Feminist Strike for Liberation, 8th March 2025
This 8th of March once more we joined the International Feminist Strike to march with thousands of our siblings. United by our shared fight against the patriarchal war machine, and as part of a global anti-colonial, anti-imperialist Global Majority feminist movement, we took the streets in an act of collective grief, resistance, and celebration of our continued hope and commitment to liberation!
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we began the day at Regent’s Park with the Care Strike. Kids, carers and parents came together to defy the exploitative organisation of care work under capitalism. Everyone was welcome to take part in arts and crafts. All under a banner that read: WHEN CARE STOPS THE WORLD STOPS. As children ran through the park, blowing bubbles, and queuing for face-painting, we began sharing their visions for a future that centres the needs of care workers, and all those who require, or have required, care or assistance (that is: all of us!).
For the first hour, the crowd welcomed powerful speeches from Solace Women’s Aid, Nanny Solidarity Network, Voice of Domestic Workers, London for Sudan, and from Gene, a young person who came to tell us how we, as adults, can best support trans kids.
This was accompanied by performances from Warmis UK (Ecuador), Filipino Domestic Workers Association UK (Philippines) and Morenada Super Elegantes (Bolivia) as well as chants from different trade unions, grassroots collectives, revolutionary movements and associations. Each voice carried the weight of lived experience, channeling frustration and hope.
Before setting off, everyone was invited to smash a piñata representing Bubble, a childcare app that exploits care workers in favour of convenience and “on demand” services that create precarious conditions for carers & nannies.
That energy fuelled us as we marched forward united behind a banner reading: FEMINIST STRIKE FOR LIBERATION, spilling onto Euston Road, where traffic came to a halt.
Our march of thousands continued down to Regent Street, with every step, our chants grew louder and louder. As we passed the heavily guarded BBC buildings, thousands chanted, in one voice, ‘Shame on you, BBC!’, for the media outlets’ complicity in censoring the voices of Palestinian resistance.
We were proud to include such a multitude of voices and causes in the march.
A few meters down the road, we stopped traffic once more, this time at Oxford Circus. This symbol of capitalism, and the busiest shopping destination in London, was transformed into a space of reflection and resistance. At the intersection, we heard speeches about the feminist anticolonial struggles in Congo (Congolese Action Youth Platform), Tigray (Mekete Tigray UK) and Kurdistan (Jiyan Kurdish Women’s Assembly).
As we left, a group of FALA members performed “ALQUIMIA”, a multi-disciplinary performance, honouring those who came before us and the sacrifices made by this system to sustain the patriarchal war machine. The work reflected how our struggles are connected, and through this union, how we can collectively rejoice in resistance.
The Samba Sisters then led the carnival of liberation, channeling our rage into a powerful force for revolution. The day ended with a rally at Piccadilly Circus where we wrapped our banners around the Eros Fountain for the Sex/Work Strike.
Here, we demanded full decriminalization. We demanded that the hands of the law remove themselves from our bodies and especially the bodies of sex workers, who are often at the sharpest edge of state violence. We demanded the right to advocate for our rights, and for the recognition that sex work is work. As our sisters and siblings say: From strip clubs to brothels, from dungeons to the streets. We heard powerful speeches from Decrim Now, English Collective of Prostitutes, All African Women’s Group, SWARM, the Sex Workers Union, THORN, and Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike, ending with a collective rendition of Solidarity Forever.
In a time where feminism(s) has been co-opted by liberal movements and cannibalised by academic spaces, this 8M we were able to fill the streets with truly radical demands for a better, more just, more caring society in defense of our collective life. We stood shoulder to shoulder as workers, parents, carers, sex workers, women, queer folks, trans folks and more to say – when we stop the world stops.