IWA US Statement: Women Fight Fascism! Justice for Renee! Release Chantal!
From Venezuela to Minnesota, from Michigan to the Philippines, Hands off women activists!
IWA US vehemently denounces the state violence that has been inflicted upon the people in just this first week of 2026. Across the world, courageous women are standing at the forefront of peoples' struggles, fighting for their loved ones and communities. However, fascist governments have utilized the most heinous tactics in an attempt to silence and punish the voices of the people.
On January 1 in the Philippines, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) dropped 12 bombs and conducted aerial strafing operations in Barangay Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, an area that is home to majority indigenous Mangyan peoples. This attack has resulted in the massacre of 3 Mangyan-Iraya children, the death of Jerlyn Doydora, a young woman and student researcher, and Chantal Anicoche, a 24 year old Filipino woman and leader from the US, being unaccounted for a week. Chantal was moved by her great compassion for her people to return to the Philippines and learn from the Mangyan communities. She has only recently been surfaced thanks to global pressure, but we join in the calls to release her from AFP custody due to their extensive history of torture and abuse.
In Minnesota, legal observer and 37 year old mother, Renee Nicole Good, was murdered by ICE in cold blood on January 7, 2026. The increased deployment of 2000 ICE agents to Minnesota activated the community to come to the defense of their migrant neighbors. Renee selflessly came to observe and defend her community but was met with the ruthless violence of ICE. Now, the Trump administration is trying to vilify her, but the only people causing terror in the US is coming from ICE and Trump's cronies in the government like Kristi Noem. Her murder has sparked the grassroots movement in Minnesota to respond instantly, including many IWA US members, leading thousands to the streets calling for justice and to kick out ICE from the state.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a 22 year old woman named Jessica Plichta was arrested for in the middle of a live interview on January 3rd. She was at a protest in solidarity with Venezuela, where she condemned Trump's attacks and called to free Maduro. Right after she wrapped up her TV interview, she was swiftly arrested by police on ridiculous charges of "refusing lawful orders" by marching in the streets. She was the only one of the 200 person protest who was arrested.
Following Trump's bombing of Caracas and illegal kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Venezuelan women across the country are rising up to defend their nation's sovereignty and demand the safe return of their leaders. Mothers, grandmothers, daughters and all women are fiercely asserting their rights and justly demanding justice for their people.
The audaciousness of the US government's use of fascism is increasing, but we cannot separate the attacks in the US from the fascism it commits, funds and endorses upon the Global South. The sanctions, war and economic devastation in countries like Venezuela is what fuels their people to migrate to the US - only to be met with kidnappings, violence, detention and deportation. The state repression, surveillance and terror-tagging that they enact on activists in the Philippines is refined and brought back to use against the activists in the US.
This is why now is the time for women, in the US and across all countries, to unite and rise up against these fascist attacks. We have to link arms with our sisters across the world who are fighting for the future. We draw endless inspiration from women like Renee, Chantal, Jessica and the many in Venezuela. We stand and fight for them, because they are also fighting for us.