Banner action in Machala
The banner strikes again! This time, the banner was flown from the municipal building of the coastal city of Machala. The action, which took place in the central plaza of the city, was accompanied by an awareness action in which a woman dressed as Death raised awareness about the realities of unsafe abortion.
On Friday, June 27th, the press had gathered around a woman dressed as Death standing next to a coffin of a supposed victim of unsafe abortion and a banner reading "Not of the State, Not of the Church, My Body is Mine". That seemed to be enough to raise a fuss and get the tv, radio, and newspaper crews to show up, but just as the press gathered around the woman, the huge banner announcing the hotline was unfurled from the balcony of the municpal building just accross the street! This gave the perfect opportuinity to announce the hotline to the Machala press. Among the onlookers, a lively debate ensued as well. The banner was then brought from the balcony and laid out on the plaza, and flyers were passed out to the crowd gathered around. The interest from the press and the articles that followed were very positive.
Machala is a medium sized costal city in the banana producing region of El Oro, and has an extremely conservative mayor. The mayor had a rough day, starting with the banner hanging from the municipal building, and continuing that afternoon with the 2nd annual Machala GLBT Pride parade. A group of local and international pro-choice activists and members of the Women's Movement of El Oro showed up to support the parade and flyer for the hotline. Although the parade had a permit, the mayor ordered police to block it parade from leaving, but the people walked around the police barricade and started the parade anyway, and due to the public support the parade was allowed to continue (the mayor tried, and failed, to stop last year's parade in the same manner). Interestingly, the opinions of the mayor do not seem to reflect the opinions of the town's residents.
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