Using google maps to create awareness

One of the Mexican human rights defenders and feminists, Maria Salguero, created an interactive map of femicides in 2016. She started the project of mapping out and documenting all the femicides in the country, including date, the names of the victims and information concerning the different cases. The map is to this day operative, still collecting data and adding the information available of women that had their lives taken for being women. The image of crosses symbolizing the murdered women completely covering the map and multiplying the closer you zoom in, is hard to forget. Maria says in an interview with EL País; that the two resent most discussed cases in the media; the femicides of Fátima Aldrgihett (7 years old) and Ingrid Escamilla (25 years old), are proof of the processes of impunity in the investigation of these murders. “Depending on the administration, several femicides are erased at a stroke,” says the activist. In recent days, the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero, proposed modifying the criminalization of the crime of feminicide to adressing the femicides as homicides. “The prosecutor does not understand that it is a very serious situation and that the recommendations of the Cedaw [of the United Nations] have to be applied,” she says.

The national strike will be executed online

So what is the point of carrying out a strike? To put the spotlight on the tsunami of femicides and gender violence and to demand solutions is of course one of them, but there is more to it than that. It is about creating a crack in a system that is ultimately killing women, to make visible structures that oppress and that are covered up. It is a way of creating solidarity between women of different backgrounds and classes and to confront the stereotypical ideas of how a woman should be, act and think. Women’s invaluable contribution to society will also become very clear to both individuals and all sectors of the country; be it social, business, governmental or any other. Imagine the void of not having more than half the country’s population in the streets, the shops, the restaurants, schools, hospitals or police offices to mention a few; that’s what the strike is trying to make visible.

Tomorrow, the national strike starts and many from other parts of the world wonder how they can participate and show solidarity with the women striking. Here’s a solution: Don’t log into your social media! Spend a whole day without checking in on your accounts. The feminist and women’s movements have decided to boycott social media, since this is “one of the most lucrative extractive businesses in the world”. On the poster shared all over through different activist networks it says: “Every click, every word, every image we generate, translates into money: let’s stop an unpaid job in which we participate daily.” “Let’s stop extracting our lives for one day, our total absence in the social media represents concrete economic losses.” If you read our posts on Social Media and Big Data, you now know that data is the new gold that all the cooperations are mining for. It is also an interesting topic to look at from a feminist perspective, to address the unpaid labor that often is related to gender issues (child care and domestic work for example). This virtual strike also works as an alternative for the women that for different work related reasons are not able to join the strike “IRL”.

#9M

So if you want to show your support to the women striking on the 9th om March and take a stand against femicides and gender violence, here is what you do; post #9M today, stating your solidarity with the movement and that you won’t even make one click on the 9th. Not on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Tic Toc, Spotify, Netflix, Google, Youtube or any other platform.

Not one less! #NiUnaMenos