Women rally in Basel: “Every day together against patriarchy”

The action days for Women’s Day 8 March in Basel concluded on Saturday with a demonstration under the motto “Every day together against patriarchy”. Hundreds of people gathered for the opening rally at Theaterplatz. Speeches addressed the effects of the Corona pandemic on women and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

Özen Aytaç gave a speech on behalf of the Ronahi Women’s Council in which she referred to the Kurdish women’s movement’s struggle for a grassroots democratic, gender-just and ecological society. Fahriye Usta, spokesperson for the socialist party SYKP, demanded the immediate release of the Kurdish politician Aysel Tuğluk, who suffers from dementia, and all other prisoners with incapacitating illnesses from prisons in Turkey.

Activists from the Ronahi Women’s Council collected signatures during the demonstration for the campaign to remove the PKK from the EU and US “terror lists”.

The Basel police blocked the demonstration several times and used tear gas. The demonstrators marched to Claramatte despite these attacks.