The struggle for liberation across the world has always been consistent with the struggle to free women from domestic slavery and to empower them in their roles as equal workers and citizens.
Women have always played a key part in the struggles against dictatorship, occupation, genocide, crushing poverty and all that it entails for society, and the forces of reaction.
From the famous proclamation, ‘No Pasaran!’, they shall not pass, by Spanish workers’ leader, Dolores Ibarurri, in the fight against fascism in Spain; to the proclamation ‘You have struck a rock’, from the South African women fighting apartheid in South Africa; to the Women, Life, Freedom movement currently shaking the dictatorship in Iran; in these, and many other struggles against oppression, the role of women has been vital.
The growth of particularly reactionary forms of Islam in the present century has reinforced the need for women to fight for basic rights in the Middle East. This is true of the oil rich dictators of Saudi Arabia, trying to sportswash their way to respectability, or the medievalist Taliban in Afghanistan, attempting to turn back the centuries and deny women education or any public presence. In these and in many other instances, the voices of women and their visibility as part of society is integral to the wider struggle for democratic rights.
This year in particular we salute the women of Palestine who have not only lost husbands, brothers and children in the Israeli genocide in Gaza but have themselves been subject to the brutality and arbitrary killing of civilians by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
At Liberation’s recent International Women’s Day event Selina Musa, of the Palestine People’s Party, outlined the historic role women have played in the struggle for an independent Palestine and the contribution they continue to make today.
There can be no doubt that Palestinian women will play a vital role in the reconstruction of Gaza, that they will resist the imperialist ambitions of Trump, Netanyahu, and their capitalist allies, who dream of “cleansing Gaza,” buying it out, and turning it into a luxury resort for the wealthy.
This dual role of women, in resistance to oppression and the construction of a fair, just and democratic society has been the history of liberation movements to date and will continue to be so in the future.
On International Women’s Day 2025 Liberation stands in solidarity with women across the world fighting for peace, social justice and democracy. We will continue to highlight those struggles and do everything possible to put pressure upon the British government to show solidarity with women workers, peace activists and human right campaigners, wherever they are raising the flag for freedom against injustice.
8 March 2025
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Photo: Women protesting in Bagdad on International Women’s Day. They are holding and carrying photos of women killed during the October 2019 uprising.
