Women's rights supporters march in D.C.
BY SAM MANUEL
AND ELENA TATE
WASHINGTON--Chanting, singing, and blowing horns and whistles, several thousand supporters of women's rights marched here October 15. They chanted, "Hey Hey what do you say! Women's rights are here to stay!" and "Keep your laws off my body!" Many hand-painted signs throughout the march demanded, "Equal Pay for Equal Work!" and "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal!"
The chants grew louder and more militant as the demonstrators confronted a small group of hecklers along the march route carrying signs opposing women's rights.
Ashley Doyle, 15, and Will Bonner, 20, who came with a van load of friends from Richmond, Virginia, were among the many young women who participated. "I have been active in some meetings and protests back home but this is the first time I have been to a large march of women like this," said Doyle. Her friend added, "We need more protests like this to get more rights for women."
Meghan Elliot, 19, of the Michigan State University Women's Council, came with 16 other students. "We are all passionate about fighting for women's rights, and are involved on campus. The equal rights amendment, equal pay, and lesbian rights are issues that are being overlooked and denied."
"We still don't have the Equal Rights Amendment," said Sharlene Kerry, 27. "It's been dead for a couple of decades. Things become stagnant--or get rolled back--if people stop fighting for them."
The National Organization for Women sponsored the march. NOW president Patricia Ireland told the crowd that the event was part of similar protest actions around the world. She demanded that various capitalist governments and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund adopt policies aimed at ending poverty and violence against women.
Most speakers urged participants to "get out the vote in November."
Delegations of women from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia participated in the event. World political events spilled into the rally when the speaker from Jordan called upon participants to support the struggle of the Palestinian people and to denounce the brutal military crackdown by the Israeli regime. She also reported that a delegation of women from Cuba had been denied visas to participate in the rally.
Marleine Bastien, president of the Haitian Women of Miami, blasted the treatment of Haitian refugees. "We are not automatically given residency. Many of our people languish in detention camps in Miami. But the Haitian people and Haitian women will not be denied our rights."
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