On March 8, millions of people across the globe will celebrate International Women’s Day. Protests, events and declarations will recognize the contributions of women as leaders of progressive movements past and present and advance our demands for change in the future.

March 8, 2005 will be the 95th year that International Women’s Day has been celebrated worldwide since Clara Zetkin, a German revolutionary, proposed it in 1910. Zetkin was inspired by working women in the United States. In 1908, women, mainly from the garment industry, came together in New York City’s Rutgers Square to demand a strong union in the needle trades and the right to vote. Today, it is a holiday celebrated by working people worldwide.

Maha Nassar, activist, educator, mother and ex-political prisoner, visited the U.S. in a speaking tour to talk about the work that she is doing as chair of the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees. Ms Nassar shares her years of experience working for Palestinian freedom and resistance to the Israeli occupation. She speaks plainly of where the movement has been and where it must go. The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees is one of the most important groups working for social justice in Palestine. In a country where justice is fought for with rocks against armored tanks, words must become weapons and knowledge is power. Read on and learn about the Palestinian struggle from the people who resist.

March 8 is International Women’s Day. It is a day of struggle across the globe, when the battle of women for our own liberation and our contributions to the fight for a better world are put center stage.

March 8 is International Women's Day. It is a day of struggle across the globe, where the battle of women – for our own liberation and our contributions to the fight for a better world – are put at center stage.

Maria Martinez is a working class hero. She emerged from a five-week strike against Iowa Beef Processing (I.B.P.) as the clear leader of the rank and file members of Teamsters Local 556 in eastern Washington. This is true because she fought not only the company, but also old-guard union officials who sought to settle short.

Minneapolis, MN – On August 19, some 60 people gathered at Todos Los Santos Church for “Women on the Frontlines: the First Causalities of War,” an Anti-War Committee forum on the human impact of U.S. policies towards Iraq, Colombia, and Yugoslavia.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees on the passing of Maha Nassar, an important leader of Palestinian women and a member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Pilipino human rights organization KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. A wave of violence, organized by the U.S-backed government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), has been aimed at that country's progressive movement.

Los Angeles, CA – The case of Rosario Muñoz, a victim of domestic violence and of court injustice, has reached a critical point. At a press conference, April 9, the Free Rosario Muñoz Committee announced the denial of the writ of habeas corpus petition by a Superior Court judge – and her pending deportation. She will appeal to a higher court, a process that takes at least six months, but as things stand, she will be deported to Mexico.