Last Saturday, a group of protesters including veterans of Occupy Richmond gathered peacefully on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol to protest the state's latest assault on women's rights. They were surrounded by riot police and dragged away under the guns of a SWAT team armed with automatic weapons - a startling reminder that the "War on Women" is not simply empty rhetoric.

Across the United States, women's rights are under attack. In a desperate ploy to distract public attention from the growing divide between rich and poor, agents of the 1% in government and media are crusading with fresh fervor against abortion, birth control, and gay marriage. By launching a renewed culture war on women, LGBT people, and other vulnerable communities, they hope to divide the 99%.

We will not be divided. Occupy Wall Street stands in solidarity with women and all oppressed people targeted by government control and economic violence.

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day. International Women’s Day has been rooted in the struggle for economic justice, growing out of local demonstrations by women workers demanding shorter hours, better pay, voting rights, and an end to discrimination. Thousands of events will be taking place across the globe. Occupations in cities and towns across the world are marking the event with a variety of events, from discussions on women, capitalism, and the state to marches for reproductive justice and against cuts to public school and transportation funding.

In the United States and across the globe, women, transgender people, and gender non-conforming people still face a host of barriers that make survival in this economy even more difficult. Women make up 51 percent of the world’s population but 70 percent of the world’s poor. They perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own less than 1 percent of the world’s property. Women and trans people suffer disproportionately under a system of economic inequality, and are also at the front lines of social justice struggles.

Women Occupy has called on the Occupy movement to rise up and occupy Bank of America in support of women-led campaigns to stop its ecological and economic violence. The policies and actions of BoA, such as racist predatory lending, investment in environmentally destructive practices like mountaintop removal, and the foreclosure crisis all disproportionately impact women and trans people. It's time to fight back against Bank of America and the patriarchal economic system it represents! For more information on why women and allies are targeting Bank of America, or to get involved, see Women Occupy's Resources for International Women's Day:

This International Women’s Day, Women Occupy calls on women across the globe to rise up against the big banks that have caused the current economic crisis. Women Occupy is a coalition of activists who are joining forces to coordinate powerful actions across the Occupy movement, starting with International Women’s Day. In the United States we are supporting collective efforts initiated by Occupy activists, particularly the women-led campaigns of Public Citizen and Rainforest Action Network, to hold Bank of America – the biggest of the big banks – accountable for the predatory economic policies that are destroying our families and communities.

In New York, the International Women's Day march will begin at Liberty Square at 1pm this Saturday (March 10th)! via CodePink:

This is in observation of International Women’s Day Celebration. We will be marching up Broadway to Union Square. We are doing it on Saturday so all hard working women, stay at home moms and unemployed and all self identified women can join us. This is a celebration of women globally and for what women have fought for. Bring your voices, your signs, your music whatever makes you happy. We are a powerful force. We can change the world. Women have the power to stop war, end corruption in our governments and economic systems. We will continue to fight for equal rights and our right to our bodies. History has proven that women get it done so lets all unite and celebrate what we have fought for and cherish. Let us unite and have our voices heard! This celebration includes all self identified women!

Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot leading mass protests against Vladimir Putin and election fraud. Band members have been arrested during protests related to International Women's Day and are currently being held by the Russian regime, where two are on hunger strike.