On 14 February, the world is RISING
Activists around the World will RISE FOR FREEDOM & to Create the New Culture,
Freedom from Patriarchy, Capitalism, Impunity, Poverty, Oppression, Division, Exploitation, Shame, Control, Individualism, Greed, Violence
Join us as survivors, artists and activists RISE For Freedom & to Create the New Culture and address the devastating consequences of the ongoing vicious systems of patriarchy, imperialism, capitalism and racism in the world today and the destructive battle for power fought over women’s bodies and the body of the earth.
Created by a community of 47 One Billion Rising coordinators located across the globe, this year’s campaign will celebrate 10 years of OBR and urge communities worldwide to utilize art and activism, creative resistance events and gatherings, both online and offline, to demand an end to violence against women, girls and the planet and to shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face.
Events are taking place now and will continue through 22 April, Earth Day.
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.
Ready to RISE?
READ about the 2023 theme
MEET the OBR Global Coordinators
FOLLOW OBR on Instagram
Check out our blog for inspiration from around the world
Here’s a snapshot of what’s happening (list in formation):
January/ February
Nei Mom Uprising together with other women’s groups to create awareness on VAWG and to mobilise a large group for performing Break the Chain in a public space.
February
Their rising will celebrate the passing of the Domestic Violence law which has been ongoing for the past 15 years. Every 2 days in February, they will be highlighting social media campaigns on the issues they are rising for. Their main rising will also highlight the rights of widows. On that day will also have a rising on a TV program to discuss domestic violence, discrimination and violence against widows, and trafficking.
February
OBR Nigeria will be rising with the Ministry of Art and Culture in Kwara State, as well as having the OBR campaign with the women and girls in Lagos, to amplify young people’s voices as a main highlight this year.
February
OBR events will be held in at least 6 districts which will include a kite festival on the beach, for freedom, as well as sharing flowers with local people and wishing them a life free of violence for the new year. There will also be 5 more risings in tea plantations led by plantation women. There will be community dancing, street plays, song and local discussions and traditional performances.
February 4, 11, 14 and 18
Gabriela chapters nationwide will hold various lead up events across the country before February 14th. A main OBR flash mob in the old city of Intramuros will take place on February 4th – with 100 Gabriela community women and national leaders wearing OBR tshirts symbolizing each year of Rising for 10 years – showing the 10 years of rising in dance.
The Main Manila Rising will take place at Quezon City Circle on February 11, with a huge artistic rising concert featuring bands and artists, with various schools dancing their versions of all the OBR dances since 2013. The venue is a huge park and thousands are expected to attend. The event will also showcase OBR community dancing and an OBR Philippines retrospective displayed on giant LED screens.
February 14th will see collective OBR flashmobs taking place across the country, in communities, parks, schools, districts, government offices. A main rising that day will be the huge youth rising at St Scholastica’s College. Schools have only resumed in the Philippines from the pandemic in the last few months, so this is the first year St Scholastica’s College and other schools across the country, will be able to resume an in person gathering and OBR event that they had always previously done before.
February18th will be Davao Rising Day with thousands of students also gathering to Dance and Rise For freedom. OBR Davao are also filming a Rise For Freedom film with the Lumad communities in the mountains.
February 10
This years’ theme is “Grab your financial and mental freedom”. Focus will also be on university students who have had to endure sexual harassments, including succumbing to sexual advances to earn grades. Another issue highlighted will be young girls having to give their bodies for secure jobs. Main rising will include speeches, Break The Chain flash mob (which they have translated and recorded locally in French), talks and more dances.
February 11
Main rising will be at the town square – the flower square. There will be actresses, sports people, bands – and will be an artistic and political event with singing, dancing and speeches. There will be women drummers and women on bikes as well. Also on the 14th in Zagreb, to commemorate V25, they will hold a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” performed by women with disabilities. There will be a talk back after, and some women’s music. OBR Croatia will also bring the issues of violence against women onto public transport, buses and trams – to raise awareness. Other OBR groups in Croatia will also be holding rising in February for the protection and freedom of Mother Earth, and will also focus on the women of Iran, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
February 11
Community level risings will take place before the main event, using sports, dance and art to engage the youth. Main Rising will take place on February 11th which will focus on the theme of what freedom means to them as their government pushes back on their freedoms. The rising will be a big event where everyone will be encouraged to express what their freedom means, and will showcase their own original OBR Africa dance. It will also include fashion for women to be free to express themselves. There will be an additional event that will be a fundraiser for an orphanage called “Heart” – a home for girls who are survivors of rape and human trafficking.
February 12
On Chater Road Central Hong Kong, thousands of domestic and migrant workers from all across Asia and their local Hong Kong allies will hold a big in-person 7 hour dance event. They are rising for freedom from discrimination and exclusions, and for justice.
From February 12 – 17
OBR India’s focus this year is on migrant labor, on women farmers, as well as on adults with disability issues and the issue of multiple sexual identities, with the foundational focus on violence. 28 (out of 38) states will be holding risings. Creative and artistic events will also focus on the themes of communal violence, issues of rights and entitlements of the marginalized communities, the taking of resource and land, and of land appropriation. In April they will once again hold the Mountain Arts Festival where music, theatre and arts workshops will be held.
February 14/ February
OBR Guatemala will hold a main flashmob at the National Cultural Center. The risings will continue with visits to 2 women’s as well as visits to the places where the children of the women prisoners live. They will hold OBR dancing events there. OBR events will also take place in 8 schools. On February 14th they will also stage “The Vagina Monologues”.
February 14/ February
On its 10th year, OBR Mexico will be honoring indigenous artists from the 32 states of Mexico. They have also started a pamphlet campaign on what freedom means to them in Mexico, particularly freedom from capitalism – which they will bring to the Senate as part of OBR Mexico. At the main rising in Mexico City, 15 states who will be rising simultaneously, will be livestreamed all together. To culminate the day, there will be a celebration performance of “The Vagina Monologues” at the Lebanese Theater – featuring actresses who have done the play in Mexico for the last 20 years.
February 14
Will hold a dance event entitled “Let’s Dance And Open The Door To Freedom” at the West Gate Park Outdoor theatre, which will include a panel discussion. Issues highlighted are the problem of poverty, single parent families, single mothers, discrimination against women, support for pregnant teenage girls. Theme of OBR Japan is “Freedom Of Self-Determination”.
February 14
Youth risings will take place in schools in 17 provinces of Indonesia. They are rising to end sexual abuse in schools, particularly in Islamic boarding schools.
February 14
OBR Togo is rising for financial freedom. Focus is on social freedom and also rising in solidarity with the Northern part of Togo which is experiencing terror attacks now.
February 14
OBR Zambia’s theme continues to be Rising to end child marriages. This year they are demanding the full implementation of the laws. The main rising on the 14th will have various schools meeting and youth dancing – and holding government departments to task about they have to offer so that young children will no longer be violated. Focus will also be rising for financial freedom, and the full implementation of the GBV act, the gender and equality act.
February 14
OBR Mali will hold a youth leadership empowerment event in Bamako where the focus will be on a free and open discussion on leadership: on being the next generation of leaders. There will be live music, songs and dancing. Part of the rising will also be a discussion on female entrepreneurship in Mali, on how to be resilient in the face of successive economic crisis in the country.
February 14
Main rising will be led by IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples), women, children and youth. They will wear white as they rise for freedom for women and youth activists who are in prison as political prisoners, and for those who are fleeing border areas to other countries because of political oppression and suppression.
February 14
OBR Austria will hold a Rising live performance art which will be done in solidarity with the women of Iran and all the oppressed women of the world. They will also dance Break The Chain in several locations in the city. For their main rising, a young woman from Iran has composed an original piece and it will be performed at the event.
February 14
OBR Italy is focusing on the issue of hidden violence and harassment in sports and in cinema and theatre. The main rising will see OBR activists come back to their initial OBR space – the Piazza Desa – where they first rose 10 years ago. There will be flashmobs and speeches and similar flashmob risings will take place all across the country.
February 14
OBR Poland will be organizing a debate in the Polish parliament on February 14, on changing the definition of rape to include the issue of consent to intimate contact. They have been fighting for this for several years and will continue to highlight this in their main rising. Local organizers across the country are preparing dance actions on the dance and also to publicize this issue. OBR Poland will also be dancing “Break The Chain” in parliament.
February 14
There are currently 30 cities across the country already signed up to rise on February 14, with big events being planned in Munich and at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
February 14
Various local districts will hold community level risings leading up to February 14 – with dancing, songs, posters and traditional art. The big open air program on February 14 will have women drummers going around streets and districts as a rally procession, singing and dancing – to get the whole neighborhood to rise. Main artistic event will have feminist artists, with feminist songs and dancing.
February 14
Leading up to the day, OBR Nepal will be going to 50 districts to conduct sessions on the violence women and girls are experiencing, and are collating a list of their concerns to be brought to their local administrations. The main rising will include dancing, art and theatre on the streets. The art will be created to also show possible remedies at the local level. OBR Nepal will also be holding a series of OBR podcasts on the issues of land rights, feminism, violence, patriarchy. They will also be holding OBR discussion in 20 colleges from February 14 to March.
February 14
They will be conducting a seminar and poster competition among students from the departments of Gender Studies, Psychology at Rabel Pindi, the only women’s university in the country. They will also be holding different rising activities with women’s shelters in the capital of Pakistan, as well as shelters in the province of Punjab. To this day, it is prohibited for women to dance and sing on the streets, that is why they are holding their risings inside universities. They will also be creating a film of the OBR song “Break The Chain” in Urdu.
February 14
Byron Bay is rising at the beach once again at sunrise, with performance of “ Vagina Conversations” – an original play featuring some of Byron Shire’s powerful and creative women gathering to share personal stories.
February 14
OBR South Africa will hold a huge outdoor event with singing and dancing, with SA indigenous groups also joining the event. Their over-all focus and theme is to look at freedom and how the South African government is currently load shedding causing havoc to their lives – with no water and running water. And how this is impacting the communities and everyday life.
February 14
OBR Zimbabwe will hold a huge artistic rising with the youth. They are also creating an OBR Zimbabwe retrospective documentary of their 10 years of Rising called “A Decade Of Revolution”.
February 14
They are rising to celebrate 10 years of revolution. Their main event will highlight the issue of rising for freedom to be free from sexual harassment and from diseases like cholera and covid. They are also focusing on the high rate of rapes because of the high rate of school drop outs due to covid 19.
February 14 and 19
Performance of self- written monologues by girls age 16 and above on the themes of sexual violence, gender roles, stereotypes and abuse. Led by the newly formed OBR Youth Wing of Singapore. Proceeds from the performances will go to the Singapore women based group AWARE.
February 14 and 26
Currently holding an online Facebook challenge in writing, art and film with the theme: “Right To Rise For Freedom” – asking the accountability and transparency from their government on its promise on ending gender-based violence. On February 26 they will hold their main event, with dancing and various groups in attendance.
February 14/ February and March
OBR Serbia will hold several rising events through February and March, including flash mobs of Break The Chain in many locations. The rising will also include a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” on February 14th.
February 16 and 25
Southern part of Ghana will be doing a huge main rising with 200 women from the communities leading the event, with communities from the region coming together. They are rising for freedom of abuse against the youth. On February 25th, a main rising in the Western part of Ghana will take place, with dancing and dancing.
February/ March
A human rights session with migrant women living in Auckland with access to service providers and then dancing the Break the Chain flash mob
February to October
-“She’s a slut. He’s a stud” campaign to discuss women’s and girl’s choices and bodily autonomy and debunk harmful stereotyping. This will be done through TikTok videos, placards and storytelling.
-Autonomy and Choices –tapping into youth community groups to create awareness on autonomy and choices – leading to thinking on what freedom and creating a new culture means for them
-Working with rugby academy club in creating a new culture where healthy relationships and consent is understood and promoted.
-Vagina Monologues production to be held at the local university
-With women from the Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni, inviting women to share what freedom means for them through the use of creative arts such as drawing, painting, poems, monologues which will be then exhibited at the Alliance Francaise in Suva.
February to November
The Garden of Hope Foundation is excited to celebrate OBR 10th anniversary in Taiwan!
-Feb 4th – A Freedom Campaign will be held in front of a popular farmer’s market square in Taipei, asking the participants to share with what freedom means to them, take pictures and upload to their social media. A runway fashion show will also be held in the campaign to encourage women to express the meaning of freedom using their bodies and design. The campaign is expected to attract more than 1,000 participants.
-March (whole month) – OBR coordinators and organizers from all over Taiwan will go to communities and schools to introduce One Billion Rising, awareness of sexual abuse issue and their rights of freedom, and end up with dancing for children’s body freedom and autonomy.
-Oct-Nov – In the last quarter of this year, they will hold a tour of the new edition of Shi-Di (Taiwanese version of Vagina Monologues) around Taiwan (estimated to be 6 sessions) to defend freedom of harm and fear online and fight against technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
March 8
Organizing a “Freedom for Women” demonstration with civil society organizations. This will include a women’s march and the dancing of OBR’s “Break the Chain”. There will be lead up OBR events from March 3 to 5, ahead of the main event on the 8th. Focus will be to raise awareness on women’s rights to emotional freedom, sexual freedom, financial freedom and physical freedom.
OBR Vanuatu to do OBR flash mob and community dancing
A women’s Zumba group will be getting speakers on domestic violence and doing Break the Chain flash mob.
OBR Tongo to do OBR flash mob of Break The Chain
Main rising event will focus on rising for economic freedom and for financial freedom. As well as addressing the mental health challenges women face as a result of economic violence. A march will take place through communities and in marketplaces where a lot of women work, with women dancing and carrying OBR placards to encourage women to not give up on their financial and economic dreams. March will include speakers who are survivors of violence.
