Feminist against the fascist advance – #8M2025

Every March 8th, International Working Women’s Day, the streets of Paraguay and the world fill with voices demanding equality, justice, and the full recognition of our rights. This day is not a coincidence—it is the result of a process of organization, resistance, and affirmation of our autonomy, as well as our collective work with other feminist organizations and activists. This year, the 8M march was an opportunity not only to demand what is still lacking but also to celebrate and reaffirm everything we have achieved together.

We know that the national and international context is not favorable to our struggle. Everywhere, we see setbacks in our rights and historical gains. But precisely in this scenario, this year’s call to march was a source of pride, inspiration, and resistance. The large participation reflected the diversity of feminist expressions and the presence of many people marching for the first time. It was a reminder that we remain strong, our voices louder than ever, defending what we have achieved and demanding a fairer and more equitable world for all. At TEDIC, as cyborg feminists, we reaffirm our commitment to the feminist struggle, taking it to the streets, the web, and meeting spaces that remind us that feminism is also about joy and community.

Against the fascist advance, feminist articulation

For a month and a half, we participated in the plenary sessions of the feminist articulation in Paraguay, a space we have been part of for over five years. In this space, we collectively define the content of the march’s manifesto, slogans, and other organizational details, ensuring that we can take to the streets to fight for our rights. As TEDIC is an organization that promotes and protects digital rights with a gender-based approach, we always strive to contribute our perspective on online gender violence and the need for new intersectional strategies to address the various forms of discrimination experienced by women and diverse identities, while also listening to and sharing the contributions of all our comrades.

This year, we also collaborated on the design and printing of the march’s official banner and posters distributed to key women leaders within the articulation. These materials were not only present in the streets but also featured in interviews leading up to the march, amplifying our message in the media and other discussion spaces.

8M in the streets: colors, chants, and messages of resistance

The 8M march was marked by diversity and the presence of even more people than in previous years. Entire families, groups of friends, and self-organized women participated. One of our volunteers shared that this was her first march. The atmosphere was filled with solidarity, celebration, and struggle. This year’s slogan, “Trabajadoras juntas y organizadas ñadefende ñande derecho” (Women workers together and organized defend our rights), resonated strongly, reaffirming the collective fight for women’s rights. Despite the intense heat, voices echoed through the historic center of Asunción, demanding structural changes.

TEDIC’s team, now composed entirely of feminist women, was present with fans and posters linked to 8M and our Cyborg Feminist program, shared by our program team and volunteers.

The streets were filled with graffiti, DJs, and artistic expressions, making it a day of struggle but also of joy and hope. Some of the standout signs reflected both the harsh realities of violence and the strength of feminism:

• “65 children left orphaned”
• “If abuse were fire, Paraguay would be in flames”
• “Let shame change sides”
• “A feminist in the family is more uncomfortable than an abuser”
• “If we are the Nazis, why are we the ones dying?”

The day before the march, we shared a mini digital security guide in collaboration with Paro Mujeres Py, offering recommendations to stay safe before, during, and after the march.

At the end of the march, the manifesto read at Plaza de la Democracia denounced the repressive policies and rhetoric promoted by anti-rights groups, as well as the climate crisis affecting rural and Indigenous women, the rights of sex workers, the need for gender equality in positions of power, and the importance of making all forms of violence—including technology-facilitated gender violence—visible, among many other demands. In an adverse political context, 8M remains a reminder that the feminist struggle is urgent and necessary.

Let the joy continue at the Cyborg feminist brunch

We didn’t want the 8M experience to end with the march. That’s why we organized the first Cyborg Feminist Brunch at Café de la Sierra—a space for reconnecting, continuing conversations, imagining, and reflecting on how we engage with and reclaim technology from a feminist perspective.

With 54 attendees, TEDIC’s program team, and two volunteers, the event gathered allies, activists, representatives from international cooperation organizations, state institutions, and members of our community, including:

• Juan Carlos Yuste and Adriana Lugo from Diakonia
• Madalena Masucci from the European Union
• Yeny Villalba from Amnesty International
• Silvia López Safi, Director of the Gender Secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice
• Sabrina Muñoz from Kuña Sorora
• Dante Leguizamón from Codehupy
• Sonia Cardozo from Kuña Tech
• Viviana Valdez and Gracia Gómez from the Cultural Center of Spain Juan de Salazar
• Cony Oviedo from Conamuri
• Noelia Díaz from Emancipa
• Natu Fer from the Feminist Legal Clinic
• María Paz Ferrara from Psicofem

The brunch also served as the platform to present the research “Feminisms and Technologies”, conducted by Jazmín Sánchez, Verónica Villalba, and Montserrat Fois from the Paraguayan Association of Feminist Researchers. Additionally, we relaunched the Cyborg Feminist website with more content and resources by authors such as Jessica Pereira, Jazmín Ruíz Díaz, and Maricarmen Sequera, and updated the website “Digital Violence is Real” with a systematization of our research on technology-facilitated gender violence. To share these new resources with our community, we designed Cyborg Feminist fans and stickers, reinforcing our vision of reclaiming and occupying the Internet through feminism, which we distributed to attendees.

The impact of the Cyborg Feminist Brunch, based on the testimonies of attendees, made it clear that these spaces are deeply needed and reaffirm our goal of gender equality. We learned, shared, reflected, and strengthened each other—across our organizations, our activism, and our lived experiences. Sometimes, creating spaces that encourage questioning and spark future reflections is invaluable in advancing the promotion and protection of rights.

Paraguayan feminisms cross borders

As part of our feminist advocacy, we have also strengthened our actions on the international stage. In January, we collaborated on the thematic report “Freedom of Expression and Elections in the Digital Age” by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, addressing the issue of technology-facilitated gender violence in electoral contexts. In this contribution, we updated the current context of violence faced by women politicians in Paraguay and other Latin American countries.

In February, we submitted our input to the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council on technology-facilitated gender violence. The purpose of this committee is to conduct a study on the impact of such violence on women and girls, as well as on best practices worldwide to combat gender-based violence that occurs through or is amplified by technology. The committee will also provide recommendations on how to address this issue during the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council. In March, we contributed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) report on artificial intelligence and women’s rights during its 192nd session. We also submitted our report to the IACHR on women’s access to justice in cases of violence and discrimination.

Finally, Pamela Peralta, Gender and Technology Coordinator at TEDIC, represented the organization at CSW69 in New York, participating in panels and strengthening global feminist networks. The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the world’s leading intergovernmental body dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality, women’s rights, and empowerment. During its annual two-week session, representatives from UN member states, civil society organizations, and international entities meet to assess progress and challenges in implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action— a key global policy document on gender equality, which marks its 30th anniversary this year.

Our participation began on March 6 and 7 at the third global symposium on technology-facilitated gender violence, where TEDIC is part of the advisory group, organized by UNFPA, APC, and Global Affairs Canada. Additionally, we participated in ten parallel events organized by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York (CSW/NY), covering topics such as digital inclusion, gender justice in platform economies, and collective care strategies for feminist activism. We also collaborated on the CIVICUS CSW69 survey and discussions on public policies and women’s labor rights.

Without a doubt, difficult times test and strengthen our unity and resistance as feminists. At TEDIC, we continue working with feminist allies in Paraguay and across the region because feminism is movement, justice, and, above all, community. Let’s keep raising our voices and weaving networks until all of us can live safe, autonomous, and free—both online and offline.