As has happened lately, without consulting or giving news in the women’s council, we have been participating for so many years in the preparation of 8 March and in the jury of this and other competitions, the City Hall has modified the contest bases for the year 2020 and added the following paragraph in relation to the topic of posters:

2nd Theme (…)

However, in order to avoid distortions in the essential message, the works presented must eliminate the inclusion of messages that do not respond to democratic sense and respect for all people. To avoid this, works which, in their opinion, contain violent expressions or symbols or any other which, in the opinion of the Ararteko, may be offensive to the general public shall be excluded.

In Ermua we have been organising poster competitions for many years for 8 March. Many artists have participated in them following the bases that the Women’s Forum Equality Technician has worked with professional criteria. In the jury of these competitions, so far, we have always participated feminist women: from the council and the municipal department of equality, as well as experts and professionals from the art world. We have seen works in terms of quality, form and content, always referring to the meaning of March 8, in the artistic expression freest from what symbolizes this date.

By reading the added paragraph, people will think that insolent, insulting, threatening messages have arrived, posters saying that they are a crime against peace or democracy, complaints, complaints, that is, that there are serious reasons to impose this measure.

Well, no. No sign has ever been ruled out for opposing "democratic sense" and "respect for all people". We, and everyone, because they have always been present in the House, have had the opportunity to see all the posters presented to the competition for years. And we never saw anyone who was worth retiring from the competition for the reasons that the City Hall is now stating in the contest bases. We saw feminist posters about the meaning of the date of March 8, because that's the subject of the competition. Where is the problem?

We wonder why the City Council considered it necessary to include this supplement.

The answer is that the mayor didn't like last year's winning poster. So, as it seems. She said it. Chicho immediately joined the people who had created a problem in a place where there was no more intimate male bias and implied some elements of a feminist woman's art poster as "violent and dangerous."

On the other hand, many women and many men denounced this absurdity, showing the artist and the women of the jury who chose the poster as the winner our total support, as it was worth it.

But Chicho is like that. She doesn’t care if her party partner and the government are ridiculed, because the Equality Councilor, Beatriz Gámiz, was on the jury and chose the winning poster, without making the least comment against her. Chicho wants to certify that this year he likes the winning poster, as he has to believe that his political criterion is more valid than anyone else. It needs neither equality specialists, nor art specialists, nor feminists, nor anything. He alone, "the mayor is for something."

The next question is: Why didn't you like last year's poster? We imagined it to be "too feminist." The message he sent was: "Machismo tears me away": direct, uncertain, annoying to some people. The elements of the cartel, which seemed so inappropriate and disrespectful or violent to them, a woman in the apron, a scarf covered with a nod of complicity, and a comic book bomb, the same one we used in advertisements and campaigns, of a telephone company that we are not going to propaganda about, are the same ones that are used, and no one has considered it necessary to take action against it.

What a coincidence! Also "others" are annoyed by equality and feminism, and in municipalities vetoes are assembled to paralyze feminist programs. Is that the path that Ermua wants to follow?

For a few months now, the Women's Assembly has been denouncing authoritarian manoeuvres which represent a clear setback in municipal equality policies. It is a new example of this. That is why we tell the city council and the mayor, the mayor responsible for the city, that with the signs of 8 March we are now against the measure adopted, because there was never any real problem that made it necessary. Citizens are not offended by free feminist art, but by other things that are much more serious and undemocratic, such as lack of transparency and obstacles to participation. Although the one who has done so is disguised with the discourse of respect, it is very much like a practice of censorship, of political "veto". And we will denounce such practices whenever they occur.

Last year the artist won the poster and translated the March 8 symbology into the language of art: Feminism is very important and not brillii-brillii. He got it right with an insolent, direct, provocative and radical message that could be very inappropriate for the Machistas. Therefore, with this change in the bases, the artists participating in the competition send a small preliminary message: "Keep in mind what you present, that we can reject you." Freedom of expression!

The Women's Assembly of Ermua will not be part of the jury of this competition, without taking into account us and the women of the council for this farce. In this time of fashion we will become feminists, we will continue to watch to make visible all kinds of machismos, even those who come with mere speech and put obstacles to moving towards an egalitarian society.