PHOTOSTORY: Women of the World Unite

 

The second annual International Women’s Day March and Rally was held Sunday in Los Angeles drawing a crowd of over 1,500 people composed of every age, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.

“Last year we had probably over 1000 people. This year, we had more than that,” said Jollene Levid, a national chairperson of AF3IRM. AF3IRM is a transnational organization dedicated to feminism and anti-imperialist activism.

The march’s starting point was located in front of the Los Angeles Police Department. Multiple speakers and several musicians addressed the crowd, which was littered with purple berets symbolic of AF3IRM. When it came time to begin, Levid called on the mothers to lead the march, resulting in a front line full of children in strollers and their female caretakers pushing them along the designated path.

People watched from the sidelines as the marchers went by Olvera Street and continued down Cesar Chavez Avenue, waving signs with messages like “My pussy, my choice” and “Keep your laws out of my vagina.”

Angel Garcia from Cypress College was one of these individuals. In her red lipstick and backwards hat, she held a sign above her head that stated, “It’s not feminism if it’s not intersectional.” Such was the spirit of the march.

“Women from different cultures and backgrounds, we all stood in solidarity and recognized that we all have our struggles,” Garcia said. “But in general, where we meet with common ground is being women, and that we are being oppressed.” It was her first time marching with an IDWM firm.

“As an organizer for the firm, we always want more people involved,” Levid said. “Even just one more woman would make the world of a difference. We could always be bigger. Always.”