Women Marching against War and Poverty

by Mike Vizcarra/PNN Community Journalist

There was a brisk chill in the air as I walked towards the Bechtel Corporation building on Beale Street. Armed with my camera, pen and paper I was ready to join the protest against the corporation, which was organized by a global network of women’s organizations. Today, of course, is Saturday, March 9, International Women’s Day and women have been organizing protests here in San Francisco for the past four years on this day.

As I approached the crowd, I was surprised to see the small amount of people who turned up for the protest. A quick scan showed about 60 to 70 people gathered. I have been to protests before but never something this small in scope. I definitely expected more.

When I arrived, Lori, the M.C., was speaking about the long history of crimes that Bechtel, based here in San Francisco, had committed, particularly against Bolivia. In 2000, Bechtel took over the public water system of Bolivia’s third largest city, Cochabamba and within weeks raised rates by as much as 200 percent, far more than what families there could afford. With the average family making the local minimum wage of $60 per month, they were charged up to 25 percent of their monthly income. When Bechtel refused to lower rates, massive citywide protests ensued which prompted the government to declare a state of martial law. Thousands of soldiers and police were deployed and more than a thousand people were injured and one 17 year-old boy was killed.

In November 2001, Bechtel Corporation sued the country of Bolivia, South America’s poorest nation, for $25 million dollars. They are seeking to regain the money they used to invest in the country as well as potential profits they lost. But Bechtel did not invest anything close to $25 million in Bolivia in the few months it operated there. The $25 million Bechtel seeks is what the corporation earns in half a day! Also, in one year in Bolivia, a country where 70 percent of its population is below the poverty line, $25 million can hire 3,000 rural doctors, 12,000 public school teachers, and give access to the public water distribution system for 125,000 Bolivian families.

Rachel West, from Every Mother Is A Working Mother organization, also spoke to the crowd. Every Mother Is A Working Mother is a national organization of women pushing for “caring work” (full-time mothers) to be recognized as a job. Her soft-spoken demeanor did not lesson the impact of her message. She also called for more money for welfare instead of war.

Chandra Redack, from the Global Women’s Strike Committee, sang songs to the crowd. “We want to get women to go on strike,” she says, “It can be anything from protesting to taking a longer lunch break to putting a broom out on your doorstep. Any form of resistance contributes.”

After the protest in front of Bechtel, the crowd continued to the Venezuelan consulate. From there, it was off to City Hall, where more protesters were expected to join, including Women In Black, an international peace network of women dressed in black who stand in silent vigil to protest war, rape as a tool of war, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses all over the world.

As a writer for POOR Magazine, I can empathize with what families in Bolivia are going through. Poor folks have always been exploited; whether if it’s by a corporation or the government or law enforcement or any combination of the above. It does not matter where you live in the world. As Americans, we are sheltered from the global community. We do not see or hear, in the mainstream media, how people are mistreated throughout the world by corporations that carry the “American” tag. It is becoming clear to me that this is a global epidemic, far more than I imagined, than just a local or national issue. Perhaps I was too quick to judge the impact this small crowd would have. Chandra Redack was right, any form of resistance, no matter how small, helps.