User:Contrerasbri/Ni una menos

Mexico

Historically, Mexico has been a country with one the highest femicide rates in Latin America. From the years 2015-2021, Mexico had a 135% increase of femicide, going from 427 victims to a little above 1,000 victims. In Mexico, the Ni Una Menos movement has been observed to be prevalent and active. While there have been many street demonstrations following the Ni Una Menos movement in Mexico, there was a bigger nationwide strike and Ni Una Menos protest on March 9, 2020. This protest consisted of women only staying home, meaning women didn’t go to school, work, or any public place. This nationwide strike was carried out due to the lack of government involvement and cooperation to address and handle femicide, domestic violence, and other issues. Albeit, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ni Una Menos demonstrations or organizing were deterred, and femicide cases during the pandemic continued to increase. However, recently, a few efforts have been seen by the Mexican government to address some of these concerns. For example, there is a prosecutor’s office that is dedicated to gender crimes, including femicides. Nevertheless, femicide is still an ongoing issue and a tragic reality for many women in Mexico, and other countries across Latin America.

Puerto Rico

In 2018, Puerto Rico reported high rates of femicide, with an estimated femicide per week on average. In 2020, Puerto Rico reported 60 femicide cases. Moreover, Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency against gender-based violence and femicide in January 2021. Despite declaring a state of emergency against gender-based violence, femicide rates continued. Within the same year, the news of the killings of two femicide cases in Puerto Rico was widespread and as a result, they received a lot of national attention and a big turnout for the Ni Una Menos demonstration on May 2, 2021. These cases were the cases of Andrea Ruiz Costas and Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz. Andrea Ruiz Costas was killed by her abusive ex-boyfriend in April 2021, after the court rejected the protection order she filed against him. Days later, on May 1st, the body of Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz was found in the San Jose Lagoon, located next to the San Juan’s Teodoro Moscoso Bridge, where the demonstration took place. Keishla was pregnant when her famous boxer boyfriend, Felix Verdejo, killed her. As a result, activists and other Puerto Rican civilians took to the San Juan Teodoro Moscoso Bridge to protest against femicide and to call for justice for these victims. Hundreds of people showed up to the demonstration and shut down the bridge, stopping traffic and usage of the bridge. Protestors had signs with “Ni Una Menos” written on them and cars that blocked the lanes with the same phrase written on them. These protestors advocated for and preached the slogan, aligning themselves with the movement, as they were calling for an end to gender-based violence and femicide.

The Impact of the Ni Una Menos Movement Within Other Movements

The Green Tide

While the Ni Una Menos movement is broader and extensive, this movement has inspired and has been incorporated or infused within other movements. This is seen in the Green Tide movement. The Green Tide movement refers to the movement in Latin America that fights for reproductive justice such as the legalization of abortion, which is heavily promoted through the usage of green bandanas or green scarves. The green bandanas were originally a symbol that represented the right to legalized abortions used by the National Campaign for Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion. This campaign is a campaign from Argentina that presented a bill in 2003, calling for the legalization of abortion, however, they had no luck in passing it. While the symbol and representation behind the green scarf were first started by the National Campaign for Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion, the Ni Una Menos movement is what popularized it and spread the symbol across Latin America. Many Ni Una Menos protests and demonstrations in Latin America are accompanied by green bandanas/ scarves. Along with these green pañuelos or bandanas, were many chants, such as the chant “Las ricas abortan, las pobres mueren”, meaning the rich women abort, while the poor women die, highlighting the injustices and disproportionate inequalities that affect poor women due to the inaccessibility to a legal abortion. Although the Ni Una Menos movement’s prime objective is to fight against femicide and domestic abuse, general women’s rights such as the right to an abortion were heavily integrated into the movement. With many Ni Una Menos protests accompanied by the green scarves and the green movement, on December 30, 2020, abortion of up to 14 weeks of pregnancy was legalized in Argentina, the heart and origin of the movement. The presence of the Green Tide due to the Ni Una Menos movement was seen in many Latin American countries, such as Mexico, and as a result, curated law changes in favor of the movement's ideals. In September 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court declared that abortions would no longer be criminalized. Furthermore, every year on September 28, International Safe Abortion Day, and March 8, International Women’s Day, cities across Latin America become visually green, as they are filled with green pañuelos and green bandana demonstrations, showing the impact of the green tide that was preached by the Ni Una Menos movement.

Justicia para Nuestras Hijas

Another movement that incorporates Ni Una Menos values is the organization, Justicia para Nuestras Hijas, or Justice for Our Daughters. Justicia para Nuestras Hijas is an activist group that advocates for the rights and justice of femicide victims in Chihuahua, Mexico. This group is made up of family members and activists who seek justice for their daughters and want an end to femicide in Mexico. Due to the lack of proper investigation and government negligence, this organization conducts its own investigations to acquire justice for femicide victims or missing women. When there are public demonstrations or protests on the streets by this group, they carry a pink cross as their symbol. On this pink cross is the phrase “Ni Una Menos”. This group carries on the message and incorporates the values of the Ni Unas Menos movement as the movement fights against femicide.

Diversity

The Ni Una Menos has been a welcoming movement that has created a safe space for people of many different intersectionalities. The movement's diversity encourages younger generations to join the movement regardless of their backgrounds and identities. The movement's diversity also plays into part in why it has been successful and why it has been so widespread across Latin America. The inclusion and welcoming of Black, indigenous, trans, and queer women has allowed the movement to gain a lot of support and followers. The movement is not limited to one identity or one certain woman but instead accounts for many women and the many intersectionalities that encompass Latin America. While other movements such as the #MeToo movement are critiqued by feminist scholars, such as Angela Davis, for the lack of inclusion and taking into account structural issues such as race, the Ni Una Menos movement acknowledges structural issues such as race and gender in society. By using intersectional feminism, the Ni Una Menos movement is able to address issues affecting women with a broader perspective and can connect issues such as femicide to other gender and racial issues prevalent in society.

The Queer Community

While it is not exactly clear where the Ni Una Menos collective stands with queer rights, queer issues, and other related issues, the Ni Una Menos is known to be an intersectional and welcoming movement where the LGBTQ+ community is embraced and active in Ni Una Menos demonstrations, aligning themselves with an LGBTQ+ rights agenda. For example, in 2018, the Ni Una Menos movement organized a global stance against patriarchy that was called the “Orgasmarathon”. This event was an international and global orgasm that intended to include and preach for the necessities and aspirations of feminists and the LGBTQ+ community. This event was spread on social media to reach international participation, where women from wherever they were located, were encouraged to engage in self-pleasure and be a part of what was explained to be a “sexual revolution” by the Ni Una Menos collective, whilst embracing different sexualities and identities within the broader Ni Una Menos movement. This event occurred on the same day as the 2018 International Women’s Strike, on March 8 at midnight.