It is now three years since the feminist movement called a feminist strike on 8 March under the slogan “Emakumeok”. By redefining the concept of strike – including not only paid jobs, but also the free jobs mostly performed by women* – thousands of women were planted and demonstrated that life is not sustained in the absence of their work. For two consecutive years, the feminist strikes on March 8 began to put the spotlight on the care crisis and to make the problem visible in its crudety. It was clear: if there is no care, there is no life; and if most of the people who care are women, it is not possible to sustain life without their work. Care collectivization was a priority duty.

The COVID-19 pandemic, to the extent that it has accelerated the offensive of capitalism that already existed, has evidenced and deepened the crisis of care pointed out in those calls for strike, and in this context women are the most affected. This has affected, in the eyes of those who are writing these lines, on 8 March this year; to the very extent that the crisis has intensified, as if the need to rise up and fight the situation had become exponentially acute in individuals. The truth is, I didn't have anything strange.

“Change everything, tax the system.” The motto of this year’s call coincided in its entirety with that of a generalized spirit in the three activities carried out in the morning in Bilbao. Faced with the quantitative increase of feminism in recent years, the messages of last year’s mobilizations warned of the need to organize and join the feminist struggle, in order not to neglect the qualitative aspect and prevent the movement from becoming insignificant. Well, in the activities that have been carried out this year in Bilbao and in the readings that have been published in them, one could see the feminist movement going in the same direction. A feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-racist movement, which has been repeated on several occasions throughout the day.

The decolonial and anti-racist approach has played a fundamental role in the mobilizations that have taken place in the Biscayan capital, since the action that has begun the programme of the day. The borders, the immigration policies, the Aliens Act, the care work carried out by the women of the global South in exploitative conditions… to denounce all this and the other, built a wall with several boxes stacked in front of the office of the foreign people and published a message in which one could read: “End the racist system. There are no limits.” On Earth, on the other hand, in the first four-month period of 2019 and 2020, the death figures were written in chalk.

The female pensioners gathered the witness of the protest following the protest. Another Monday they filled the facade of the city council, which had welcomed several Mondays demanding decent pensions, but this time on the occasion of the International Day of Working Women. They were pleased that the position they usually occupy on their own stood up to the feminist movement, and nothing else to start action, they wished to emphasize that the movement of pensioners is a space for the creation of alliances. At a time when they used to make visible the harsh reality of many older women, denouncing that if real equality in rights and pensions is not achieved, older women are distressed and condemned to live in conditions of poverty and social exclusion. Faced with this, they demanded dignified pensions, the elimination of the gender gap in pensions or the debate on unpaid work, among other issues.

The participants in the morning initiatives went to the Iberdrola tower. Before the headquarters of the electricity company, a banner was displayed in which the following could be read: “This is our true energy.” From the loudspeaker one could hear the testimonies of women suffering from energy poverty, as well as criticism of extremism. Once heard, several women performed a symbolic act in which electricity bills were broken. There, Zutik Emakumeak closed the day singing the morning song, to meet again in the afternoon demonstration.

After the midday parentheses, the motorcycles were resumed in the neighborhoods, from columns to the Sacred Heart, the starting point of the demonstration. Not without the organization going up, but once everyone was in the demonstration maintaining the security spaces, the demonstration departed after 19:00. The main appeal of the day also focused on anti-racism, with the following motto: "Rationalize the racist system. Weaving feminist resistance." During an hour of march, the mobilization filled the streets of the city with a purple color and a cheerful atmosphere, spilling an unusual atmosphere since the beginning of the pandemic and the implementation of the state of alarm. A joy, however, and indeed, limited by security measures; since the relevance of the mobilisations of 8 March has been called into question, the need to be seen in the eyes of responsible and exemplary public opinion has, in part, acted against improvisation. However, the movement has managed to imply that it maintains its vitality above any conditioning. When the head of the demonstration reached the goal, from the speakers it was announced that people were still on their way, confirming the success of the day: although the difficulties to take the streets were greater than ever, one more year, the feminist movement managed to take the streets and fill them with denunciation. It is not a delicate achievement in the times in which we live.