Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, but it is also the day for 1 Billion Rising, an incredible effort to combat the violence that is perpetuated against women every day of the year.
On Feb. 14, around the world, V-Day is inviting 1 billion women and men to “Walk Out, Dance, Rise Up and Demand” an end to violence. The stats are horrific: According to V-Day, one in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. While many of us can’t imagine those stats to be true, think back on the 23-year old woman on a bus in Delhi in mid-December who was gang raped on a bus and died from her internal injuries. I won’t repeat the sickening details here. The atrocity committed against her brought the issue of rape to the fore in India. Think of the systematic rape of women in the Congo, so prevalent that it has earned the title “the rape capital of the world,” by CNN. We all know women who have been raped or beaten.
Tomorrow there will be all kinds of actions taking place, from flash mobs dancing in New York City to strikes to walk outs to people dancing at their desks. When you go to the One Billion Rising website, there are hundred, if not thousands, of participating organizations listed. This is not some small thing. This is a worldwide, significant moment that renews the conversation.
V-Day is the organization started 15 years ago to help bring about the end of violence against women. Many people know the non-profit from its productions of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” For V-Day, ending violence against women is no different than ending poverty or AIDs or global warming: it makes the world a better place.
Below is a one-minute piece from Katie Couric and other famous faces that explains the concept.
Feb. 13: 1 Billion Rising: http://onebillionrising.org/
44 down, 321 to go!
No comments:
Post a Comment