There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of our minds
On February 13th, we women made a stand against the policies that are stifling our lives and that have brought about a progressive restriction of our rights and our freedom. We made our way through Piazza del Popolo, invaded the streets of Rome and pushed through to Montecitorio to "return to sender" the antiwomen lawas that have been passed in recent years by both centre-right and centre-left governments: undated resignation letters that new employees can be forced to sign, the law on assisted procreation, the raising of the pensionable age, the security package, and many others
On March 8th, we returned to the streets with the same message of placing at the centre of discussion the restribution of wealth among thouse who make profits and those who are paying for this crisis, among those who own real estate and those who have no home, between those who are paid millions and those who have no job.
We want to answer those who are trying to take away our autonomy filling public structions with "conscientious objectors" limiting the distribution of the moring after pill or supporting the privatisation of health care structures such as family planning clinics (see the proposed Tarzia law for the Lazio region) , structures which we would like to reform to meet our present needs.
We want to rebel against a culture that is used to control our bodies and our sexuality. From work to health, in fact, the only legitimate role for women is seen as that of wife and mother - though women are often forced to sign an open-dated resignation letter when they enter employment so that this can be used if they become pregnant.
We are living in a country of double standards, where the only model to be accepted and promoted is the heterosexual family, that very family in which, according to official statistics, most acts of violence against women are committed by husbands, partners and fathers. This is another reason to reject a precarious labour model - because it forces us to depend economically and culturally on a model of relationships that prevents us from choosing where, how, when and with whom to become or NOT to become mothers.
The same family-centred rhetoric that promotes and supports parenthood puts obstacles in the way of lesbians, single people, gays, transsexuals and all those who don't fit into the heterosexual, Catholic model.
It's the very same logic that on one hand stigmatises and criminalises sex workers, using the security package and moralistic campaigns and on the other promotes the use and imagery of women's bodies for male pleasure within the circles of power and elsewhere.
On March 8th we also took to the streets to unmask the racist policies of this government that takes advantage of the work of care providers, for the most part immigrant women and at the same time transforms them in "dangerous" protagonists of the "immigration emergency" or deprives them of their libery and makes them victims of violence within the centres for immigration and expulsion (CIE).
For all these reasons we were on the streets on March 8th, to make a stand for rights and freedom, because our desires don't have family or nation. We are not "decent Italians". We are casual workers, students, lesbians, trans. We are women who refuse the model of family-based, nationalist, Catholic, heterosexual welfare-
We want to reclaim our own voices and our own bodies, the streets, the night, our relationships. We demand rights, welfare, and autonomy..
