This is a global movement that is motivated, inclusive and competent. It carefully points out its targets of criticism, but does not dismiss them. After the main event, which brought 200,000 people to the streets in Rome against male violence and feminicides, on Sunday women literally filled the Faculty of Psychology. The auditorium was not large enough to hold the more than 1,300 people who wanted to attend the plenary session. Despite the exertion and commitment of a full day of discussion, if the out-of-towners did not have to go back to their respective homes, they would have continued talking, discussing and planning. Those who stayed in Rome continued to speak at the San Lorenzo Square, over a bottle of beer which passed from hand to hand.
At eight tables, the organizers plotted a path forward. The specific proposals were framed around two dates: an upcoming two-day meeting (to be held on Feb. 4 and 5, most likely in Bologna), and a global women’s strike on March 8. These initiatives retake the spirit and the letter of the proposal made by the Argentine and Latin American Women on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The resistance of the Mirabal sisters, murdered by dictator Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic in 1960, hovered strongly on Sunday over the common intention of women not to feel like victims anymore.
A new “international feminist,” according to some, who want to fill with meaning the date of March 8, which has become a ritual. The general strike — the suspension of all activities that began in Latin America after the particularly heinous rape of an Argentinian teenager — has spread across five continents the message sent from Poland and other European cities a few months ago. The meeting made reference to this path, which was also attended by organizations from other countries: Some greeted the plenary while others enriched the work of thematic groups or marched the day before during the demonstration. On the edges of the main meeting, women gathered from different backgrounds: Sinti, Palestinian, Kurdish and Venezuelan, and many young girls marched accompanied by their peers: They are unaware of the previous routes, but they certainly reflect a great perception of the theme.