland winning ladies football team
Angela Walsh, Captain of Cork's 2008 All Ireland winning ladies football team

author by redjadepublication date Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:44author address author phone




More info on the Campaign to end FGM: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/91360

author by bot - RAGpublication date Fri Mar 06, 2009 23:47author address author phone

here's a short promo for the feminist walking tour - from last year's footage. come along on sunday at 1pm! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZTwcouSL0Y

Caption: Video Id: dZTwcouSL0Y Type: Youtube Video
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author by redjadepublication date Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:39author address author phone

http://www.Amnesty.hu
Film by http://MundiRomani.com

Caption: Video Id: y3zhBvPn34o Type: Youtube Video
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author by Joe Moore - Cork Anti Racism Networkpublication date Sat Mar 07, 2009 21:30author email mapuche at eircom dot netauthor address author phone

Mary White refers to International Women's Day
In her introduction to the party leader's address, the Green Party's Mary White made reference to International Women's Day and to women who are being persecuted in various countries.
She made no mention however of the Nigerian women deported in February and last December by the Fianna Fail/ Green Party government.
Their crime-seeking a better life in Ireland.

author by dunkpublication date Sun Mar 08, 2009 13:55author address author phone

Would love to do the walk, looks and sounds great, relevant, educational, social and fun. A way to enable more bolder steps for women and supporting men to make a better world. I hope you all have a fresh dry sunny day in Dublin.

I remember my 2 grannies especially today, both independant strong women, 1 a west clare farmer who loved family and the earth with whom I messed, played, danced and laughed. The other a rebel Cork woman, socialist, Gaeilge activist, educator who worked for and with the Sheriff St community for all her working life, who took my to kilmaynhem as a nipper, who taught me the difficult word ag spaisdoireacht (wandering).

Regards from Barcelona, where our Latin American compañeras remember a women who has done much and still does much to assist in the struggle for a better world, the Argentinian folk singer and political activist, Mercedes Sosa, I embed her 2 most famous tunes here for ye.

The driving force behind the nueva canción movement, singer Mercedes Sosa was born and raised in Tucumán, Argentina, beginning her performing career at age 15 after taking top honors in a radio station amateur competition. A rich, expressive vocalist and a gifted interpreter, Sosa was dubbed "the voice of the silent majority" for her choice of overtly political material, and alongside artists including Violetta Parra and Atahualpa Yupanqui she spearheaded the rise of the so-called "nueva canción" movement, which heralded the emergence of protest music across Argentina and Chile during the 1960s. The movement was crippled in 1973 by the CIA-sponsored coup which ousted democratically-elected Chilean President Salvador Allende; with her repertoire of songs championing human rights and democracy, Sosa was viewed as a serious threat by the military regime which assumed power, and in 1975 she was arrested during a live performance which also resulted in the incarceration of many audience members. Death threats forced her to leave Argentina in 1979, and she remained in exile for three years, finally returning with a triumphant comeback performance in February 1982. Sosa recorded prolifically in the years to follow.


Mercedes Sosa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Sosa
http://www.mercedessosa.com.ar/

Gracias a La Vida (Thanks for the life)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I

Solo le Pido a Dios (only with the prayer to god)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIrot1Flczg

Listen to her music via the fine music tool SPOTIFY, https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/

Caption: Video Id: WyOJ-A5iv5I Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video


Caption: Video Id: SIrot1Flczg Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video


author by dunkpublication date Sun Mar 08, 2009 14:20author address author phone

De toda la vida.
http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=-7630184195779199210

De toda la vida (For all of the life) is a documentary (Lisa Berger and Carol Mazer, 1986) on the organization Mujeres Libres (Free Women) It tells, through interviews, the participation in the Spanish civil war and struggle day to day as anarchists and women in war and revolution. The women talk about how they engaged in war, their relations with anarchists and other organizations about their life since then. Decades later, a free woman is still a model of revolutionary feminism


We will watch it tonight in Barcelona


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author by dunkpublication date Sun Mar 08, 2009 22:38author address author phone

Thanks RAG bot, for that vid from last year, my compañeras from Galicia and Peru watched it before "Toda la Vida". We engaged in a good talk, then I cooked a nice omellette for my friends, leaving them space to chat themselves.

Hope you all had a great day in Dublin, heres the link for "an anarchists story", it seems only about 70 people have watched it through via youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6_X5m32jM0

Caption: Video Id: A6_X5m32jM0 Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video


author by Laois Manpublication date Wed Mar 11, 2009 14:48author address author phone

What happened on International Women's Day ?

Simple answer is that 95% of the worlds women followed their normal routine and WORKED not being allowed the luxury to do anything else.

Most of them being unaware of the speciality of the day, some even in Ireland are ignorant of the fact that the world's women only own 5% of the worlds wealth.


http://www.indymedia.ie/article/91417

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