Gender Strike! Bay Area

The rally kicks off at noon at Justin Herman Plaza. There will be speakers, free childcare at the plaza park, and materials for making signs - please bring extra materials to share if you can!

Participate with your crew - Self-Organization, Self-Determination!

At 2pm we will march from Justin Herman Plaza to I.C.E headquarters. In the spirit of direct action & participation, we encourage folks to form affinity groups: come with your family or friends, form your own bloc, or join one of the several blocs that will be coordinating. For example, there will be a feminist bloc wearing all pink & black, with pink balaclavas or other face coverings, distributing condoms & feminist propaganda. We call on self-organized groups of neighbors, coworkers, or other kinds of community members to march together, pick a color or a theme, get creative, and bloc up!

Once we reach the I.C.E. headquarters building, we will "build a wall around I.C.E." Bring banners, signs, drawings, poems, posters and other materials to contribute to this wall and to SHUT DOWN I.C.E.!

Accessibility information, and childcare details and location can be found at the bottom of this post.

STRIKE AGAINST GENDER

In solidarity with the International Women’s Strike, which has called for militant action, strikes, blockades, occupations, and disruption of business as usual, we call for an all out strike against gender and all its forms of oppression, and against all systems of capitalist, racist, xenophobic, and fascist domination.

On March 8th we propose a feminist strike which will not be content to pinkwash the bombs on Baghdad, or to knit crowns honoring biology as our destiny. Instead, we propose a different strike, a strike against all forms of gender exclusion, exploitation and domination. A gender strike from below.

DAY OF ACTION - SHUT DOWN ICE!

As feminists, we see the struggle against ICE, against deportations, against borders, imperialism, and nationalism, as deeply intertwined with and crucial to the struggle for gender liberation.

We call upon antagonists to these systems of oppression in the Bay Area to come out for a day of action to shut down ICE and demand the removal of any and all ICE operations from San Francisco and the wider Bay Area. If this is truly to be a sanctuary city, if sanctuary is to be more than an ideal or a convenient phrase, we must act decisively to make the concept a reality.
We call for this as one step toward fighting for a world we can survive and want to live in.

ICE is a direct manifestation of the worst forms of oppression faced by the most vulnerable women, queer and trans folks. Last week, ICE arrested and deported a trans woman on the steps of an El Paso courthouse just after she had filed a protective order against her abusive boyfriend. Aggressive ICE raids have been reported around the country, and in the Bay Area they have shown up at social services agencies such as the WOMEN'S BUILDING, st grocery stores, and at other public places, terrifying the local community and causing people to avoid going to work or to school.

THE FUTURE IS NOT FEMALE, IF IT IS TRULY FEMINIST.

Our actions will honor a different feminism, a feminism which refuses to collaborate with elite power brokers, naked capital and imperial interests, opportunists, managers and tepid reformists of every pink stripe.

Our feminism will never opportunistically invoke the hollow praises of "intersectionality" because we actually *live* intersectional violence, on our bodies and in our communities daily.

We must act on our own behalf: we will not be spoken for and co-opted by upwardly mobile, white, establishment "feminists" with designs on appropriating and exploiting our labor, our struggles and our formidable strength.

THE FUTURE IS NOT GENDERED, IF IT IS TRULY REVOLUTIONARY.

Ours is a feminism that always fights, uncompromisingly, in defense of all who are oppressed by gender: trans women, undocumented migrants and domestic workers, refugees, black and brown people subjected to daily harassment and murder by police, and all who are situated at the intersection of life and death, surviving so many deadly forms of racialized, feminized and gendered exploitation.

Ours is a feminism that is anti capitalist; that is antifascist; that is against all forms of white supremacy, racism, imperialism, and nationalism; ours is a feminism that must destroy every patriarchal wall or border built between us and *our future*. We proclaim, the future is our total liberation! and nothing less.

AGAINST STATE VIOLENCE AND REPRESSION

Necessarily, our strike will not call upon the police to protect our "safety" because our feminism opposes state violence, absolutely.

Police do not make everyone safer. When women, especially those of color, call the police seeking protection from abusive partners, they are met with violence from the police. When people call the police for help in a mental health crisis, they are met with fatal violence from the police.

We will rally against ALL forms of oppression! Because ALL of these oppressions deepen and contribute to patriarchy, and to all that genders us & subjects us to gendered violence, exclusion, exploitation & oppression.

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ACERCA DE LA HUELGA DE GÉNERO
En solidaridad con la Huelga Internacional de la Mujer, que como es usual ha llamado a la acción militante, a la huelga, a los bloqueos, a las ocupaciones y a la interrupción de los negocios, pedimos una huelga total contra el género y todas sus formas de opresión, y contra todos los sistemas de dominación capitalista, racista, xenófoba y fascista.
El 8 de marzo proponemos una huelga feminista que no se contentará con pintar de rosa las bombas en Bagdad, o tejiendo coronas honrando a la biología como nuestro único destino. En cambio, proponemos una huelga diferente, una huelga contra todas las formas de dominación de género. Una huelga de género desde abajo.
EL FUTURO NO ES HEMBRA, SI ES VERDADAMENTE FEMINISTA.
· Nuestras acciones honrarán a un feminismo diferente, un feminismo que se niega a colaborar con la élite del poder, el capital desnudo y los intereses imperialistas, los oportunistas, los gerentes y los tibios reformistas de cada raya rosada.
· Debemos actuar en nuestro propio nombre: no daremos nuestra voz ni seremos cooptadxs por "feministas" móviles con diseños de apropiación y explotación de nuestro trabajo, nuestras luchas y nuestra formidable fuerza.
· Nuestro feminismo nunca invocará las elogiosas alabanzas de la "interseccionalidad" porque nosotrxs VIVIMOS la interseccionalidad, en nuestros cuerpos y en nuestras comunidades diariamente.
EL FUTURO NO TIENE GÉNERO, SI ES VERDADERAMENTE REVOLUCIONARIO.
· El nuestro es un feminismo que siempre lucha, sin concesiones, en defensa de todxs a quienes oprime el género: las mujeres transexuales, lxs migrantes indocumentadxs y lxs trabajadorxs domésticxs, lxs refugiadxs, lxs negrxs y otras personas de color sometidxs al acoso y asesinato diarios por la policía, y todxs los que están situadxs en la intersección entre la vida y la muerte, sobreviviendo a tantas formas mortales de explotación racializada, feminizada y de género.
· El nuestro es un feminismo anticapitalista; que es antifascista; que está en contra de todas las formas de supremacía blanca, racismo, imperialismo y nacionalismo; el nuestro es un feminismo que debe destruir toda barrera patriarcal o frontera construida entre nosotrxs y nuestro futuro. Proclamamos, ¡el futuro sólo puede ser nuestra liberación! Y nada menos.
CONTRA LA VIOLENCIA DE ESTADO Y LA REPRESIÓN
· Necesariamente, nuestra huelga no llamará a la policía a proteger nuestra "seguridad" porque nuestro feminismo se opone a la violencia estatal, absolutamente.
· La policía no nos hace sentir más segurxs a todxs. Cuando las mujeres, especialmente las de color, llaman a la policía para buscar protección contra los compañeros abusivos, reciben violencia de la policía. Cuando la gente llama a la policía para pedir ayuda en una crisis de salud mental, se enfrentan a la violencia fatal de la policía.
¡DÍA DE ACCIÓN - CIERRE DE ICE!
· Hacemos un llamado a los antagonistas de estos sistemas de opresión en el Área de la Bahía para que salgan a las calles en un día de acción para cerrar el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de los Estados Unidos (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) y exigir la remoción de todas y cada una de las operaciones de ICE desde San Francisco y el resto del Área de la Bahía. Si esto es verdaderamente una ciudad santuario, si el santuario debe ser algo más que una frase ideal o conveniente, debemos actuar con decisión para hacer realidad el concepto.
· Apelamos a esta acción como un paso adelante hacia la lucha por un mundo en el que podamos sobrevivir y en el que queramos vivir.
· El ICE es una manifestación directa de las peores formas de opresión que enfrentan las mujeres más vulnerables, las queer y las personas trans. La semana pasada, ICE detuvo y deportó a una mujer trans en las afueras de un tribunal de El Paso después de que presentó una orden de protección contra su novio abusivo. Se han reportado incursiones agresivas de ICE en todo el país y específicamente en el Área de la Bahía se han presentado en agencias de servicios sociales, tiendas de abarrotes y otros lugares públicos, aterrorizando a la comunidad local y haciendo que la gente evite ir al trabajo o a la escuela.
· Como feministas, vemos la lucha contra la ICE, contra las deportaciones, contra las fronteras, el imperialismo y el nacionalismo, tan profundamente entrelazadas y cruciales para la lucha por la liberación de género.
¡Manifestación contra TODAS las formas de opresión, que profundizan y contribuyen al patriarcado y a todos los mecanismos en que el género nos afecta, sometiéndonos a la violencia de género, la exclusión, la explotación y la opresión!

Accessibility Information:

The Gender Strike is in a public park and is wheelchair/ mobilzed chair/ scooter accessible. There will be ASL interpretation. We plan on marching about .6 miles to the I.C.E. Headquarters at a pace that is inclusive of everyone's mobility. Some pedicabs are offering service to those that will need it. We will also be offering free childcare during the rally. Please reference childcare details and location at the bottom of this post.

<3 Childcare! <3

We are excited about folks of all ages showing up to Justin Herman Plaza on March 8th at noon!!!

MEET @ Justin Herman Plaza
Follow signs to adjacent playground

Sue Bierman Park
An excellent PIRATE SHIP THEMED playground for kids of all ages. Swings, a big kid slide, and a climbing rope dome right next to the plaza
Address: Washington St & Drumm St, San Francisco, CA 94111
Accessibility: Limited Wheelchair Access
Parking: No
Restrooms: No * We will do bathroom runs & diaper changes at local bathrooms
Cleanliness: It is super clean, with beautiful surroundings. The ground is that bouncy stuff, so much better than sand or wood chips.
***snacks and activities provided***

We are offering childcare because the lack thereof excludes crucial organizers and reduces our ability to raise the next generation to be a part of our movements! We know that childrearing continues to be devalued and primarily impacts caregivers who are already marginalized in larger society, i.e. caregivers that are poor, single, undocumented, of color, gender non-conforming, and differently-abled. We seek to create spaces that are safe for youth of all ages and abilities that are not just kid-friendly, but kid-centric! We seek to nurture, cultivate and elevate the voices of our youth! We hope that this event and future radical action cultivates kids’ leadership.

We call for more radical organizing that places youth, caregivers and families needs at the center of their strategy.