The streets are ours, justice is not
Thousands of women once again dyed the avenues purple this 8M. It wasn’t a celebration. It was a collective cry against a reality that hurts: gender violence continues to be a pandemic without a vaccine in Latin America.
From Buenos Aires to Mexico City, the slogans were the same. “Not one less!” resounded in front of prosecutor’s offices and government palaces. The photo that says it all comes from La Paz, Bolivia: women showing portraits of aggressors. They are not posters, they are walking evidence of a system that usually looks the other way.
“Rights, justice and action by and for all”, that was the official motto of the UN. On the streets, the message was more direct: enough speeches, we want results.
The fear of recoil
What worries the collectives most is not only what is not progressing, but what could be lost. The political turn to the right in several countries highlights achievements that cost blood and years.
Civil organizations raise the alert: social programs, protection policies, labor laws… everything is under review with the new conservative governments. Historical memory hurts: we know how these setbacks begin.
Of course, there are exceptions. Mexico boasts measures under the government of Claudia Sheinbaum: equal pay, prosecutors obliged to investigate with a gender perspective. Sounds good on paper. But the feminicide figures are still there, stubborn, implacable.
The paradox is bitter: while some governments promise to move forward, the regional context pushes backwards. And in the middle, always them. Those who march. The ones they demand. Those who remember that no right is granted, it is conquered.
This 8M made something clear: outrage no longer fits into a hashtag. It needs streets.
