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EVENT: ‘Half the Battle: Women Fighting Racism in East London’, London UK
- 7pm, Tuesday 19 March; Idea Store Whitechapel, E1 1BU
- 1pm, Tuesday 26 March; Redbridge Central Library, IG1 1EA
- 4pm, Wednesday 27 March; Barking Learning Centre, IG11 7NB
- 7.30pm, Tuesday 2 April; Hoxton Hall, N1 6SH
As part of Women’s History Month 2013, Eastside Community Heritage is presenting a history of women fighting racism in East London, in their own words.
East Londoners have long been on the front line of the battle against racism in various forms. From Brick Lane to Barking, women have always played a crucial role in this vibrant and continuing legacy of activism. Half the Battle comes from interviews with local activists who have been involved in groups such as Rock Against Racism and Unite Against Fascism.
Facebook event here.
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) video.
EVENT: Training in Lobbying for Women’s Rights - 10am-4.30pm, Wednesday 27th February; Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA
EVENT: Tonight, 8pm; Fundraiser for Abortion Support Network - Power Lunches Arts Café, 446 Kingsland Road, London E8 4AE
Line up:
Woolf
Loveover
My Therapist Says Hot Damn
Vampire Sushi Distro selling zines.
Girl Germs DJs playing all-girl punk, post-punk, 60s girl groups, grunge, britpop, hip-hop and pop.
£4, all proceeds go to http://www.abortionsupport.org.uk/
FREE PRO-CHOICE ACTIVIST TRAINING - Bristol, Leeds, London (UK)
Education for Choice are a UK-based non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring young people have all the facts about sex, contraception, reproductive rights, etc. They are currently accepting applications to attend free training days in London, Bristol, and Leeds. Current, future, and budding pro-choice activists can email efc@brook.org.uk for more information.
EVENT: ‘Bodies of Silence #3: When Words Are Made Flesh’ - 7pm, Thursday 14th February 2013; Platform Café Bar & Terrace, London E8 3RL
BODIES OF SILENCE is a special project curated in support of ONE BILLION RISING London Art Festival, which includes international artists Regina José Galindo (Guatemala), Sukran Moral (Turkey) and Pilar Albarracín (Spain). Some of the emerging artists selected have been the result of an open call for work that stresses the ethical and political implications of silence as a by-product of traumatic crime. We have selected artwork that is explicit in its political activism as much as we are interested in portraying more open-ended representations of bodies that communicate silence, trauma, politics and ethics.
For our third and last event, WHEN WORDS ARE MADE FLESH, we have selected work that exposes the traumatic nature of violence through embodiment and performance. We will be looking at work that opens up into a safe space where trauma can be communicated, contained, subverted and processed through re-enactment. This event also coincides with One Billion Rising: A Global Movement to end Violence against Women and Girls.
EVENT: 12th-23rd February 2013; Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
‘I Dream of Congo: Narratives from The Great Lakes’ will be a unique exhibition combining words and images from renowned international creatives alongside a groundbreaking exhibition of photos taken by women in eastern Congo.
The exhibition and accompanying events will celebrate the hope and optimism that pervades in the region despite years of war. It will also pose hard questions around the international community’s inaction in the face of the conflict, the continuing illicit trade in minerals from Congo and the failure to stem the tide of sexual violence.
The exhibition will also feature events organised by the Frontline Club, One Billion Rising and Save the Congo.
We have contributions to the exhibition from the writers William Boyd, Tim Butcher and Adam Hochschild and photographers Lynsey Addario, Marcus Bleasdale, Jonathan Torgovnik and Ron Haviv. Each of them have responded to the phrase ‘I Dream of Congo’.
These will feature alongside photos and words from women in eastern Congo who have also responded to the phrase ‘I Dream of Congo’. This part of the project has been developed with Women for Women International.
EVENT: ’London Rising’ - 8pm, Monday, 4th February 2013; Café de Paris, London W1D 6BL
In February 2013, VDAY, the global movement spearheaded by internationally acclaimed, award-winning playwright Eve Ensler (author of “The Vagina Monologues”) is inviting ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT! DANCE and RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to violence against women.
On 4th Feb (Mon), ONE BILLION RISING UK will be holding “LONDON RISING” - a one night charity fundraising theatrical dance party - with music, dance, songs and film that celebrates women in what promises to be an empowering, festive, carnival night of dance! The evening will feature special guest star Eve Ensler, as well as artists, singers, dancers and celebrated DJs - in an evening of rousing dance music - to celebrate and honour women.
Pro-choice Protest!
Friday 30th March, 7pm, Bedford Square, WC1
Anti-choice group ‘40 Days for Life’ are staging a 40 day protest outside the Bpas clinic on Bedford Square.
They have been approaching women entering the clinic, handing out grossly inaccurate material and filming clients and staff. Their presence is distressing and intimidating.
On Friday 30th March they will be joined by Bishop Alan Hopes for an evening prayer vigil at the clinic.
Pro-choice supporters will be staging a peaceful counter-protest to express our opposition to the group’s tactics and to stand up for our right to safe, legal abortion. Join us!
7pm, Bedford Square, WC1 (Tottenham Court Road tube)
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/GD8x1c
Twitter: @BloomsburyPCA
Announcing SlutWalk London 2012
Slutwalk London: The radical notion that nobody deserves to be raped.
On 11th June 2011, SlutWalk came to London. Thousands of people of different races, genders, sexualities, classes and occupations came together to protest the silencing of our voices, the repression of our choices and the violence against our bodies. The word ‘slut’ carries a history of assault, shaming, insults and degradation, where women are forced to remain silent about their assault through a society and legal system which all too often places the blame on the victim. But those who came to SlutWalk were far from silent and ashamed. As much as SlutWalk was a direct challenge to the attitudes and practises which allow rape to continue in society, it was a celebration of our bodies, identities and choices, and an affirmation of our commitment to continuing the long struggle towards a world without assault.
Today, we are asking you to join with us for SlutWalk 2012. We need to continue the pressure we have put on those who would allow sexual assault and victim blaming to continue and welcome the silencing of those who are raped. The courts and police stations are still dismissing women’s reports of assault, losing crucial evidence or twisting the facts to render the victim responsible for their own assault - while as many as 95% of cases go unreported. In a worsening economic climate, people are being made more vulnerable to sexual violence by poverty, unemployment and drastic cuts to services for women - whether they be youth services, rape crisis centres or benefits to disabled women. Sex workers - a group especially vulnerable to sexual assault - still live in fear of reporting sexual assault lest they be persecuted by police or lose their livelihood through the closing of premises. Undocumented immigrants are still unable to report sexual assault for fear of imprisonment and deportation, making them easily exploitable. Sexual assault is often ignored or misunderstood in LGBTQ communities, where people face intrusive scrutiny over how they express themselves. We are asking you to join with us to continue fighting against sexual assault, slut shaming and victim blaming - and to recognise the racism, homophobia and class oppression which leave us more vulnerable.
There is one unifying factor in the language of those who are anti-woman and pro-rape: rape doesn’t happen. We were asking for it. We changed our minds the next morning. We were lying to get one over on our attackers. Men ‘can’t’ be raped. It wasn’t ‘proper’ rape. We deserved it. We secretly enjoyed it. Our partner did it, so it doesn’t count. We were dressed in such a way to be responsible for the violence. SlutWalk came out of a long movement against this attitude, and our voices are louder and clearer than ever. We invite you to march with us again in 2012, and organise with us in the months leading up to the march. We will not be silenced.Facebook | Twitter
Statements from our supporters and from organisations we work with:
“I am marching because my best friend still thinks that her rape was her fault, because the authorities never looked into it, and because it will always haunt her. And that is not okay.” - anonymous supporter
“We are not victims. We were victims, for a moment in time. Now, we are survivors.” - Emily Jacob, supporter
“Whatever I wear, however I act, as a woman, there is always the possibility that I will be deemed a ‘slut’” - Rosa, supporter
“Believe it or not, not one of us is dressing for anyone other than ourselves.” - Kelly, supporter
“I will be on the Slutwalk to help make visible the many ways in which we women of colour have been abused by those who want to justify our rape and exploitation. In the UK and across the globe, women of colour face racist and sexist violence. Women of African descent have always been considered sex objects, perpetually available to white men. The police are too often not responsive to any rape survivors, but even less so if we are women of colour. I’ll be marching along with other Black and immigrant sisters, with white sisters, and with men who support us, to break down the barriers which divide us. Either we are all sluts or none of us is.” - Cristel Amiss, Black Women’s Rape Action Project
“Since 1976 we have been campaigning for all rape to be taken seriously. The anti-rape movement has shifted public opinion and won changes to the rape law and to prosecution policies. But implementation is still appalling. Only 6.5% of reported rape leads to a conviction. While most rapists get away with it, we face an increasing trend towards jailing rape victims accused of lying after a negligent and biased investigation into their rape. The organisers of Slutwalk London are determined that this movement be inclusive and make concrete demands.” - Women Against Rape
“How many of us have been unable to report violent attacks for fear of criminalisation, deportation or losing our anonymity? How many of us have been told by police we will be disbelieved and even arrested if we report? How many of us have been prosecuted when we did report while our attackers went free? We face criminalisation for trying to make a living and moralism from women who call themselves feminists, who claim that all prostitution is violence against women and that all immigrant sex workers are trafficked. Whether on the street or in premises, we are being driven further underground and into more danger. SlutWalk is another confirmation that people are really with us for an end to criminalisation and poverty everywhere.” - English Collective of Prostitutes
“All over the world women experience sexual violence, displacement, torture, feminicide and kidnap but the needs, realities, experiences and perspectives of women are often excluded from consideration. When women’s voices are not heard, women’s needs are ignored. When women are marginalised and excluded from power, men think it’s okay to say things like ‘women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised.’ We believe that you can’t build peace by leaving half of the people out. No women, no peace.” - Chitra Nagarajan, No Women No Peace
“As disabled people, as children, we are vulnerable to violence from people we know, in the family and in institutions. We are not supposed to have a sex life, but we are often sexually exploited by the men around us. Did we provoke it? Did we dress like sluts? As women with disabilities, as single mothers, we have fought to have an income – so that we are not at the mercy of partners and family for our survival. That is being taken away from us. We are being driven back into dependence by the cuts in benefits, housing and services.” - WinVisible (Women With Visible and Invisible Disabilities)
“In Britain, the release of an official report declaring that girls are being too “sexualised” has coincided with parliamentary lobbies for young women to be “taught to say no”. Join the dots with police officers telling women that “no” is insufficient if they happen not to be dressed like a nun and an ugly picture begins to form. Young women, in particular, are expected to look hot and available at all times, but if we dare to express desires of our own, we are mocked, shamed and threatened with sexual violence, which, apparently, has nothing to do with the men who inflict it and everything to do with the length of skirt we have on. Now, more than ever, it’s time for “sluts” to walk - and walk tall.” - Laurie Penny
