In commemoration of International Women's Day this Saturday, March 8, more than a thousand women are expected to rally and march against the war in Los Angeles. They won't be alone, either. Across the nation, NYC women will be converging for a Speak Out and Performance art protest in Washington Square. Put on your walking shoes and join them on the corner of Broadway and Olympic at 10:30 am.

March 2008 will mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. Over 4000 Americans have been killed. Over one million Iraqis have died. A majority of those killed have been women and children. Ironically, the Bush administration used women's rights as one of its justifications for invading Afghanistan and Iraq, yet it is clear that women's rights are being systematically eroded in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Women in Iraq - a country that had some of the most liberal laws in regards to women before the war, are afraid to leave their homes for fear of rape and kidnapping. Women in Afghanistan are still being terrorized and women's rights organizations are still forced to operate underground. For too long the liberation of women has been used to legitimize the war. This International Women's Day, women from all walks of life will meet up to protest the terrible impact of militarization on women and our families.

The first International Women's Day was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives.

By Alyssa lloyd