In the framework of the VII Congress of the Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones Campo (CLOC-LVC), the VI Assembly of Rural Women was inaugurated today. With a mysticism that remembered fighters committed to social transformation, such as Berta Cáceres from Honduras, Vilma Espín from Cuba, Francisca Carrasco from Costa Rica, Loiva Rubenich from Brazil, Mamá Tingó from the Dominican Republic, Tránsito Amaguaña from Ecuador, and many others that forged the path of resistance.
The welcome was given by Iridiani Seibert of the Movement of Peasant Women, MMC of Brazil, who is also a member of the Articulation of Women on a continental level. In her speech, she thanked the presence of all the delegations from each of the countries, as well as the participation of the allies and the delegation of the Federation of Revolutionary Women of Cuba.
“For the women of the CLOC-LVC it is an honor to be able to carry out this VI Assembly in the free and sovereign Cuba, fundamental pillar in the struggle, in the land of Vilma Espín, Aidé Santamaría and Celia Sánchez, who carried out the struggle and the women of today give it continuity,” she stressed.
This VI Assembly, as well as the VII Congress, is an ideological political space and it is the task of all to deepen debates, actions of struggles and the challenges we women face. In addition, the Assembly consists of two spaces, one to discuss the political context in Latin America, and the other to continue deepening our proposal of Peasant and Popular Feminism.
Francisca Rodríguez of the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women, ANAMURI of Chile, affirmed that “this is not just another assembly, because the construction of Peasant and Popular Feminism has been going on for more than 10 years. In the beginning, women had affirmed that “without feminism there is no socialism,” and this historic moment we are living in the continent has made us rethink our slogan to say today that with feminism we build socialism!
In recent congresses, the contribution and political work by women has been fundamental for the advancement of both CLOC and La Via Campesina. Today the delegates represent more than 51% in the Congresses.
Pancha, as she is affectionately known, also commented that the active participation of women is something that touches her, she remembers that in the first congress of the CLOC only 7 women participated, in a gender commission, isolated, but they were the ones who took the voice of the women so that the Congress made important determinations, how to recognize women’s organizations that had emerged in Latin America, such as the National Confederation of Indigenous Peasant Women from Bolivia “Bartolina Sisa”, the National Confederation of Peasant Women (CONAMUCA) and the Brazilian Peasant Women’s Movement.
“In this sense, the challenge is to reconstruct history, to speak for ourselves and for future generations, to tell how these women, with great courage, opened furrows of hope within a movement in Latin America, which emerged from the historical roots of peasant organizations. The CLOC is 25 years old, but the peasant movement in Latin America has a long history and there women have always been part of it,” she emphasized.
To conclude, she affirmed that the struggle is against patriarchy, violence against women and against imperialism.
With feminism we build socialism!
From our territories
Unity, struggle and resistance
for socialism and the sovereignty of peoples!
