A Colorful International Women's Day In Santa Cruz

The 100th anniversary of International Women's Day was celebrated in Santa Cruz by young women who have energy for the fight and by those for whom this day is one more in a decades-long struggle toward women's rights.

Across the U.S. and around the world, "Join Me On The Bridge" was celebrated Tuesday from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Golden Gate to the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo.

The day was commemorated for the first time in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, after it was created during the Socialist International meeting the prior year. More than 1 million women and men attended rallies on that first commemoration.

It was celebrated in Santa Cruz a century later at the Water Street Bridge by about 150 locals who did not hesitate when asked why they were there.

“The powerful image of building bridges is natural for women, who stretch, flex and bend, filling in wherever needed,” said artist Karen Card.

Tane Tachyon said, “I'm here to observe the anniversary in Santa Cruz where women have fought all this time. It's a cliché, but we are honoring the people who have gone before, and we keep on working.”

Yoga teacher Path Star said, “Women really are bridges to peace. It's our time for recognition and reunion with our goddess nature.”

Activist Sherry Conable was in costume and carried a flower-bedecked peace symbol on a long pole. She was thoughtful about why she went to the trouble.

“In this moment, I am drawn to the idea of meeting on bridges, finding common ground," she said. "Meeting on bridges is a good metaphor for our hope of peace.”

Annie Kelley, carrying a flag of Earth seen from space, agreed.

“We are all connected and have common needs," she said. "The image of bridges means bridging apparent differences, which turn out to be just names or labels that people fight over.”

Dressed colorfully, Conable said that womens' strength lies in what they have in common.

"Children are a natural bridge, because everyone wants their kids to have good food, health, education and grow up to be the best they can be," she said. "A Pat Humphries song comes to mind: 'In our daughters and our sons, We are One, We are One,.”

Melissa Bernstein and daughter, Luna, marched with a sign proclaiming, “Women—52% Minority.”

Miriam Janove distributed fliers about SCCCCOR, an improbable acronym of the local Coalition to Overcome Racism and its upcoming Community Organizing Training on Saturday.

Attendees walked without incident from the Water Street Bridge to the Town Clock at Front and Water streets. A police dispatcher from Monterey was on hand to help with crowd safety. Mark Ariano said he has volunteered for Pride parades and other community events, with a good sense of humor that kept people moving easily.

At the Town Clock, impassioned speakers took on every women's issue from sexuality to equal pay.

The Raging Grannies sang, “It's time to vote for CEDAW!” while Jane Doyle of Santa Cruz Women's International League for Peace and Freedom distributed cards for marchers to sign. The cards will be sent to Sen. John Kerry, imploring him to ratify the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). “The U.S. is the only democracy that has not ratified this covenant,” said the petition.

The fight over labor rights that has reached a boiling point in Wisconsin was a theme at the town clock, and one speaker declared that working people are attacked through their unions. It was said that 30 states are bringing forward anti-labor laws, a threat to women and minority workers. The speaker's statistics showed parity between union wages for women and men.

Women in transition back to work and family after incarceration were introduced by Cynthia Chase, director of the Gemma program. “I'm no longer a victim of abuse," a Gemma graduate stated with pride. She underscored new-found freedom by ending with, "I am no longer an abused woman," to great applause.

Ekua Omosupe, professor of English at Cabrillo College, read a poem that consisted of a comprehensive list of crimes against women past and present.

In a penetrating but measured contralto that could be heard a block away, Omosupe protested against incest, slavery, witch-burning, poverty, sexual oppression, addiction and the many other forms of suffering women endure. The length and impassioned delivery of the poem allowed no listener to escape from the conclusion: Crimes against women must stop.