Today and every day, we reject all forms of gender-based violence and we go one step further in our commitment to eradicate this breach of the Human Rights of women.

Once again we firmly denounce the violence suffered by women which shows itself in so many ways as a consequence, and at the same time, as an instrument of the inequality between women and men, as well as through the domination that exists in our patriarchal society.

We are talking violences against women here, in the plural, because sexual violence, economic violence, symbolic violence, vicarious violence, and all the discrimination suffered by women just because they are women, are all violence against women. There is no differentiation between ages, social classes, backgrounds, or any other social structures. Altogether, patriarchy is a discriminatory system that affects society as a whole. The constant trickle of murders is just the tip of the iceberg of a structural problem in our society. This year there have been 22 femicides in the Catalan-speaking Countries, not forgetting the family femicides and gender violence-motivated child murders.

2021 has been a different year, and we have had to combine different contexts with the new way we live. This situation has not meant a reduction in violence against women. They have remained invisible and on the rise. Lockdown in 2020 turned homes into unsafe spaces where women were forced to live with their abusers. In 2021, we have gradually recovered mobility and public space, and along with that, cases have come to light that had been hidden because we had no control over them, in which the aggressors had maintained them out of sight during the confinement.

The socio-economic basis of our society must change, putting an end to patriarchy and placing life and caring at the heart. And that is why we want a state built on a feminist basis, prioritizing the end of violence against women, and not just the most visible cases, such as murder and rape, but also the daily violence that goes unnoticed and is more difficult to defeat but that legitimizes and reinforces a discriminatory system. A Catalan Republic with public policies aimed at prevention, focusing on affective-sexual education that generates new ways of relating with one another, and a Catalan Republic with a strong legal system that applies justice with a gender perspective. The figures tell us that almost 82% of gender-based violence goes unreported, mainly because the victims do not trust the judicial system, and because they are afraid of possible retaliation by the aggressor. In the face of this situation, the only answer is to apply a feminist perspective to justice and to all policy.

Getting both citizens and public institutions involved as agents of transformation is the only way to reach our feminist goals and to guarantee women’s rights. We want a society of free men and women where violence against women is in no way legitimized, but condemned and rejected. Because women want to be alive and be free.