Montreal marches for Palestinian and Indigenous women
Protesters gathered to both celebrate and fight for women’s rights on International Women’s Day
Hundreds of Montreal residents gathered in Dorchester Square on March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and protest in solidarity with oppressed women worldwide.
The march, entitled “Women resist! War, colonialism, capitalism,” was initiated by the Women of Diverse Origins (WDO) group. It began with a pre-march gathering at the square at 5:30 p.m., where organizers later led the crowd into the road heading east along De Maisonneuve and Saint-Catherine street at around 6 p.m.
“We take [to] the street to keep the militant spirit of women’s struggle day alive. This is much needed in these dark and exhausting times that we are living through,” said one of the night’s speakers, WDO member Dolores Chew.
Chew addressed the crowd before the march began, speaking on the oppression of women worldwide in relation to capitalism and colonialism, but particularly in relation to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“Of the over 30,000 people who have been killed in Gaza and the 10,000 who are missing under rubble, two thirds are women and children. Many children who survive have been orphaned, and many survive with amputations. Meanwhile, famine looms,” said Chew in her speech. “The Palestinian resistance has galvanized peoples around the world in a global community of resistance.”
Her addressal of Palestine was later continued in a speech given by a representative of Montreal’s chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Sarah Shamy.
“On this International Women’s Day, we uplift our women martyrs, the wives and mothers of martyrs, and the comrades sisters imprisoned in Zionist jails who remain steadfast in the face of oppression,” Shamy said.
Another speaker, activist Marlene Hale of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, addressed the issue of women’s rights and Indigeneity, drawing from her family history as well as her role as an activist and filmmaker to delve into the importance of women’s rights.
“I’ve been mentored by my grandmother, by my great aunties, who have shown me their ways into being a woman and being an Indigenous person,” said Hale. “Today, they say to us: ‘Make sure you are using your voice, make sure you are heard, make sure that wherever you are standing in this world, you are never to be alone’.”
Throughout the march, protesters held up signs relating to various specific women’s rights issues worldwide, chanting lines such as, “To exist is to resist” and “The women united will never be defeated”.
“I am here to raise my voice because in my country back home, we can’t, as women, go out and feel safe in the streets,” said one protester, Johanna Moreno from Mexico.
As hundreds rallied on this year’s International Women’s Day, Chew said that the event was both a protest and a celebration of women’s rights.
“We shout in anger at the state of the world where human life has become so cheapened by greed, but we also celebrate the centuries of struggles of women, who have snatched and won many gains,” said Chew. “When women stop, the world stops.”
