Last February 14th, more than a thousand young women and men rose together to demand an end to violence against women and girls in Khartoum, Sudan. Organized by Salmmah Women Resource Centre and Open Mike, together with the support of civil society women’s organizations and youth groups – Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum became the site of an extraordinary rising in a country where participation in public spaces by women is not easy – and where laws that continue to humiliate Sudanese women and girls, and remove their dignity, and where discriminative legal systems are still in place. The university rang with cheers as the women and men danced to “Break The Chain” – opening a five- hour program that included Sudanese dance and music by performance groups Nuba Mountains dance, Makaan, Sudan Roots and Solo Band.  On One Billion Rising Khartoum, Fahima Hashim, Director of Salmmah Women Resource Centre said “the way it has been taken, the way the energy transferred and travelled - and the involvement, even of the people….they just took the idea and made it their way”. Sudan is Rising to end violence against women and girls! Watch their Rising in this incredible new film.

Thank you to Salmmah Women’s Resource Center, Salmmah’s Friends, UNFPA. Blue Nile Lotus, Y-Peer and the British Embassy Khartoum for this amazing Rising event and film.

by Karin Heisecke, Regional Coordinator EU

When I first got involved with V-Day in early 2001, little did I know that the movement would become one of the few constants in my life over the following decade, as I was moving across Europe, changing cities, changing apartments, changing jobs.

It would also be among the most constantly challenging elements in my life, pushing me to challenge my belief systems; to move out of my comfort zone; to turn pain to power; to sometimes be creative and intuitive instead of intellectual and rational; to dare to ask; to dare to celebrate; to look for allies in unusual places; to be bold; to trust in the process; to “think the unthinkable”: to have a vision of what the world will be like when violence against women and girls will have stopped.

The idea to mobilise one billion people across the world to strike, dance and rise together to demand an end of violence against women took me out of my comfort zone—even after the many years with V-Day. Would an invitation to dance not seem like a rather trivial thing to do, if our aim was to end unspeakable atrocities?

The journey started with the launch of OBR in Europe on 6 March 2012 at V-Day European Parliament. Following a stellar performance of The Vagina Monologues by nine wonderful Members of the European Parliament (the “vagina team” at the EP), Eve invited the 500+ audience (made up of EU decision makers and lobbyists) to join V-Day on 14 February 2013 and to be part of One Billion Rising. This was, in many ways, diametrically opposed to the usual staid political activity in Brussels…  and the response was amazing. It seemed that people had been waiting to move their political work from their heads to their bodies.

In the time leading up to 14 February 2013, more than 30 MEPs made public statements, sharing their very personal reasons why they will rise on 14 February, as well as the political changes they wanted to see so that we achieve the goal of ending violence against women and girls. They invited people in their constituencies  and in Brussels to join them. So did the President of the European Council, seven European Commissioners, other senior officials and European NGOs. The European Union was rising! The United Nations came on board, too, as well as national Parliamentarians and government members.

In late January, the fabulous V-MEPs invited Eve to Brussels to join the for the first ever dance flash mob in the European Parliament, with over 20 MEPs, their staff and more supporters dancing for OBR, matched by as many journalists and TV crews. It was a revolutionary, energetic moment that quite literally moved the EP. The international media coverage of it shifted the mobilization across Europe to a higher gear.

The MEPs had opened up and made themselves vulnerable by sharing very personal stories, and I guess that for quite a few of them, dancing at their workplace meant stepping way out of their comfort zone. I had the privilege to support them, as they were joining forces, women and men, across national and political divisions, in solidarity to end violence against women and girls. Working with the MEPs and with their staff was wonderful; their dedication, creativity, energy and team spirit made it all happen, It was miles away from the stereotypes of the EU as a heavy bureaucracy of grey suits.

A week later, a strong resolution on the elimination of violence against women and girls (in view of the forthcoming UN Commission on the Status of Women) was adopted by the EP plenary. In the same week, Portugal was the first EU Member State to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The Rising had begun.

On 14 February, MEPs were rising on the steps of the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, in Heidelberg, in Bucharest, in Helsinki, in Port-au-Prince, … European Commissioners rose in Brussels twice in one day — at lunchtime at the European Commission headquarters Berlaymont building and later in the day in the centre of town. The European Institute for Gender Equality was rising in Vilnius. In Risings across the continent, people were dancing the waltz, the tango, the Break the Chain choreography or just freely, following their intuition.

By then, I was back in my “home base” in Berlin, where I had also been mobilising and supporting local organisers in the months and weeks leading up to 14 February. It was wonderful to see how the campaign was snowballing with more than 200 events on and around 14 February. Many V-Day veterans were mobilising, and many new activists came on board for the first time. Local coalitions were forged by groups and individuals that had never worked together previously: dance teachers, politicians, healers, activists, women’s shelter workers, journalists, celebrities. Everyone was on board, from burlesque dancers to Parliamentarians, from women’s rights organisations to youth sports federations, from transcultural initiatives to trade unions, media and artists.

One of my most intense OBR experiences in Berlin was working with hip hop artist / activist Sookee and filmmaker Luci Westphal. Sookee’s song “1 billion” quickly became an OBR anthem in Germany and beyond, as the video that Luci shot for the song went viral. From the first brainstorming on a concept to the actual filming, we had exactly one week and practically no budget. It felt like mission impossible, but I trusted the process. Thanks to everyone’s dedication and good humour, and with an amazing team of volunteers, we made it happen  — quite literally overnight.

Meanwhile, in Belgium, the President of the Senate (who had, in late January, hosted a dinner for Eve, bringing together politicians, activists, media and artists in support of OBR) had joined the Rising, as well as the Prime Minister, who invited his social media followers to rise on 14 February, as did other Heads of Government, Ministers and Parliamentarians in countries across Europe.

On 14 February, I had planned to participate in each of the OBR events that were taking place in Berlin, starting from mid-day onwards (I knew of six, but there may well have been more), but I ended up stuck at my desk until the late afternoon, answering media requests. I made it on time to Brandenburger Tor, where the biggest Rising was happening. I arrived when the place was still empty, but posters with the V-Day brackets already indicated that V-Power was about to take over. The square in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate filled up quickly, and soon, 5000 people of all ages, women and men, politicians, activists, entire families, were dancing to Break the Chain, demanding an end to violence against women and girls. Berlin was RISING. I then moved on quickly to my next stop for this exceptional day, the V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues, a stunning show that was sold out weeks in advance. The Rising and the dancing continued at the OBR party that followed the performance.

The actual magnitude of the Rising unfolded in the following days, when I realised that we had succeeded in putting violence against women and girls in the centre of attention in Germany, across Europe and around the world: in prime time media, on the political agendas, on the streets, in schools, in theatres, in sports arenas, in shopping malls…

The video that finally brought tears to my eyes was a short local TV report on a Rising of around 300 teenagers at a school in the region where I grew up. I had been in touch with the organisers who had worked with them in the months before, addressing issues of self-image, gender roles, relationships, violence. They had shared with me how transformational the process leading up to 14 February had been for the teens. This was what One Billion Rising was about: a process that had brought them to a place within themselves from where they could step outside, feel good in their bodies rather than self-conscious or intimidated.  Where they could talk about the abuse they had suffered. Where they could take up space, be heard and seen, with the knowledge that they were part of a global network of solidarity, moving towards a world free from violence against women and girls.

My journey with V-Day, and being part of the movement’s biggest and boldest action to date, was a rollercoaster. It took me across Europe, to high-level political decision makers, intergovernmental organisations, to queer hip hop artists, activists and skaters, and back to my home town. Once again, I had stepped out of my comfort zone, trusted the process, found allies in unusual places, made new friends and reconnected at a deeper level with old ones.

I know the journey is not over yet. Violence against women and girls has not yet ended. But I know we have a billion allies who are committed to make it happen.

We will continue to fight for new laws and to ensure that the existing ones are applied. We will continue to advocate for effective prevention and for support services for survivors. We will continue to work to ensure that the necessary resources will be made available.  We will continue to do whatever else is necessary — until the violence stops.

The phenomenon that is One Billion Rising will be forever etched in my memory and my consciousness as the movement through which my feminism found true expression. When I first heard about the campaign through my friend Gillian Schutte, she was looking for a couple of people to organize and manage the campaign in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately I am Zimbabwean but live in the United States and after she identified two young women who I worked with and recommended, they went to the Kenya summit in August 2012. Things started to fall apart when there was no work in organizing on the ground in Zimbabwe and one of the young women informed me of the issues. I then jumped in to help out and for a while it appeared as though nothing would happen. There were only two of us working through Skype and emails and just keeping the faith that someone would volunteer to do the running on the ground. Then an energetic young woman appeared on our OBR Face book page and she took up the mantle and ran with it. Zimbabwe had a Rising. I am in Ann Arbor and two weeks prior to February 14, I was looking for an event to attend with my daughters when I was alerted to the fact that an event had been planned but the person doing it was no longer able to carry it through. I spontaneously agreed to organize it and I was fortunate enough to meet Lori Lichtman who had as much passion for the campaign as I did. In two weeks we had everything in place and Ann Arbor had a Rising.

I am still digesting the immensity of this campaign, however what stands out in my mind is the actual process of getting us to the climax, which was February 14. The hard work, learning to deal with different personalities, discovering that people you thought you could rely on were not who you thought they were, dealing with ideological and existential issues, dealing with criticism about the central modus operandus of OBR -DANCE. How could we dance about rape and violence and draw attention to it in this celebratory fashion? During this time I blogged in order to explain what dance in the context of OBR was about. What was challenging to me however, was immersing myself daily in the issues of domestic violence and rape. I had to do this in order to remain connected with the reason why this Rising had to happen. For 6months my Facebook page, the OBR Zimbabwe and OBR Ann Arbor pages were sites for stories of women being beaten, butchered raped and the immensity of this issue as a global one hit me in the gut and because I had become so sensitized to VAW, I saw and heard of it everywhere. I took it all in like a sponge, stored up the anger but knowing that I was no longer helpless: the world would come together on the 14^th in a mass action never as yet been seen and we would all primal scream NO. OBR was a rite of passage for me. I was forced to accept the fact that there is a war on the feminine and that calling myself a feminist and doing nothing except commiserate with the plight of some distant women in the Congo or in Zimbabwe was no longer enough. I had to become those women, to look at the violence in the face. I watched women beaten and did not look away, I looked at mangled bodies of women gang raped and did not look away. It was traumatic it was nightmarish, but it was reality. What I feared would happen, that I would go crazy and start mumbling to myself did not happen. Instead I grew. I was not diminished, nor did I lose my love of life and love. In fact it expanded as something I yearned for all my sisters. I had a strong sense of our collective beauty and of how we were endangered. I felt galvanized to act. I became a woman who was now on a mission that she knew something about. This made all the difference because had I not been fully convicted in the necessity of OBR, I would have bailed out because believe me there were plenty of times I was tempted.

Therefore as OBR has come to an end....for me it marked the beginning. It symbolized the beginning of no longer having to feel angry and helpless on the issue of VAW. There have been thousands of conversations and ideas about what happens after the 14^th. These are questions that I personally had even as I started doing the work. However to be in conversation with like minded men and women has been encouraging and it has helped me forge partnerships that will hopefully translate into practical solutions to end VAW albeit slowly. Hearing men talk about progressive masculinities and creating groups to talk to boys about respect for women, to hear men talk about men evolving non violently , to hear women talk about shifting the paradigm in terms of how boys and girls are socialized to listen to women discuss how they will form networks through which they will "have each other's back" when out in public and to look at my own daughters, ages 12, 10 and 7(twins), ignites a fire in my belly which propels me to do more. I am a writer and I will write more about VAW. I am a public health professional and I will focus my work on women's health (West African Immigrant women in the U.S) many of whom have undergone female genital mutilation and suffer violence but do not report for fear of deportation. Most importantly, I will raise my daughters in awareness of how special they are and the kind of behavior they should never put up with. This is what OBR has done for me.

One VICTORY: Meeting men who finally understand the tremendous harm that violence against the feminine does to society and to the world at large. Men who understand how patriarchy enslaves those who enforce it as well as those oppressed by it. Men who through conversations realized the interconnectedness of violence against animals women, wars, rape of the planet and its resources and how all this can end through having a profound respect for all life.

Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende

OBR Zim/Ann Arbor

On Feb. 14th, 2013, Atlanta, Georgia joined together in solidarity to demand an end to violence against women and girls in our city and around the world. Our team of organizers grew from a few dedicated passionate people to a team of 115 amazing and influential members of our community including artists, activists, musicians, dancers, government employees, women business owners, as well as Founders & Directors of key organizations in Atlanta that are committed to working on the issue of violence against women and girls.

Once we assembled our team and reached out into our community to ask for support by joining our coalition and/or donating, we all heard the same answer, YES! Yes, I will offer my studio for rehearsals. Yes, I will donate printing, banners, t-shirts, radio spots, PSA’s. Yes I will join the coalition of over 100 Organizations and spread this message and event with our networks. As we broadened our network, we discovered the issue of violence against women and girls was at the forefront of so many organizations’ current agendas. We were invited to rallies, meetings, candlelight vigils and Capital gatherings. It was clear as we extended our reach that Atlanta was ready to rise and rally around this issue.

As we got closer to the event, people were inspired to create. One Woman Rising, a 16 foot tall gloriously painted statue now stands at Freedom Park for all to see, and an original Music Video “One Billion Rising’ was created inspiring women to make the choice to walk away. We could feel the rising as our Facebook numbers increased, phones were ringing endlessly, emails were coming in every few minutes, articles were written and our PSA’s were playing on major television stations.

After four days of cold and rain, we awoke on Feb. 14th to sunshine and clear blue skies. We began our day at the Georgia State Capitol where 500 excited and passionate people stood together as we listened to the words of Reverend Dr. Bernice King who touched each of us, “In spirit of my mother and father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, I AM RISING. I am reminded of my father’s words when he said returning violence for violence only multiplies violence adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” , State Senator Nan Orrock, Sara Blakely owner of Spanx, and Kai Lewis a teenager who moved everyone to tears as she shared, “I’m Rising because I live with one of those 1 in 3” and she continued to tell us her story. Our time at the Capitol ended with an original song by Sam Collier and Fly Musiq and the entire audience singing together “Rise up, we gotta rise up, we stand up for the ones who gave up. Rise up we gotta rise up for all of the children, at least one billion.”

We all walked together from the Capitol to the location of our FlashMob less than a mile away at Woodruff Park, Atlanta’s Central Park, surrounded by high rise office buildings. The perfect spot. As we got closer to Woodruff Park, you could feel the excitement. Then the moment that will remain forever etched in my memory came as I entered Woodruff Park where our 500 had swelled to 7000 people wearing red and pink One Billion Rising Shirts coming out of every street surrounding the park, filling the park.

At 12:00 Noon, 7000 women, men and children of all ages and ethnicities stood together energized and ready to dance as ‘Break the Chain’ echoed throughout the park with Tena Clark on the stage witnessing the greatest expression of her song. Thousands of people moving in unison to the vision of One Billion Rising, “I can see a world where we all live. Safe and free from oppression. No more rape or incest, or abuse. Women are not a possession.”

Each individual marked their ONE in a billion as onlookers viewed from surrounding office buildings and thousands watched it Live Streaming throughout the world. We all stood in awe in our most stunning collective moment in a sea of ‘one’ marked by thousands of fingers pointed toward the sky.

And then the celebration continued. Speakers and Musicians graced our stage continuing to keep everyone inspired and in touch with the issue. I had the privilege of reciting Eve Ensler's, monologue Rising and as I raged through the realities of what we are facing, I found myself standing at the crossroads of what our work will be in Atlanta as I said, “It’s time to tell a new story. It needs to be OUR STORY.”

And so we will begin to tell a new story and it will be our story. It will be Atlanta’s specific call to action based on the needs of our city to end violence against women and girls. Atlanta will never be the same. Our city is forever changed and we have built a coalition thousands strong so that we can work together to end violence against women and girls in our city and around the world!

Staging The Vagina Monologues to raise awareness for ONE BILLION RISING was an incredible experience. All good things- the show was sold-out, the audience rose to their feet at the end joining forces with the cast raising their fingers in the air- but for me, I was reminded of the potent power of theatre. We had many young students in the audience who have never seen the play and that they went on to organize risings in their schools and universities was testament to a play that was written in the 90’s but resonates equally, if not more powerfully, today. I look forward to a time when The Vagina Monologues is a ‘history’ play because women are in their power, men respect women, women respect men and rape has ended!

V-Girls SA

I watched the core group of V-Girls South Africa grow into leaders through the course of One Billion Rising. We have a leadership crisis in South Africa. These young women are an inspiration to me. The way they handle themselves, the media, their efforts and challenges, the way they care for each other and support each other gives me hope for a better South Africa. They are, indeed, our future leaders!

VICTORY

The most reserved of the V-Girl’s, Ratanang Mogotsi, took the lead in organizing V-Girls SA events.  A young woman of integrity, grace, passion, fire and generosity emerged.  She continues to lead!

As a result of The Vagina Monologues, V-Girl, Actor and Activist Karabo Tshikube, was invited to perform ‘I AM NOT WHAT YOU FEAR’ at the assembly of a conservative Jewish Day School. The assembly was on rape awareness. 850 students attended. The headmaster contextualized the monologue uttering the words vagina and penis to the packed school hall. His final words to the young learners were with regards to the power of language. He concluded by saying: ‘‘dick is a weapon!”

One billion women and girls are raped, abused, or beaten in their lifetime.

That statistic was the driving force behind the efforts of myself and my team as we passionately took on Eve Ensler and her One Billion Rising campaign to stop this senselessness.

In February 2012, I saw a Facebook post that mentioned the One Billion Rising campaign, which I immediately reposted. “This is just the beginning of hearing more from me about this new campaign,” it read. I could almost hear Eve saying those words in her playful yet powerful cadence. It noted that on Valentine’s Day 2013 the largest global movement would organize and become realized, with millions of people dancing around the world to stop violence against women and girls.

One billion women and girls are raped, abused, or beaten in their lifetime.

Even after this Valentine’s Day 2013, when One Billion Rising manifested in 207 countries and sparked conversation, dance, dialogue, action, awareness, and understanding throughout the world, I keep saying that line to myself and think, how can we stop this together? Hearts are so big while ignorance and hatred are so weak. How do we communicate and translate a message of peace?

One billion women and girls are raped, abused, or beaten in their lifetime.

New York City hailed as the epicenter of this movement, and my team and I were overjoyed to be the regional coordinators helping to make it all happen. There were over 100 local risings, all of which culminated in a 2,000-person dance party at The Hammerstein Ballroom (the same venue that launched V-Day 15 years ago). Highlights include dance parades across Brooklyn Bridge, flash mobs in Washington Square Park and Union Square Park (over 500 people did the Macarena with powerhouse organizer Michelle Goldblum of I. AM. creative in Union Square!), and dancing on display in ABC Carpet + Home’s iconic Broadway windows. From religious centers to senior care facilities, public schools to private corporations, all of New York City stood up and said: we’re together, and we can stop this.

One billion women and girls are raped, abused, or beaten in their lifetime.

Glenn Close, Rosario Dawson, Kate Clinton, Morley, Betty, DJ Beverly Bond, DJ Spinna, and DJ Hesta Prynn commanded the stage and audience at The Hammerstein. The night was punctuated with outstanding performances from the Brooklyn High School of the Arts, Joya Powell’s Movement of the People Dance Company, and more. My favorite part? The Thriller flash mob by Thrill the World that we scheduled to rise straight from the dance floor at the end of the night!

I am so thankful for Eve for giving my team and I this platform to make a difference in the world. It’s missions like these that confirm my trust in humanity and my love for my work. Looking forward to the V-Day 20th Anniversary!

One billion women and girls are raped, abused, or beaten in their lifetime.

One Billion Rising was a unique experience for me. In the months leading up to it I was part of the team planning and executing some of the events and projects that helped build momentum for the campaign - from our Africa Summit in Nairobi to the NYC Break The Chains flashmob and video shoot, to helping to bring on diverse partners like the Guerrilla Girls and the National Domestic Workers Alliance. I also played a role I often do for the team - writing about V-Day's vision for One Billion Rising and presenting our plans to our donor-partners. As 2012 came to a close and we got closer to the big day, however, I had to step away from the action for the birth of my first child - a V-girl who was born in December. Suddenly, I went from the micro to the macro, and was forced to see and witness V-Day from a whole new vantage point. While on maternity leave, I checked my email everyday and connected with colleagues weekly. I saw - with awe, but with no sense of surprise - how they worked around the clock to help support the dreams and plans of countless women and men across our global network. I saw how they made innovations each day, learning about new technologies and platforms to help our network grow, responding to requests in places we had to-date had no presence with a sensitivity and intelligence that only comes with time and practice, and always keeping a razor-sharp focus on what is the lifeblood of V-Day - the opportunity for survivors and allies to lead on a grassroots level and on their own terms. From India to the Philippines to cities in the US like Santa Fe and Chicago, my colleagues activated their communities with ingenuity, drive and a raucous sense of humor.

I could not stand not being at the Hammerstein Ballroom the night of February 14, 2013 for the OBR culminating event in NYC. It was, after all, the place where V-Day began 15 years ago and I wanted to be with my colleagues - like family - for the evening. So I left my precious baby girl with my husband and sister in Brooklyn and ventured out without her for the first time since she was born. Walking into the Hammerstein reinforced so much for me. For starters, it proved that V-Day is a vibrant, unique and unpredictable movement unlike any other in the world. On Valentine's Day, in a city that is at times incredibly cynical, thousands of men and women had gathered to dance and take a stand against gender based violence. People from all walks of life, all ages, all socio-economic backgrounds. Who would have thunk it? Well, Eve Ensler, of course! And that's the other thing that resonated for me that evening at the Hammerstein. Eve wasn't there but V-Day was alive. People have often asked me if V-Day revolves around Eve. It's a fair question (for an outsider looking in). But once you get to know the movement you can clearly see that while Eve's vision and spirit gave birth to V-Day and guide it to this day, she leads V-Day, but does not possess it. V-Day does not revolve around Eve. Eve revolves her life around V-Day, serving it with a devotion that is breathtaking. Because Eve is intrinsically a generous person who is fully focused on the work of ending violence, V-Day is so much bigger than her. And that is by her design. In every way V-Day is a reflection of her values and dreams because it attracts people who are kind, giving, committed, smart, creative and innovative. Simply put: V-Day lives on a cellular level - in people's hearts and minds. It gains force on a community level - in people's actions. I saw it at the Hammerstein that night. All of us - colleagues, partners, families, longtime V-Day activists and new ones - felt that V-Day was ours that night. We felt that we had something to contribute to it, that it had something to give us, that our collective vision for the world was possible.

by Colette de Troy & Valentina Brogna, Regional Coordinators (European Women’s Lobby)

One Billion Rising was an exciting way of campaigning against violence against women. We used music and art, we danced and sang, using our bodies to protest and to occupy public spaces so that our message could not be ignored and could be conveyed in a positive, non-violent way. It was a great opportunity to rise for the eradication of violence against women for several reasons.

It was, first of all, a call on women to use their own body without shames and occupy the public space through dances. Women were asked, through their physical public presence, to assert their existence, their importance and their dignity: they were asked to take an active part within the public space. We all know that women cannot use public spaces as men do: a woman always has to pay attention to where she is walking, how she looks at men, how she dresses etc. This event let women be there and use the public space to express themselves and raise awareness about violence that many of them encounter in their lifetime.

One Billion Rising was conceived to raise awareness among women and to encourage them to speak up, not to feel ashamed if they have suffered from violence. It was an opportunity to invite them not to tolerate anymore and start denouncing violent behaviours and acts: “This is MY body. My body is HOLY. NO more excuses, NO more abuses”, the song tells us.

It was a call on men too (of course, perpetrators are for the vast majority men). Men were asked to acknowledge the existence of this worldwide movement against gender based violence and to take the pledge not to harm women. “Men who love women” were also asked to take an active part to the dances and events organised. In Brussels, men’s participation was welcomed and we had quite a lot of men, especially young ones.

The global nature of this festive event is also a feature to acknowledge as new and as a positive aspect of globalisation. We wouldn’t have had such a big success, hadn’t this festive idea been so widespread. Women (and men) all over the world were gathered on the same day to dance for the same cause. This produced a wonderful energy, as we knew we were not alone, we were billions dancing and expressing ourselves, affirming our importance and dignity, demanding respect.

The energy created by this worldwide initiative now cannot be wasted; it has to be conveyed towards better policies, namely better prevention, more certain punishment, better data collection and better protection for women who decide to denounce. Women must be sure that they are not alone in front of their aggressor; they have to perceive and be sure that the society is with them and that it is not them who have to feel guilty or ashamed for the violence suffered. Mentalities have to change and One Billion Rising can be seen as the biggest mobilisation ever contributing to this change.

One Billion Rising was thus a unique occasion to put the issue of violence against women again high in the media and, we hope, on the political agenda at all levels of decision-making. As part of the European Women’s Lobby, working every day to reach equality between women and men in Europe, we always bear in mind this political perspective. Changes in attitudes and policies go hand in hand and One Billion Rising is, for us, a big success but also an important starting point to build upon for a more gender equal Europe and a more respectful world.  

Our Victories (what we have achieved through One Billion Rising in Brussels):

We have aided women to speak up and feel free to dance and sing to assert their dignity! We have helped activists, women’s associations and large public united to rise up and dance together against violence against women! We have brought men, especially young ones, to dance with us! We have encouraged local and international media to discuss again the issue of violence against women! 

¡Gracias a Eve y a toda la gente de V-Day que nos animó a ser parte de este esfuerzo global! Nos sentimos parte de un mundo que aún cree en la justicia, la paz y la no violencia. Nos conforta saber que hay billones de gente interesada en hacer la diferencia. ¡Nuestros corazones y nuestras energías en Alianza Nacional de Campesinas se conectaron en forma increíblemente inexplicable!, con toda la hermosísima gente que participó este 14 de Febrero V-Day, uniéndonos a Un Billón de Pie. Nos sentimos incluidas, visibles, orgullosas, emocionadas; y la energía y espíritus de todas nos unieron con el resto del mundo que también bailó y se manifestó! Un Billón de Pie nos trajo nuevas formas de abrir el dialogo con mujeres y niñas y familias enteras sobre la importancia de trabajar en solidaridad en nuestras familias, en los campos agrícolas, desde California, Arizona, New México, Texas, hasta Florida, Indiana, Virginia y el estado de Nueva York nuestras comunidades ya sea pequeñas o enormes nos manifestamos. Todas las integrantes de Alianza Nacional de Campesinas en nueve estados de USA y tres estados en México y amistades de otras regiones y Colombia que participamos, nos sentimos halagadas e incluidas en el movimiento de Un Billón de Pie, para prevenir y terminar la agresión contra nosotras las mujeres y las niñas. Familias enteras se unieron participando. Todo fue formidable y contagioso. Estamos a la expectativa sobre lo que continuará porque el contagio no es solo el momento, sino algo que se ha incrustado en nuestro ser. ¡Esto debe continuar!  ¡Si Se Puede! ¡Un Billón y Miles de Billones Mas de Pie!

As we continue saying in our campesinas' communities, Si Se Puede! Un Billon de Pie!

OBR technically began for me on February 14th 2012. Eve was flying from Australia to Los Angeles where after being on a plane for 14 hours she would get off the plane and head to CNN to announce the global action called One Billion Rising.   This day was no different than a typical day for me as V-Day’s Director of Operations; eye’s straight ahead and no veering off course. My job is to anticipate, think ahead and finesse the details. Everything was in order and we were ready to begin.  I am well aware and versed on the bigger picture of this monumental movement. However, throughout 2012 leading up to the big day I was going to learn while I excelled at the details of my job, my emotional comprehension of the bigger picture of our work at V-Day was yet to be discovered. A wall existed between the details and the nature of the work we do.  OBR wouldn’t really begin for me until the following November.

RISING: We were blessed with amazing OBR coordinators all over the world and Eve was going on a global tour to fan the flames of One Billion Rising and help get the fire roaring.  Over Thanksgiving I was lucky to join Eve and Cecile (our Managing Director) on a visit to Central and South America.  Our coordinators were so unbelievable that a lot of the details I oversee were taken care of and this allowed me to begin to take in my surroundings. The blinders were off.  Eve references this journey in many of her interviews and writings about the One Billion Rising experience. This journey began with driving through the sex trade area of Mexico City. My eyes glazed over as I saw young women who were anywhere from 12  - 17 years of age dressed in shiny lame outfits waiting for men to come and defile them. As I stared out of the window I tried to make eye contact with them. If I was able to catch their eye they either looked down or walked into a dark corner immediately. A feeling came over me I had never felt before. It was not really sure what to make of it. I now know it was a deep dark sadness that truly overcame me.  I couldn’t get their faces out of my mind. This was only fueled when I found out the sex trade in Mexico City was a 6 to 7 billion-dollar industry. 

We left Mexico and continued on to Guatemala, where we visited a woman’s justice center that had pink crosses displayed in a row with pictures of women and girls who had been murdered. Attached to each cross was an outfit they once wore and their horrific story. Once I was able to comprehend this installation my stomach rose to my mouth and I had to stand back.  I couldn’t though, I felt magnetized to walk to each cross and read each story. Before I knew it we were in the car again and I was staring blankly out of the window trying to comprehend this.

We ended that leg of our tour in Lima, Peru where I stood next to Eve as a woman apologized to her for smelling like burnt wood. She had started the first shelter in Lima and that particular day the heater was out so she had been burning kindle to keep the shelter warm.  All of this penetrated me deeper than I could ever imagine.  It’s one thing to see someone who is in pain due to the ways of the world, but another thing to actually feel this pain and anger for them.  I called my boyfriend one evening while on the road and casually asked what he was doing that night. He mentioned he was going out with some friends for drinks. I don’t know what came over me but I lost it. I had my “Fur is Back” moment (For reference see Eve Ensler’s   piece Fur is Back in A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer)“ How can people go out for cocktails when the world is falling apart”. 10 years of pent up emotions of what I had seen and worked on but not felt were suddenly unleashed from inside of me.  There I sat in the Inca Market in Miraflores, Lima with tears streaming down my face.  It finally penetrated me. “This is it !” I thought, “ We have to rise. We can’t not”. I felt it in my soul for the first time.

DANCING: I went to India post Christmas to meet Eve.  All I remember thinking on the 16 hour journey was “what will happen this time?”  Our travels through India were unforgettable. This trip came on the heels of the horrific rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey. The country was ignited. We attended a plethora of different events. They ranged from town hall type meetings with communities, to productions of The Vagina Monologues in Hindi, to rallies on college campuses. The people came out en masse. Each event concluded the same way, with dance.  I however, had never seen anything like this before.  When I watched people dancing there was an energy that filled the room that was unspeakable.  It was loud, celebratory, angry, hopeful, it ran the gamut.  It was drawn up from the earth and out into the atmosphere. I watched people whom I assumed were so demure explode.  I felt the rumbling of the earth.   Dancing was a necessary ingredient for shifting the trajectory of violence against women and girls.

ONE BILLION RISING; One year later after I had managed Eve’s journey from Australia to Los Angeles, on 2.14.13, we are at the Hammerstein Ballroom. This is where V-Day began 15 years ago.  We had a fantastic dance party with performances from bands, spoken word poets, super hot DJ’s and some incredible talent, Glenn Close, Rosario Dawson, Kathy Najimy and Kate Clinton.  The crowd of three thousand danced and roared as we rose. The evening was electric and a total success!

Behind any successful performance is usually a producer’s nightmare.  Nothing is set in stone until the act comes off stage and you don’t breathe relief until the curtain comes down.  Things change, performance schedules have to be rearranged, talent is moved around, and people ask you questions while you are trying to produce the show at hand.  The chaos behind a production can be so intense there sometimes is no way not to personalize it.  Had this been 2.14.12 I might have asked myself as I was pouring myself into a taxi home, “ why the hell did I do that? Why would I take on so much stress and uncertainty?”  I would have even thrown in an eye roll for effect. I did not do any of that because I’m not the same person.

With every move, decision, annoyance and palpitated heartbeat that night my yearlong journey had brought me to a different place in my being. The need to end violence against women and girls was is so great that we needed to rise. If we did not we would suffocate. Now I find the faces, names, images and stories alive inside me.  The wall had come down and now there is no going back.

One Billion Rising made me reflect on four important aspects which I felt were critical for the global movement campaign and which ultimately contributed to making it a victory in the wholeness of the full campaign from the time it started. From a Zimbabwean perspective, of worthy to note were the following four key aspects which I believe made OBR a great and interactive space for protest for such an issue.

The Call to the Statistic

Planning for the event involved a lot of work in terms of getting word out on the campaign and almost always, the question that came out was, “Why a Billion and not any other figure?’’. In a bid to share the significance of the call to the statistic that I in 3billion women are likely to suffer some form of violence in their lifetime, I realized through the response of most people that the statistic was the core influencing factor on the campaign. Whilst this reflection may seem obvious, it projected seriousness in response to the One Billion Rising as a campaign and also a brand to which people wanted to respond to and incline to commit to at least reduce the statistic or to totally eradicate it.

The people

Getting people on board to dance and rise with assured me of the life that was within the campaign. The people who danced at the OBR event in Zimbabwe women and men – gave a reflection of the dedication which should be hinged on in the spirit of OBR beyond the event we had. The concept of getting buy in was immensely critical in building leverage and support from diverse stakeholders. For the event in Zimbabwe, we just put word out that there was a rising and no official invites were sent out but dignitaries, government officials, artists, activists , ordinary citizens and the media turned up on their own realising the significance of such a call. The flash mob pushed me to reflect and review a lot of the bureaucratic processes we sometimes go through to get to fight and engage leaders on VAW yet inwardly when confronted with real response and protest they found themselves acting to the call of OBR without respect for protocol. This anchored my belief in the need to create relevant action always to create safe spaces for women in the world to which people can actually respond to easily. Dance became my safe space of expression!!!

The Action - the Dance

The dance itself was the greatest expression for our activity in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe had an array of dances and drums thus retaining a greater part of who we are in the rising. This was important for me in particular as violence against women in my country is entrenched mostly in patriarchal attitudes and harmful cultural practices. Therefore, and the type of music created for event had to confront all of that and for me this shaped ideas for future protest and intervention as we work on further breaking free from violence beyond the 14^th of February 2013.

Dancing and drumming for the women of Zimbabwe..

The Victory

Victory for me has been projected mostly in my personal space. As I danced on the day I came to appreciate the significance of gathering in numbers for such a revolutionary cause. At the end of it all, I wanted more of the experience I got from the event which was a mutual feeling amongst most of the people who participated in it. Having people inquiring inquiring on whether OBR would be an annual event was a source of inspiration. This assured me that the impact of our rising and any efforts related to it had reached the people. For me, that was my ultimate point of victory, to have people asking for more of OBR and recognising the relevance of the action for the women of the world. This indication of hyped momentum should therefore be hinged on in this fight. Now I more confident than ever, that violence against women can be a thing of the past. It’s just a matter of more dancing and breaking free.

Nyasha Sengayi..rising for Zimbabwe

I’m not a dancer.

I’m not overly coordinated. I’m a little self-conscious, I’m not at all graceful, and my rhythm is suspect. So when ONE BILLION RISING was presented as our 15 year anniversary campaign a little over a year ago, the idea of me dancing, while also somehow convincing one billion other people across the planet to do the same was not only a profoundly daunting prospect, but me falling on my face (proverbially, literally) went from possibility to inevitability. I was scared, and that fear led to self-doubt.

However shortly after the campaign was developed, I attended the first graduating class of City of Joy in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. City of Joy is a healing and training center for women survivors of sexual violence, developed and run by amazing local activists, and sustained by V-Day. It is a special place. It's a garden, a home, a source of light and energy for so many. In the midst of the chaos and war that has ravaged Eastern Congo and its women and girls for years, City of Joy is a beacon of hope and freedom.  It is also a place where, amongst some of the strongest, most beautiful women and girls that I have ever met I came to realize that ONE BILLION RISING, one billion DANCING (even me), was exactly what this world needed. I wasn’t going to fall on my face, but rather I, and a billion more, would stand taller and be more grounded than ever before. We would use this campaign to gain the power and determination to take this movement to the next level.

Over the course of the following months our small core staff and the ONE BILLION RISING Regional Coordinators throughout the world worked day and night to spread the word, engage communities, create visual and audio resources, develop social and virtual platforms and tools, foster relationships, start new collaborations, document and archive and strategize, and ultimately produce day-of events.

When you work with global movement you’re a part of a seemingly never-ending day. You work in shifts that rotate with the time zones – Auckland to Mumbai to Nairobi to Sau Paulo to New York to Los Angeles to Honolulu and around again, overlapping sometimes, but more often passing on the torch to your colleague as the sun sets on your city and rises on theirs.  In this way, ONE BILLION RISING has been an ongoing way of life for me since the campaign launched, and it will continue to be even now past February 14^th.

Though far more rewarding then anything I’ve ever done before, ONE BILLION RISING has also been the most challenging experience of my life. Any time you are activating any great number of people--let alone a number as difficult to comprehend as “one billion,”--you often have to take a step back and concentrate on the day to day, the things you have control over. You have to trust in yourself, in your ideas, and in your colleagues. This can be difficult when you’ve long passed the threshold of mere multi-tasking--being a part of a small core staff coordinating a worldwide action; being one of the lead producers in one of the largest cities in the world; somehow fulfilling day-to-day responsibilities, none of which have diminished--and operating under the pressure of society’s call for deliverables, quantifiable numbers, statistics, results.  However through everything - sleepless nights, missed meals, checking email while in the shower, taking phone calls while at the doctors office, sorting through over 100,000 emails while celebrating your birthday -- it became vital to limit the distractions and to have as much faith in ourselves and our own ability as we have in our fellow activists. For me, my confidence in my own abilities was directly derived from the confidence that others had in me, and for that I am forever grateful to those with whom I worked so closely.

Finally, February 14^th arrived. We were going to celebrate the most important campaign of our lives (to date) in the city where it all began, in the venue that kicked off a movement. We were back in the home of the very first V-Day event in 1998, the Hammerstein Ballroom, for RISE NYC, the ONE BILLION RISING finale event in New York where actors, singers, dancers, DJ’s and poets would come together with over 3,000 activists of all ages, sizes, ethnicities, religions, orientations, and backgrounds to celebrate, dance, and of course RISE. 

The dancing had already started. Live feeds were streaming online, and the first time zones to greet the day were already in full celebration. With the confidence instilled in me from my co-workers, my girlfriend, my family, my friends, and all the brave women around the world shouting, singing, and dancing to be seen and heard, to show themselves being present and unafraid, the self-doubt and fear I experienced a year earlier seemed far behind me, so small, so insignificant.  What I was witnessing, what I had worked so hard to help bring about and experience…it was happening.  And it was beautiful.  When the sun finally set on ONE BILLION RISING NYC, and singer Maya Azucena brought the crowed together for one last moment on February 14^th, 2013 with her campaign anthem “Dance Revolution,” we passed the torch on to the West, in this ongoing, never ending day of solidarity and unity with our sisters and brothers around the world.

Many people have asked me if I believe it’s possible to end violence against women and girls, and of course my answer is always “yes”.  I believe that ONE BILLION RISING is the beginning of the path towards that goal. On February 14^th, two hundred and seven countries took their first steps.  Across borders and cultures, they did it together.  And they did it to music.

I was there.  I danced.  And I didn’t fall down.

In the past few years there have been waves of feminine revolution that have been directly rooted in body, art and the carnivalesque. Not essentialism mind you, but with the clear mandate of deconstructing the patriarchal hold over language and behaviour which defines feminine sexuality and controls, oppresses and destroys the combined woman.

The Slut Walk, which saw a global collective of women reclaim the word 'Slut,' was one such wave that garnered the support of feminists such as Poet, Alice Walker, who sanctioned it in an interview with Guernica Magazine. She succinctly encapsulated the essence of the movement in her interpretation of the use of the controversial word when she said:

“I've always understood the word 'slut' to mean a woman who freely enjoys her own sexuality in any way she wants to; undisturbed by other people's wishes for her behaviour. Sexual desire originates in her and is directed by her. In that sense it is a word well worth retaining. As a poet, I find it has a rich, raunchy, elemental, down to earth sound, that connects us to something primal, moist, and free.”

Then there is also the ongoing wave of naked protest, manifested in FEMEN, the Ukrainian feminist group. FEMEN has used a bare all strategy very effectively in global protest, mostly to give emphasis to international abuses of women's rights. FEMEN activists use their naked bodies as human placards with subversive messaging to make a feminist statement about the diminution of the female body to an object of lust and to highlight their message that women are not commodities.

Utilizing nakedness as a rebellion against detested and repressive patriarchal social norms or government policies is not new. It's been with us almost as long as covering-up and is utilized in Africa and Europe by women who have simply had enough. However, recently there has been a widespread resurgence, which goes to show that despite the collective Victorian neurosis around issues of nudity, globally, the tactic continues to be both feasible and relevant.

Then came the visceral and far-reaching support for the Russian Punk Protest outfit -- Pussy Riot. A small collective of young women wearing T-Cosies on their heads who took on the entire draconian Russian ruling party through performance stunts which centred on subversive lyrics and punk electric guitar in 'sacred' or public spaces, Pussy Riot was hugely impactful on the worldwide feminine imaginary proving that even small collectives practicing civil disobedience can pack a powerful punch at patriarchy. When three of the young women were arrested by the Russian Police and finally sentenced to four years in a hard labour camp, the uproar from the collective feminine reverberated globally and the phrase 'Pussy Riot' became part of the feminine arsenal of reclaimed lexis used in a revolutionary sense.

The next wave of body, art and the carnivalesque in protest arrived with the One Billion Rising Campaign, which, though it has used a less subversive and more inclusive mainstream language, is no less rebellious and destabilizing to the world order of patriarchy.

One Billion Rising began as a call to action for one billion women and men throughout the world to rise, strike and dance in order to call attention to the horrifying statistic that one in three women, which adds up to one billion, will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. The campaign has been run over a year by Eve Ensler's now 15-year-old organisation, V-Day, which is most famous for activating people's feminist imaginarythrough Ensler's groundbreaking play, The Vagina Monologues.

It is no surprise that Ensler came up with this seemingly impossible but doable notion when one considers what her life work through V-Day has accomplished. Together with their dedicated local organisers dotted all over the globe, they have raised more than $100 million, funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programmes and educated millions. The organisation reports that 86 cents to the dollar goes directly into ending violence against women and girls, largely due to their model, which relies most heavily on fervent local volunteers and keeps the organisation itself small and virtual. In 2012, alone, there were over 5,800 V-Day benefit events.

The network of V-Day volunteers spreads to all four corners of the world. It is a subtle and respectful spread of sisterly support that does not impose neocolonialism or euro-centricity onto local or indigenous communities. Rather, it is organic, mostly inspired by a woman from within the community and totally in keeping with the culture in which the organization lives and breathes. Thus, one will find a V-Day supported Revolutionary Center in Congo, Safe Houses in Kenya, in Somalia, Iraq and Pakistan, being run by women who already do the work. V-Day is an empathetic structure that is there to honor the work being done in countries or communities where women are most vulnerable to war and patriarchy and abuse. It does not rely on NGO rule-based organisational methodology, but on goodwill and trust. It is a feminine organic and open system of Self Empowerment Philanthropy and perhaps this is why dissenters simply miss the work that V-Day and Ensler do globally -- because this is a language that is not yet fathomed in world culture. But they can be assured that with a bit of research they would discover that it is a vast and generous body of grassroots work.

It was out of this ethos that the One Billion Rising Campaign was birthed last year and since its inception it has ignited a network of women's organisations, communities and individuals worldwide using a multi-media campaign approach to spread the word. Over a year the results have been profound. Activists in 203 countries from over 13,000 organisations around the globe danced this Valentines Day. In Paris, the Women's Coalition of the French Parliament danced. In Bangladesh, millions of men and women formed a dancing chain across the country. In Bosnia, women and men danced along the riverside and public squares. The Mayor of Lima, Susana Villaran, has officially made 14.02. One Billion Rising Day. In many African Countries women and men, joined in the Dance Revolution from Sierra Leone to Libya to Gambia, to Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi.

Here in South Africa over 40 women's groups joined One Billion Rising in solidarity with the OBRSA campaign -which placed the issues most pertinent to this country's women at the centre of the discussion. Thus at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill women's organisation leaders took the podium to highlight issues, such as hate crime against the LGBTI community and the call for government action towards the levels of heinous rape murders in South Africa was made. Well-known feminist, author and scholar Pumla Gqola in her moving speech at the event said

“I rise in solidarity with all survivors, victims and all those who will be brutalized by gender-based violence again. I rise and dance to counter the isolation that gender based violence breeds, to counter the shame, to refuse to shoulder the blame and to put an end to the excuses. I rise to say our bodies are ours and we matter.”

Over 50 events happened all around South Africa as women and men in solidarity with one billion women, gathered to voice their stories, dialogue around issues that affect their lives, rise up and demonstrate outside magistrates courts and took over public spaces. Schools and universities came alive with protest and dance. From Marikana to Muizenberg, its impact was far-reaching and inclusive and has ignited a renewed passion and solidarity amongst activists who are already working on the ground. This was no tea-party, as some dissenters have asserted. It was a wave of action and solidarity and sisterhood. The message was clear -- patriarchy must be dismantled, smashed, danced out of existence for it is patriarchy that is the root of violence against all women. "We've had enough and that is all there is to it." Says Yvette Positive Raphael of John HopkinsHealth and Education, South Africa.

Some dissenters have pooh-poohed the element of dance and attempted to write it off as one big vacuous aerobics class. Again, they have sorely missed the point of the ancient method of carnival and celebration to bring down governments -- as practiced by our pagan and medieval ancestors and in many cultures around the globe. To see a repressed, oppressed, exploited and unhappy workforce burst out in dance, laughter and revolutionary madness is the most destabilizing phenomenon for the ruling elite to witness -- it means they have failed in their oppression and the people still have the will to life and happiness in them. It scares the ruling class and it forces change.

Choreographed or not -- dance is a subversive act, a defiant act in a world that is ruled by anti-celebratory patriarchal forces that have done their utmost to smash, rape, violate, denigrate the joy out of the feminine through systematic violence and oppression. Dance is a rebellious expression of body in civil disobedience -- It is a wild and unfettered revolutionary jamboree that jazzes wildly in the face of the fire and brimstone wrath of a patriarchal, capitalistic, heteronormative, linear interpretation of life -- a destructive anti-celebratory phallocentric force that has for centuries been thrust upon the entire global community.

Enough already!

In my view the Slut Walk, Pussy Riot, Naked Protest and One Billion Rising are all signifiers for the resurgence of the indivisible visceral sexual, emotional and intellectual nature of women that has been pushed underground and controlled by a misogynistic order for centuries. It seems to me that women are responding to a collective archetypal call to seize back the freedom to be them selves. It is also about rebelling against the social and public discourse that has been controlled by a patriarchal hold over language, a phenomenon that continues in the neoliberal discourse of today. It is about the power of the feminine sexuality, emotionality and intellect that is demanding to be here, to exist and to be treated with respect and nurture. It is a loud and urgent call to stop war on women's bodies. No More Rape is the central primal scream to this uprising. And when a billion voices make that call on the same day - something is bound to change.

All these feminist revolutionary waves are signifiers for a collective consciousness that is defying and destroying the paradigm that perpetuates the patriarchal agenda in multifarious ways. It is fuelled by the very thing that patriarchy wants to deny and destroy and that is the fact that women do possess the capacity for a deep jouissance that exists outside of its cruel reach - even in the most dire of circumstances. It is this life force that women access to force change and it is an essence that cannot be written off in shallow renditions of a Western pop culture interpretation of joy as a smile and happiness. Joy is an inner resource not an advert -- and those dissenters who think that the joy workers in this world are insulting women who live in poverty or forcing a neo-colonial ethos onto women in indigenous cultures, have sorely missed the point of what the collective feminine possesses outside of race economics and culture. It is the very thing that patriarchy has tried to oppress and harness but has never been able to access. Perhaps this essence lies dormant for decades but we have seen it ignite in protest over the years. We witnessed it in our history in the women's march of 1956 which was fuelled by rage and feminine will. The young Winnie Mandela had it in bucket loads when she incited the people of South Africa to get out on the streets and fight for their lives. Now one billion people across the world accessed that revolutionary joy on a day that is a call to activism to bring down patriarchy and break the chains.

One Billion Rising did indeed see one billion people rising on V-Day. The fact that it really manifested in such great numbers and multifarious expressions of women reclaiming their right to both express their rage and live in their joy is a manifestation of our collective desire to no longer be obedient. It speaks of necessary subversiveness. It also tells those men that their sexual abuses of women will no longer be tolerated. It unites women in a common sisterhood and it raises our voices in a collective feminine language such that we will no longer be spoken for. And mostly, it defies and weakens the destructive anti-life force of patriarchy.

As Eve Ensler herself said of One Billion Rising -- "We Will dance up the will of the world to end violence against women and break out of the cage of patriarchy, reclaiming our bodies, our rage, our desires, our pleasure, our joy and our power."

I am not an expert in the anti-violence against women movement. Of course, I knew it existed and that laws don’t do enough to punish offenders or protect victims but I had no idea how much of a global epidemic violence against women is. Like so many others who joined the One Billion Rising campaign, the first thing I learned was the staggering 1 in 3 statistic and the fact that one billion women and girls will experience violence in her lifetime.

Coming on board as the campaign project manager, it wasn’t long before I realized what a systemic and cultural problem – in every part of the world – violence against women is. Of all the things societies around the world could have in common, how disturbing that violence against women is one of them.

Working on issue advocacy offers its own unique paradox where you are immersed in atrocious injustices yet, while facing some of the worst images in humanity, you also gain glimpses into some of the best humanity has to offer: committed women and men working to affect real and lasting change.

Every day for the last 9 months I have read news items and heard personal stories about women and girls being raped, beaten, genitally mutilated, bought and sold like they were goods at a market. The most common thought was, “If this makes me feel awful, imagine the horror experienced by the person living it.”

There is an upside, though. During this campaign I’ve had the pleasure to work with some of the most inspiring, hardworking, and dedicated activists I’ve ever met in my life. While reading about the worst in society, I’ve seen the best come out to defend and protect. I’m still in awe at the bravery shown by some of the women who, in parts of the world where they risked physical safety by coming out to rise, planned secret events for February 14^th and gathered regardless of the dangers.

Any given day could be a roller coaster ride of emotion, moving from complete disgust and frustration over a vile act of aggression against a woman, to total joy and hope upon hearing from a group of young activists planning events in their neighborhood as a result of said vile act.

It wasn’t just during working hours that I was affected by the campaign. Whether watching TV, listening to music or just riding the bus and hearing conversations around me, the culture of violence against women became unavoidably present even in the most mundane activities.

These instances all served as fuel and inspiration throughout the campaign, but those roller coaster moments all served a more significant purpose: the realization that, in our society, we are all survivors of violence against women. Even those of us who are not physical victims of violence are still living within a system that embraces it, sometimes even encourages it.

After 9 months of coalition building, event planning, and activist outreach with One Billion Rising, I’m still not an expert on VAW. I don’t want to be, either. If working on One Billion Rising gives me just one takeaway goal, it’s to continue working on not becoming a VAW expert. 

Still reeling from the horrific gang rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen, we awoke on V-Day to a shocking bloody valentine. The hash tag #1BillionRising faded in comparison to #OscarPistorius. Then, a 13-year-old girl was raped while crossing Beit Bridge. The Mail and Guardian newspaper declared: ‘Rape: SA Still Does Not Care.’ I felt disheartened, exhausted and disillusioned.

When heartists are born, a lifespan of creation beckons. Heartistry is embedded in my genes and I’m compelled to live with passionate commitment to love, to my world and to what I believe is meaningful. Despite my wariness, when I felt the rising energy of teen girls in Soweto dancing to ‘Break the Chain’ I was moved by their creative spirits. Their bravery embraced me, wholeheartedly. I felt revived and so proud. This was a small, yet significant, pocket of hope arising.

In the year prior to our One Billion Rising (OBR) event, we weaved our stories of heartbreak, abuse, rape and violence within our caring circle. We have shared a strong bond through the innate capacity held in our very own hands. Our homage to handcraft has been our primary source of creativity, dialogue, self-awareness and fulfillment. Fibre artistry has given us a vital and valid voice. It was the driving force to enable our healing and empower us to rise. I’ve ridden the waves of my sisters’ suffering along with my own hidden struggles. The chapters in the Story Scarves yarn have unlocked me far beyond initial intention. The wounded healer has healed.

Freedom of creativity was our platform. A yarn bomb set the stage for our flash mob: trees were draped with crochet blossoms in bloom and hearts of love. Scarf banners of crochet, knit, appliqué and embroidery were our placards. We signed our pledge on a giant shoe made of paper collage. Scarves pirouetted in the air as we soared dancing. Our mascot was a hand-knitted teddy. Traditional Tswana dancers added a distinctive African vibrancy. A naked artist flaunted her sacred body in a handmade nude costume. As Graca Machel says, "Arts give us the opportunity to amplify the space in which women present the extraordinary in the human soul."  Art-with-heart harnesses positive social change and that was our aim.

Two girls shared poems of being violated and we raised our arms in blessing their courage. To be the victim of rape is not a life sentence. We cheered at the monologue ‘My Short Skirt’ as men and boys enthusiastically joined us. There was a definitive sense-of-place. Sowetan teenagers rose on Vilakazi Street. Thirty-six years ago, no youth imagined it would be permissible for their sisters and brothers to protest peacefully just metres away from where the Soweto Uprising occurred. Yes, valiant emotional creatures danced in the face of all oppressors.

In the midst of our circle, Bridget Makhonza courageously stood. The music and dancing became attentive stillness. Bridget is a survivor with a quiet yet powerful presence. We had never previously met and I was honoured she accepted my invitation to address our group. As Bridget completed her telling, she and I were embraced in the centre of a group hug of love by all the V-girls and V-guys including my unwaveringly supportive friends. As I write, the cherished memory brings me tears of joy.

OBR cannot be a repetitive yearly action, building momentum over time. How many more young women will be violated during the process? News is breaking of the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman by 15 men with knob-kerries. Our beloved country is crying. We need to act NOW. This is not a protest or one-act play. This is the catalyst for a crusade.

South Africans must care.

I have found my sisters and they've found me. Kin by choice and heart.
And so, we rose… resiliently.

Stacey Rozen, Creative Director – Story Scarves
One Billion Rising
Regional Coordinator, South Africa

"OBR was empowering, uplifting and sent a strong message of hope for a different future." - CaroleAnn Leishman,

Organizer | One Billion Rising Powell River, BC
______________________

The road to OBR Canada began in September 2013.  Shortly after getting underway in my role as National Coordinator, I found myself discouraged and nervous.  Organizations that I was sure would be interested were saying no.  People weren't returning phone calls and my emails -- impassioned and professional as they were -- were either being ignored completely or responded to with considerably less passion than with which they'd been sent, and in considerably fewer words.  In five years producing V-Day Toronto I had never come up against this.  It wasn't outward resistance; at least that would've been something.  It seemed to be indifference; that was difficult to understand.  How could anyone be indifferent about violence against women?  How could the people and organizations I was reaching out to be disinterested, if this was supposedly their life's work?  It was disheartening and disillusioning, to say the least.

But slowly, something began to happen.  There began to be signs of curiosity, not from organizations, but from one person, then another person, then another person.  I began making connections with women who were interested in bringing OBR to their towns and my sense of optimism grew.  What quickly became obvious was that it was individual people, women who were simply tired of the epidemic of violence and oppression across the world, who were taking it upon themselves to lead One Billion Rising in their communities.  That was a revelatory moment, and such an empowering one.  We've long known the phrase "One person can make a difference".  Suddenly I was seeing that in community after community -- one person whom I connected with would then connect with others in her community, who would then join with her to take that community by storm.  And interestingly enough, once word of OBR began to spread, it was quite something to see how many of the organizations that had been disinterested suddenly wanted to come onboard.  My hope was to get 50 OBR events happening across Canada.  To me this was ambitious, seeing as so much of our population is in our urban centres and along the U.S. border.  But that was my goal.  I am still overwhelmed that over 100 communities took part.  From Victoria, BC to St. John's, NFLD -- Canadians rose with passion and fervour that was more than I ever could have hoped for.  There were street parties, dance seminars, yoga classes, concert performances, drum circles, and a whole lotta flash mobs! =) 

It has been SO impressive to watch the organizers, many in towns with limited resources and not much local support, dig deep and find a way to make OBR happen. The determination and steadfastness that all of us showed along the way is something each of us can be proud of.  It was a joy to discover even more incredibly passionate women from coast-to-coast as a result of this movement, and to now have connections with people who I'm sure will continue to be leaders in their communities for many years to come.  Mehrak in Toronto, Rachel in Sault Ste. Marie, Theresa in Vancouver, Darcelle in Belleville, Chelsea in Calgary... I was inspired by the drive and commitment to the cause that these women possess.  Believe me, if I'd had my way I would've made a whirlwind trip across Canada on February 14th, to hug each of these women and personally experience the breaking of the chain in every city.  The women were galvanized and our brothers - our wonderful brothers - joined in with loving and open hearts.  Everywhere, the stories are unique and yet the same.  OBR was a moment like no other. 

"We are a very small mountain community where sometimes it's easy to feel isolated from the rest of the world. Being a part of this movement made us feel like we were a part of something much bigger..." - Paula Krupa | Organizer, OBR Banff (Alberta)

"All of us realized that these acts of violence can happen to any woman. It energized us to continue supporting women's groups and reminded us to appreciate every moment we live violence free." - Dawn D. | Organizer, OBR Scarborough-Guildwood (ON)

"I think the most memorable part of our celebration in Victoria was looking around and seeing everyone smiling. Just smiles everywhere! Dancing really brought everyone together... I think people just marveled that standing up for justice could be so much fun!" - Theresa Negrieff | Organizer, OBR Victoria (BC)

In Toronto, Canada's largest city, the Rising was a two-part, deeply inspiring event.  It began with a rally at Nathan Phillips Square, outside City Hall, which surprised attendees by turning into a magnificent flash mob dance.  Break The Chain could be heard loudly piercing the air in the public square and the sight of the dancers moving in unison as the snow gently fell on them was a breaktaking vision.  That evening, one of the city hottest clubs & concert venues, The Opera House, became 'Party Central' as hundreds of OBR supporters hit the dance floor, accompanied by one of the most popular DJ crews in the city.  Throughout the night, a large screen ran a slideshow of photos of preparations for OBR around the world.  There were incredible speeches, dance performances and an impromptu reprise of Break The Chain by the OBR Toronto committee, volunteers and members of local government on The Opera House stage!  In the lobby, a Why I'm Rising wall contained written messages from attendees sharing their feelings about OBR.  The following day, the committee was issued an invitation by a member of our federal government to meet with her on International Women's Day, to discuss One Billion Rising and the future of fighting violence against women in Canada. 

What I love most is that no two events were alike.  They were as individual as the towns themselves and reflected the story of each community.  While the Risings in Toronto and Vancouver were significant in size, many others in villages and townships were small in scale, but their intimacy was just as powerful.  That some Risings even happened -- like those on Native reservations -- all but brings me to tears.

"One Billion Rising was a HUGE success in this northern primarily First Nation community of Carmacks, Yukon.  We have a population of 500 and we had just under 100 people marching.  We had men, women and children.  It was an emotional and very amazing event...We feel it was a wonderful first step in stopping the silence and shame." - Deb Crosby, Organizer | OBR Carmacks (Yukon)

What a glorious thing... a town of 500 and 100 of them taking part in OBR!  Deb's message went on to talk about how her community is divided by a bridge that spans the Yukon River.  On that day, women and children marched from one end and men marched from the other, and they met and united at the bridge's halfway point.  How meaningful, how powerful.  Those who rose in OBR Carmack will not soon forget February 14th, 2013.  And I trust, nor will those who rose anywhere else.

The #1 question is "What now?  What happens next year?"  The energy is high and everyone wants to ride the wave of momentum that exists in OBR's wake.  With every photo I see or email I receive or video I watch, I am brought right back to that day.  I still watch the video of our flash mob here in Toronto daily; the emotion was so palpable and the day so beautiful that everyone around the globe wants to do it again.  However, it is my hope that the day and its reverberations -- those reverberations being US -- will continue to change the world in the next year.  I don't want to assume that we will need to shake the earth once more.  The aftershocks of right now cannot abate; we mustn't allow this glorious tremor to stop.  We have awakened the world.  It is up to us to not let it fall asleep again.

One billion strong.  We did it!  We have RISEN.  With each sunrise, with each first breath of every day, let us RISE anew.

Not many people have the privilege of working in a home office with a view of the world.  But I am one of the lucky few.  For the last 12 years, I have worked at V-Day and had the opportunity to have met thousands of women from every corner of the world, from Reykjavík to Manila, from San Francisco to Sarajevo.  I have developed deep friendships with some, mentored and bonded with others and learnt some of my biggest life lessons from all of them. 

When I began at V-Day, the biggest obstacle that faced V-Day organizers who produced benefits of The Vagina Monologues, was saying the word ‘vagina.’  As our Worldwide Community and College Campaigns began to take shape and benefit productions of the play began to grow into the thousands, women found their voices as leaders and activists ensuring that the word was put on theater marquees, spoken on radio interviews and published in their local newspapers.  We called it ‘accidental activism’ because for many it started off as just wanting to produce or perform the iconic play, but then they found that they came into their power while defending their right to do so.  Leaders were born, the word vagina became part of every day lexicon, taboos were broken and communities began seeing changes.

One Billion Rising, was the victory dance for these leaders and the thousands of others who had come before them.  As I looked out from my window that day, and also went out my door to produce my own RISING in my town, and saw the thousands of people gathered before me, and in town squares, on beaches, on top of mountains, in front of renowned landmarks and marching down streets, all dancing, I saw that our years of making sure people said the word vagina had finally paid off. 

In Santa Fe, New Mexico where I live, a brilliant group of women and men who had volunteered to help me produce our own Rising, gathered early in the morning at our State’s Capitol Building where the Legislature was in session. A ‘VaginaVan’ was parked out front.  Inspired by a talk I had given in the Fall in which I said ‘if you can’t say the word vagina you can’t protect it,’ two male artists who curate a mobile art gallery painted the word with 250,000 dots to represent the amount of women in New Mexico who are violated annually.  The VaginaVan set the tone for the day!  In a state that is conservative and secretive about the level of abuse, saying the word ‘vagina’ enabled hundreds of people that day to release centuries old stories of familial incidences.  It gave young girls, older women and men, the courage to tell their stories and heal during our community testimonial session inside the Capitol.  State Representatives and Senators joined us taking the issue into the House and Senate by sponsoring Memorials in honor of One Billion Rising.  That day spurred on by One Billion Rising almost every organization in the state working on the issue of violence against women and girls was at the Capitol lobbying, holding press conferences and attending sessions inside the House and Senate to ensure the issue was front and center.  But at noon, when more than 1,200 people gathered to dance “Break the Chain,” (four times!) we knew that it was no longer just about saying the word ‘vagina,’ but about deep change, community building and a collective, united energy that has not yet been forgotten a month after the event.

I saw the power that day, locally and internationally, of friendship and camaraderie, of networking and deep connections made over the course of our careers. When we launched the campaign and we started to reach out to people we knew around the world, we had the great fortune to tap into those friendships and working relationships we had forged over many years.  And they in turn, reached out to their colleagues, friends, families and networks to join us.  New relationships were formed and friendships created and the thing I saw take place, in my own town, was that women’s groups who usually did not collaborate on anything, suddenly were all united as women in sisterhood to end violence against women and girls.

The most profound thing I have learnt, from the early days of saying the word vagina, to seeing one billion people rise, is that standing shoulder to shoulder in revolution with other people, we truly all are one.  It did not matter what country we came from, it did not matter what color our skin was, it did not matter what religion we believed in, it did not matter what sexual orientation we chose to identify with - what I witnessed was a truly global humanhood of men and woman who wanted, actually craved on a deep cellular level, to create a new way of being.  One billion people rose up with one voice, one united human cry that we had had enough. One Billion Rising created a global connection in which EVERYONE saw our collective power as well as our global yearning to end violence against women and girls.

When I looked out my window I also saw myself reflected in it. As part of a group of dedicated staff, consultants and volunteers who keep the heart of the movement beating, it’s often imperative to pump hard and fast to ensure the body keeps moving.  Sometimes we are pumping too hard and too fast to recognize the effect we are having.  One Billion Rising finally enabled me to see that I helped to keep the blood flowing, the movement alive, the vision intact, the pieces moving. I was proud to be an important and vital part of the whole body of people that had accomplished this momentous occasion.

The view out my window of my home office is a magnificent one.  It is a view of amazing, courageous, powerful, fierce, kind and compassionate people who are creating a new landscape, one that I hope to look out on forever!

I have always considered myself as one of the more invisible members on staff working behind the scenes for most of One Billion Rising. A lot of my time was spent designing and updating and working on the back end to make sure things were working properly. But even so, I didn’t want the nature of the job to separate myself from really being a part of the campaign. As the campaign further developed, it just so happened that a big part of my job developed into helping many activists around the world with anything technical for the campaign and I was able to establish connections with so many amazing people. Every day, I found myself inspired by every person I came in contact with.

My OBR moment came on the day of, or technically the day before for me being based in New York. Seeing so many people rising before us was invigorating and I wasn’t able to stop the constant well of tears that were in my eyes that day. I found myself staying up until 3AM, constantly putting off my short nap because I kept refreshing to see all the new content coming in from the other side of the world. Throughout both days, I had more of these moments where I would see videos and photos pop up of people and risings that I have helped. There was the flashmob at Iguassu Falls in Brazil, there were the beautiful women with their radio show in Montreal, the dance party in Greece and the V-Day in Senegal. I just saw this web in my mind of dots connecting the world and in my own small way, I was able to support these groups and help them rise in their areas in the world.

On one day, all that work came together and manifested itself into such beauty.

When it came time for New York to rise, I found such pleasure in all the small things that morning - awaking with the sun or even selecting my outfit for the day because on that day, it represented being one of a billion coming together with one common goal on this historic day. I'm being a part of history. I'm helping MAKE history. I couldn't let the rest of the world down so I splashed cold water on my face and channeled the adrenaline from the risings that came before to make sure that New York was going to rise big time.

Hace más de diez años tuve la oportunidad de salir de una relación de maltrato y abuso que llevo mi vida a limites cercanos a la muerte. Gracias al apoyo de mi madre Cristina, mi hermana Valerie y mi hermano Alex logré dejar la relación y tuve la oportunidad de conocer a Eve Ensler y el movimiento VDAY a través de la obra Los Monólogos de la Vagina, mensaje que cambió mi vida para siempre. Desde febrero de 2001 he dedicado esfuerzos locales en Guatemala para poder producir la obra y llevar un mensaje de No Violencia. Celebrando todos los 14 de Febrero el VDAY con una Función especial de la obra. Hace 8 meses, Cecile VDAY me invita a llamar a todas las mujeres que han sufrido violencia, para que a través de un baile colectivo celebráramos el VDAY con la acción mundial One Billion Rising, de inmediato acepté, sin sospechar que tan importante reto sumaba a mi vida personal y profesional, incluyendo traducir materiales, coordinar actividades, producir eventos simultáneos además de entrar en contacto con mis emociones, con mi pasado de abuso lo cual me hacía estar en una montaña rusa de Emociones. Iniciamos los bailes en la Plaza de la Constitución con el Organismo Judicial haciendo un llamado a que las Leyes sea efectivas en el Pais, luego continuamos en, continuamos en Colegio Bilingue Vista Hermosa en el que más de 350 niñ@s bailaron junto a sus maestr@s quienes permitieron llevar Un Billón de Pie dentro de sus instalaciones, luego nos movilizamos a Centro Comercial La Pradera, en el que más de 200 alumnas y madres, junto a sus maestras de Unlimited Dance Academy bailaron. Ver a cada niña y cada mujer empoderada llena mi vida de satisfacción, al escucharlas cantando la canción y bailando la coreografía. Continuamos hacia Plaza Fontabella en donde pudimos apuntar al cielo iluminado por la LUNA. La satisfacción de haber logrado llevar a tantas mujeres y niñas dueñas de su cuerpo y de su vida celebrando, con amor, su Existencia, es una experiencia Inolvidable que REVOLUCIONA MI VIDA.

IT REVOLUTIONIZED MY LIFE

Over ten years ago, I had the opportunity to get out of a degrading and abusive relationship that took my life to limits close to death. Thanks to my mother Cristina’s support, my sister Valerie and my brother Alex, I was able to leave that relationship and had the opportunity to meet Eve Ensler and the V-Day movement through the play “The Vagina Monologues”. Its message changed my life forever. Since February 2001, I have been involved with local efforts in Guatemala to produce the play and bring the message of non-violence. V-Day is celebrated every February 14th with a special showing of the play. Eight months ago, Cecile from V-Day invited me to call on all women who have experienced violence, so that through a collective dance, we celebrate V-Day with the “One Billion Rising” global action. I immediately accepted, without suspecting what this important challenge would add to my personal and professional life, including the translation of materials, organization of activities, production of simultaneous events as well as getting in touch with my emotions, with the memories of an abusive past which put me on a roller coaster of emotions. We started the dances in the Constitutional Plaza with the Judiciary Committee, making a call for more effective laws in the country. We continued in the Bilingual School “Vista Hermosa” in which more than 350 children danced with their teachers, who allowed “One Billion Feet” within their facilities, and then we went to the mall “La Pradera” where more than 200 students and mothers danced along with their Unlimited Dance Academy teachers. To see every girl and woman empowering themselves fills my life with satisfaction, to hear them singing the song and dance the choreography. We continued to Fontabella Plaza where we pointed to the sky which was illuminated by the Moon. The satisfaction of helping so many women and girls become owners of their own bodies and lives, and to celebrate with love their existence, is an unforgettable experience that REVOLUTIONIZED my life.

We also want to take this moment to thank the following for their passion, dedication and brilliance!
V-DAY STAFF: Carl Cheng, Kate Fisher, David Hay, Emi Kane, Cecile Lipworth, Tony Montenieri, Shael Norris, Nikki Noto, Purva Panday Cullman, Amy Squires, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Susan Celia Swan, Laura Waleryszak; REGIONAL COORDINATORS: Jason Sywak; Agent of Change; Rossana Abueva, UK/Philippines; Fartuun Adnan, Somali; Abha Bhaiya, South Asia; Kamla Bhasin, South Asia; Nicoletta Billi, Italy; Francine Bintu, Democratic Republic of Congo; Rada Boric, Balkans; Valentina Brogna, European Women's Lobby; Nico Corradini, Italy; Jason Day, Peru; Colette Detroy, European Women's Lobby; Lea Filoche, France; Laura Flanders; Rose Gibbs, UK; Fahima Hashimi, Sudan; Karin Heisecke, Germany/Members European Parliament; Lindsey Horvath, California; Adriana Islaviale, Peru; Khushi Kabir, Bangladesh; Kaizaad Kotwal, India; Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende, Zimbabwe; Andres Naime, Mexico: Vanessa Oniboni, Peru/Spain; Marsha Pamela, Central America; Marie-Cecile Renauld, France; Pat Reuss; Nighat Rizvi, Pakistan; Nadja Romain, France/UK; Gillian Schutte, South Africa; Nyasha Gloria Sengayi, Zimbabwe; Tanisha Taitt, Canada; Mily Trevino Sauceda, Farmworkers US, Mexico; Monique Wilson, Philippines/UK; MEDIA & VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS: Viva & Co., Cathryn Swan, Jennifer Hirsch, Group SJR: Erin Allweiss and Sriya Karamunchi, Emi Kane, Brooke Shelby Biggs, Jonathan Archer, Tony Stroebel, Jo Stroebel, Taylor Krauss, Rob Wilson, Madeleine Gavin, Kirthi Nath; SUPPORT: Kate Cleaver, Alison Gars, Kristen Kaza, Heather Moseley, Megan Sparkman.

The venue of our main event was a public courtyard located in one of the more recently liberated districts of Mogadishu. Still fraught with constant insecurities; high profile government actors whom were scheduled to speak at our rising event nearly canceled, due to the shoot out that took place at the very location, just one day before.

Despite the high security risk notice, the Mayor of Mogadishu, Member of Parliament/Prime Minister’s wife and other influential men and women gathered and joined our rising. The perimeters were secured by national Somali forces and African Union Peace Keeping troops in armored vehicles; an attack was expected, the impact it would have was the pending uncertainty.

With security on high alert; a stampede of joyful risers filled the bleachers, entering by the hundreds; carrying picket signs with messages of ending violence against women and girls. Engulfed by a myriad of bright colors, the courtyard quickly reached maximum capacity. All of the major local news outlets and international press were in attendance at the unprecedented and historic rising in Mogadishu.

Traditional proverbs related to the power of women were being chanted in a melodious tune over the micro-phone, the beat of the drums took on as a faint whisper of a banjo harmony pacified the anxious crowd. A group of cultural dancers and poets of nationwide acclaim had then entered the courtyard; the crowd that had calmed down; were now up on their feet again, dancing, singing, clapping.

The entertainment of the event was not limited to the dancing and poetry; plays with a central message on ending violence against women were put on, popular Somali Singers wrote a special song for the event and serenaded the crowd with enduring words of the Somali woman’s power, worth and marking February 14th as her emancipation. The V-GIRLS performed the Breaking the Chain dance in front of the crowd exceeding the hundreds. This was their second performance, their first being a flash mob, one day before the event in the streets of Mogadishu.

With a standing ovation from the mayor, and clapping and cheering coming from every end of the courtyard; the dance was received very well by those present, and would come to be the topic of most discussions for the days to follow. As the major local news stations re-aired the rising event over the week, an out pour of girls visited the Elman Center on a daily basis asking to learn the dance, or become a V-GIRL.

The list of speakers was as impressive and engaging as the entertainment, a few of the most notable included the district commissioner, the only female district commissioner in Mogadishu; a woman who against all odds, in one of the most insecure districts has managed to restore stability, hope and fights for the advancement of women by leading as an example. The mayor condemned violence against women in Mogadishu and made a personal commitment to do all he can to ensure that criminals face consequences and abolish the status quo which blames victims instead of perpetrators. Our keynote speaker was the honorable Asho Haji Elmi; wife of the Prime Minister of Somalia, Member of Parliament and well established member of the Somali Civil Society Community.

The event ended several hours later, without a security breach and with hundreds of Somali men, women and children alike exiting the perimeter with the hope that the information, the experience and momentum of the One Billion Rising event gave them, would be taken home and trickled down to the rest of their communities.

Following the extravagant day-time event which was open to the public; the first lady of Somalia, Qamar Ali Omar hosted a private dinner in honor of One Billion Rising for the V-GILRS, A handful of the University Risers and 50 of Mogadishu’s most influential women; comprising of civil society actors, business women, policy makers, scholars and community leaders.

Prior to the main event on the 14th, we organized three One Billion Rising side events dubbed the three Rs centered on: 1. Raising awareness 2. Rallying risers 3. Reaching the masses, from the grassroots networks to the decision making actors.

Workshops on the Prevention and Response to Gender Based Violence were organized in three of the leading universities in Mogadishu; nearly 250 students partook in the one day workshop hosted at the universities. The students were successful in brainstorming a sustainable way to establish linkages to services and support groups within the universities for female students who experience violence either at school or at home.

The students who partook in the workshops also became ambassadors for the One Billion Rising campaign; raising awareness within their own networks, distributing fliers for the main event, and others used their university as a platform to engage like minded individuals and to discuss what are women rights in accordance to international laws and locally practiced and national laws. This group of young scholars and risers, presented their concerns and recommendation for gender justice at the dinner hosted by the first lady of Somalia; in a room full of the most influential women in Mogadishu.

The Somali Federal Government, after 20 years of turmoil and civil war and subsequent to an elongated Transitional Federal Government’s term; entered administration, giving every indication it is intent on ending violence against women and impunity. The timing of our One Billion Rising events coincided with the greatest let down yet by the new Federal administration; a woman who alleged rape was sentenced to serve one year in prison and the journalist whom interviewed her as well. The setbacks of the sentencing were experienced immediately; survivors of rape noted as hesitant to report to authorities, seek aid or services. The message that was sent was a complete contradiction to the earlier promises made when the president first took power; that convicted rapists would be punished. The message was now, alleging rape is punishable.

Through our One Billion Rising campaign, we lobbied relentlessly for the immediate release of the woman and the journalist; it became a driving force for many survivors to join us, in dance, in spirit, in words, and in action to refute being silenced and demonstrating the power of speaking out against violence.

Somalia had turned a new leaf; this was supposed to be a new chapter. The government actors who chose to speak and rise with us at our event agreed, that this was a fail from the judicial system; and that it is a wrong that must be resolved immediately. Only then will the momentum of change last on, and only then will security, stability, peace and prosperity mean for all; which includes women.

The charges against the woman who alleged rape were dropped and she was freed. The journalist unfortunately remains in jail with a reduced sentence.

We believe, it was a combination of international pressure, local lobbying and the courageous actors who spoke out and rose up as part of the global campaign One Billion Rising that this victory was possible.

The last time V-Day celebrated an anniversary, I was sitting behind a glass window in the New Orleans Arena box office, organizing piles of tickets for that night’s performance of “The Vagina Monologues.” Tens of thousands of people had descended upon the still-struggling city to join V-Day for SUPERLOVE, a weekend–long reclaiming of the Superdome and The Big Easy for the women of NOLA and the Gulf South.

It was 2008, V-Day was turning ten, and I was its newest staff member. It had been an energizing weekend merging art and activism, the likes of which I felt certain the world had never seen. Activists and thinkers, artists and philanthropists coalesced for one weekend to break the silence surrounding sexual violence, and to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to leave with the individuals and organizations doing the work on the ground in New Orleans. At weekend’s end, our staff of twelve breathed a collective sigh of relief and wondered out loud to one another what could possibly top this effort on future birthdays of the movement. That is, if V-Day lived to see another major anniversary; it has always been our goal to “go out of business”, when violence against women was no longer a social ill epidemic in nature.

I moved to Chicago, and V-Day carried on, each of us working from home offices scattered around the world to keep costs low. I watched in awe as grassroots, volunteer activists worked to transform their communities and college campuses annually, with more than 5,000 V-Day events per year. We launched major campaigns to support the women of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who suffer terrible atrocities at the hands of militias using rape-tactics in an under-reported civil war, and to rebuild the women’s movement in Haiti after its devastating earthquake.

We carried on, but violence against women, and misogyny in all its troubling forms, also carried on, at a seemingly unprecedented pitch. Despite the widespread nature of gender-based violence, speaking out about rape or domestic violence was still treated as taboo. Even though perpetrators rape or abuse 1 in 4 women in this country, and 1 in 3 globally, the work to end this violence was still categorized as a special interest.

I first heard Eve Ensler publicly introduce the idea behind One Billion Rising in the fall of 2011, to a sold-out crowd at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. She wanted the staff there, as we would be among the first harbingers entrusted to transform vision into reality.

Eve spoke about surviving cancer, and the subsequent urgency she felt to end the violence. She imagined a single day on the planet during which violence against women and girls was the loudest and most important issue that anyone could be thinking about: a massive, synchronized action to proclaim “Enough!”

She shared that, through the time she’d spent with the women survivors of the Congo, she’d observed and experienced firsthand the healing power of dance. These women, who had suffered unthinkable violence upon their bodies, would nonetheless incorporate dance into their daily routine, taking back ownership and power of their bodies, finding a way to exist joyfully despite having endured profound violence and darkness. Eve called upon the one thousand people in Grace Cathedral to join the one billion around the world who would be dancing together for V-Day’s 15^th anniversary.

Later, on a conference call, our small staff struggled to wrap our minds around what exactly we were being asked. “We are talking about one BILLION people dancing. One billion, literally?” “Yes.”

What if people don’t want to dance? How will we connect this action to ending violence against women? How will we reach new countries, and large countries where V-Day is lesser known? How will we reach one billion, and measure it? Is this even possible?

Some of us resisted; I resisted. I lost sleep, even. I scrambled to a find a precedent for what we were proposing- there wasn’t one. I worried that our efforts would be futile or seen as fluffy, that cynicism would run too deeply among those best poised to help us to engage their participation. Despite my fears, I was asked for my trust. No amount of small or cynical thinking ever changed a major problem, so I moved through the internal balking, and gave in. I surrendered, and when I did, it started to become easy.

By easy I do not mean low-maintenance; thus began a full year of pouring every ounce of energy into developing and spreading the OBR campaign around the world. But it became easy in the sense that nearly everyone I reached out to about the concept jumped on board, understood, and offered talents or services. It seemed there was a universal frustration with the continued reports of rapes, mutilations, the politicizing of women’s reproductive organs, etc, and an eagerness for some way to shake up a status quo that treated such reports as unavoidable.

I also learned how totally I can trust V-Day’s impressive network of activists around the world. We handed over this seed of an idea, devoid of the usual list of guidelines and rules that accompany standard V-Day events, and they began to plan events for 2/14/13 as unique as the parts of the world where they resided. We asked for their “reasons to rise” and were both heartbroken and inspired by the stories of personal experiences of violence that poured into our email inboxes. SUPERLOVE was inclusive, but this movement was expansive. We gave over control and watched the momentum build beyond our greatest expectations.

In the meantime, I was also working on the flagship OBR event in Chicago. Working in a home office can be isolating, and I welcomed the opportunity to connect with women’s and human rights’ leaders in the city I’d called home for four years, some for the first time. I shared the production duties with a small core group of inspiring Chicagoans and feel confident that the now-strengthened alliance between us will lead to positive, tangible changes to address violence in our city.

On the day-of, I fought back tears as I stood in Daley Plaza, shivering in the February cold, watching the space all around me fill-in with smiling, dancing people of all ages, holding homemade signs, wearing red scarves, speaking animatedly into news-cameras about their experience and what brought them there today. By the time a group of several hundred began dancing to “Break the Chain”, the plaza was packed with supporters as far as I could see. Every second, my phone was alerting me to a new update, image, or video clip of smiling survivors and allies, dancing in throngs with different backgrounds.

What happened in Chicago was a microcosm of what occurred globally; alongside the main rally and daylong celebration, there ended up being myriad Risings all over the city. Along with a flashmob on every college campus in Chicago, there was an event at University of Chicago live-streamed for the world to see, a flamenco flash mob in Union Station, a lunchtime DJ-ed event, and multiple evening gatherings around the city and suburbs. Such is a true sign of a cause that resonates deeply.

At day’s end, one woman approached my Chicago co-producer and told her, “I’m 62 years old and I’ve been waiting for a day like this my whole life.”

It turns out I had been waiting, too.

When the V-Girls enter the Constitution Hill, on February 14, we were stunned to see no one dancing. We heard the sounds of drums and shakers but saw no movement from the crowd, maybe one or two people were dancing, the rest were so focused on getting the timing right and the beat going and in unison. “Why aren’t people dancing?” I asked my fellow V-Girls. “Don’t you worry that’s all about to change” replied Karabo as she moved closer to the stage. I, with my two left feet stayed behind dancing to my own beat.

As the afternoon progressed and more YOUNG people came, the drumming got louder, faster and crazier and the sounds of the women ululating created a sound of defiance and of just letting go. The circle got bigger and people, young and old, male and female danced, toi-toi’d and moved to their own feeling and beat. “Yah, see now people are rising” I said this as I moved closer to the circle, I put my bag down, shook the shyness off and I let my body just BE. My two left feet vibrated with the sounds of the drums and that felt damn good!

The evening activities were more laid back, involving speeches, talks and poetry from different organisations fighting the injustices women face in our society. Men and boys joined in enthusiastically and with heart and passion. It was heart warming to see women and men coming together fighting for a cause which has been fought for so many years by women alone.

Once all the talking was done, the V-Girls invaded the stage yet again. This time around with Karabo’s “I am not what you fear” monologue, this got me all teary-eyed, it always does.  Mantala, one of our new V-Girls did a poem titled “emotional-creature” it’s a combination of a poem and rap song and the crowd started reciting with her, the words “I am an emotional creature, so invisible you cannot even see my picture”. I performed “Rising” a new monologue by mama-Eve, someone called me powerful after I performed, I thought the monologue was powerful not me. I took some time out to really think about what power I had. Mmmmmmh, let’s see how we construct this “power” without being too DEEP. Well...  I danced, I let go of my shyness, I got my two left feet to co-operate with me and I managed to get a crowd moving to their own beat and that’s what makes me powerful. Sigh, well is this good enough?

Everyone who danced on that night was powerful in their own way but what is important is not the amount of power I had, it’s the amount of power that we all created together along with our own powers in ending the violence that surrounds us and is escalating every second. With one common voice we rise in the spirit of ubuntu (togetherness) to say No MORE, NO MORE, Ke fedetse ( I am done) ONE heart, ONE love and ONE voice, let us continue to shake our bodies freely. I have risen and will continue to rise, this is only the beginning.

I joined V-Day four weeks before One Billion Rising, in a Mission District coffee shop. My friend and former public media comrade Brooke Shelby Biggs had drafted me in to meet Susan Celia Swan, the executive director. The mission, should I choose to accept it: join the social media team and oversee a global webcast of international Risings. I was in the middle of working on Demand A Plan, the anti-gun violence initiative. Violence against women is significantly higher in homes with guns, and I see these two important issues merging. Besides, the audacity of One Billion Rising has me hooked. How could I resist?

The final lead up to V-Day encompassed several nights of broken sleep, complicated cross-timezone communications, and more drafts of “how to document and livestream your rising” than I care to remember. But finally, from early morning on February 12, we were ready to roll.

The following takes place in San Francisco on the day of One Billion Rising. (Cue: theme tune from 24.)

February 13, 16:00 PT
The beautiful vibrant Manila Rising is underway and streaming from the streets via smartphone. By 17:32, #1billionrising is trending on Twitter in the Philippines. Social team is very happy. We love the Philippines! And it’s just the start that Brooke and I need to face the following 30+ hours without sleep.

February 13, 22:00 PT
I arrive at Brooke’s apartment for the long haul. We’re going to be sitting next to each other for the next 17 hours. We kick back and watch Anne Hathaway rocking Leno with a mini-Rising. Jane Fonda has already been on Piers Morgan. It’s a huge kick for me to be involved with something so current and relevant and popular.

February 13, 23:30 PT
Trying to contact production crews in Karachi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are supposed to go live at midnight. No one is responding to my emails or Skype chats. I don’t have cell phone numbers. I’m starting to sweat a little bit. I finally hear from my man in Karachi - there has been some miscommunication, and the livestream won’t happen. One down.

February 13, 23:44 PT
What’s happening with the DRC? Still the radio silence. Eve Ensler is at the City of Joy in Bukavu, ready to rise at the place she and V-Day helped build, where she will deliver her welcome message live to the world. Breathing is getting a little shallow. I need to get ahold of Prince, my man on the ground and time is short. I text Eve, 9,404 miles away. She tells me the electricity has gone out. Then that the generator has died. Then, somehow, in what from my perch in San Francisco seems almost literally the middle of nowhere, they come up with 200 meters of power cable in the nick of time. It’s going to be alright.

February 14, 00:41 PT
Prince is the man and now we’re transmitting pictures from the DRC to the world. Brooke responds to my grumbling by reminding me how miraculous it is that we can even do this. That an event in the heart of Africa, with a VSAT uplink to an ISP in Kenya, running over a cable two football fields long, is streaming in my browser. Well, sure, if you put it that way, Brooke...

February 14, 01:30 PT
Now The Gambia is giving me a headache. I have a great guy on the ground, but despite careful planning earlier in the week, something just isn’t working. I had spoken to my new Gambian friend only a few days before. I was struck by his passion and eloquence about violence against women in The Gambia. We’re supposed to be live now. I’m hopeful we’ll resolve it, especially for Mohammed, who really wants this to work.

February 14, 02:22 PT
3,304 miles west, it’s starting to rain in the DRC. Dancers are huddled under tents. Mud pools are forming. I ask Prince how it’s going.

Prince: I'm in the rain, I take the risk of losing my computer
Me: You should end it then. It’s not worth that. You did a great job!
Prince: No, continue brother. No problem.
Me: But i don't want your computer to die.
Prince: I cover it with a tarpaulin.

We eventually call it at 03:13 PT. I’m indebted to Prince Sebakunzi for making this happen. (You can watch the full City of Joy livestream on the V-Day YouTube channel.)

February 14, 03:22 PT
We’re live in New Delhi!! Turns out they have a whole musical, theatrical, dance production planned, with location and set changes. Looks like thousands of women and men are out in the street. They perform Break the Chain, a multitude of swooping arms creating a Mexican Wave effect. They are asked to perform again by public demand. Later, a performance from poet Maya Krishna Rao that has stuck with me ever since... It is amazing to see country after country Rising. We’re getting photos on Twitter and Facebook from everywhere else in their timezone. #1billionrising trends on Twitter in India. It’s starting to take on a life of its own.

February 14, 04:36 PT
I call it on The Gambia. Unfortunately, it’s just not going to work, despite more then 200 lines of chat over 3 hours between me and the production team. By 05:01 PT, they have managed to get a spotty feed running via cell phone on Ustream. So technically, it happened. At least the Risings with women in the provinces are being captured for the documentary.

February 14, 06:30 PT
South Africa is up next. Another big deal - this Rising is happening at Constitution Hill, site of the former prison where Nelson Mandela was held. The nearby Constitutional Court was built using bricks from the old prison. Out of violence and injustice grows a new future. It’s a powerful statement. Worth pointing out that this was the same day as the breaking news that South African star athlete Oscar Pistorius had allegedly murdered his girlfriend. But when #1billionrising and #onebillionrising trended there on Twitter, they both trended higher than “Oscar Pistorius”. I was proud of them then. South Africa made its choice, and the choice was to look forward in protest and defiance.

At 06:50, we heard #1billionrising was trending on Twitter in the USA. We would continue to trend on and off all day.

Somewhere around here, Brooke bought us bagels. They were good.

February 14, 10:15 PT
Atlanta Rising is killing it. Our star organizer on the ground, V-Girls manager Nikki Noto, arranged a great lineup of local speakers, including Bernice King. (Bernice King rocks a mic just as hard as her father, by the way.) Production looks great, and the vibrancy is stellar.

Pittsburgh joins the party, too. We weren’t expecting this one, but entrepreneurial organizers set it up. One Billion Rising in the US is off to a great start. We’re trending in every city in every state.

#1billionrising has been trending for hours in the UK, too. This thing is GLOBAL!

February 14, 16:00 PT
We’re into the final stretch now. Over the next 3 hours, events in SF, LA, NY, and HI will go live and wrap up a crazy 30 hours. Brooke has left to live-tweet the SF event at City Hall. Once we’re streaming, I go home, shower, and zip over there myself. I arrive to two urgent SOS’s from NY and HI. I can’t solve NY’s problem, but manage to help our Hawai’i organizer (Jane Sibbert of Friends fame) solve a last minute issue so that the team she flew in from Los Angeles can move ahead. I spend a few minutes standing on the steps at City Hall, in rather a sleep-deprived haze, watching hundreds of women take the One Billion Rising pledge with Mayor Ed Lee, fingers pointing to the sky in the now-familiar salute of female solidarity. It’s more than a little surreal having watched and read of millions of women rising worldwide through my 13” laptop screen, to witness it in person. A friend from the SF Office of Innovation spots me and asks, “Did you have anything to do with this?” I think I managed a mumbled, “Yes, a little bit” before deciding to head out to find Brooke and try my hand (or is that feet?) at Break the Chain.

I butchered it. If I ever meet Ms. Debbie Allen, the fine choreographer of this signature dance, I will profusely apologize. Brooke has the proof on her cell phone. She has kindly agreed to keep it confidential.

February 15, 07:00 PT
I awake after 8 blissful hours asleep. In the last 72 hours, I have worked 47, and slept 13.

And it feels great.

Vivo en el país donde "nunca pasa nada". Todo mundo se encuentra en la búsqueda constante de la felicidad y tratan de no mirar a la violencia que es parte de su vida diaria. México es un país donde escondemos muy adentro nuestros secretos para que nuestras vidas parezcan casi perfectas.

Activar un movimiento global como "Un Billón de Pie" era un gran riesgo. No todos quieren oír que 1 de cada 3 mujeres será violada o violentada en su vida. Pero la convicción de nuestra querida autora de "Los Monólogos de la Vagina", Eve Ensler, desafió todas las advertencias y anheló que México saliera de su silencio bailando.

En el inicio de este viaje, cuando Eve visitó la Ciudad de México para arrancar su gira mundial para encender el fuego para "Un Billón de Pie", me enfrente con el hecho de que no muchas mujeres querían enfrentar públicamente la violencia que vivían. Preferían encargarse de ello en la privacidad de sus hogares.

Toqué muchas puertas hasta que por fin encontré una aliada en una maravillosa mujer mexicana luchando para acabar con la trata de personas: Rosi Orozco. De la mano con ella pudimos hacer que las mujeres mexicanas pudieran romper sus cadenas y valerse por si mismas bailando. Bailar para ser fieles a ellas en contra de sus tradiciones familiares. Bailar para sentirse libres y vivas.

Casi mágicamente miles de personas, hombres y mujeres, niños y adultos mayores, encontraron que "Un Billón de Pie" podía ayudarles a luchar contra la violencia en sus vidas. Les ofrecía la seguridad de no encontrarse solos en sus vidas llenas de problemas. De repente me encontré dando consuelo a muchas mujeres que sólo necesitaban una mano amiga y un oído abierto a escuchar sus conflictos. Sentí que mi propósito de este año era ayudarlas para que la felicidad regresara a sus vidas. Sus sonrisas eran pago suficiente para mi.

El Jueves 14 de Febrero del 2013, más de 7000 almas se unieron en un baile de alegría para celebrar el fin de la violencia hacia las mujeres y niñas en el Monumento a la Revolución de la Ciudad de México. En ese día, la promesa de "Un Billón de Pie" cobró vida y nos elevó a un estado de Nirvana. Mujeres descubriendo su sexualidad a través del baile, viviendo con confianza y amor.

Por todo esto, estoy agradecido por tener en mi vida el amor desde hace tanto tiempo de Eve y todo el equipo del V-Day.

Mientras que comenzamos nuestro 13vo año de temporada de "Los Monólogos de la vagina" y celebramos sus 6,500 funciones ininterrumpidas en México, puedo orgullosamente decir: Soy un Guerrero de la Vagina mexicano. Continuaré luchando hasta que la violencia cese en el ciudad donde diariamente "todo pasa".

Una de las victorias de esta experiencia que más aprecio es que el Gobierno de la Ciudad proclamó abiertamente que en la Ciudad de México no dejarían que nadie que infligiera violencia hacia las mujeres saldría impune. El Jefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad, el Dr. Miguel Ángel Mancera, dijo mientras atestiguaba el baile de "Un Billón de Pie"... "La Ciudad de México no dejará que ninguna mujer este sola en su sufrir. La Ciudad de México no tolerará más cualquier tipo de violencia contra la mujer". Esa fue una declaración muy fuerte por parte de un representante gubernamental.

MEXICO RISING

by Andrés Naime, Regional Coordinator

I live in the country where "nothing happens". Everybody is in constant pursuit of happiness and trying to stay blindsided regarding violence as a part of everyday life. Mexico is a country where we hide very deeply our secrets so that our lives look picture perfect.

To bring a global movement as OBR was a huge risk. Not everybody wants to hear that 1 of 3 women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. But the conviction of our beloved author of "The Vagina Monologues", Eve Ensler, defied all odds and wanted Mexico to dance its way out of silence.

On the beginning of this journey, as Eve visited Mexico City to start her world tour to ignite the fire for OBR, I faced with the fact that not that many women wanted to face violence in the face. They would rather take care of it in the privacy of their own homes. 

I knocked on lots of doors until I found an ally in a wonderful Mexican woman fighting to end human trafficking: Rosi Orozco. Hand with hand with her we allowed Mexican woman to break their chains and stand for themselves by dancing. Dance to be themselves against all their families’ traditions. Dance to feel free and alive.

Magically overnight thousands of people, men and women, children and elderly, found that OBR could help them fight the violence they have in their lives. Giving them the security that they are not alone in their troubled lives. Suddenly I found myself giving comfort to many women that just needed a helping hand and an open ear to their conflicts. I felt it was my purpose in life for this year to help them and bring joy back to their existence. Their smiles were the only payment I needed. 

On Thursday February 14th 2013, 7000 plus souls joined in joyful dance to celebrate the end of violence against women and girls at The Monument to the Revolution. On that day the OBR promise became alive and lifted us up into some kind of Nirvana. Women discovering their sexuality through dance, living with confidence and love.

For all of this, I'm grateful for having in my life Eve and the V-Day team's love for such a long time now.As we're about to enter the 13th year run of "The Vagina Monologues" and celebrate its 6,500 uninterrupted performance in Mexico I can proudly say: I'm a Mexican Vagina Warrior. I'll keep fighting until the violence stops in the city where "things do happen every day".

The ONE victory from this experience I value the most is that the government of the city proclaimed out loud that Mexico City won´t let go unpunished anybody that inflicts any kind of violence against women. The Mayor of the City, Dr. Miguel Angel Mancera, said as he witnessed OBR taking place "Mexico City won´t let any more women be alone in their struggle. Mexico City won´t allow anymore violence against women". That's a major statement for any government official.

Bringing people together over a creative endeavour provides the germs for such conversations, with the One Billion Rising art festival they have only just begun. From tours at The National Gallery, to a symposium at The Royal College of Art, the art festival has sought to approach these difficult subjects from a variety of angles, with each event reminding us that the kind of systemic sexism that is at the root of gender based violence has to end. By showing us new ways to look, art can help us rethink our hegemonic ideologies. Offering the rare opportunity for contemplation, giving a space to ideas, objects, images, removed from their usual contexts, art can help us notice things that we may have seen but have not noticed.The art festival has opened up situations where people can discuss their own concerns and see that they are not alone.

Our One Billion Rising Art Festival brought together many people from many different backgrounds, produced a rich and varied program that will continue beyond VDAY, and provided fertile ground for collaboration for the future. Please have a look at all we have been doing at www.obrartfest.co.uk

The events you see are just the icing on the cake, the festival has been in the making of it, the meeting of people to create these events, the rehearsals, the discussions, the process of bringing people together to produce these exhibitions, talks and shows. The One Billion Rising art festival didn't end on VDAY, it lives on, not only as a series of events that will run through March, but also in the collective memory, a powerful reminder of what we can do when we work together.

I can remember when Eve first called about One Billion Rising from Congo. I was in the middle of planning a thousand person event at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral where an audience would come to see Eve speak. Just the week before she and I had briefly spoken about what we might plan for V-Day's 15^th anniversary, February 14, 2013.

"Susan," she said. "I did the math, if one in three women are beaten or raped in their lifetime and the population is 7 billion that's one billion woman violated. ONE BILLION RISING. On our 15^th anniversary, let's ask one billion women and the men and women who love them to strike, dance and rise to demand an end to violence against women and girls. We need to move the needle on the issue, we've made an impact but we need to shake things up." We spoke and I quickly understood the power of what she envisioned by showing the number of women affected by violence against women, our ability to invite the network of V-Day activists to take this on and make it their own, and also the power of the phrase ONE BILLION RISING.

In the way that "The Vagina Monologues" became my guide 15 years ago when I first saw Eve perform the play, One Billion Rising immediately connected for me. While we would work – and I realized we would have to work very hard to reach and mobilize ONE BILLION – the phrase itself held incredible meaning for me, representing the women and girls I had met in the past 15 years and the countless women I would never meet but whose stories I knew intimately because of the violence they had encountered.

It was my new mantra. By just saying it, inviting people to say it and understand it, we were accomplishing a key goal of the campaign – showing the world how central the issue of violence against women and girls was by showing them how many women had been affected. Eve felt strongly that if we could pull this off, the issue of violence against women and girls would never be marginalized again.

Little did we know how people would react. There tended to be three reactions:

1. Logical – How will you ever get one billion people to rise? Full disclosure on this point. As Executive Director and Eve's work partner in crime for almost 15 years, I felt a huge responsibility – as did our core staff upon hearing one billion. At 3:00AM on my Blackberry I searched to see who else had already reached one billion. Facebook? 750 million users at that point, although they would reach one billion users just the month before OBR when the billion zeitgeist seemed to take full hold. Twitter? 175 million. It became clear that we would utilize Facebook and Twitter heavily for engagement in addition to inspiring and at times producing events large and small, global media coverage, and more. If we encourage activists to tell and share their own stories, we would be able to SHOW THE WORLD WHAT ONE BILLION LOOKS LIKE.

2. Immediate - I'm in! This response invariably came from our activists and dedicated Board, who were generally off and running before we could put the phone down.

3. Anger/fear - What do you mean, how can you do that? How can we ever reach that many people? ONE BILLION it turns out is a mobilizing spark to many, and a scary concept to others. People got mad. Some actually got angry at us for the audacity of our goal. Of course, Eve and I would reply, you should be angry, but not at us for saying ONE BILLION but angry at the fact that there are one billion sexual violence survivors on the planet today.

"We need a bigger boat."

V-Day prides itself on accomplishing a lot with a small core team, and an army of volunteers. We immediately knew that we would need to expand our team with activists who were passionate and could work fast, at V-speed as we say internally. (V-Speed is a phrase used so frequently in V-Day that the year before ONE BILLION RISING, staffer Shael Norris coined VSAP because V-Speed wasn't fast enough.)

We started by contacting our superstar activists, and immediately engaged 10 coordinators in key regions including the United States, Central and South America, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia. Eve recognized that rural women, unions,and workers had to be the core of the campaign. We invited writer/activist Laura Flanders to help us reach every major labor union in the US and she did!

Digital and online would be a centerpiece of the campaign, as it has always been for V-Day. We engaged a digital strategy firm. Eve's vision was to create a digital base that rivaled and made larger V-Day's existing base of activists or our "ground game" as its known. For those who aren't familiar with V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, every year thousands of college and community activists produce benefits of The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works and films curated by V-Day to raise awareness and funds for local grassroots anti violence groups in their communities. Over the past 14 years, this base of committed activists have raised over $100 million dollars that goes directly to their community.

By widening our outreach to unions, environmental groups, to companies like Zumba and MTV, women's groups from Planned Parenthood and NOW and over 13,000 groups in the end, we could reach one billion. In addition to this global, multi sector outreach and digital/social media plan, we needed the media. CNN and Associated Press immediately supported us when we decided to announce officially the campaign on February 14, 2012 with Eve in Sydney, Australia and Los Angeles on the same day (due to the international date line something our team would come to know intimately). She did interviews in Sydney before getting on the plane and immediately upon landing in Los Angeles. A truly global launch.

It's not branding it's expanding

Within two weeks, activists in over 142 countries had signed up for One Billion Rising. This was more countries than we had tracked to date in V-Day's previous 14 years. Activists loved the idea, and immediately understood that One Billion Rising could lift up their current work, not take away from it. The global platform would make each voice, each organization more visible. Eve and our team knew from past experience with V-Day, that activists would bring their unstoppable creativity to the campaign and that would carry into their communities and expand OBR ever further to places we couldn't yet imagine.

For the next weeks and months we reached out – to activists, our board who made connections and moved mountains, friends and non profit groups, and more. We planned a tour for Eve at hot spots around the globe. We expanded our team and hired a campaign project manager. Developed the concept for video testimonies called "I Am Rising" and launched the series with The Guardian newspaper out of London featuring Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Ruby Wax, Stella Creasy, Ai-jen Poo and other incredible activists. Eve wrote a commentary piece to launch the campaign and Robert Redford, who had called us asking how he could help, filmed a video for the series. Anne Hathaway and Glamour worked with us to have Anne on the cover of the January issue to spread the word and invite even more into the campaign. Eve did the interview with Anne in NYC days after Hurricane Sandy hit NYC.

Eve woke from a dream with a video concept which she created with Johannesburg based filmmaker Tony Stroebel that ignited the campaign and went immediately viral. The three minute video illustrated for people what One Billion Rising could look like. The video was heart breaking and a call to action – it made RISING real for those who watched.

From the beginning, Eve was convinced we needed an anthem and songwriter and music dynamo Tena Clark heard the call. She wrote "Break The Chain," auditioned and recorded teen singers and dancers to sing and film the music video. Tena enlisted her dear friend, dance icon Debbie Allen to do the choreography! Tena gave the song to the world, and not only did the video and song go viral, but activists from around the world recorded it in their native languages. Singers and songwriters were also inspired to write original songs for the rising, and the playlist grew daily!

Eve had written a piece for men called the "Man Prayer" and asked Tony Stroebel to create a short film of it. Tony worked behind the scenes and in late January, two weeks before the rising, we launched it.

The "One Billion Rising" video became the spark, the "I Am Rising" videos the shared story, the "Man Prayer" poem recognized the men who have been working on this issue and invited even more men into the campaign, and the "Break The Chain" music video and dance the organizing tool that would take One Billion Rising to 207 countries on 14 February 2013.

The moving pieces were many and required love and attention and many early morning meetings and calls. I grounded myself from trips to Central and South America and India and Bangladesh so I could manage the campaign from my San Francisco home office. Those who know my love of travel recognize this true commitment to the campaign, but that is what One Billion Rising created in so many.

Moments I will never forget – 3:30AM Conference calls with Europe, Asia and Africa. European Parliament creating a Vagina Lobby and dancing. Countless activists telling us their plans, dancing, community building, local media, Facebook groups, always with a happy surprise – a local business helping out, local politicians engaged for the first time. Dedication. Laughter. British MP Stella Creasy introducing national sex education legislation inspired by OBR. Brilliant organizing and ideas and love being shared by women and men all over the world – acting in unison without knowing one another, always sharing the same goal. PR teams based in NYC, London, Brussels, and Joahnnesburg. Website deadlines, racing between meetings at Twitter and San Francisco City Hall. India rising. Transformation happening even before February 14^th came. Thousands of emails, documents, analytics, webpages, introductory calls, and more.

In the end, we moved fast and kept true to the mission. We laughed and we cried and we kept going with a spirit that was beautiful, at times manic but always meaningful.

In the fall, the Steubenville Ohio gang rape story broke and gained major press attention. In December just as Eve arrived in Kerala for the beginning of a three city tour, full of speaking engagement and events in Trivandrum, Mumbai, and Delhim, Joyit Singh Pandey was gang raped and murdered. As the Delhi tragedy captured front pages around the world, sparks that would become the rising were already in place in tens of thousands of locations planned by local activists.

These high profile attacks fueled our fires and brought ever more people to the campaign.

For those of us who've worked years to end violence against women and girls, we know that these attacks happen everyday, and that few make the international news. We would rise for Steubenville and for Jyoti and for every woman and girl whose name we'd never know. We would rise for one another, for our daughers, mothers, friends and sisters. WE WOULD RISE BECAUSE WE HAD TO. Nothing else made sense.

Planning for the days of was a challenge in and of itself. Due to the global nature of the campaign, the day was actually a 48 span across the planet as February 14^th would first happen in Australia and then cross the world. Team meetings were held to plan coverage and our social team discussed how they would stay awake for 48 hours.

We prepared for the final wave and media onslaught that was set to begin when Eve arrived in London for a high profile London Rising event on February 4 produced by long-time V-Day organizers Monique Wilson and Rossana Abueva and starring board member Thandie Newton, Anoushka Shankar who just weeks before filmed a poignant "I Am Rising" video sharing her own personal story, accompanied by a series of high profile media appearances by Eve and V-Day celebrity board members – Jane Fonda on Piers Morgan, Thandie Newton on CNN and Channel 4, Rosario Dawson on Lawrence O'Donnell and Anne Hathaway on The Tonight Show, and more…Internally, we prepared for the expected influx of emails, tweets, FB posts and more that were sure to come in.

And they did. Emails flooded in up to the day of One Billion Rising joining the campaign or letting us know how they were rising. From women who had never realized they could get help. Emails came from women and men who had no idea what V-Day was, and for many One Billion Rising was their first experience with activism. One woman who called my cell was a former lawyer now stay at home mom in a middle class community in the US. She asked if it was too late to organize something in her town. Of course, it isn't I said, and asked her about what she envisioned doing. Within seconds she shared her plan and that she already had a few dedicated and talented friends at the ready and a town that hadn't had frank discussions about sexual violence in the past. With simply a few words of encouragement, she was off and organizing!

Momentum continued in this way, heartfelt and strategic. Our team rallied activists to live stream their events so that we could curate two days worth of risings via onebillionrising.org. At the same time, activists were asked to film their events for an upcoming One Billion Rising documentary project, and share them with the world on February 14^th to show the world WHAT ONE BILLION LOOKED LIKE. On the day of February 14^th, activists from three additional countries wrote in saying they were rising bringing the total to 210 countries, more than the United Nations officially recognizes. Videos and pictures flooded in on V-Day's Facebook page and Twitter feed. By the end of the day, Twitter impressions were over 500 million and #1billionrising had trended in 7 countries, including multiple times in the US and UK. Media impressions in the US alone exceeded 600 million.

MTV ran OBR spots on their Jumbotron in Times Square, women lit butter lamps in Bhutan, girls danced EVERYWHERE. The elderly danced, disabled women and men, women who had never told their story.

News stories from Mogadishu, Austin, Manila and thousands more locations streamed in.

I left my desk only to join the over four thousand people who rose on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. It was magical. After the event, a young woman who held a sign that said "I was raped and I've never told anyone" grabbed me to tell me she "had no idea how healing that would be." We hugged tightly. Advocates danced and felt supported by one another and by the togetherness of the crowd. The movement master Paul Hawken attended the event and later wrote to Eve: "I have been to rallies and events in the Bay Area since I was 13, and have been to them all over the country. What was extraordinary was how the political establishment spoke of and understood One Billion Rising…They were not saying the right thing, they were embodying it…I have never seen such joy at an activist/political event or rally. The diversity of participants had permanent grins on their faces. The dancing was tribal and ecstatic. It set the mark for all future events in my mind, no matter the cause…I want joy, dance, embodiment…The clarity of the speeches at City Hall, and no doubt all over the world, was a demarcation. An era ended. A new one began. It was palpable. I am sensitive to how people speak. I listen to speeches all the time in my work. I listen to the sound, not just the words, and this was the sound of irrevocable transformation."

Paul's words held true around the world. Activists were uplifted and moved to immediate action.

One Billion Rose together and with such unity and beauty that all we can do now is continue to RISE.

PS – One week after One Billion Rising, the Violence Against Women Act passed in the United States, after intense partisan fighting. V-Day was invited on a thank you call with The White House along with other groups who had worked behind the scenes.

Lyrics & Voice: Eva Ulrike of Weltzien

Recording: Philipp Kudelka, L-tone Studio Munich, www.l-ton.de

(Intro)
I lift my face
and set fire to my light
Deep under my skin
I've built a castle out of power

Run - Dance - Get up!
Run - Dance - Get up!

Come take my hand and run with me
From the walls of your pain
Nothing can hold more but you
Tear the fear out of your heart

No one owns you, and nothing is right
What you wounded and what makes you powerless The power is in you, get up and dance with me We survived, we are still here!

Dance against your fear
Dance you see light (dance with me!)
Dance until you can breathe
Dance until you're free (come with me!)
Dance on a Volcano
Just dance, at the World
Run, break the chains
We dance and are free at last - (Come with me, come with me, come with me!) - Mhm - Free at last

Dance - Get up! Yeh-eh-eh-eh ...
Dance - Get up! Yeh-eh-eh-eh ...

We are dancing through the storm and into the night We shine brighter than the stars Come with us to the world, enlightens For love, which is our power

We belong to us alone
We believe what we do, and no always means no!
We are vulnerable and we are wonderful
We give life but also we are here!

Dance against your fear
Dance are you see light (come with me!)
Dance until you can breathe
Dance until you're free (dance with me!) Dance on a Volcano Just dance, at the World Run, break the chains We dance and are free at last - (Come with me, come with me, come with me!) - Mhm Free at last (come with me, come with me, come with me!) - Mhm - free at last!

Break Inst

Yeh-eh-eh-eh ...

Come on get up and dance! Dance! -
Come and go with me! Run-
Come on get up and dance! Dance! -
Come and go with me! -Stand up! -
Come on get up and dance!
Come and go with me!
Come on get up and dance!
Come and go with me!

Yeh-eh-eh-eh ...
Dance! Stand On!

We belong to us alone
We believe what we do, and no always means no!
We are vulnerable and we are wonderful
We give life but also we are here!

Dance against your fear
Dance are you see light (come with me!)
Dance until you can breathe
Dance freely to you (Dance with me) are
Dance on a Volcano
Just dance, at the World
Run, break the chains
We dance and are free at (Come with me, come with me, come with me!) - Mhm Free at last
(2x)

Hmm ... (Come with me, come with me, come with me!) - Mhm Free at last

One Billion ... Rising!