On Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Vlisco and the City of Joy honored the “World’s Strongest Women” with the launch of a new collection of fabrics that symbolizes their recovery from rape and trauma, and their journey from pain to power.
Gabriela Sanchez y Sanchez de la Barquera traveled to Congo where she was awed by the strength of the women and their journey from suffering to a place of love and hope. The fabrics are marked by the words ‘Love’, ‘Respect’ and ‘Strength’ and reflect their healing and renewal through sisterhood, love and mutual respect.
The collection is made up of five printed super-wax fabric patterns in bold, bright patterns, created using the old techniques of wax printing. The fabric designs pay tribute to the vagina and the natural beauty of the Congo region. Profits from the sale of the collection will be donated by Vlisco to the City of Joy.
Five African female designers, including former Fashion Scout Merit Award winner Tolu Coker, Aisha Ayensu founder and creative director of Christie Brown, recognised as a key player in the rise of contemporary African fashion, Bubu Ogisi creative director of contemporary womenswear brand Iamisigo, Ivory Coast-born Rebeccas Zoro from ready-to-wear brand Yhebe, and Nigerian Abiola Adeniran-Olusola who launched her eponymous fashion brand in 2017 after her studies in Paris.
These revolutionary designers have been working with several City of Joy graduates to create personalized dresses that showcase the themes behind City of Joy and highlights the strength of the bond of sisterhood.
The City of Joy collection is full of over 100 vibrant colors made with traditional Dutch wax printing and honors the strength and the journey of the women who have worked to move from a place of pain to one of love and healing. In addition, the fabrics highlight the orchid, a symbol of the deep turmoil that women face while the full bloom showcases the strength and beauty of the vagina. Other themes include the Congo River, representing the lush landscape, and the Bouquet, which depicts the vagina in a stark way and the flowers breathe back life and hope. The Congo theme highlights Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of the Panzi Hospital and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He is represented by the lion.
GIVE JOY
This giving season, give JOY, support the women at City of Joy.
RAISE THE VIBRATION FOR 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM (25 NOVEMBER – 10 DECEMBER), RISINGS LAUNCH GLOBALLY
From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to RISE and RAISE THE VIBRATION to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence).
In honor of this day and to celebrate the One Billion Rising launches that have taken place and those that will launch today – including OBR South Asia, OBR Bangladesh, OBR Philippines, OBR Mexico, Congo, Swaziland and 17 countries in OBR Africa, we have news to share.
We mark today with the release of two new art pieces by extraordinary artists whose work represents our global 2020 call for Action, Art, Connection, Imagination and Love.
“WE ARE RISING”, A NEW LIBERATION SONG, BY TAÍNA ASILI – RELEASED TODAY
Social justice artist Taína Asili has composed and written a liberation song – in collaboration with One Billon Rising, entitled “We Are Rising.” We are honored that Taína has created this new anthem for One Billion Rising. It is a call to action, to dance, to RISE. The song celebrates our collective energy, creative resistance, and solidarity as we RISE against the tides of violence against all women, climate crisis, racism and corporate greed. Executive Produced by Eve Ensler, Susan Celia Swan & Monique Wilson for One Billion Rising.
“Music has always been the heartbeat of our movements for liberation. With “We Are Rising” I offer women around the world a new anthem to help us tap into the energy, strength, courage and wisdom needed to usher in a new era of justice and healing.” – Taína Asili
Taína is a New York based Puerto Rican singer, filmmaker, and activist whose work honors the tradition of her ancestors and carries themes of hope and liberation, which surges into one soulful and defiant voice.
Listen, share, and spread the song, RAISE the vibration for freedom for women around the world. Together, We Are RISING.
NEW! RAISE THE VIBRATION ART/POSTER DESIGNED BY ARTIST/ACTIVIST ALIXA GARCIA UNVEILED
Artist and activist Alixa Garcia, of the globally recognized spoken word duo Climbing PoeTree, has designed a poster for Raise the Vibration. The design echoes the themes of the campaign and Alixa and Eve’s collaborative vision of where this campaign will take us as we Raise the Vibration globally. We envision this image EVERYWHERE WE RISE, at events, on stage, on the sides of buildings, sidewalks, buses, taxis, you name it. We invite you to be creative!
“We are raising the vibration in the face of mediocrity, falsehood, greed, destruction, and separation. We are centralizing nature in this process and remembering that we are her. As our earth transforms, we transform with her, and just like the seed that has cracked open in the depth of the earth, we too have but only one direction to go.” – Alixa Garcia
In 2020, together we RISE to free all women from sexual, physical, racial, economic, political, socio-cultural, ideological and climate crisis violence. We RISE to end rape, battery, incest, sexual harassment, female genital mutilation, sexual slavery and trafficking, child marriage, femicide, sexual, gender and reproductive oppression, and violence towards LGBTQIA+ communities. We RISE to end capitalism, colonization, racism, imperialism, climate catastrophe and war.
We feel the energy of rising up, of resistance, of bold artistic energy and creativity coming forward from V-Day and One Billion Rising activists across the globe. At the City of Joy in Congo, 1294 women survivors have graduated, and the documentary film also entitled CITY OF JOY is available on Netflix, bringing a vast global audience their message of Turning Pain to Power.
Please join us in welcoming Roslyn Smith to the V-Day team. As Program Manager, Roz will oversee V-Day’s new Beyond Incarceration project which will further expand and deepen V-Day’s ongoing work with formerly incarcerated women and incarcerated women, engaging and educating activists throughout the US and worldwide in a dialogue around restorative justice.
Roz brings her personal experience from long-term incarceration as a vehicle for her work as a criminal justice reform advocate. “As I think about both the roots of my involvement in violence and the issue of responsibility, I know that increasingly it is understood that people who cause harm have often been victims themselves of violence. I also read more and more about the recognition that prisons are mainly sites of punishment, not places designed to help people grow and find self-worth, develop the capacity to redirect their lives, and to confirm their humanity,” said Roslyn.
Roslyn obtained her Bachelor’s degree while incarcerated and created curriculum and taught parenting classes for and with other mothers in prison. In addition, she worked with Puppies Behind Bars, a non-profit organization that trains incarcerated people to raise service dogs for veterans and first responders. She initiated the blog series for V-Day’s 2019 Spotlight on Women in Prison, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women.
A featured speaker in both academic and business settings, she has collaborated with the Osborne Association, Columbia University, the Brooklyn District Attorney Reentry Program and various other criminal justice reform groups. Roz was featured in the award-winning PBS film, “What I Want My Words To Do To You” that documents the writing workshop at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women, conducted and led by Eve Ensler. Since her release after serving 39 years, she has devoted her time between her daughter and her advocacy work.
Roz, we could not be more excited to have you joining the amazing V-team! We are honored and grateful to you for bringing your voice and vision to our shared work.
DISPATCHES FROM BEYOND INCARCERATION BLOG LAUNCHES
Today, we also announce Roz’ newly expanded blog, Dispatches from Beyond Incarceration, where Roz will write an ongoing series about her experiences as a formerly incarcerated women, including short and long dispatches on prison reform and prison abolition, often highlighting news articles around the experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, pieces highlighting what she’s thinking about, what she’s worried about, including interviews with formerly incarcerated women, stories from prison, visions of a world without prison, how violence against women leads to women coming to prison and then the violence they experience there, all the while highlighting important data and facts that shed light on incarceration and our commitment to restorative justice models.
You will hear from women whose lives have been profoundly impacted by the prison and detention system on issues as far ranging as: trauma and abuse; shackling; transgender experiences; dignity; health and mental health; experiences of long term inmates; the youth/school to prison pipeline; the experiences of mothers and children navigating the immigration system; higher education in prison; and reentry and technology.
We are thrilled to share the news that V-Board Member, Pat Mitchell, groundbreaking media icon and advocate for women’s rights, has released a new memoir detailing her journey from her childhood in the South to her rise in media and global affairs. In Becoming a Dangerous Woman, Pat Mitchell shares anecdotes from traveling in war zones with V-Day/One Billion Rising Founder Eve Ensler and Glenn Close to navigating power structures in Washington D.C.
“I can think of no woman who does more to move other women forward. From creating and providing platforms for women to share their voices, to making sure women are hired on the job, to insisting women are front and center in the media, to sharing, mentoring, networking, and always highlighting the best in us. Her life and being is a true lesson in sisterhood.” — Eve Ensler
The book features interviews with V-Day activists including City of Joy Co-Founder and Director Christine Schuler Deschryver, One Billion Rising Global Director Monique Wilson, V-Day Safe House for the Girls Founder Agnes Pareyio, and Afghan women’s leader Zoya.
“Dangerous times call for dangerous women,” Mitchell tells us, and in sharing her story, she encourages others to braver and bolder, to dismantle the barriers to full equality they see in their own lives, and to embrace risk to create a more equitable world. The book covers many of her career highlights such as being one of the first women reporters and anchors for national television, the first female president and CEO of PBS, and her role in creating TEDWoman.
Pat Mitchell is a relentless advocate for women and has paved the way for more dangerous women to RISE to power and dismantle the barriers of gender inequality.
“Equality can’t wait – and we can’t play our part from the sidelines.” — Pat Mitchell
ONE BILLION RISING STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF CORA AGOVIDA, GABRIELA MANILA CHAIRPERSON/ONE BILLION RISING (OBR) ACTIVIST AND ALL WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN THE PHILIPPINES
One Billion Rising stands in solidarity with GABRIELA and all activists in the midst of the recent spate of attacks against human rights in the Philippines. We condemn the illegal arrest of Cora Agovida, GABRIELA Manila Chairperson and fellow One Billion Rising activist. OBR also condemns the simultaneous raids conducted by the CIDG-PNP on the offices of Gabriela, Bayan Muna and the National Federation of Sugar Workers in the afternoon of the same day.
We call for the immediate release of those arrested in the raids. We vehemently condemn the use of spurious search warrants to orchestrate raids and mass arrests based on fabricated evidences against members and leaders of legitimate people’s organizations. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Duterte government’s continuous attacks against women and the Filipino people and its implementation of Executive Order No. 70 and the operation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) which has unleashed deadly attacks against activists in the Philippines.
These allegations are a vile attempt to malign GABRIELA’s integrity and the women it represents. These allegations are meant to silence GABRIELA and all its principles and vision of a truly equitable, empowering, just and free society for women and the people that it has been pressing on for decades. We firmly urge the Philippine judiciary to not be an accessory to the Duterte administration and its ilk’s moves to violate the law and further suppress democracy in the Philippines.
As OBR activists, we stand with our sisters in the Philippines and all over the world who are being targeted for their activism, for defending their rights and their communities, and for working tirelessly for a better society without oppression, exploitation, and violence. As the macho-fascist, misogynist, and right-wing governments are on the rise, we also vow to take stronger stand and raise our voices even louder for our sisters whose voices are being silenced.
We RISE in Solidarity with and for our sisters – until the violence stops.
Free Cora Agovida!
Defend Filipino Women!
Stop the attacks against women human rights defenders!
This giving season, give JOY, support the women at City of Joy.
Please join us in welcoming Roslyn Smith to the V-Day team. As Program Manager, Roz will oversee V-Day’s new Beyond Incarceration project which will further expand and deepen V-Day’s ongoing work with formerly incarcerated women and incarcerated women, engaging and educating activists throughout the US and worldwide in a dialogue around restorative justice.