The ascent of a known sexual predator to the US Presidency alongside the emergence of other anti-women, anti-people leaders and governments around the world not only crystallized everything our movement has been working towards since 1998, but galvanized our activists in an unprecedented way as they took to the stage and the streets in the face of policies and actions that sought to strip their basic rights and call into question their experiences. This past year, with sharper focus on the rising and resistance against the systems that cause other forms of violence – imperialism, neo-facism, racism, capitalism and neo-liberalism activists in One Billion Rising took up their struggle against sexual and physical violence, expanding their frame to focus on interconnected issues facing the most vulnerable: workers rights, immigration, poverty, racial violence, corruption, environmental plunder, state sponsored wars, militarization, displacement, and violence created by greed and lack of access to healthcare and education. It was a breathtaking year!
RISE 2018: ONE BILLION RISING SOLIDARITY
Through One Billion Rising, activists worldwide have mobilized, engaged, awakened and joined people across the planet to end violence against women and girls. We have made violence against women a global issue, not relegated to country or tribe or class or religion.
ONE BILLION RISING will expand with its theme of REVOLUTION and SOLIDARITY this year. OBR has become a movement unto itself, taking activism out of the theater and into the streets, front and center. As neo-liberal policies and rapacious capitalism have become the engine of most governments, bringing profound consequences for the long suffering working class and marginalized sectors, it is more important than ever to be in solidarity with women on the frontlines. Suffering has reached new heights and this year OBR is seeing a new, dynamic and radical militancy and vibrancy that is opposing and rising against such repression and oppression. Activists across sectors are invited to stage Artistic Uprisings in their communities, create and learn new music and choreography from around the world.
Also, stay tuned as new voices and new music are coming to infuse the movement with renewed energy and voice!
PLAN YOUR ARTISTIC UPRISINGS
Beginning on 14 February through 8 March 2018, we are calling on activists around the world to hold Artistic UpRisings to escalate political consciousness and urge radical calls to action. We invite you to tell the stories of local women by:
– Holding and staging an event that brings together women from different marginalized and most oppressed sectors from each community. Have them tell their own stories through monologues/ spoken word/ song/ film/ dance.
– Inviting radical artists who have curated creative work that fits the theme of OBR Revolution: Solidarity to join!
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
The Vagina Monologues birthed the V-Day movement in 1998. ONE BILLION RISING is the radical child of V-Day.
This year, we invite you to stage The Vagina Monologues as an additional Artistic Uprising event as part of the V TO THE 20th RISINGS, commemorating V-Day’s 20th Anniversary. Stage the play on a different date from the Artistic UpRising event – either as a lead up Rising event or your main OBR action! Instead of using mostly artists – stage the play with grassroots marginalized women.
Click here to learn more about planning your event >
ADDITIONAL SOLIDARITY DANCE ACTION
Students of Fontys Academy for Dance Education in Tilburg, the Netherlands rocked One Billion Rising in 2014 with this astounding original dance and song that they created. Since then, the song and dance has gained great popularity among OBR global activists. Students from Fontys Academy have been dancing it for their OBR events ever since, bringing it outside of their school and into communities and town centers.
Last February 2017, domestic workers in Hong Kong learned and performed the dance at their annual OBR event, not only because they loved the lyrics and moves, but also because they said they wanted to be in solidarity with the young artists from across the world who created such an inspiring song that gives them joy and hope in the face of everything they struggle with as migrant domestic workers.
This year we are encouraging activists around the world to take inspiration from the radical connection of these young artists and domestic workers and learn this amazing new dance in the spirit of RISING SOLIDARITY.
OBR TILBUR – FONTYS ACADEMY
“WE ARE BEAUTIFUL”
Choreography by Nele Vandeneede
Music by students of the Fontys Rockacademy
Vocals by: Lisa Kraak & Marleen Langevoort
Composed by: Sasha Rangas, Fleur Van Gorp, Arthur Wils
Produced by: Jonathan Pitch
RISINGS PLANNED AROUND THE WORLD FOR 2018 SEASON
Already, activists across the planet are gearing up to demand justice on some of the most pressing issues of our time under the call of SOLIDARITY: RISE! RESIST! UNITE! In Bangladesh, activists are planning a huge hearing and action around justice for domestic workers, and in Taiwan activists will be staging an original Taiwanese play about women (the third part of a series) inspired by The Vagina Monologues called “Shidi”. In Croatia, a production of The Vagina Monologues featuring disabled performers will take place, as well as one featuring Roma performers, a minority that has faced discrimination in Europe. An evening of poetry by refugee women from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan will also take place. Across Africa, activists are planning a series of community risings. In Zambia and Malawi, for example, Risings will demand an end to child marriages and gender-based violence.
Youth, men, workers and activists fighting for climate justice will also be rising around the world to bring attention to issues impacting them and their communities. From calling for an end to sexual assault in schools to exploring hyper masculinity to demanding a livable wage and environmental regulations that protect the most marginalized, our activists will be taking to the streets and to the stage to demand justice and proclaim their solidarity with other groups working for a more just world.
Click here to read more about what is being planned >
RISING POSTERS
This year we have created a series of downloadable posters for you to use for your Risings, productions, Artistic UpRisings and protests. The posters call on the world to rise for everything from women’s safety to climate justice to a free press, and to rise against forces like worker exploitation, racism, violence and misogyny.
SOLIDARITY TO END THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN VIDEO
We are thrilled to share our updated SOLIDARITY TO END THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN video, featuring our Global One Billion Rising Coordinators. The video explores the ways in which exploitation in all its forms impacts women and the global economy and calls for solidarity in its wake.
Share your Rising Creative Resistance Plans and Actions with us!
Like our Facebook page: V-Day
Visit our website: onebillionrising.org
Join us on Twitter: @V-Day
Join us on Instagram: @one_billion_rising and @vdayorg
#RiseInSolidarity
#RiseResistUnite
#RisingCreativeRebellion
#RisingSolidarity
#ArtisticUpRising
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