by YASNA MUSSA
It is no exaggeration to say that this year’s International Women’s Day march, called by Santiago’s Coordinadora Feminista 8M, began with an underground rumble. Line 1 of the metro, which crosses the Chilean capital from east to west, was already filled with women of all ages by 6 PM on March 8. Wearing green and purple kerchiefs, their numbers grew with each stop along the way.
They had glitter on their faces and messages on their bags and t-shirts. “Our friends are also the loves of our lives,” read one sign. “Not being angry is a privilege,” read another. They exchanged glances of recognition with workers, who observed the scene as they commuted home on public transportation.
The destination was a given, a meeting point that is assumed: Dignity Plaza, the name given to Plaza Baquedano during the 2019 uprising. Hundreds of women arrive. Later they become thousands. By the time the day was out, around 350,000 marched in Santiago, according to organizers.
That day, I stood on a spot that had been an altar to the victims of the 2019 uprising until recently. Today it is a construction site that is covered in cement. A woman in a hoodie spray painted a phrase to honor the memory of the fallen: No olvidamos [We do not forget].
The crowd pushes forward before she finishes. There are so many people—it is impossible to turn back. A cluster of tourists gets caught up among the masses of people, unsure where to go. Group after group of demonstrators joins the flood.
There are hugs of recognition. A group of women from the Universidad de Chile soccer fan club chant songs that voice their love for sport and their feminist practice. “In the street and on the field, struggle and revolution,” reads the banner that they carry with their red and blue flags.
The motto of this year’s march was: “For a future without violence and discrimination.” There was an internationalist focus, revealed by statements of solidarity with the Palestinian people and Argentine women.
Santiago wasn’t the only city in Chile in which March 8 protests took place. In at least 18 others, from the country’s north to its south, women and sexual and gender dissidents took to the streets and made public space their own.
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