In 2013, the world came together to strike, dance and RISE to end violence against women (cisgender and transgender), gender diverse people, girls and the planet, making One Billion Rising the biggest mass action to end violence against women in human history. It began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 8 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.
In 2014 the call to RISE FOR JUSTICE focused on the intersecting layers of violence, and on its roots and causes. 2015 saw millions of activists RISE FOR REVOLUTION to demand systematic change, and 2016 amplified this revolutionary call to create a new kind of consciousness, a creative radical resistance to end violence. This call escalated to RISING IN SOLIDARITY against the exploitation of women and girls in 2017, focusing on how entrenched patriarchy sustains the subordination and oppression of women. 2018 highlighted the need to strengthen this solidarity with the call Rise, Resist and Unite, with working class, minority and women on the margins leading.
2019 introduced RISING: From a Campaign to a Way of Life – deepening and expanding our understanding of women’s oppression and exploitation within current and historical political contexts, connecting risings to a common universal humanity, which led to the launch of the OBR Manifesta.
In 2020, as the pandemic was upon us, the world continued to RAISE THE VIBRATION and Rise For Revolution – through art, action, connection and imagination. The global health crisis did not stop the risings, as 2021 saw the year of RISING GARDENS – a defiant creative call for revival, restoration and transformation – calling to honor and protect the Earth and women in order for any future life to exist. And in 2022, the 10th year of Rising, the world created astonishing artistic uprisings – to RISE FOR THE BODIES OF ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS AND THE EARTH – rising through all forms of art, to reclaim, express, defy, disrupt, unite, radicalize, revolutionize and transform.
There is so much to celebrate in these last 10 years. So many victories. So many success stories. So much change. In legislation, culture, art, education, in ways of thinking. A new generation of activists continuing the legacies of women activists who devoted their lives to the movement. Millions of bodies dancing. An explosion of art. Crucial transformation.
But we know that the insidious and unjust tentacles of patriarchy are everywhere and strengthening still. We see and feel it – in fascist governments, in the tide of hatred and exclusion, in growing conservatism, in the normalization and gravity of misogyny, in the removal of women’s rights and agency, in the attacks on women’s human rights defenders, in the denial of history, in the banning of books, in the failure of institutions, in the criminalization and suppression of dissent, in the crisis of democracy, in the abuse of power, in the cruel decimation of the earth, in occupation, in endless wars, in labor exploitation, in oppressive cultures. Patriarchy is everywhere.
Like the Earth that is nearing a calamitous end, right now women, girls and those impacted by gender-based violence are in a STATE OF EMERGENCY.
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT WHAT IS BEING DONE TO US.
It is clear that the past and current systems of abuse, hierarchy, inequality and greed are no longer working.
We have to step out of unimaginative, dead end reactionary politics.
We need to create a more compelling new way. A vision that does not deny the peril of our times, but that also restores hope, joy and love.
And we need our IMAGINATION to do this.
We are at the precipice of our survival, and the survival of the planet.
It is now or never.
This year we call on the world to
RISE FOR FREEDOM
Freedom from Patriarchy and from all its progeny….capitalism, impunity, poverty, oppression, division, exploitation, shame, control, individualism, greed, violence…
and in this Rising…
CREATE THE NEW CULTURE
A culture where we collectively share in the commitment to….
End violence towards women, gender nonconforming and gender expansive people
End violence towards the earth
Dismantle patriarchy
Cultivate care, community, trust and compassion
Uphold cooperation rather than competition,
Refuse outright the inequality of wealth
Place people over profit
Actively listen
Know our true history
Make apologies and reparations
Honour the artists, visionaries, seekers, storytellers, shamans, poets, healers
Celebrate diversity
Embrace collective energy
Practice solidarity
Embody the power of art and dance
2023 will be the year of INSPIRATION and ASPIRATION.
A year of storytelling, building communities, strengthening solidarity, sharing dreams, planting trees, creating art, honoring women and the earth, and of dancing.
It is the year we will continue to ENVISION and CREATE new ways of being, seeing, living, loving and connecting. Of raising consciousness and deepening understanding. So that our freedom, our future, is rooted in truth, love, community, earth and body.
CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF RISING
JOIN US IN 2023
RISE FOR FREEDOM
CREATE THE NEW CULTURE
READ about the 2022 Campaign RISE FOR THE BODIES OF ALL WOMEN, GIRLS & THE EARTH
& the 2021 Campaign RISING GARDENS
