Despite the fourth wave of Covid-19 hitting unrelentingly, there were still protests in Belgium as part of the international day against violence against women.
Campaign ROSA took the initiative for local actions on 25 November and participated with a combative delegation in the national demonstration on 28 November. In recent weeks, there have been protests against sexist violence in nightlife. Struggle puts the issue of violence on the agenda. Thanks to feminist struggles in recent years, shame is beginning to change sides. See article here.
The actions on 25 November were important to further intensify this struggle and to link it to a program of social demands. In Ghent 250 people demonstrated.
Elsewhere, there were standing actions with 100 people in Liège, 55 in Antwerp, 50 in Brussels and a few dozen in Leuven, Bruges and Kortrijk. There were many young people at the actions, with good participation during the open microphones, where we invited all present to speak. With over 500 people present at the actions, a good step was taken towards also demonstrating on 8 March next year.
On Sunday 28 November a national demonstration took place with thousands of people present. The ROSA campaign formed a combative block with hundreds of mainly young activists. They made it the loudest block of the demonstration.
The necessity of protest is shown by the figures. Every year, there are 75,000 cases of sexual violence. That leads to 8,000 complaints and 900 convictions. ROSA opposes capitalism, which turns women’s bodies into commodities and intensifies oppression and shortages. The concentration of wealth among a small elite goes hand in hand with social problems on the other side. Stopping sexism and LGBTQIA+phobia therefore means going against the whole system.
The actions defended the need for massive public investment in proper victim assistance based on need. In addition, the ROSA campaign demands sufficient emergency accommodation and social housing so that all victims can be accommodated. Finally, demands were made for financial independence: decent jobs and a minimum wage of 14 euros per hour (2300 euros gross per month).
We distributed thousands of pamphlets with our views.
“Sexist violence is everywhere. It is a social problem, deeply rooted in the DNA of the capitalist system, with terrible personal consequences. But there are more and more actions: sexism is no longer accepted.”