It has taken me days to take stock of the women's strike and its impact on Lanzarote. This delay was due to mixed feelings and because I wanted to be objective. I had to wait for my initial excitement to pass and see how the International Women's Day demonstration held yesterday in Arrecife went.
On the night of March 8, I felt elated, I was happy to see how women in Lanzarote had also taken to the streets with joy and courage. But something inside me prevented me from expressing in words something that my heart was shouting and that this entry intends to explain.
On the afternoon of March 7, I came face to face with the reality of Lanzarote, it was not going to be easy. In schools, the strike was reported at the last minute and without giving explanations about it, in the institutes it was explained that the girls would not be marked absent but the boys would (my eldest son was angry because he did not understand that difference, he could not take care of his brother if he wanted to without having one more absence), in the hotels the informative posters about the strike did not mention women, the men were full of talk about this "parody" and many women did not know the scope of the strike, What, I can't go shopping tomorrow? Yes, my dear, I have an empty fridge and we have to eat, they told me.
What a disappointment I felt when I realized that the dissemination of the strike was deficient because many of us are digitally illiterate and mainly through this means we made it known. We failed to organize informative activities in the previous days as was done in many cities. I was also frustrated to notice that we did not take into account the peculiar reality of our island when considering the scope and objectives, only by bringing the objectives closer to our idiosyncrasy would we achieve the adhesion of the people.
Because of this, many women did not support the actions taken and even believed them to be political acts à la carte. But I did not let myself be discouraged, I still had hope and that same afternoon I decided to start raising awareness in my environment, "everything adds up" I told myself. And so came March 8 and I was glad to notice that there was less movement in the street, I was excited to see the different concentrations throughout the island during the morning in town halls, squares and streets.
At this point I must draw attention to a fact: being the information table of the 8M Platform in the Ramírez Cerda Park, when you made a street you found CCOO demonstrating. This division of acts for the same cause is key to understanding why social struggles in Lanzarote often fail.
Among so much modernity we lost sight of our grandmothers, women who without the need to raise a flag met and supported each other. In Lanzarote we even have the image of the women of Graciosa crossing the Risco in order to trade and survive. What was seen in that photograph? Women walking together and side by side. During that day I also noticed that there was a lack of more attractive and playful activities as were given in other islands (morning bike ride, lunch, caceroladas, etc.).
In Lanzarote we lack imagination to raise awareness, we always do it through boring talks or information tables. Even so, I want to recognize the effort and dedication of those people who spent the whole day trying to raise awareness with the resources they had because as I said before, everything adds up.
In the afternoon the situation improved and all the women and men gathered "in the same space" to defend women's rights. I was moved to see so many young women (even pre-adolescents) together with grandmothers who raised their voices tired of seeing setbacks and with the firm conviction of not letting this continue to happen, I was surprised to see so many men by our side, I was happy to see the women full of energy, generous and empowered. I only regret knowing that many people were missing:
1- Those who "complied" in the morning in front of their town halls or with their unions and did not go in the afternoon. Division, bad advisor.
2- Those who could not attend because the economic situation of women is very precarious and they cannot afford to stop working for a day.
3- Those who could not leave their care work because they had no support. I was surprised to see so many men in the concentration, men who could have organized themselves to install, for example, toy libraries that would have facilitated the attendance of more women, as was done in other places.
For the moment I am going to stay with:
-A Cabildo illuminated in violet
-The spontaneous caceroladas
-The aprons hanging on the balconies
-The banners with phrases full of acid humor
-With the illusion of believing that this was a turning point for Lanzarote
-With the idea that social demands will bring the people of Lanzarote together again. Now it is the State that has the ball in its court and must enforce the laws that promote TOTAL EQUALITY because it is a social demand not only of 50% of the population.
To conclude this assessment, yesterday in the demonstration carried out by the Lanzarote Forum against Gender Violence I noticed more people than in other years, but not the expected one after the 8M concentration. I think we are tired of so many small acts and it is time to start pooling resources and efforts in a single act.
As a final reflection, that night I heard many times "Women will appear in the history books" At last! we lacked to answer, since we have been making history since the beginning of time, the difference is that this time our voice was heard loud and clear thanks to the media. That surprised me, since in Lanzarote there is not usually so much expectation for the acts that women lead and in that line we must thank this advance.
I hope it continues to be so because we have already been silenced enough. We still have a long way to go, it will be a path with lights and shadows but no obstacle can stop it. Egalitarian women and men, let's keep walking!
