What is One Billion Rising?
Credits:
Produced by Susan Celia Swan, Monique Wilson & Carl Cheng
Editor: Kirthi Nath
Graphic designer: Galya Kay
Production Assistant: Franziska Heilig
One Billion Rising began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s one billion women and girls.
This is why we RISE.
One Billion Rising is the world’s largest movement to end violence against
women, gender-expansive people, and the Earth. Since 2013, activists in over 200 countries have risen through art to express hope and community, change culture and laws, and celebrate the fact that we have not been defeated by this violence.
We create communities of solidarity around the globe. We rise to show the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face.
We rise to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable.
We rise to amplify the transformative power of creative resistance, artistic risings, and global solidarity all the while addressing the devastating consequences of the systems of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, and capitalism.
We rise to reclaim our bodies and the body of the Earth.
Led by a community of over 45 OBR coordinators around the globe and determined by local activists and their communities.
Every year from February to April we take to the streets, stages and schools in acts of creative resistance embracing art as our voice.
Rising are dance, music, theatre, poetry, painting, storytelling, drumming, rituals, connection with nature.
Risings are intersectional, experiential, intergenerational, accessible, community-based, youth-led, inclusive, diverse.
Risings are expressions of rage and resistance, gardens of creativity and compassion, alchemies of connection and imagination, and revolutions of body and spirit.
Are you ready to rise?
Join us!
Visit onebillionrising.org
What is One Billion Rising? DOWNLOAD >
V25 – 25 Years of V-Day
On 14 February 2023, the global movement working to end violence against women, gender expansive people, girls and the planet, marks V25, its twenty-fifth anniversary of activism, advocacy and organizing led by survivors, artists and activists around the world. The very first V-Day benefit of founder V (formerly Eve Ensler)’s play The Vagina Monologues took place 25 years before on 14 February 1998.
For 25 years, V-Day has worked at the intersection of arts and activism to shatter taboos, create space for women and the most marginalized, and initiate community-led culture and change.
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
V-Day has unleashed vast grassroots, anti-violence work on college campuses and in communities – visionary work that has been survivor-led and focused, all the while revealing the power of art and activism to change culture and systems. V-Day has inspired women, men and communities all over the world and raised collective consciousness about how violence and gender intersect. The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works curated by V-Day have been performed across the world by local activists, survivors and artists, raising over $120 million dollars for grassroots anti-violence groups, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and safe houses, shattering taboos and changing the way activists make change in their communities. V-Day’s campaigns include the City of Joy, a revolutionary center for women survivors of gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has graduated over 1900 women leaders; One Billion Rising, the largest mass action to demand an end to violence against women in history; and now, to kick off V25, Voices – an audioplay centered around the voices of Black women across the African Diaspora; and V’s new memoir, Reckoning.
With gratitude to the activists around the world who Rise for V25, the filmmakers & photographers, our V-Day, One Billion Rising, City of Joy, & Voices teams. Deepest gratitude and V-love.
#ThisIsV25 – JOIN US: vday.org
V25 – 25 Years of V-Day: DOWNLOAD >
Raise the Vibration
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we are thrilled to announce the release of our latest short film – “Raise the Vibration” featuring voiceover by actor/activist/V-Day Board member Thandie Newton and words by Tony award winning playwright / One Billion Rising and V-Day founder V (formerly Eve Ensler).
Directed by filmmaker Deborah Anderson (“My Revolution Lives In This Body”) and produced by One Billion Rising’s Ensler, Monique Wilson and Susan Celia Swan. The short reflects and celebrates the One Billion Rising campaign’s 2020 theme of “Raise The Vibration.” It honors all women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence).
It is a call to honor women’s agency over their bodies and their right to be safe and free, a call to move our bodies so that the freedom and energy we shake loose becomes a new energy bringing in a new future. A call to see, cherish, nurture, respect and protect our Mother Earth as we are not separate from her. Her life is our life.
SHARE the video: OneBillionRising.org/RaiseTheVibration
Directed and Edited by Deborah Anderson
Written by V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Spoken by Thandie Newton
Music by 4 of Seven
Produced by V (formerly Eve Ensler), Monique Wilson, Susan Celia Swan
Archival Footage Editor: Kirthi Nath
Thank You Alixa Garcia, Wild Woman, Tatiana Zamir, Delacina Chief Eagle, Shutterstock
Thank You One Billion Rising Activists Everywhere
Social justice artist Taína Asili has composed and written a liberation song – in collaboration with One Billon Rising, entitled “We are Rising.” We are honored that Taína has created this new anthem for One Billion Rising. It is a call to action, to dance, to RISE. The song celebrates our collective energy, creative resistance, and solidarity as we RISE against the tides of violence against all women, climate crisis, racism and corporate greed. Executive Produced by V (formerly Eve Ensler), Susan Celia Swan & Monique Wilson for One Billion Rising.
“Music has always been the heartbeat of our movements for liberation. With “We Are Rising” I offer women around the world a new anthem to help us tap into the energy, strength, courage and wisdom needed to usher in a new era of justice and healing.” – Taína Asili
Taína is a New York based Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker, and activist whose work honors the tradition of her ancestors and carries themes of hope and liberation, which surges into one soulful and defiant voice.
DOWNLOAD video >
DOWNLOAD song >
DOWNLOAD song (Spanish version) >
DISMANTLE – Charity Croff and Jacob Denzel of ArchDuke (feat. Taylor Iman and Jenee Jones)
“Dismantle” launched on 14 February 2019 in conjunction with One Billion Rising global mass actions, and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Vagina Monologues and V-Day. “Dismantle” features a fusion of soulful afrobeats and classic New Orleans bounce, with lyrics that exemplify and raise awareness of the work needed to end sexism. In the video, ArchDuke performs in a mirrored room, brimming with movement and reflecting the energy of these men as they answer and issue a call to action. The song ends with a dance break, featuring a diverse group of women, coming together to rejoice in the music and the message.
Learn more at the Dismantle Patriarchy website.
DOWNLOAD video >
PURCHASE / STREAM song >
LIKE A WOMAN – Ryan Amador & One Billion Rising
In celebration of International Women’s Day 2019, One Billion Rising, the biggest mass action to end violence against all women and girls, releases the new single and music video for “Like A Woman.” The song, by singer/songwriter Ryan Amador, calls men to recognize and support women’s leadership, and to join the movement to end gender-based violence.
Learn more at like-a-woman.org
DOWNLOAD song >
DOWNLOAD video >
MUJER VALIENTE (“Like A Woman” Spanish Version) by Kike Jiménez & Sean O’Connell
The video to MUJER VALIENTE, the Spanish language translation of “Like a Woman” by singer songwriter Ryan Amador performed by Kike Jiménez (finalist on The Voice Mexico) and Sean O’Connell (Singer/Songwriter and translator of Mujer Valiente and Spanish Language version of Break The Chain), has been released today! Produced by One Billion Rising Mexico global coordinator Andrés Naime and featuring testimonies about the women in their lives by comedian Manu NNa, playwright Victor Barba, personal trainer Cisse Occean Andoeza, actor Andrés Durán, chef Andrés De León, activist Quique Galdeano, artist and activist Thomas Fléchel, politician Alejandro Orozco, and Andrés Naime.
“Mujer Valiente/Like a Woman” are part of V-Day’s initiative to create provocative art pieces that inspire people to act.
“Many of us young people believe there’s no such thing as misogyny or gender-based violence anymore, when really it’s as strong as ever. Every day there are new cases of missing women, many sold, murdered, or victims of violence at home. It is so important that we create consciousness and awareness that these are real and actual problems that cannot be ignored. It’s an honor to be a voice for this amazing cause.” – Kike Jiménez, singer of “Mujer Valiente.”
We invite men everywhere to join the campaign, upload your own “Like a Woman” and “Mujer Valiente” tributes, reflecting your appreciation for the women in your life while also considering what it means to be a man in a world where one in three women are directly affected by sexual violence.
DOWNLOAD song >
DOWNLOAD video >
RISE 2018
THIS IS V20
With gratitude to V-Day and One Billion Rising activists around the world who RISE for V20. With thanks to the activists, filmmakers & photographers, our V-Day, One Billion Rising & City of Joy teams, and to filmmaker Kirthi Nath for making these videos a reality! Deepest gratitude and V-love.
My Revolution Lives In This Body
Written by V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Performed by Rosario Dawson
Directed and Edited by Deborah Anderson
Solidarity to End the Exploitation of Women
Directed and Edited by Kirthi Nath
Cinematographers: Professional and Amateur Cinematographers from 200 Countries
ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE
Directed by: Kirthi Nath
Produced by: V (formerly Eve Ensler), Susan Celia Swan & Monique Wilson
Co-Producers: Hilla Medalia, Cecile Lipworth, Kate Fisher
Cinematographers: Professional and Amateur Cinematographers from 200 Countries
Editor: Kirthi Nath
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as):
ONE BILLION RISING
ONE BILLION RISING [9 minutes, 10 seconds] Directed by V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Tony Stroebel, with activists in 207 countries, and is produced by Eve and V-Day.On 19 January 2014, the official One Billion Rising 2013 documentary short premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as):
Rising
Rising [4 minutes, 34 seconds] Directed by V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Tony Stroebel. The film features video from risings around the world on 14 February 2013 and calls up the new campaign for justice.
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as)
“Man Prayer” – words by V (formerly Eve Ensler), film by Tony Stroebel
Man Prayer [2 minutes] Directed by Tony Stroebel, Written by V (formerly Eve Ensler).
DOWNLOAD
Break The Chain [4 minutes, 29 seconds] Produced by V (formerly Eve Ensler) and V-Day, directed by Tony Stroebel, written and produced by Tena Clark with music by Tena Clark and Tim Heintz, and featuring dancer and choreographer Debbie Allen.
“Break the Chain” aims to raise awareness around the world about V-Day’s fastest escalating global campaign to date, ONE BILLION RISING.
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as)
How to: “Break the Chain” Choreography
Learn the Steps to BREAK THE CHAIN
Learn Debbie Allen’s choreography to the ONE BILLION RISING dance anthem BREAK THE CHAIN*
Special shout out to the incredible Senior dance class at Brooklyn High School of the Arts for teaching Debbie’s moves
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as)
*If you are not comfortable using the Debbie Allen choreography for “Break The Chain,” we encourage you to consider creating your own choreography or using choreography created by activists around the world. Since 2012, activists have been creating their own dances locally and they are incredible. Below are some examples. Debbie Allen gifted the original dance to OBR in 2012 to accompany Tena Clark’s song when it was first released. To read the statement from the One Billion Rising Global Coordinators, click here.
How To Dance “Break the Chain” Mirrored Version
We flipped the video, to make it easier for you to learn the dance*
DOWNLOAD (right click the link and select Save/Download Link as)
*If you are not comfortable using the Debbie Allen choreography for “Break The Chain,” we encourage you to consider creating your own choreography or using choreography created by activists around the world. Since 2012, activists have been creating their own dances locally and they are incredible. Below are some examples. Debbie Allen gifted the original dance to OBR in 2012 to accompany Tena Clark’s song when it was first released. To read the statement from the One Billion Rising Global Coordinators, click here.
BREAK THE CHAIN CHOREOGRAPHY EXAMPLES
THE PHILIPPINES
INDONESIA
INDIA
GERMANY
THE NETHERLANDS
TAIWAN
“Break the Chain”
DOWNLOAD Break the Chain MP3
DOWNLOAD Break the Chain (Instrumental) MP3
DOWNLOAD Romper Las Cadenas (“Break the Chain” Spanish Version) MP3
DOWNLOAD UN BILLÓN DE PIE (ULI GONZALEZ REMIX) by Manoella Torres and DJ Uli González (“Break the Chain” Spanish Version) MP3
