
“Listen Women, Join the Fight”. With a younger, more popular and more feminist festive environment, a crowd of women marched through the streets of the city in the traditional mobilization of the Sunday, which coronates national encounters while having an extension of 30 blocks more or less. The columns of the indigenous people had a very important role. There were messages and songs for the right to abortion, against femicides, missing girls and traffic of women for sexual exploitation. At the end, there was dancing and celebration in the Democracy Park, where the tour was arranged to end by the organizing commission. But a reduced party of anarchist militants detoured towards the Cathedral -in an unscheduled detour- and started fires at the doors and throwing objects over the fences to gain the attention of the TV cameras of the Buenos Aires media, who were waiting like hungry vultures. It is worthy to highlight that the Human Rights provincial secretary guaranteed the right to mobilization without any presence of uniformed officers during the whole march and there was no repression, like in the last two encounters in Rosario and Mar del Plata.
On the morning, the first activity was a press conference in which referents of a wide political spectrum participated to claim for the freedom of Milagro Sala and to denounce her illegal and violent transfer to jail. Estela Diaz, gender secretary of the Workers’ CTA, questioned that in the aperture document of the 32° Encounter there was no mention to Milagro Salas nor to Santiago Maldonado.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, the sessions ended in the 71 workshops. Then the preparations started for the mobilization. In the 25 de Mayo Square, groups of young women were painting their abdomens and backs with slogans like “my body is my territory”, “let’s destroy the patriarchy” and “the revolution will be feminist or it won’t be”. The “witches in resistance” were taking photographs with their hats, noses and brooms. The lifeguards were wearing fuchsia wigs. Between friends and companions of the militancy, women walked towards the exit, in front of the campus of the Northeast National University, in the crossroad of avenues Las Heras and Castelli. A lot of green scarfs, the symbol of the Right to Abortion Campaign, waved in the necks and heads of women. Signs claiming for the safe appearance of young Johana Ramallo, from La Plata, and of teenageer Maira Benitez, from Chaco, among other missing girls, repeated along different columns. Among the columns of Not One Less (Ni Una Menos) justice was demanded for the cases of Diana Sacayán and Melina Romero, among other women and trans victims of femicides and travesticidios (murder of trans people).
The members of the organizing commission of the 32° National Women’s Encounter leaded the march. Behind them, participants of the indigenous people that live in Chaco, the columns of the provinces, of the Campaign for the Right to Abortion, of women’s organizations, political parties and syndicates. “Despite all, we did the encounter, what a moment”, started sounding when the tour began.
The massive march consolidated as a party wit a carnival spirit: drums, painted and naked bodies, glitter and floured masks in the faces. The young women took the streets and chanted with conviction and strength. “Alive we want ourselves”, “We are not yours”, “No more room for patriarchy”, were some of the slogans that could be seen painted in the flesh, in signs or in flags. “And we want to say to the church, who wants to get involved in our sex lives, that we want to be prostitutes, lesbians and transvestites”, chanted the column of the Campaign.
One of the distinctions of this 32° Women’s National Encounter was the claim for the search of missing women. The generational transfer between pioneers and young feminist left its mark on the blocks of festive teenagers and women. The founder of Our Own, feminine football, and pioneer in the Argentine Homosexual Community, Monica Santino (52 years old), related the satisfaction on the traveled path: “Seeing a mass of young dancing women pass with pioneers like Nina Brugo, thrills me”.
During the tour, some female neighbours of Chaco came out to support the marchers. Elsa Otero, 69 years old, cried when her grandson Santino, 9 years old, said that he wanted to take part in the march and commented: “It is correct for them to defend their rights”. And she replied, “We, women, should try to educate the less sexist males”.
This year there were almost none graffitis in the walls and business of Chaco, and the presence of security officers was avoided. A team of members from the Human Rights Secretary of Chaco overlooked the path to the Democracy Park, so that the marchers could tour without shocks. At the closure of this edition, the traditional celebration continued with the usual music and dance. Lía Ghara, journalist of Manifiesta concluded: “When there is political will and purpose, repression is avoidable”.