Today I've attended both the Feminists Rise for Palestine rally at Centennial Square and the Health Care Workers for Palestine vigil at the Scotia Wealth Management office on Douglas Street.
Palestine supporters gathered for two events on this International Women’s Day in Victoria, both stressing the many plights and perils women in particular face in Gaza in the midst of a manufactured humanitarian crisis which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands since October.
Over a hundred, predominantly women, assembled at Centennial Square at noon, specifically to mark International Women’s Day. Several speakers, all women for the occasion, were invited to share their insight on the sexist dimension of the crisis in Gaza. The message each time revolved around colonialism and how it impacted women’s condition in various theatres across the globe, from Sudan to the Philippines, induced by human rights violations such as forced migration, labour, or assimilation.
They echoed the clamours of Palestinian women and advocates alike, decrying the lack of basic sanitation and supplies subjecting ladies to ordeals ranging from the seemingly mundane, such as the risk of death by toxic shock syndrome for lack of menstrual products, to the outright graphic, such as undergoing a Cesarean section without anesthetics.
These sentiments were echoed at the weekly vigil for health care workers in Gaza tonight, at which twenty activists rallied, this time at the Scotia Wealth Management office on Douglas Street. This newest location change may have contributed to the turnout being lower than usual. The organisers wished to adjust their message to target Scotiabank, calling out its massive investment in Elbit Systems, whose weapons play an instrumental role in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
These are but a small sample of the countless actions which took place worldwide on this day to air the grievances of Palestinian women and their allies. Among the most notable, activists disrupted US Vice President Kamala Harris’ address for reproductive freedoms in Phoenix, Arizona, with questions exposing her double standards in this regard.
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