One Billion Rising for Justice February 14, 2014

This past February 14, 2013 I luckily participated in a worldwide event called One Billion Rising. It was about rising and dancing and striking to end violence against women and girls. There were flash mobs all over the world. Here are some amazing facts from 2013.onebillionrising.org webpage about specific victories from that amazing day!

VICTORIES

1. Brought together people across movements and causes – mobilizing communities such as migrants, women in prison, domestic workers, urban poor, LGBTQI, farm workers, the disabled, and many more.
2. Created the opportunity for councils of indigenous women to participate in global problem solving.
3. Created global solidarity and strength cutting across borders, races, class, religions, sexual orientation, ages, genders. Reignited solidarity between women’s organizations in various countries. Rekindled the ethos of sisterhood amongst women on a global scale.
4. Brought to the surface the intersection of issues both causing and affecting violence against women: patriarchy, poverty, corporate greed, environmental plunder, imperialist policies, religion, militarization, interventions of outside countries, immigration, labor export policies, nationalization of industries, political repression.
5. Engaged masses on a deeper, more embodied level through dancing, poetry, singing, and art.
6. Produced massive media exposure, discourse, and advocacy on violence against women issues. It also created or was the catalyst for the development of millions of women citizen social media journalists telling their own narratives by picking up cameras.
7. Created solidarity and safe and free space, through our creativity and numbers, for violated women to tell their stories, many for the first time, and heal their trauma by dancing in public, communal open spaces.
8. Inspired millions of men to stand and rise as our allies, deconstructing patriarchy alongside us.
9. Galvanized and empowered legislators to generate legislation in support of ending violence against women and girls globally. Created an opportunity for globally linked women’s councils to lobby at all levels of government and UN.
10. Increased funding and support for programs and education to end violence and women and girls.
11. Made violence against women impossible to ignore and never to be marginalized again. Reminded the world that women united will never be defeated.
12. Generated the best collection of worldwide dance videos ever! (See video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YS8NIBc-z0)

All of these victories are awesome and so inspiring!

February 14, 2014 needs to be bigger and even better! As stated by the OBR committee “ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE is a global call to women survivors of violence and those who love them to gather safely in community outside places where they are entitled to justice – courthouses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, or simply public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not.  It is a call to survivors to break the silence and release their stories – politically, spiritually, outrageously – through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies and whatever way feels right.”

So I challenge you to do an event! I know I plan on participating in as many as I can that day!

RISE, RELEASE, DANCE!

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Did you know that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month? Here are some facts for you to think about:

• Every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assaulted or beaten.
• Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Most often, the abuser is a member of her own family.
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
• Studies suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually.
• Nearly 1 in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a breakup.
• Everyday in the US, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.
• Ninety-two percent of women surveyed listed reducing domestic violence and sexual assault as their top concern.
• Domestic violence victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year in the US alone—the equivalent of 32,000 full-time jobs.
• Based on reports from 10 countries, between 55 percent and 95 percent of women who had been physically abused by their partners had never contacted non-governmental organizations, shelters, or the police for help.
• The costs of intimate partner violence in the US alone exceed $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.

For more information see http://www.ncadv.org.