To vote or not to vote: feminism and 29-N

We are in an extremely delicate political moment and, unfortunately, there are many voting options that tend more towards revenge, to punishing those who have not done what we expected of them, rather than towards adherence to an exciting project that we feel represented by. I hear, around me, many opinions that go in this direction, and especially those of many feminist women, who for many years have voted for left-wing parties and now, angry, tell me that they will not go to vote. The left has disappointed them in many aspects and, therefore, this time they do not want to support them.

In the current situation, this worries me, and a lot. In recent years, the various left-wing parties, both in Catalonia and in Spain, have been very wrong with feminism. Above all for one reason: they have contributed to dividing this movement, to allowing even violent clashes between its various factions. And they have played in favor of a trend that not only distorted women's struggle, but also proposed erasing the very name of "woman" and replacing it with nonsense like "those who menstruate" and similar absurdities. A trend that did not originate in these parties but that has managed to infiltrate them, with the results of conflict and fragmentation that we know.

This is not the moment to discuss here the circumstances that have brought this about, linked, in any case, to a deeper wave: the elimination of genders, as molds socially imposed on people according to their sex; molds that corresponded to the needs of the past and that currently no longer make any sense and are oppressive and destructive. But now it is not a matter of analyzing the evolution of genders, but of seeing under what conditions the struggle for equality can continue and the construction of a society in which women, as well as men, are free to choose their way of life, whatever their sex, which is what feminism has always proposed. And, as we know, the far-right wave that is spreading across the world, and which also threatens our country, has deeply misogynistic roots, it wants to impose once again the law of the strongest and the oldest gender models: men to lead, to compete, to decide, to wage war; women to be silent, to serve them and to obey. It sounds very much like another time, doesn't it? Well, unfortunately, that is what is intended: to eliminate all the rights that we women have been achieving with such difficulty over the last few years, and to redefine once again an androcentric and patriarchal world in the strongest sense of the term. A step backward in the progress of civilization that we women have always promoted through empathy and collaboration.

We already have terrible examples everywhere of the situation of women: Iran, Afghanistan and many others. We never thought that in our own country one could aspire to a step backward of this level. But one only needs to hear the statements of the far-right, the denial of gender-based violence, when so many women and children die each year at the hands of those who claimed to love them; one only needs to know what is happening in the autonomous communities where Vox is already imposing the elimination of programs destined for women to understand what kind of future is being prepared. Because at this moment when so many boys and young men attribute their economic and work difficulties to feminism, thinking that we have taken their place, this anti-feminism is being one of the most powerful levers to strengthen the vote for the right and the far-right. So that, if they manage to govern, Vox and the PP will celebrate the annulment of our rights and freedoms, and will repress with blows all attempts to maintain them. In this area and in so many others that are fundamental for democracy.

Colleagues, it is our responsibility to preserve, for the new generations, all the advances achieved, to prevent each new generation from having to restart the struggle from scratch, as those of us born during the Franco regime had to do. To continue advancing towards equality in the broadest sense of the word, towards the fullness of our being in the world, towards the capacity to decide what we are and what we want to be, we must preserve democracy, leaving behind the mistakes, the oversights, and even the offenses that we have experienced in recent years from some left-wing parties. I will not tell you to vote for this one or the other: that is for each of you to decide; none of you will support those who threaten us, I know that. But do not stay at home, I beg you. Go vote on November 29th, to preserve everything we have achieved and to maintain a democratic society in which it is possible to continue advancing in equality, in freedom, in the care of people, in the eradication of sexist violence, in our rights, and in our dignity as women.