NECWA RAHIM

Algeria - Feminists, women activists and women’s organizations in MENA region have launched a two-day general strike to protest the recent murders of women across the Middle East. The women in the MENA region called for participation in the two-day general strike (the 6th of July and 7th of July) to demand the end of gender-based violence and femicide.

“This general strike is the first of its kind”

Algerian feminist activist Lina Farah Cheboub told NuJINHA that at least 10 women were killed in Algeria only in June. Speaking about the general strike, she said, “As women’s organizations, activists and human right defenders in Algeria, we decided to launch a campaign in order to support the general strike launched by feminist groups from the [Atlantic] Ocean to the Gulf. The general strike is the first of its kind because it gathers women from Western Sahara, Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, and Tunisia.”

Call for participation in the general strike

Calling on Algerian women to participate in their campaign to protest gender-based violence and the murders of women in the region by not working for two days and holding banners read, “I am on strike” and “Stop murders of women”, Lina Farah Cheboub said, “I call on all women to participate in the general strike to put pressure on the authorities in order to activate laws protecting women, build women’s shelters for victims of gender-based violence and provide psychological support to victims of gender-based violence and their children.”

The “Women's General Strike” movement issued a statement calling on all women, including those in “feminist, legal, civil, and political groups to alert, stand in solidarity, and prepare for a women's strike that transcends borders. We welcome all forms of expressing solidarity from silent vigils, demonstrations, or any other tools and means to highlight the situation for women in the region.”