Today we celebrate International Working Women’s Day. Conceptualised by Socialist women in the early 1900’s, International Working Women’s Day is a time to celebrate and advance the struggle of women workers across the world. CPSO stands in solidarity with the women of the world in their struggle for liberation. A liberation that can only go so far under capitalism. We have watched as this day has become co-opted by neoliberalism in an attempt to erase its roots as a proletarian holiday – A day where the names of revolutionary martyrs of the Paris Commune were held high in Vienna in 1911 – A day that in 1917 that marked the beginning of the February revolution. We will not stand idly as the forces of capitalism and imperialism undermine the freedom of women across the globe. We stand united today to demand genuine liberation for women in the Philippines and all over the world.
We stand in solidarity with Filipino working women, both domestic and abroad. The labour export policy pushes many Filipino women overseas, often to work under precarious conditions, without rights or citizenship in the countries they end up in. The Philippines relies on remittances from these workers for 10% of their GDP every year. Many Filipinos end up relying on what is left of taxed and deducted remittances to feed their families. This is the result of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal nature of Philippine society. We must demand national democracy as the solution. The Philippines are rich while its people are poor, the exploitation of global imperialist powers such as the US and Canada must be held responsible. Such is our role here in the heart of these powers, to stand in solidarity and demand freedom for the Filipino people!
We must stand united with women and all oppressed gender identities in calling out injustices when we see them and fighting for the rights and welfare of all. This means standing with our fellow trans, intersex, two-spirit, and gender-oppressed workers, We must unite against the patriarchal systems that keep the gears of global imperialist powers greased with the blood of the workers.
Women of the world lead the struggle for liberation, Filipino working women lead the path to national democracy!
Long live the working women of the world!
Long live international solidarity!