The feminist movement toured the center of the city of Valencia yesterday in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to demand “effective policies” that provide “solutions to the problem” of sexist violence, given the “increase” of the numbers of murders and sexual assaults, and warned of the “danger” represented by parties and organizations that “deny this evidence.”
Under the slogan ‘Against all sexist violence, now more than ever’, the protest started at 7.30pm from Porta de la Mar, lit up in purple for the occasion. It was led, in the first place, by women victims of sexist violence.
Among violet flags and a batucada march, they taught messages such as ‘Not one more’, ‘I can’t do it without you’ or ‘You are not alone’. In addition, they chanted slogans such as ‘Abolition of prostitution’, ‘No estem totes, missing the murderades’ and ‘Calm down, sister, here is your pack’. The march passed through the streets of Colón, Xà tiva and Marqués de Sotelo until reaching the Town Hall square, where it ended with the reading of a manifesto.
The spokesperson for the Feminist Coordinator of Valencia, Cándida Barroso, in statements to the media, called on society as a whole to become aware that sexist violence “is not a problem for women”, even if it is those who suffer it, but rather is “it must be extrapolated to the entire society, and especially to men.” “N25 is a very important day because we remember all the murdered women and all those who suffer sexist violence,” she said.
For this reason, he pointed out that it is “so important to go out into the streets” on days like this to demand “resources and consensus among the political class”, so that it “does not divide citizens” and so that there is “a clear awareness that We have to deal with this problem together.” “It is not just a question of women. Women will lead the demonstration today, but fortunately there will be many men and women also in the procession to say enough is enough,” she insisted.
Along these lines, he warned that the figures of gender violence “are increasing” and criticized those who try to “trivialize this problem of first magnitude worldwide”, something that is, in his opinion, “quite unserious.” Thus, she demanded “respect for feminist organizations” because “we have been helping and providing solutions to the problem for years.” “We don’t want gestures, what we want are effective policies against all sexist violence,” she said.
For all these reasons, he urged the Valencian Government to promote the second Valencian Pact against sexist and gender violence, as well as to allocate “more public resources for direct management.” “This is a burden that we have been carrying for decades,” she lamented, while emphasizing that care for victims “has to be an essential service, directly managed and with sufficient resources.” “A woman who is psychologically destroyed cannot wait three months to be seen by a psychologist, this is outrageous,” she said.
One of the spokespersons for the organization of the march, Gabriela Moriana, claimed that the feminist movement is “fed up with murders of women by their partners and all other types of sexist violence.” For this reason, she highlighted the importance of “filling the streets” on such an important day and attacked the organizations and parties that “deny that there is violence against women that has very clear and very painful figures.” “Any party that denies evidence as such is a danger,” she warned.
Likewise, another of the representatives of the entity emphasized that days like 25N “are important to make visible the cry against the violence that women suffer due to the inequality that exists in society” and that causes, she warned, “not only discrimination, but also reaches extreme violence as in the case of mistreatment, murders and sexual violence.
In this regard, he admitted that “a lot of progress has been made” but, despite this, “the figures reveal that there continue to be murders of women and sexual assaults” and show that “the path is complicated and that it always requires a social unit that makes an effort to change things and to deepen democracy. “Without equality between men and women it is impossible to consider our society democratic,” she reflected.
He also censured those political parties that deny that there is structural violence against women and that this violence “responds to generalized and non-specific violence.” “When we do not have a good definition of the causes, it is much more complicated to solve it,” she said.
