'If women stop, the world stops': Five questions on feminism in Catalonia

The feminist movement in Catalonia has evolved considerably over the last 12 months.

Encouraged by the success of the inaugural general strike in 2018, which saw hundreds of thousands of women take part in Barcelona alone, and motivated by the openly anti-feminist policies promoted by far-right political parties and campaigns attempting to publicly shame the movement, feminist groups are stepping up the fight against contemporary injustices.

Erendira Leon, a campaigner from Barcelona Women’s March, one of the associations involved in organising the International Women’s Day demonstrations, shares her thoughts.

What is happening in Catalonia today?

Today is the general strike, so women are not attending work, students are not attending class. We have the idea -- and we want to accomplish that idea even more than what we saw last year – that if women stop, actually the world stops.

What was the impact of last year’s strike?

I think it encouraged people to go out and stand up more. I think it encouraged people to take an even stronger stand, politically against capitalism and light feminism, or parties who pretend to sell feminism but are actually encouraging a more liberal view of it.

What characterises feminism in Catalonia?

It's really affected by migrant communities, which is actually something that I admire. It's a really multicultural context, so it's not that anyone is fighting for their own benefit. I think we are fighting now for something that is affecting everyone on different levels...