We would have liked to be here today to talk and reflect about the changes that women, in their progress towards freedom, have brought to society, at work, in the relationships between people, in their care for affections for for daily life. But that's not how it is.
Once again the 8th March is an occasion to talk about violence against women.
Despite the fact that it's already acknowledged that 90% of abuses take places in the family and that the principle cause of death for Italian women under 40 years old is violence at the hands of a partner, ex-partner, acquaintance or relative, the emergency provoked by violence against women has not produced a a public reflection on the existence of violence exercised by the male gender against the female gender or ideas about appropriate and adequate cultural interventions. Instead, it is taken by those who govern us as a pretext to create an authoritarian climate of fear of those who are "different"and to introduce repressive measures (vigilantism...) that lead to the militarisation of the territory. Ancora una volta i corpi delle donne sono tornati ad essere “cose”
We believe that this objectification of the female body is not just our problem, and that men must ask themselves profound questions about it.
If men really are concerned about violence against women, they cannot delay any longer in reflecting on themselves and their own sexuality and aggression.
Together, men and women must build new relations, in reciprocal respect for their differences, that can lead to the re-design of cities and communities that are welcoming and safe for all.
Once more, as Women in Black, we are here because we have chosen not to remain passive when faced with a ruling logic that resolves problems only with the use of force, war, militarisation and authoritarianism.
We are also here on behalf of all the women, who, in war and conflict zones, continue to take responsibility in their communities; because in every place, on a day to day basis, it is women who hold up the world. If men really are concerned about violence against women, they cannot delay any longer in reflecting on themselves and their own sexuality and aggression.
Together, men and women must build new relations, in reciprocal respect for their differences, that can lead to the re-design of cities and communities that are welcoming and safe for all.
Once more, as Women in Black, we are here because we have chosen not to remain passive when faced with a ruling logic that resolves problems only with the use of force, war, militarisation and authoritarianism.
Women in Black, Fano
donneinnero@virgilio.it
