Archive for the "Press Releases" Category
MEDIA ALERT
CITY COUNCILS SUPPORT V-DAY’S ONE BILLION RISING CAMPAIGN
Cities of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Fe, and more, Support V-Day’s Global Day of Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls
November 12, 2012 — Today, V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, announced a growing tide of political support from city councils across the US, and political and civic support around the world, for its ONE BILLION RISING campaign.
This week, the Los Angeles City Council passed an official resolution to recognize V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING campaign. Los Angeles City Council Member Eric Garcetti led the effort to support the campaign by officially recognizing February 14, 2013, V-Day’s global day of action, and offering the City’s support in proactively reaching out to its approximately four million residents to raise awareness around ONE BILLION RISING.
ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world’s population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On 14 February 2013,V-Day’s 15th anniversary, activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities and women and men across the world will come together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end to violence against women once and for all.
“One Billion Rising has the potential to serve as a mass movement tipping point to fundamentally shift society’s attitudes toward domestic violence,” said City Council Member Eric Garcetti. “I’m proud to support One Billion Rising and commend V-Day for this powerful initiative.”
The city councils of Santa Monica and West Hollywood, Calif., as well as Santa Fe, New Mexico, and more, have officially expressed their support of the campaign through resolutions or proclamations. Actress and activist Jane Fonda led the charge in West Hollywood to discuss how the council could support the campaign.
V-Day Founder, and award winning playwright, Eve Ensler will meet later this month with the Mayor of Lima, Peru and has already worked closely with members of the British and European parliaments, as well as the First Lady of Nepal, Prime Minister of Paris, and others. With 172 countries signed on to participate, and support from top labor unions, celebrities, writers, thinkers and more, ONE BILLION RISING is gaining incredible momentum in the lead up to February 14, 2013.
Individuals and organizations can get involved with ONE BILLION RISING by:
- Visiting www.onebillionrising.org to sign up and get information about how to activate your community
- Following V-Day on Facebook and Twitter
- Sharing ONE BILLION RISING with your networks
- Signing up for our text message updates by texting BILLION to 50555
- View and share the short film vday.org/shortfilm
- Filming an “I Am Rising” video and sharing it on OneBillionRising.org
About V-Day
V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events organized by volunteer activists in the U.S. took place around the world educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million; educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it; crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns; reopened shelters; and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine‘s 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine‘s Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. www.vday.org
Contact:
Jen Hirsch / Group SJR
jhirsch@groupsjr.com; 646.495.9723
Susan Swan / V-Day
susan@vday.org; 917.865.6603
Join us for a special evening moderated by Laura Flanders (GRITtv) and featuring Eve Ensler (V-Day), Karen Higgins (National Nurses United), Kimberle Crenshaw (UCLA School of Law), Amber Hollibaugh (Queers for Racial & Economic Justice), Amy Leon (V-Girls), Ai-jen Poo (Domestic Workers Alliance), Randi Weingarten (American Federation of teachers), Ann Wright (Army Colonel, Rt.), and others as we discuss how inequality and public policy affect violence against women, and celebrate those who work towards systemic change.
WHAT: THE STATE OF FEMALE AMERICA
WHEN: Tuesday, November 27.
Doors: 6:30pm, Program: 7pm
WHERE: Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, NYC
TICKETS: $10 general admission* Purchase here >
* V-Day has a limited amount of sponsored tickets available to THE STATE OF FEMALE AMERICA, free of charge. If you need a sponsored ticket, please email tickets@onebillionrising.org
Special Discount Offer From Emotional Creature: When you purchase a ticket to THE STATE OF FEMALE AMERICA, you will receive a discount code for almost 50% off up to 8 tickets to Eve Ensler’s newest play, Emotional Creature at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, New York City. Terms and conditions apply.
For more information on Emotional Creature, please visit www.emotionalcreature.com
How important is ending violence against women? We asked four members of the European Parliament why they are RISING with us on February 14 , 2013 for One Billion Rising.
Check out the videos by Ulrike Lunacek (Austria), Michael Cashman (UK), Ana Gomes (Portugal), And Sirpa Pietikainen (Finland) HERE >
The UK tour of The Vagina Monologues is running through December 2012, starring Vicki Entwistle, Clare Buckfield, Haley Tamaddon and Helen Darbyshire.
The Vagina Monologues opened in the West End in 2001 to great acclaim and ran for 2 years playing both The Ambassadors Theatre and The Wyndhams Theatre. Since then the show has toured nationwide to be seen by over 40,000 people each year. Since 2001 the West End and touring productions of The Vagina Monologues have raised over £300,000 helping girls and women in this country to overcome abuse, rape and violence.
For details & information about tickets and tour stops, go to vaginamonologues.co.uk >
V-Day and thousands of V-activists around the world have dedicated their lives to making this world a safe place for their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, and friends.
V-Day supports women – their right to make decisions about their bodies and destinies is paramount to our movement. We urge all of you who are eligible to vote in the United States to GET OUT AND VOTE this Tuesday, November 6th.
DON’T KNOW WHERE TO VOTE? Find your polling station here >
With the U.S. Election a few days away, we fear that what strides we have made towards a safer and more equal United States are in jeopardy of being reversed. Your voice matters!
Need more inspiration? Check out Influential Women Speak Out on the Election by Marianne Schnall featuring Eve, Isabel Allende, Ai-Jen Poo, Pat Mitchell, Gloria Steinem, Rebecca Walker, and many more >
Violence escalated in Bukavu, DRC tonight with an assassination attempt on Dr. Denis Mukwege, cherished V-Day partner and founder of the Panzi Hospital and godfather of the V-Men’s movement. While Dr. Mukwege and his family were not harmed, combatants shot and killed his trusted security guard. Our condolences go out to the guard’s family tonight.
V-Day has been in constant touch with both Dr. Mukwege and Christine Schuler Deschryver, V-Day Congo Director. We will update you as we find out more, but Dr. Mukwege and Christine are both safe in Bukavu.
Dr. Mukwege has collaborated with V-Day since 2007 when Eve Ensler first travelled to Congo on his invitation to witness the atrocities being committed against women and girls in Eastern Congo. He is V-Day’s partner on City of Joy, a revolutionary leadership center for women survivors of gender violence in Congo. Dr. Mukwege teaches at City of Joy.
“The attempted assassination on Dr. Mukwege and the murdering of his security guard once again highlights how deadly serious the situation is in Eastern Congo. One of the great men of the world was almost murdered tonight. We cannot let this continue, we must create an environment where it is safe for Dr. Muwege and all the people of Congo to live and thrive. Let this tragedy be the call to end the war in Congo once and for all,” stated V-Day Founder/playwright Eve Ensler.
“The V-Africa summit made it possible for women and girls to realize how solidarity and unity of purpose can bring political gains for women. Women have to realize the power of their numbers and support each other and impose political will on men and leaders to end the sexual atrocities vetted on women and girls.”
– Dr. Isatou Touray, Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP
From August 27 – 29, V-Day, with support from the Skoll Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund, convened 48 activists and social entrepreneurs from 17 countries in Africa including Burundi, DRC, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, for the first ever V-Africa Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya.
This inspirational coalition utilized the three-day event to learn from one another, envision and establish a continent-wide V-Africa coalition, create a platform from which to communicate about their work and demands to the international community, and address the issues of legislation, anti-violence work in conflict zones, and the inclusion of V-Men and V-Girls.
The Summit concluded by adopting a declaration rejecting all forms of gender-based abuses and specifically the use of rape as a weapon of war. The Summit also affirmed its commitment to fight all forms of abuses, including rape, domestic violence, honor killings, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child and forced marriage, incest and teen-dating abuses.
“Thank you to our African delegates for your stories and your pain and your victories and your tears. Thank you for risking arrest or violence, for putting your lives on the line. Thank you for speaking truth to power. Thank you for creating a declaration and trusting your activist sisters and brothers. This summit is the beginning of a mighty African web weaving a golden path of connection and possibility across the continent. You are the weavers, the life givers. You are the ones up ahead, leading with tenderness and mighty love and fierce compassion” stated Eve Ensler.
The summit garnered national press and created momentum for One Billion Rising in Africa.
While In Nairobi, Eve appeared on On the Bench with Jeff Koinange on K24
WATCH the clip >
Declaration of the First V-Africa Summit: Africa Rising >
PRESS RELEASE: African Women Summit Endorses New Plan to Fight Violence Against Women >
Below is a snapshot of the summit, including first hand accounts from attendees, press clips and videos. We expect more content about the summit over the coming weeks so check vday.org!
Sparks Fly by V-Girls SA Action Team member Mbali Khumalo
When you’re invited to be spend a week with powerful women and men that work tirelessly to improve the lives of women in their communities and end Female Genital Mutilation, you get excited. When you arrive at the beautiful Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi and actually meet, talk, listen and share someideas with them, the word ‘excited’ suddenly becomes one of the greatest understatements of the year as an attempt to describe the feeling of being around these power-houses, game-changers, freedom-fighters, fierce Vagina-Warriors, lights of hope. There were about 50± of us there. We gathered every morning from what was supposed to be 9am-3pm, but usually turned out to be from 9am-5pm(passionate discussions don’t follow time constraints..hehe). All of us, young and old, black and white, men and women, were there for the same purpose: to come together as Africa and be the greatest propellers of social change the world has seen, because we can and we must and it shall be done from the ground up.
Continue reading >
Synopsis of the V-Africa Summit: One Billion Rising to End Violence Against Women in Africa by Isatou Touray and Ammie Sissoho
Everyday a girl child or a woman is crying because of the pain she is going through. She has been betrayed by the adults she trusted most, the one she loved and believed in. Nobody seems to hear her cry, noticed that she is sobbing from a deep emotional lost. She has lost hope in life. She is not safe at home, on the street, in the institution or society at large. She has been labelled, her image tarnished, she has been silenced, yet no one seems to care about the perpetrators. It is the plight of girls and women in such situations that is a concern for many women’s rights activists and young girls who have found their voices and are Rising and speaking out to put an end to violence against women.
Continue reading >
More:
V-Dialogues: How Will Africa Answer? by Zukiswa Wanner >
Declaration of the First V-Africa Summit: Africa Rising >
“We are very glad to let you know that we held the first stop rape training today where we had a total of 51 beneficiaries and this training is very significant immediately after the Africa Activist Summit. We also danced ahead of the ONE BILLION RISING and will continue doing so as we carry out activities in Kenya and other Countries in Africa. We shall soon update you on the SA program.”
– Winnie and Duncan
Dolphin Anti-Rape and AIDS Control Outreach
PRESS:
– Why Do The Blows Never Stop? (The Standard)
– WATCH: V-Day Africa Summit on K24TV
– Nairobi Hosts V-Day Africa Summit (The Star)
– 46 Activists Meet in City (The Star)
– African Gender Activists Meet In Kenya Over Violence (CapitalFM news)
– Le Sommet Des Femmes Africaines Adopte Un Nouveau Plan De Lutte Contre La Violence Faite Aux Femmes (afriquejet)
– First V-Day Africa Summit Held in Nairobi (Coast Week)
– PRESS RELEASE: First V-Day Africa Summit Held in Nairobi; Major Campaign
For Immediate Release
African women Summit endorses new plan to fight violence against women
NAIROBI, 31 August–
The V-Day Africa Summit, which gathered 48 women from 17 African countries, concluded today, with a declaration calling on all governments to ensure respect for women, especially those caught up in dangerous conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
The V-Day Summit signed up to a plan to launch the One Billion Rising Campaign (www.onebillonrising.org), a global action inviting women and men to strike, rise and dance on 14.02.13, and to produce productions of The Vagina Monologues continent wide in which the play will be performed on the same day in January leading up to One Billion Rising.
The international gathering of anti-violence activists and social entrepreneurs called on governments to implement the African Union (AU) protocol that bans harmful traditional practices that limit women from enjoying their full rights.
The Summit adopted a declaration rejecting all forms of gender-based abuses and specifically the use of rape as a weapon of war. The Summit also affirmed its commitment to fight all forms of abuses, including rape, domestic violence, honour killings, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child and forced marriage, incest and teen-dating abuses.
“Women perish because of lack of knowledge about their rights. “I have taken people to court for performing FGM and won,” said V-Day Kenya Director Agnes Pareyio, a former UN Personality of the Year Laureate who has led a tireless fight against the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) amongst the Maasai community.
Delegates from Burundi, DRC, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, attended the 27-31 August meeting. It resolved to form a solidarity network of women activists to intensify its campaign against violence and vile treatment of women, especially those in the conflict zones.
Christine Schuler Deschryver, V-Day DRC Director said: “For the African women who attended, the V-Day Africa Summit was “our” summit. It was a place to open our hearts, to tell our stories and break the shame, and move our work forward in a unified, radical way.”
The AU has endorsed several protocols, including the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality, which seeks to end violence against women, their exclusion from politics and decision-making and high illiteracy levels due to limited access to education amongst girls.
Participants at the V-Day Africa Summit, agreed to launch a continental campaign to lobby all governments to take action against the “femicide” in the DRC, where women are often roundly abused sexually in a systematic attack that targets them for their weakness.
“Violence against women takes place around the vagina. We gathered here to create a powerful force against these continuing abuses and ensure that issues around sex are not treated as taboo subjects because that way, we are able to become part of the solution to the problem,” said Mumbi Kaigwa, the Convener of the V-Day Africa Summit.
Through her work of art, Kaigwa, a prominent actor, writer and playwright known best for her Vagina Monologues productions, has raised funds to build safe houses for girls escaping FGM.
Eve Ensler, the internationally renowned playwright of The Vagina Monologues and Founder of V-Day, a worldwide movement against gender violence, said “For the last fifteen years, I have witnessed the worst atrocities and violence perpetrated against women and girls throughout Africa and the entire world. No matter what culture, what religion, the vagina is still not honored, cherished and protected. The time is now, that is why we are rising.”
The last line of the V-Africa Summit Declaration is that we must love, honor, and cherish the vagina, the cradle of humankind.
ENDS……/////
About Agnes Pareyio
As a victim of violence against girls, Agnes Pareyio’s brave battle against the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) led her to carry out a door-to-door campaign, using a wooden vagina to raise awareness about the perils of the female cut. Its impact was phenomenal. To advance this innovative campaign, she set up the Tasaru Ntomonok Centre, a safe house for girls escaping the vice. The Centre is also know as the V-Day Safe House for Girls.
About Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is a Tony award winning playwright, performer and activist. She is the author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Eve’s newest work, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World, was published in book form and made The New York Times Best Seller list. The play, Emotional Creature was workshopped in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by Paris, France. It opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in June 2012, and will open in November 2012 Off-Broadway, New York City. She is also the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised over $90 million dollars.
About V-Day
V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine’s 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine’s Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/ Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. www.vday.org
For Immediate Release
First V-Day Africa Summit Held in Nairobi
Major Campaign Launched to Protect Victims of Gender Violence
NAIROBI, 27 August –
Against the backdrop of global statistics that state that over one billion women will experience rape or abuse in their lifetime, a coalition of gender activists and social entrepreneurs have gathered in Nairobi for a three-day Summit to kick-start a new campaign against all forms of sexual violence against women.
Convened by V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls founded by playwright and activist Eve Ensler, forty six activists and social entrepreneurs, from 18 countries in Africa, will meet to learn from one another, establish a regional and continent-wide agenda, and create a platform from which to communicate about their work and demands to the international community.
Meeting under the aegis the V-Day Africa Summit: Africa Rising, the summit is also expected to create momentum for One Billion Rising, a global campaign to mark the 15th anniversary of the V-Day global movement to end violence against women and girls in honour of the one billion women survivors of abuse.
“More than 1 out of every 3 women on this planet will experience violence during her lifetime. With 7 billion people on the planet, that’s one billion women. Stopping this violence is as crucial as addressing the issues of disease, hunger, and climate change,” said Eve Ensler, Founder of V-Day. “One Billion Rising is a global strike, a call to refuse to participate until rape and rape culture ends. It’s a solidarity reach, a new refusal, and a new way of being. Bringing these passionate, knowledgeable and innovative women and men together, will help to connect women so they understand the problem is much larger – one that is taking place on a human scale – and that it must be addressed collectively. “
V-Day Kenya Director, Agnes Pareyio, a former UN Personality of the Year laureate, said the Summit has been convened to help women create a powerful network that would help strengthen their own campaigns across Africa.
“Bringing women together will help break the isolation, shame and taboo that often surrounds sexual violence, as survivors often believe that violence is because of their family or culture alone,” said Ms Pareyio, whose campaign against female genital mutilation led to her global award.
The Summit is due to propose a 10-point plan to end violence against women in Africa and support the activists on the ground who have been fighting for years to end it.
The V-Day Africa Summit will feature innovative approaches in the fight against gender violence. It will showcase campaigns against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which impacts over 92 million females aged 10, and below who undergo the cut.
Statistics show unacceptable levels of abuse against women. More than half a million women and girls have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a result of the 14-year long war there. The Summit will also highlight V-Day’s project in the DRC, the City of Joy in Bukavu, which serves as a centre for leadership and development for women recovering from this violence.
V-Day is honored to have Dr. Denis Mukwege, a contender for the Noble Peace prize, from Democratic Republic of Congo, attend. Dr. Mukwege, the godfather of the V-Men’s movement, will make a call to men throughout the continent to create a vision to rise to end violence against women.
Kenya’s 2007/08 post election violence left thousands of abuse victims. There is systematic violence against millions in Guinea, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Zimbabwe, the countries which have recently witnessed political upheavals. The trends show an urgent need to protect women against violence.
In South Africa, a woman is raped every 25 seconds, worsening the spread of HIV/AIDS. Five teen girls from South Africa will attend the Summit to bring the voices of youth into the V-Africa network.
The Summit is made possible with the support of the Skoll Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund.
ENDS……/////
About Agnes Pareyio
As a victim of violence against girls, Agnes Pareyio’s brave battle against the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) led her to carry out a door-to-door campaign, using a wooden vagina to raise awareness about the perils of the female cut. Its impact was phenomenal. To advance this innovative campaign, she set up the Tasaru Ntomonok Centre, a safe house for girls escaping the vice. The Centre is also know as the V-Day Safe House for Girls.
About Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is a Tony award winning playwright, performer and activist. She is the author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Eve’s newest work, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World, was published in book form and made The New York Times Best Seller list. The play, Emotional Creature was workshopped in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by Paris, France. It opened at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in June 2012, and will open in November 2012 Off-Broadway, New York City. She is also the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised over $90 million dollars.
About V-Day
V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine’s 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine’s Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/ Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. www.vday.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Robert McCann / Michigan Senate Democrats
rmccann@senatedems.org; 517.980.3494
Susan Celia Swan / V-Day
susan@vday.org; 917.865.6603
REP. LISA BROWN, TONY AWARD WINNER EVE ENSLER,
MICHIGAN STATE SENATORS AND RERESENTATIVES,
AND LOCAL ACTORS TO PERFORM THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
ON THE STEPS OF THE MICHIGAN CAPITOL TONIGHT
June 18, 2012 – This evening, Michigan Senators and Representatives will be joined by Tony Award winning playwright and V-Day Founder/Artistic Director Eve Ensler as well as local activists and actors for a special performance of Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues on the Michigan Capitol Steps.
The grounds will open to the public at 5pm, with the performance starting at 6pm. Limited seating will be available on a first come, first served basis. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets in case seating runs out.
The event, which has garnered worldwide media attention, is part of an organized response to the recent banning of Michigan State Rep. Lisa Brown from publicly speaking in the House. On June 14th, Rep. Brown was banned by Majority Floor Leader Jim Stamas and House Republicans for using the word “vagina” during a debate on a bill that puts new restrictions on abortion providers. Brown, who voted against the legislation, told supporters of the bill, “I’m flattered you’re all so concerned about my vagina. But no means no.”
“For 14 years at V-Day, we’ve seen the power of saying the word ‘vagina.’ We’ve seen how it’s freed women from their shame and empowered them to break the silence and become leaders in their communities. By saying the word ‘vagina’ and making it okay to say the word ‘vagina,’ we take away the humiliation, fear, and myths that often surround it,” stated Ensler, who traveled in for the event from Berkeley, CA where she is world premiering her newest play, Emotional Creature at Berkeley Repertory Theater. “Censoring a woman for saying a word that is a body part that 51% of their constituents have is a repression that we have not and should not ever witness in this country.”
Ensler has called on V-Day activists from around the region to attend the event. In 2012 over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world raising awareness and funds for grassroots anti-violence groups. V-Day has just launched its most ambitious campaign to date – One Billion Rising, a worldwide day of action calling on one billion women and those who love them to strike, dance, and rise to end violence against women and girls on 2.14.13, V-Day’s 15th anniversary.
Sen. Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D- East Lansing), Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), Rep. Barb Byrum (D- Onondaga), Rep. Stacy Erwin Oakes (D-Saginaw), Rep. Dian Slavens (D- Canton Township), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D- Detroit), Rep. Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield), Rep. Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hill), Rep. Joan Bauer (D-Lansing), Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton (D-MI 27th District), and Rep. Maureen Stapleton (D-Detroit), will perform along with Ensler and local actors including Q’Amara Black, Jan Blixt, Renee Chelian, Barb Christine, Ruth Crawford, Mary Jo Cuppone, Madison Deadman, Courtney Jo Dempsey-Burkett, Naz Edwards, Rana Elmir, Cecillia Fierro, Lindsey Ford, Julia Glander, Jennifer Graham, Holly Hughes, Lynn Lammers, Elitza Nicolaou, Sally Pesetsky, Suzi Regan, Jasmine Rivera, Eva Rosenwald, Chelsea Sadler, Dana Sutton, Emily Sutton-Smith.*
“I look forward to joining these powerful women from across the nation in sending a message that we are proud of ourselves, proud of our bodies and proud of the message that we have to offer,” said Senator Whitmer, the highest-ranking woman in Michigan Government. “I want my two daughters to know that their Mom and countless other women stood up for them as they grow into the next generation of strong women.”
“They banned me from speaking because I dared say vagina, the correct, medical name of apart of a woman’s anatomy these lawmakers are trying to regulate,” added Representative Brown. “I’m outraged that there are Michigan legislators that not only want to dictate what women can do, but what we can say.”
Local and state activists as well as actors have also signed on to perform and protest on the Capital Steps on Monday. Over the past 14 years V-Day has mobilized activists from more than 140 countries and worked tirelessly on a grassroots level to demand an end to all forms of violence against women and girls. This latest action in Michigan will call on the many college and community V-Day organizers in the area to step up and let the House Republicans know that banning ‘vagina’ is not acceptable.
“Nowhere is freedom of speech more essential than in our legislative bodies,” said Senator Warren. “What we are facing is not simply a question of pro-choice or anti-choice policy – this is about whether women will be allowed to freely participate in the debate. It is an issue that should disturb and engage Michiganders from every corner of our state.”
Activists who would like to get involved can contact Valerie Keefe who will provide further information. Valerie can be reached at vkeefe@senatedems.org or by phone at (517) 316-6420.
There is also a Facebook event page for the event https://www.facebook.com/events/268583796582574
*Subject to change
# # #
About V-Day
V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 14,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine’s 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine’s Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. V-Day’s newest campaign is ONE BILLION RISING which will culminate on 021413 with a global action worldwide. www.vday.org
About One Billion Rising
One in three women on the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime. That is ONE BILLION WOMEN violated. One billion daughters, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, lovers and friends. On 14th February 2013, V-Day’s 15th Anniversary, we are inviting ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence. ONE BILLION RISING will move the earth, activating women and men to dance across every country. V-Day wants the world to see our collective strength, our numbers and our solidarity across borders. Join V-Day and ONE BILLION RISING today and SAY NO to violence against women and girls. To sign up and learn more, visit www.onebillionrising.org