For an antifascist and universal feminism!

Join us for the “FEMINISM UNLIMITED” demonstration!
March 8th, 2025, 1:00 p.m.
S+U Schönhauser Allee

The world is on fire – and it is men who light the matches. It does not matter whether it’s in the USA, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Israel, Gaza, Iran, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia or Germany: wars, economic and social crises, and sexualised violence are symptoms of a patriarchal domination, violently submitting women and queer people to men. However, patriarchal violence is not restricted to the contexts of war and crisis. It is present in everyday life as well: there are Telegram chat groups used by men to organise rape, drinks spiked during parties or fascists organising against Pride parades. We can see it in the constantly rising numbers of domestic violence and femicides, and in the deliberate ignorance of these facts by the state. To make matters even worse, feminist achievements are under attack and transphobia has become a central issue of conservative and right wing parties in order to mobilise their followers.

We are unwilling to accept these attacks, just like we are unwilling to accept the misogyny of the status quo! Come and join us in the streets on March 8th, side by side against patriarchy and fascism!

Sexism, hatred of queer identities and anti-feminism are the global unifier of right wing and authoritarian projects – they are the key points of connection for these projects, no matter their ideological differences.

Resisting these ideologies has always been necessary; even more so today as we watch right-wing points of view consistently gaining popularity. At the same time, they are embedded in the structure of the state and of capitalism. Within capitalist societies everyone outside of the ruling classes suffers under the prevailing condition: the feeling of subjection to the dominant social conditions, the fear of social decline, the experience of exploitation of one’s labour and the experience of inequality which, however, is framed as natural. Neoliberal policies that cut welfare and social benefits and primarily benefit the owners of corporations or stockholders only deepen these problems. Denigration and ostracisation of others, often legitimized through racism and nationalism, are part of the structures of exploitation and dominance inherent to capitalism.

Right-wing populists build on this by using the discontent, fear and the disposition towards authoritarianism: they disparage social groups and create simple bogeymen that are presented as being at fault for social ills. These „bogeymen“ are already marginalised people: migrants and people of colour, people with disabilities, Jewish people, Sinte and Romani people and queer people, but also feminists and women who are seen as destabilising a supposedly natural gender order and emasculating men. Rather than fighting the current social conditions, right-wing populists declare authoritarian masculinity in the form of toughness, aggression, ruthlessness, and the destruction of those framed as enemies as the solution to this discontent.

The achievements of feminist and queer struggles are the first ones to fall victim to authoritarian policies and politics. During his first term as president, Donald Trump staffed the US Supreme Court with judges who, in 2022, ended the basic right of abortion. During his second term, he signed an executive order proclaiming a strict male-female binary. His party’s campaign was rooted in transphobia and funnelled millions of dollars into the production and dissemination of transphobic propaganda. The Freedom Party of Austrian (FPÖ), which might soon be in power, wants to follow in the footsteps of Orbáns queerphobic policies which deny queer people’s right to exist. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Mullahs flog and execute feminist activists. Syrian women are taking to the streets against the Islamists now in power, feeling threatened of being banned from public life. Looking at Afghanistan, the Taliban have destroyed the achievements made during the last twenty years and women, lesbian, intersex, nonbinary, trans and agender people are instead threatened with abduction, child and forced marriages and rape. Palestinian women and girls in Gaza face starvation, displacement and violence and lack medical and humanitarian aid. Women and girls in Sudan face not only the biggest humanitarian crisis but also systematic and unimaginable use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Again and again, attacks on the rights of women and queers are central to the ideology of authoritarian groups, regardless of the groups being ethnonationalists or Islamists.

The ideal these groups are fighting for is of a simple nature: superior men as soldiers defending the nation, and subjected, weak women as mothers who reproduce the nation. In these conceptions of the world there is no space for queerness or women’s autonomy. The gender binary and its inherent hierarchy are violently enforced.

Another central point where these authoritarian projects connect is antisemitism, once again becoming visible as being widespread all over the world. The antisemitic world-view is based on fantasies of an all-powerful elite that controls the world and which needs to be brought down. This allows the assignment of guilt and thus serves to fulfil people’s desire for a resolution of all contradictions inherent to the modern world as well as helping to construct both a social and individual identity. Antisemitism thus establishes ties between different political positions. A feminism that is universal cannot exist without critiquing ALL forms of antisemitism.

It is all the more disappointing to see supposedly leftist and feminist circles falling short of this critique while also abandoning fundamental feminist principles. The sexualised violence that was used against Israeli women, lesbian, non-binary, trans and agender individuals and others, and is still being committed – Hamas is still holding hostages – is continuously downplayed, denied or even portrayed and glorified as resistance. Within these circles, the delusional antisemitism is held higher than basic feminist convictions and the willingness to believe victims of sexualised violence. This does not just betray those affected by this violence but also our shared fight against patriarchal violence.

At the same time we see supposedly progressive circles abandon leftist values by glorifying and idealising the actions of the right-wing Netanyahu government and the Israel Defence Forces by ignoring the suffering of Palestinian civilians and by advocating for repression and racist narratives. To truly fight antisemitism, this fight must be understood as an antifascist concern; it cannot succeed if we turn away from anti-racist and leftist values.

As leftists and feminists, we must keep an eye on the vacancies and aberrations of our movement. However, naming and fighting them cannot be our sole focus. Because patriarchal and fascist projects are intertwined globally and they are on the rise, including in our society.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is not just tolerating a collaboration with the AfD (Alternative for Germany); with regard to content in their respective policies there are barely any differences between them any more – especially when it comes to disenfranchising migrants and refugees. Furthermore, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party (Die Grünen) are more than happy to join this racist mobilization. This leads to a rise in violent attacks against people of colour, queer people, Jewish and leftist people. The Berlin Register, a registration office tracking attacks on marginalised people, noted a remarkable rise in queerphobic, antisemitic and racist incidents in 2024. Over the course of the last summer, Queer Prides all over the Eastern federal states were attacked systematically by supporters of right-wing policies, there were attacks on Jewish people, Jewish memorials and synagogues, and the AfD consistently gained popularity in elections. We will not condone this anymore!

At the same time, the situation of women and queers is worsening without the AfD winning elections. Women’s shelters need 14.000 spots more than they can offer at the moment, queer centres need to close due to a lack of funding, the conditions under which reproductive labour and care are happening are becoming ever more precarious and the welfare state is being slashed. The financial cutbacks and the excesses of neoliberal austerity policies are striking women, queers, people of colour, sick, disabled and otherwise marginalised people the hardest. Institutions of care, seen as feminine, are being structurally weakened while institutions like the military and the police, seen as masculine, are continuously being strengthened and developed.

Patriarchy and capitalism are written into the structures of the nation-state. A liberal feminism that does not recognise this fact, that only aims at the equalisation of white and wealthy women, cannot be the solution. It only shifts the burden of care to those affected by poverty and women from Eastern and South Eastern Europe as well as from the Global South. Authoritarian desires and ambitions from the left that ignore antisemitism, glorify Islamist terror groups as resistance fighters and preach severity against oneself and others won´t liberate us either – they will only lead us into a new kind of prison.

We want something else. We fight for something else. We put our hope into a feminism that is universal and antifascist. This means we do not close our eyes to the subjugation of women, girls and queers because they’re deemed part of another culture. And we do not regard antisemitism and misogyny as motives for racist deportation naratives; they’re rather keystones of German civil society. We will not be pitted against each other! We stand for alliances in the fight against fascism, against patriarchy and against all forms of racism and antisemitism.

We see ourselves as part of a global feminist struggle, a global feminist resistance! Let us learn from one another, let us see and understand the similarities and differences between the patriarchal conditions in our respective contexts, and let us stand in solidarity with each other!

We want to mention the kurdish-feminist movement in Rojava whose fighters are being bombed by Erdogan while they are the only ones that civilians can rely on for protection from the Islamic State and the troops of the Turkish state. They are a symbol of hope and of the possibility to overcome patriarchy and capitalism.

We want to mention the Polish feminist movement who not just successfully enabled individual people to access abortions when the state tried to deny them but who also mobilised large numbers of civil society to struggle against the repressive abortion laws and against the PiS party, culminating in their recall from office.

We want to mention Ni Una Menos: a movement against femicides, the murder of women because of their gender. The movement started in Argentina and spread across borders as a source of inspiration and a symbol of solidarity among feminist projects.

We want to mention the fight against femicides in Mexico.

We want to mention the feminist care groups and initiatives for peace in Sudan.

And we want to mention the feminist movement in the Islamic republic of Iran which is accomplished by the Kurdish people and other minorities fighting against the oppression of the Iranian regime.

In these times it is more important than ever for women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans and queer people to stand together. If we do so, we can smash patriarchy. We invite all of our allies in solidarity to come together in the fight against patriarchy on March 8th. We will not move a single millimetre to the right. For a universal feminism and for the good life for all of us!

Jin, Jiyan, Azadî!
Alerta Antisexista!
Alerta Antifascista!