Why International Women’s Day Matters More Than Ever: A Call to Liberation

International Women’s Day (IWD) transcends mere celebration; it is a global imperative for justice, equality, and collective liberation. In a world where systemic oppression, economic disparities, and environmental degradation disproportionately impact women, girls, and gender-diverse communities, IWD stands as a testament to the enduring strength and triumphs of feminist movements.

For Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTIQAN+ people, the pursuit of justice is inextricably linked to the preservation of ancestral lands, the defense of environmental integrity, and the attainment of economic self-determination. They navigate intersecting layers of oppression—patriarchy, the enduring legacy of colonialism, militarization, and the exploitative forces of capitalism—demanding not only resistance but also the cultivation of profound empowerment and transnational solidarity.

In 2025, Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation is honored to host International Women’s Day in Ban Nong Khi Su Nai, Bo Kaeo, Samoeng, Chiang Mai, where Indigenous women and LGBTIQAN+ leaders will converge to share stories of empowerment, strategize for liberation, and advocate for justice.

Development Justice: Catalyzing Liberation Through Feminist Action

Since 2005, Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation has been a steadfast, feminist, community-driven organization dedicated to advancing human rights, gender justice, and Indigenous sovereignty. We empower women, girls, and LGBTIQAN+ youth from Indigenous communities along the Thai-Myanmar border, particularly in Mae Hong Son, Tak, and Chiang Mai in order to advance “Development Justice”, therefore our work is rooted in intersectional feminism, participatory action, and collective empowerment, focusing on:

• Fostering Knowledge and Empowerment: Feminist and Human Rights Education, advancing knowledge on human rights, digital rights, and feminist strategies.
• Building Community-Driven Solutions: Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR), creating knowledge that challenges oppression and builds community power.
• Strengthening Economic Self-Determination: Economic Justice & Empowerment, creating pathways for sustainable livelihoods and economic independence.
• Transforming Structures and Cultivating Inclusion: Gender and Social Justice, dismantling oppressive systems and fostering inclusive movements.

Through these initiatives, we amplify marginalized voices, dismantle systems of power, and co-create spaces of justice and liberation.

Indigenous Communities Forging Liberation in the Face of Adversity

The Indigenous community included (1)  Ban Nong Khi Su Nai, Bo Kaeo, Samoeng, Chiang Mai, (2) Ban Mae Sam Laep, Sobmoei, Maehonson, and (3) Ban Mae Omki, Tha Song Yang, Tak have long been at the forefront of struggles due to complexities challenge included:

• Systemic Land Rights Violations Against Indigenous Communities in Thailand In Thailand, Indigenous communities face increasing land rights violations due to the government’s expansion of national parks and conservation areas under laws such as the National Parks Act and the National Reserved Forest Act. These policies, often framed as environmental conservation, criminalize Indigenous land tenure systems and forcibly displace communities from their ancestral territories. As a result, Indigenous peoples are denied access to their traditional livelihoods, sustainable agricultural practices, and the ability to maintain their cultural heritage.
  
  One striking example is Baan Mae Sam Laep in Mae Hong Son, located within Salawin National Park. The community has been completely restricted from planting rice or gathering food from the forest, pushing them into extreme food insecurity and hunger. Indigenous people, who have lived in harmony with their land for generations, are now being deprived of their most basic survival rights.
  
  Similarly, in Mae Omki, Tak Province, the enforcement of the National Reserved Forest Act has severely restricted Indigenous land use. The government’s policies have forced the community to abandon their centuries-old rotational farming practices—a sustainable agricultural method that preserves soil fertility—and instead shift to monocrop agriculture. This transition has trapped them in cycles of chemical dependency, eroded their food sovereignty, and led to the loss of traditional seed-saving practices, further increasing economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
  
  The situation in Nong Khi Su Nai, Chiang Mai, reflects similar patterns of forced agricultural shifts and environmental degradation. With no rotational farming allowed, the excessive use of chemicals has devastated both the health of the community and the local ecosystem. Long-term exposure to agrochemicals has resulted in health, and reproductive health crises, while contaminated water and soil continue to fuel an environmental crisis.
  
  These cases illustrate how Indigenous communities across Thailand are being systematically denied their land rights under the guise of conservation. In reality, these policies push Indigenous peoples into economic precarity, food insecurity, and environmental collapse. Rather than recognizing and supporting Indigenous ecological knowledge, the government’s restrictions on rotational farming and traditional land management have fueled both social and environmental crises.

• Systemic oppression against Indigenous communities, particularly women and LGBTIQAN+, is deeply rooted in colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalist exploitation. Indigenous women and LBQT+ people face land dispossession, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, and gender-based violence, all reinforced by state policies, corporate extraction, and cultural erasure. They are denied self-determination, access to justice, and basic services, while their knowledge and leadership are often ignored. 

• Decades of Environmental Devastation caused by over 60 years of mining operations
  
  Indigenous women bear the brunt of these hardships. For over 30 years, monoculture farming has replaced traditional agriculture, leading to food insecurity, loss of native seeds, and deepening economic vulnerability. Women are overburdened with unpaid care work, carrying the weight of household debt, mental health challenges, and gender-based oppression.

Bringing International Women’s Day 2025 to indigenous community - Ban Nong Khi Su Nai is an act of solidarity, empowerment-building, and movement-strengthening—a direct challenge to the systems that seek to undermine Indigenous communities and silence feminist voices.

Economic Justice in Action: Indigenous-Led Businesses

Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation's Economic Justice Program empowers Indigenous women and LGBTIQAN+ to create sustainable livelihoods:

• Salawin: Empowering Indigenous women and LGBTQ through traditional textiles crafted with natural dyes. Originating from Mae Samlaep, Sob Moei District, Mae Hong Son, this initiative addresses the challenges faced by a stateless community impacted by armed conflict and environmental threats from the Salween Dam project if it is built. A Youth Co-lab 2020 award winner, Salawin exemplifies innovation, gender equality, and cultural preservation.
• Naw Se La: Empowering Indigenous women and LGBTQ through eco-friendly products made with natural eco-printing techniques. From Ban Nong Khi Su Nai, this initiative responds to the devastating impacts of the mining industry
• Nor Om-Ki: Empowering Indigenous women and LGBTQ through natural-dyed products from Ban Mae Om-Ki, Tha Song Yang District, Tak. This initiative addresses discrimination and restrictions imposed by the National Reserved Forest Act, as well as the threat of the Yuam/Salween Water Diversion Project.

International Women’s Day 2025: A Program of Empowerment and Liberation

Day 1: March 7, 2025 – Voices of Empowerment and Liberation

• Panel Discussion: Cultivating Economic Empowerment – Women and LGBTIQAN+ communities leading the way to economic Justice
• Panel Discussion: Building Environmental Justice – How young women and LBQT+ use a Feminist Participatory Action Research to advance environmental justice. 
• One Billion Rising Dance – A global movement against gender-based violence.
• Reading a Call to Action & Closing Ceremony – Strengthening our collective vision for justice and liberation.

Day 2: March 8, 2025 – The Village Trail: A Run for Enviromental Justice 

Trail running is a practice of liberation. It is a reclaiming of space, a reconnection to nature, and a healing practice for bodies and communities impacted by systemic violence.

Building on the success of our Zero Edition in Thiyapue, Sobmoei, Mae Hong Son, The Village Trail: First Edition will take place in Ban Nong Khi Su Nai. 

This IWD and trail running event by and for Indigenous women, children, and LGBTIQAN+ is organized in collaboration with:

• Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation - An Ethnic minority and/or Indigenous LBQT+ feminist led organization 
• Chiang Mai Frontrunners – An LGBTIQAN+ trail running and walking community.
• V-Day Thailand – A global movement to end gender-based violence.
• Supported by Partners Asia, Foundation for a Just Society, and V-Day.

The Village Trail: Running for Liberation, Guided by Feminist Principles

The Village Trail is guided by feminist and decolonial principles:

1. By and for Women, Children, and People with Diverse SOGIESC – Centering those most marginalized.
2. Participatory & Community-Led – Shifting power to local leadership.
3. Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) – Honoring Indigenous self-determination.
4. Land, Water, and Indigenous Rights Protection – Defending against extraction and displacement.
5. Climate & Environmental Justice – Uplifting ecofeminist liberation is a key focus of The Village Trail. By addressing the intersections of gender and environmental issues, the initiative advocates for climate justice that recognizes the disproportionate impact of environmental degradation on marginalized communities.
6. Gender & Social Justice – Fighting patriarchy and structural gender-based violence.
7. Economic Justice & Alternative Models – Challenging systemic inequality and supporting feminist, community-led businesses.
8. Collective Care & Safety Over Competition – Running together, not against each other.
9. Holistic Well-being – Prioritizing collective care, healing and empowerment.
10. Zero Tolerance for Sexual Harassment – A race free from gender-based violence.

Join the Movement: A Call to Build Liberation Together

International Women’s Day is not just a moment—it is a movement. Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation and our partners call on you to take action:

• Demand Legal Recognition for Indigenous Peoples – Uphold the rights, dignity, and self-governance of Indigenous communities.
• End Discriminatory Conservation Laws – Advocate for policies that respect Indigenous land rights and protect communities from forced displacement.
• Amplify Indigenous Voices – Demand justice and support liberation for Indigenous women and LGBTIQAN+ communities.
• Support Economic Empowerment – Invest in feminist and Indigenous-led economies.
• Defend Environmental Justice – Resist extractivism, deforestation, and land grabs that threaten Indigenous lands and livelihoods.
• Champion Gender and SOGIESC Justice – Build a world where all women and gender-diverse people thrive.

We are not just demanding change—we are creating it through Development Justice. Together, we can forge a future where our indigenous communities reclaim our rights, our lands, and our destinies.

Join us. Stand with us. Build liberation and development justice 

To those who are interred about The Village Trail First Edition, please check this link : https://youtu.be/tMtTF9LU0Zg and for The Village Trail Zero Edition can be found here: https://youtu.be/NY0OUR1TI1M