International Women’s Day: On Saturday 6th March 2004 I photographed an event in Trafalgar Square to celebrate International Women’s Day which was the following Monday, 8th March.
First celebrated in 1909 by the Socialist Party of America, International Women’s Day was established in 1910 by the Second International following a proposal by Clara Zetkin, although the date only became 8 March in 1913 when peace rallies were held on that day shortly before the First World War. IWD rallies led to the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and Lenin made the day an official “holiday”, although it remained a working day there until 1965. The UN adopted it in 1975 and in 2005 the TUC called for it to be made a UK public holiday.
This year, 2025, the 8th March is a Saturday and there will be an all-women march in London, Million Women Rise, demanding an end to male violence to women and girls, beginning on Oxford Street and marching to a rally in Trafalgar Square. I photographed the first London Million Women Rise in 2008 and have covered the event working from the sidelines most years since.
I had photographed International Women’s Day events in some earlier years, and there are also a few pictures from 2003 on My London Diary, but I think 2004 was the first more extended post. Here with the usual corrections to case and spelling etc is what I wrote in 2004.
Woman’s Court Puts Bush and Blair On Trial
There are various events in London around the start of March connected with International Woman’s Day on the 8 March. In Trafalgar Square on Saturday 6th a Woman’s Court put George Bush and Tony Blair on trial for crimes against women, children and men. The event was a part of the 5th Global Women’s Strike.
Events started with a a short play by a group from Crossroads Women’s Centre in North London highlighting the racist immigration policy of Fortress Europe, typical agit-prop, enlivened as always by some individual performances that relied more on personality than script.
All good fun with the villains being George W Bush and our very own Tony Blair.
Good fun if it wasn’t for the fact that the consequences of the actions of these men and the interests they stand for were felt around the world.
Selma James, widow of C L R James, then opened the trial of Bush and Blair, represented in their absence by large puppets. One of the first witnesses was Elsa T, an Eritrean rape victim whose moving testimony was given us in translation.
Another moving speech came from Jocelyn Hurndall, the mother of Tom Hurndall who was shot by an Israeli soldier while trying to protect children in Palestine. The clothing he was wearing to identify himself as a non-combatant apparently made him into a target.
Other speakers included representatives from the Black Women’s Rape Action project, a Native American woman, a woman soldier, Mrs N from Zimbabwe whose son died in a British prison, and several men including Brian Haw from the 24/7 picket in Parliament Square.
A few more pictures on My London Diary.
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