With the call of Women's Solidarity Committees, women took to the streets in many cities on March 8, International Working Women's Day. While women gathered in front of the TÜSİAD building in Istanbul and Ankara, in Izmir the address of the demonstration was Buca Forbes front.
On March 8, International Working Women's Day, women took to the streets with the call of the Women's Solidarity Committees (KDK): ’On March 8, we part ways for our labor and our lives.“.
Women protested in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Hatay, Kocaeli, Konya, Mersin, Muğla and Sakarya, drawing attention to femicides and exploitation.
THEY KNOCKED ON TÜSİAD'S DOOR
The address of the protests in Istanbul and Ankara was TÜSİAD buildings. Women marched in front of the TÜSİAD building in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, chanting “Women's blood is in TÜSİAD's hands” , “You are a murderous, immoral NATOist TÜSİAD” , “Long live March 8” , “Women will not bow down to you” , “Organize your anger, hold the murderers to account”.
Speaking at the demonstration in Istanbul on behalf of the Women's Solidarity Committees, Damla Baytekin said, “Today is March 8, World Working Women's Day, our day. Salute to those who celebrate this day exactly in accordance with its meaning, by standing at the door of the bosses” union, the bosses' representative, the bloodsucking TÜSİAD, by holding the parasitic bosses to account, by raising the struggle all over the country.".
“Today we women are in an endless wheel of exploitation,” Baytekin said: “But now we have come to such a point that we are so worried about our lives that we cannot even talk about exploitation, let alone the murders. This is why we called for a parting of ways. We said we are parting ways for our labor and our lives. Because we know well that the way to claim our lives today is to claim our labor. It is through parting ways with this order.
We part ways with those who are supposedly saddened by the murder of 294 women in the family year but exploit laborers by saying ‘We are a family’. We part ways with those who go into virtual mourning with black screens when children and women die in wars, but continue their trade with Israel while children are being slaughtered in Palestine. We part ways with those who pretend to be outraged at the harassment of women and children and support children with fake social responsibility projects, but feed on the system that created the Epstein perversion.
CUBA MESSAGE WE DO NOT MEASURE DISTANCES IN KILOMETERS
And then there are those who cannot tolerate the solidarity of working peoples. We are in solidarity “all the way to Cuba”. We don't measure distances in kilometers, Cuba is right next to us, and those whose qibla is “all the way to America” know this very well, and next to them is the island of Epstein. What are they saying these days: “It's easy to be a socialist in Turkey, say hello to Cuba”. I'll tell you what is easy in Turkey. In Turkey, it is very easy to stay at the tables of the bosses who are the biggest killers of women, to do business with the sects, to ignore the tribes, to negotiate with the imperialists and then to say that we are on the side of women.”
“WE ARE THE STRONG ONES, WE ARE MILLIONS OF WOMEN”
Baytekin concluded his speech as follows: “They are weak, they are dishonorable, they are murderers, they are thieves, deceivers, immoral, harassers, bloodsuckers... We are the crowd, the righteous, the strong, sisters. We are the ones who produce, we are the millions of women who will come to terms with a handful of bloodsucking parasites who have taken over everything we have created with our labor! They are one and we are all!
If you are massacring nature, we are the first to hug the tree; if you are locking children in cult dormitories, we are the first to put the seal on the door of that dormitory; if you are privatizing and selling the factories, mines and water of our beautiful country, we are the first to stand on your doorstep to break the hands that sign those contracts; if you are dragging our country into darkness with your love of war, we are the first to stand against that NATO that you open the doors to.
Do you think we women will run out of breath? We will not run out of breath, sisters, we will not run out of breath, we will not run out of strength. But the guardians of order will run out of breath. Now we have bad news for them: We women are right under your noses with every breath you parasites take. Challenge us! You are one and we are all!
We will destroy this immoral order that you have been flourishing on. We will definitely establish a socialist country where we will live equally, secularly, independently and humanely! We will surely win!”
WOMEN LEAVE THEIR BELONGINGS IN FRONT OF TÜSİAD
After the speech, the women continued their slogans and left robes, blue aprons, school bags, diapers, pots and pans in front of the TÜSİAD building to represent working women.
IN FRONT OF TÜSİAD IN ANKARA
Women gathered in front of Karum Shopping Mall in Ankara and marched from there to the Ankara branch of TÜSİAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association). The working women who gathered in front of Karum took the floor one by one and addressed the crowd. Students, retired women, service sector workers, engineers and many other working women took the floor and gave messages to raise the struggle against the exploitation, reaction and violence that the bosses inflict on women.
“WE ARE AT THE DOOR OF TÜSİAD, THE BIGGEST REPRESENTATIVE OF THE EXPLOITATION ORDER”
Speaking at the demonstration, Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) Ankara Provincial Chair Banu Ünver said, “Every March 8, companies celebrate our women's day with their fancy advertisements and show up in their shop windows with special discounts for the day... But what is behind all that glitter? Labor exploitation, mobbing, harassment, work murders... Just a few months ago, there were women who lost their lives by burning in a factory in Dilovası where perfume was produced... As we said for our labor and our lives, friends, we need to part ways with this immoral boss class first and foremost. The conglomerates who usurp our labor to fill their coffers, who attempt our lives. This is precisely why we are at their doors all over the country today. This is precisely why we are at the door of TÜSİAD, the biggest representatives of the rulers of this immoral exploitation order, in Ankara today.”.
“WE STAND UP AGAINST THIS SYSTEM, WHICH IS OUR REAL ENEMY”
Ünver continued his speech as follows: “When we look at TÜSİAD we see Trump, when we look at Trump we see Epstein, when we look at Epstein we see NATO, when we look at NATO we see the political power. All of these are connected to each other.
And what do they represent? Our main enemy, this order. All the things we have mentioned, all of them are apparatuses created so that this order of exploitation can continue. And today we are here to declare this impotence. That's exactly why we are saying ”challenge us". Because we know, brothers and sisters, that we are the crowd, the rightful, the strong. We are the ones who produce, we are the millions of women who will come to terms with a handful of blood-sucking parasites who have taken over everything we have created with our labor! They are weak, they are dishonorable, they are murderers, they are thieves, deceivers, immoral, bloodsuckers... And all these things we count, all these things we call them are actually only friends. And we are millions of us, we are here. Let's challenge each other! We're breaking this game you've set up! We declare it here today. We see our real enemy, this order. We stand up against the boss class that owns this order."
“WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE SIDE BY SIDE, SHOULDER TO SHOULDER”
Eda Mermi, Ankara Provincial Representative of Women's Solidarity Committees, took the floor after Banu Ünver:
“Today, as KDK, we have come side by side to hold to account those who are enemies of our lives, those who exploit us, those who make us live in darkness. We know that if we come side by side, we are strong. We know that they cannot defeat us if we stand shoulder to shoulder. Now when we come here, we see that TÜSİAD forgot to hang its signboard or did not dare. They cannot convince us of this unjust order, they cannot force us into this exploitative order. We are here, side by side, united against those who impose darkness and exploitation on us. From now on, we will continue to be side by side and shoulder to shoulder on behalf of KDK.”
THEY HUNG A BANNER ON TÜSİAD BUILDING
After the speeches, the women gathered in front of TÜSİAD and hung the banners they had prepared on the Ankara branch of TÜSİAD. The protest ended after the banner reading “We will destroy your immoral order in which we are exploited and killed” was hung on the TÜSİAD building.
WOMEN TAKE TO THE STREETS IN IZMIR
The protest in Izmir took place in front of Buca Forbes. Women gathered in front of Yavuz Bookstore in Buca and marched along Forbes Street.
After the march, a workers' dais was set up in Forbes Square. Digel and Atamay Tekstil workers made speeches and the message sent by Temel Conta workers was also read.
RESISTING ATAMAY WORKERS: RIGHTS ARE NOT GIVEN, THEY ARE TAKEN
The first speaker was Ümmü, an Atamay worker, who announced that they had started their struggle with the Patronların Ensindeyiz (PE) Textile Workers Solidarity Network in the past weeks and held their first action in front of the Tommy Hilfiger store in Bornova just before March 8.
“Atamay worker Ümmü greeted the women with the words ”We started the struggle by saying that rights are not given, they are taken“ and said, ”March 8 was won with the struggle of women textile workers, and we take our strength from here, we take our strength from the women who struggled decades ago. We will continue our struggle to leave an honorable future for our children. We will not leave our rights to Yeşim, Tommy or Atamay.".
DIGEL TEXTILE WORKERS: WE WILL CONTINUE OUR STRUGGLE
Taking the floor after Ümmü, Yeliz, a worker from Digel Tekstil, said the following:
“The problem at Digel Tekstil is not only a wage problem. In this factory, where about 85 percent of the workers are women, women workers have also faced unacceptable practices such as pressure, mobbing and verbal harassment; against this, they have exercised their right to unionize and are defending this right. We will continue our struggle until we get all our rights.’
BASIC GASKET WORKERS: WOMEN PRODUCE, WOMEN RESIST
After Yeliz, the message from Temel Conta workers was read. “For 454 days we have been defending the honor of our labor, our bread and our future,” the message read, “We know that those who live by the sweat of their brow have no other way but to struggle. This struggle is not only the struggle of Temel Conta workers, but of the entire working class. Women produce, women resist, women raise the struggle. We challenge them from here: We will not submit to those who ignore our labor and usurp our rights.”.
“BOSSES AND I PART WAYS”
After the workers, Tuğçe Sezen Gedik spoke on behalf of Izmir Women Solidarity Committees.
Gedik greeted those present on behalf of the women who could not be among them because they had to work overtime, because they were burdened with caring for the sick, the elderly and children, and because life was taken away from them despite their cries of “I want to live” and stated that they emphasized "We are parting ways" when they called for March 8 International Working Women's Day. Gedik spoke as follows:
“We are not on the same path with the bosses who try to cover up their shame by making fancy advertisements every March 8. We are not on the same path with the boss of Elsa Tekstil who says ‘I am closing the factory and I will pay your receivables in stages’.
We have different paths with the Digel boss, who kicked the workers out because they were struggling for a union, for their dignity.
We are on different paths with the boss of Atamay, who said ‘We closed the factory’ in one day and disappeared, and who has not paid the rights of his workers for a year. We have different paths with the boss of Temel Conta, whose strike-breaking has been registered by a court decision.”
“FIRST ACCOUNT FOR THE WOMEN KILLED DESPITE PROTECTION ORDERS”
Gedik reminded Gülben Duru, 25, who was stabbed to death by her divorced husband in Konak in October last year, even though she had visited the police station twice.
Gedik noted the following: “We part ways with those who do not do their duty while women are being killed every day. A woman dies in front of a school in broad daylight on the street, and then the Minister of National Education comes out and says, ‘From now on, there will be police in front of schools.’ O Minister of National Education, Gülben was killed in Izmir when she wanted to take shelter at a police station because the law enforcement officer on duty did not open the door. Almost every murdered woman had a protection order. First you have to answer where these killers get their weapons. First account for the women who were killed despite protection orders.”
“YOU ARE ONE AND WE ARE ALL”
Emphasizing that women will continue to be at the forefront until they destroy this order, Gedik said, “When they want to condemn our children to the darkness of the sect, we will put the seal on the doors of those sect dormitories. They will see us in the factories and plazas of our beautiful country. We will stand against them to say no to war, to say no to NATO. Working women will continue to be at the forefront of this struggle for equality and freedom. You are one, we are all. We are millions of people, those who fill these squares and those who cannot.”.
After Gedik's speech, the protest ended with applause and slogans.