Jennifer Kamau. Photo: Heawon

Hello women of the world! We need a feminist revolution! We need to end capitalism! Capitalism is patriarchal and racist and we can only end patriarchy and racism if we end capitalism. We need to put a stop on the process of land privatisation, to put a stop in the commercialisation of nature, to the commercialisation of women’s bodies.

We need to create a radical new global system in which women can decide where to go, be free to move and also be able to stay in their lands. For years, we the International Women Space have been quoting the Caravan for the rights of refugees and migrants who say: we are here because you destroyed our lands!

For years we have been saying that most of us are forced to migrate forced to flee the violence of capitalist wars that leave us with no other option but to emigrate, to come knocking at the door of fortress Europe asking for protection from those who can’t protect us. Because racists don’t protect their own and much less can they protect us, non-white women!

We know we are not wanted here, but we also know that Germany needs migrants, that for the capitalist system it is not enough to exploit the world’s resources. They also need us physically present here, paying the local taxes so that their ageing society can get their pensions. They need us here, this we know.

But if we are to stay here, we need to make a radical change. Because the conditions in which we migrants live are unacceptable! We live in the constant fear of deportation! This is unacceptable and it needs to be changed.

I repeat we need a feminist revolution!

And we need to work with our sisters from around the world, because the radical change must be on a global scale! What is happening now at the borders of Greece, the shady deals between the EU and Turkey, the wars and threats of war perpetrated by the imperialists, it all affects us directly!

And when I say us, I mean millions of women who are migrating as we speak, millions of women who are planning to flee, millions of women who are displaced in refugee camps all over the world. It is an international catastrophe I am speaking about and to fight it we need to build strong international alliances. And we need to refuse to accept the patriarchal, racist capitalist system! 

What happened in Hanau doesn’t surprise us, the rise of deportation threats doesn’t surprise us, the scandal at the greek border doesn’t surprise us. The Frontex and its killing apparatus at the mediterranean sea doesn’t surprise us. But it should revolt us! And this revolt, this anger must turn in to action!

We need to mobilise, to unite against a system that leaves us at the mercy of this racist, misogynistic system! That isolates us in refugee camps across the globe! We need to intervene and go against the criminal organisations forcing migrant women in to prostitution so they can pay for their journeys to Europe.

We need a militant feminism! An autonomous feminism that goes to the streets, that accuses those responsible for such violence against us! Those responsible for the feminicide we see all over the world!

We need to take to the streets more often! Not only on the 8th of March, but always! We need a feminism that creates radical and total change in society, we have to change this system in a radical way!

Europe needs migration, I repeat, in Germany there are sufficient resources, capacities and competencies to accept additional refugees. Europe needs to meet international responsibility for refugee protection.

But none of this will happen if we don’t fight! Because when we think of what happened in Hanau, we see a society that continues to tolerate racism that is structurally racist and the existence of the AFD, its presence in the german parliament is one of the proofs of it! The AFD is responsible for disseminating hate!

And we ask ourselves how long this will be tolerated? Because those of us who are not white, European, we don’t feel safe in this country! We feel the racism everyday, on the streets, in the institutions, in our personal relationships. That is why we must urgently realise that we need to do much, much more than just condemn racist attacks. We need much, much more than our indignation. We need to use our revolt and fight for our legitimate right to live a life free of violence.

We need a feminism that wants a radical change in the system!