At a critical time in the world, International Women’s Day assumed special importance this year in the U.S. There is, in a very immediate way and as part of an overall juggernaut toward fascism, the possibility of something really terrible, at this moment highly concentrated in the looming move of the Supreme Court to strip away the constitutional right to abortion.

There is also, however, within these conflicts and clashes and the underlying dynamics giving rise to them, the possibility to wrench something truly emancipating out of those: revolution. This contradiction is concentrated in the very title of Bob Avakian’s extremely powerful and extremely timely new talk, Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed. A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution.

International Women’s Day this March 8 marked both a big step in mounting the kind of resistance that MUST be called forth to defeat this reactionary attack on abortion rights and from the standpoint of the revolution we need and the need to bring forward a revolutionary people, in the thousands and then the millions.

Hundreds of people in different cities—with 350 in New York and at least 200 in Berkeley—mounted the political stage, even as the so-called leaders of the so-called women’s movement did nothing. Prominent voices who have fought against the oppression of women for years and even decades—including V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) who gave a powerful speech in New York, and Gloria Steinem, who sent a message of support, as well as some others—went against the tide of capitulation and lent their voices to this new effort. There was a strong presence of Latina women, particularly in New York as well as Los Angeles, and the march broke into Spanish-language media—with people seeing a very direct connection between the mass movements that recently won abortion rights in and/or the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia, Argentina and Mexico. Sunsara Taylor not only played a critical role in pulling together this entire initiative and then helping to lead it as part of a core, she promoted the importance of the new communism and the leadership of Bob Avakian in the course of this—and the Revolution Club was also a presence in some of the other cities on March 8 itself.

It is important to fully note—and this was brought out at some of the different rallies—that women from all over the world were in the streets as well that day, from Pakistan to Mexico and beyond, and this signals both how intense this contradiction is all over the world and the great potential strength we can draw on and contribute to.

All these and more are important elements to build on. Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (RU4AR) has called for a wearing of green bandanas—a symbol of the fight for abortion rights first developed in Argentina—throughout society on April 8, and for more mass marches (larger, more diverse and more widespread) on Saturday, April 9. We will be covering different elements of International Women’s Day as the month goes on and urge everyone to go to and follow the website RiseUp4AbortionRights.org.

Here are reports of the March 8 protests in different cities that give a basic sense of what happened.

New York City

One of speakers at the International Women’s Day (IWD) rally, a young woman in high school, captured the spirit of the day in Manhattan’s Union Square: “I’m 15 years old and I’m angry! We are done being polite. We are done feeling hopeless and fearing our right to abortion could be taken away any moment.” This was the spirited and defiant mood of the 350 women and men, and people of all genders, who gathered to “not ask—demand!”: Abortion on Demand Without Apology!

Different nationalities and races, ages, genders, backgrounds—all together in rapt attention at the speeches, loud cheering and clapping—were living examples of the suppressed rage at the oppression of women and the determination to fight for the right of abortion which RiseUP4AbortionRights.org gave voice to. There were students—high school and college… women, and men, from the era before Roe v. Wade when abortion was illegal… women from Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico. Some high schools and colleges were represented by students who came together, others came by themselves. Some people heard about this within the last week, or joined on the spot, while others had been organizing for IWD for some time. There was a heartfelt contingent of Harlem residents and friends organized out of Revolution Books. There was a boisterous contingent of 20 women from the Dominican Women’s Development Center. The Raging Grannies were there. Revolution Club members circulated in the crowd with their T-shirts and raised their banner—Revolution, Nothing Less! As Sunsara Taylor said from the stage, “A great strength of this movement is our diversity of views. We don’t all agree. We come from different perspectives. But we stand shoulder to shoulder in insisting that women control their own bodies and lives.” She also made clear that “as a follower of the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, who is also the architect of the new communism, I’m going to be fighting for what I understand to be true, which is that all this patriarchy, all this oppression, all these centuries of patriarchal chains, are rooted in this system, along with all the other forms of oppression of capitalism-imperialism, and it cannot be ended without bringing that system down, without overthrowing it once and for all in an actual revolution.”

People were ready to hear what the speakers had to say and listened intently, cheering and applauding loudly throughout. V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) opened up her comments by expressing solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Lebanon, Palestine, and Afghanistan—which she noted has been ravaged by U.S. imperialism. She went on to say, “I am sick of fascism and hate… I am sick of patriarchy!”

Merle Hoffman, founder and CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center and a co-initiator of RU4AR, reminded people that IWD was “born in struggle” and said, “… the right to decide when and whether to be a mother is the front line and the bottom line of women’s freedom and liberation.”

Lori Sokol, executive director of Women’s eNews and a co-initiator of RU4AR, read a statement from Gloria Steinem, and then said she was following Steinem’s example: “There is nothing like being out in the streets, stepping up and standing up.”

Araceli Herrera, speaking in Spanish, spoke about how she was raped as a young woman in Mexico and denied an abortion when she became pregnant. With her fist in the air, she declared, “I’ve stopped crying. Today is the day we begin to take to the streets and scream loudly: I have the right to choose!”

Other speakers included actor and activist Kathy Najimy, Rev. Jacqui Lewis, and Dr. Bruce Price from the abortion advocacy group Trust Women.

Sunsara Taylor evoked the living example of the women of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico who went into the streets in their millions winning the right to abortion: “Through their struggle they made what everyone thought was impossible, possible. As we go out we will find others like us, and as we do we’re going to open up the big questions… Where does this desire to control women come from and what will it take to end it once and for all?” Sunsara and others called on the crowd to be part of organizing for April 9 when “we are coming back to this park, thousands strong. And across this country, thousands strong. And from there, we are doubling and doing it again and again until we flood the streets and bring this society to a halt. Because they must not be allowed to shatter the lives of women and slam history backwards.”

The defiance and joy of the rally carried over into the streets in the march that streamed out of Union Square. People were defiant, exuberant, and determined to be heard—hundreds with one voice in unison, chanting in English and Spanish, calling on people to “Join Us!” Several students came out of their New York University dorms on the spot. Many protesters came with their own signs, and there were several large, beautifully painted banners telling of women resisting oppression. At the peak of the march, there were more than 300 people in the streets—chanting, yelling, marching, demanding that the right to abortion not be ripped away from half of humanity in this country, the sounds echoing blocks away. The march wound through the streets of lower Manhattan, ending up in a brief rally where Sunsara Taylor led people together in a pledge to be part of this struggle and to struggle with others to join it. Then the march broke down into smaller groups to get working on how to make leaps off of this significant advance, to bring thousands together on April 9.

Berkeley

Students at the University of California, Berkeley (UC, or Cal) rallied and marched across campus and through the city. They were joined by high school students from at least four Bay Area high schools who walked out of class and came up to Berkeley. They spoke at the rallies (there were at least three in different parts of Berkeley), bringing furious energy and joy as they led chants over the bullhorn, passed out flyers, and generally acted as if their lives were in the crosshairs, because they know they are. One of their favorite chants was “Control over women is what they want! Furious women is what they’ve got!”

Well over 200 people, mostly students, joined in the rally at Sproul Plaza on the Cal campus. This was probably the largest political rally at UC Berkeley since COVID set in. The Cal Dems, the student organization which is the official arm of the Democratic Party among the students at UC, endorsed and built for the rally and came with signs they made at a sign-making gathering for March 8. One of the speakers at the main rally, Catherine Bauer, who is a candidate for student body president, gave an impassioned speech for abortion rights and called for people to take to the streets.

A crucial part of the rally at Sproul Plaza was the breadth of voices from around the world. A statement was read in English and Spanish from immigrant women which began: “We deserve to be treated like human beings, people who are free and dream and deserve respect in society for what we are, the miracles that we are!!!” People sang the song “Un violador en tu camino” (“A Rapist in Your Path”), which came out of women’s struggles in Latin America. The statement from Osyan/Revolt, an organization of Iranian and Afghan women, written for the March 8 protest in the U.S., was read.

A statement from Harry Edwards, former UC Berkeley professor and one of the leaders of the revolt of Black athletes in 1968, said in part, “Assaults on Roe v. Wade constitute an existential threat—a threat to the continued existence—of women’s sports!” Bonnie Morris, scholar of women’s history and lecturer in the History Department at UC, said: “Like most women in my generation I am angry, tired and disgusted that 50 years after Roe v. Wade is decided we are once again battling the criminalization of abortion rights.” A member of the Revolution Club spoke powerfully to the time we are in, the revolutionary possibilities, how fascism is driving the assault on abortion rights, and the crucial importance of this fight for right now. The Raging Grannies laid out what it was like for women in the time before Roe v. Wade, when getting pregnant could change a young woman’s life forever—or end it. And the founding statement from Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights ran through the whole rally.

After the rally at Cal, there was a rally at the downtown Berkely BART station plaza. Then people marched on to Berkeley High, which was in session, and there were several impromptu and impassioned rallies at different gates of the school, with students outside calling on the students inside to join in. One of the exciting and uplifting parts of the day was the role of high school students, who loved the chant sheet that Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights provided, and who helped to rock the streets of Berkeley, and to shake up Berkeley High, with chants like “Without this basic right, women can’t be free! Abortion on demand and without apology!” and many others.

Near the very end of the march, as people came together for a final short rally, the MC pointed out that what had happened was great but just a beginning, and asked who was going to join in a UC Berkeley chapter of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights. A chorus of cheers came up from the march.

Los Angeles

International Women’s Day in Los Angeles marked a day of beautiful defiance against forced motherhood and female enslavement and part of a real beginning of a determined fight to stop the Supreme Court overturning the right to abortion. Over 100 people gathered, mainly coming in ones and twos, from all over LA and Southern California. There were a lot of young people—students from at least eight colleges and three high schools—and people of all ages: mothers with their daughters, other younger and older people. It was a richly diverse crowd who had found out about this protest through getting flyers at events or school and seeing stickers and wire coat hangers around the city. People were there from parts of the world where there have been huge outpourings of struggle for abortion rights and the humanity of women: Mexico, Argentina, and Poland. A couple from Poland brought a large homemade sign that was recognized from the stage and gave everyone a lot of heart, saying simply in Polish, “Abortion is OK.” The march was covered by some local media, including Spanish-language news.

A diverse grouping of people spoke at the rally, reflecting some of the breadth of this new movement. These were: Carol Downer, reproductive rights activist and co-founder of Feminist Women’s Health Centers; Sikivu Hutchinson, writer/director and founder of the Women's Leadership Project, the Black feminist mentoring and civic engagement program for girls of color in South LA; Rev. Frank Wulf, pastor at Echo Park United Methodist Church; Lawdan Bazargan, a former political prisoner in Iran, family member of victims of the 1988 massacre of Iran’s political prisoners, and a human rights activist; Anthony Bryson aka IonicBoom, a community organizer; Noche Diaz, National Spokesperson of the Revolution Club; and Skyler Solomon, lead organizer of the newly formed Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights LA.

Art and music were woven throughout, opening with a song by the musician Pepper Lewis, a rousing close of the day by local rapper Reverie, and two moving and personal works of art during the rally—a poem by a member of the Revolution Club, and an art installation by artist and activist Soma Snakeoil, director/co-founder of the Sidewalk Project, based on her personal experience being forced to carry a malformed fetus to term and give birth to a stillborn. The rally included people reading stories of women forced to bear children against their will or women who died trying to give themselves abortions before it was legal. 

People who had gathered for the protest pulled in close to listen intently to the speakers, at times moved to tears, and most hanging on every word. This was in spite of a handful of well-known local fascists who tried to disrupt the rally. They were prevented from doing so by members of the Revolution Club who led a disciplined security team to protect the rally and prevent disruption, consistent with the principles of the Revolution Club (Points of Attention for the Revolution).

People brought hand-written and -drawn signs: one in Spanish read, “In Mexico, 10 women are killed daily”; another had a drawing of a female body wrapped in a rosary and bleeding from the vagina, with the words, “Forced motherhood is female enslavement.” One woman carried a hand-written sign, “Fuck the Patriarchy!” with the lyrics of the chant in Spanish from Chile, “and it was not my fault!” As the march kicked off, volunteers were called to hold signs with the faces of women who have died from botched illegal abortions. Several people readily volunteered, reading the stories of the women whose faces they carried, and holding them up with determination and anger throughout the entirety of the march.

A young woman who had never been to a protest before helped lead others in shouting the chants that came from the stage, like: “Rise up 4 abortion rights!” “Without this basic right, women can’t be free, abortion on demand and without apology!” and “No more shame, no more silence, forced motherhood is fascist violence!” The march was fierce and loud throughout the streets of downtown LA, stopping at certain points as speakers from the back of the truck called on people on the sidewalks and in their buildings to join the march on the spot. Several young women afterwards expressed deep feelings about being part of the march, saying things like they were “on fire” and “I could finally express what I’ve been feeling inside for so long.”

At the closing rally, together with the performance by Reverie, upcoming events were announced and people were called on to take materials to spread. Some of the students stuck around to meet each other and talk about why they were there, how they felt about the day, and how to go forward. Throughout the protest, most of the people attending signed up to get further involved.

Chicago

More than 70 people took part in an angry, defiant International Women’s Day rally and march in downtown led by RiseUp4AbortionRights.org, the Chicago Revolution Club, and Refuse Fascism Chicago. Most of the participants were students from colleges downtown and across Chicago.

The high point of the day’s action was a die-in in front of the Federal Court House, led by three “Handmaids.” They went inside the court and delivered an indictment of the Supreme Court and then came out and told protesters what they had done. One of the Handmaids pointed out that this was the same court that “groomed” Amy Coney Barrett, the Christian theocratic fascist who Trump appointed to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and then placed on the U.S. Supreme Court. The indictment said in part, “We charge the Supreme Court with attempted theocracy. A fetus is not a person and we are not your incubators! How do we find the Supreme Court? Guilty!” They also charged the Supreme Court with terrorizing women and denying the basic humanity of women, trans and gay people. “We refuse to let the fascist Supreme Court deny women’s humanity and decimate their rights! Abortion on Demand Without Apology!”

The march then wound through the downtown Loop, to cheers and honks from passersby, with the defiant chant “Abortion on Demand Without Apology” ringing off the buildings.

At the rally before the march and die-in, a member of the Chicago Revolution Club said, “We need to unleash the FURY of women to rise up for abortion rights… It’s on all of us to wake people up, rouse them, and bring them into the streets in protests powerful enough to wake up and shake millions more people throughout this country.” Among the testimonies given by several women about experiences with abortion was one woman talked about how she was raped when she was 14, and then became pregnant: “I did not want the baby. But at 14 years of age, I wasn’t aware of what an abortion was. Much later, I learned that the doctor and my mother discussed abortion between themselves, but abortion was not an option I was told about… Today is not an easy day for me because I have never told my story, but I speak for the voiceless and many oppressed women worldwide.” A college student said, “Six million women in Texas have lost the right to abortion. I’m angry, and I’m tired, tired of staying home and doing nothing. We need to be here, making history. If the Supreme Court thinks we are going to be bystanders, they are wrong.” What she said captured the sentiments of many students at the protest. Many said they were looking for a protest on International Women’s Day and found this one on social media or had seen the flyers. They all found the threat to eliminate the right to abortion intolerable.

At the closing rally, a woman from El Salvador spoke. She had a big sign saying, “Freedom for the women in jail for abortion in El Salvador.” She told about how abortion is 100 percent prohibited there and how there are women in El Salvador in jail for 30 years for getting abortions. She came to the U.S. to find human rights, and now this fundamental right for women is being taken away. She said, “You in this country must fight to not go backward, to not end up like El Salvador. When you fight here, you are fighting for women all over the world.”

Austin, Texas

About 40 people rallied and marched on and around the University of Texas campus. Most were young women, with about one-half university students and some high schoolers. One woman drove to the protest from Arkansas in a truck decorated with RU4AR signs. According to one participant, “things broke open” when a few people from an anti-abortion group showed up: “This pissed off a lot of students and others walking by and really sharpened things up, and the plaza filled up with people. Seeing the two sides in contention brought out the latent anger many people have about women losing this fundamental right and about SB8 [Texas law passed in 2021 that effectively banned almost all abortion in the state] passing with so little resistance. We drowned out the antis with our chants, and while we continued with our agitation and chants, many more people stopped to see what was going on and then chose a side, with most people chanting with us or yelling back at the antis because they were unable to hold back their anger.”

Boston

Over 50 people converged in Harvard Square for a speak-out and march. Students came from Harvard, Tufts and Northeastern universities and Emerson College. Some had just heard of the protest days before through a car caravan that rolled through Boston and Cambridge. High school students from nearby Cambridge Rindge and Latin joined in.  

Speakers at the rally included a young teacher whose views on abortion had been fundamentally changed upon hearing the story of one of her students, who was only 11 years old when raped by a family member. An older woman from the group Bad Old Days Posse spoke about the difficulty of getting a safe abortion before Roe vs. Wade and the difference legalization of abortion had made in her life. A revcom, speaking on how the white supremacy and patriarchy of the anti-abortion movement is embedded in the very DNA of the capitalist-imperialist system, was repeatedly interrupted by applause. Another speaker took the mic while a small group of anti-abortion fanatics attempted to disrupt the rally. He held a poster listing the murderous history of the anti-abortionists—the clinic bombings, invasions and murders in just a five-year period in the 1990s—and hit the hypocrisy of the so-called "pro-life" religious zealots, including the 1994 murders of Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols, two young women working in abortion clinics in Boston. Protesters drowned out the antis with chants, including, "Pro-life, your name's a lie—you don't care if women die!"

 The speak-out was started by a young woman, a first-year college student, who spoke of the particularly brutal conditions confronting Indigenous women and girls—the history of rape, lack of access to health care, and the hundreds who have simply "disappeared," with no effort on the part of authorities to find them.

 After the rally, protesters defiantly took to the crowded streets of Cambridge, in a rousing march, punctuated by chants and accompanied by music, provided by members of the Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians. Many marchers wore a T-shirt one young woman had designed for the day with a coat hanger with a slash through it and the RU4AR hashtag.

Cleveland

About 100 people rallied and marched in the streets—families including young kids, high schoolers (some with their mothers, others who had come on their own), students from at least one college, a feminist candidate for a U.S. Senate seat who brought several of her supporters (fairly young and very determined to fight for abortion rights in the street that day), and representatives of several community organizations. People grabbed up green bandanas and signs with images of women who died from illegal abortion.

Honolulu, Hawaii

About 80 people participated in the March and Rally for Abortion Rights on International Women's Day in Honolulu. The majority were youth—many of whom had never marched before. The atmosphere was charged, and people listened attentively at the rally before heading through downtown in an energetic and loud march.

Detroit

About 25 people rallied and then marched to the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Students took to the front, leading chants. There were two groups of students who came together from Wayne State University because they saw RU4AR posters or got flyers. There were clinic escorts and women who heard about the protest through Fems for Dems. Several women joined from a group petitioning for a raise in the minimum wage. Women spoke from the open mic about how abortion changed their lives.

Atlanta

[From RiseUp4AbortionRights.org] Protesters in Atlanta marked #international women’s day 2022 by taking to the streets downtown, engaging with students, and calling on everyone to join the fight to stop the U.S. Supreme Court from denying women’s humanity and rights! Abortion on demand & without apology!

Seattle

[From RiseUp4AbortionRights.org] About 150 people rallied, marched, and held die-ins in Seattle. They included small groups from three high schools and one middle school; students from the University of Washington, and Seattle University, people from a Jewish congregation, and a clinic defense team.