V-Day, the global movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence) has seen its work evolve over the past three years. The rise of misogynist, authoritarian regimes the world over – from the United States to the Philippines, India to Brazil – has recalibrated our work, further escalating the urgency with which we feel compelled to fight for gender, climate, economic and racial justice.
We are in the midst of a rising tide of right-wing nationalism, white supremacy, fascism, tyranny, hatred of and fear of immigrants, misogyny, femicide, homophobia, transphobia, corporate greed and climate destruction. We cannot beat these violators on their terms. We will never be that cruel, discompassionate, greedy, or murderous. We cannot let ourselves be changed by or sunk in their cynicism, hatred, divisions and destruction.
What we can do is remember we are the many and we can RAISE THE VIBRATION through Action, Art, Connection, Imagination and Love.
That is why we do theater, music, art, poetry, dance.
That is why we stand in the face of injustice and are just.
That is why call out the systems that create insane inequality and we give more.
That is why we open the borders of our heart when the state builds walls, detention centers and refugee camps.
That is why we reach out to include everyone in our circle of rising as the state creates further and further divisions between us.
That is why we devote ourselves to developing trust and solidarity, to joining our issues in solidarity, because this bond, once secure becomes our wings.
That is why we move our bodies so that the freedom and energy we shake loose becomes a new energy bringing in a new future.
That is why we see, cherish, nurture, respect and protect our Mother Earth as we are not separate from her. Her life is our life.
Together, we RISE to free all women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities) 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, 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.
V-Day 2020: The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence). With creativity and determination, activists around the world tirelessly work to end harassment, rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery.
Amplifying New Voices: For the 2020 V-season, we invite activists to create a new event called RAISE THE VIBRATION. This will be a community-created artistic piece. Create a vibration that is powerful, beautiful, compelling through music, chanting, dance, drumming, original monologues, and more. Since V-Day first began in 1998, many new and long-term activists have begun to stage their own works reflecting the voices in their communities. If you would like to foreground new voices in the conversation around ending violence against women, we encourage you to do so by curating stories from your community and creating this new artistic evening that you present separately. Many organizers have done this, both instead of “The Vagina Monologues” and in addition to it. It’s a wonderful way to invite local writers, activists and artists to participate.
When women take the stage, incredible things happen, as their issues are voiced and confronted for all to see and hear.
As we collectively raise the vibration, there will not be a specific 2020 spotlight campaign. Instead, we ask that you, our activists, donate 100% of your proceeds to a group or groups in your community who are doing anti-violence work at rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, groups working with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, with refugee women, and with women affected by climate catastrophe. Research and support groups on the front line in your community, serving survivors who have been traditionally marginalized or made vulnerable to violence due to current socio-political conditions.
Over the next few months and leading up to February 2020, we will be releasing a brand new graphic/slide to project at your V-Day benefits, a new song/anthem, a Spanish video and also an acapella arrangement for “Like a Woman”, videos from our #OBREurope coordinators, and more art, graphics and videos from the movement. Stay tuned!
The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer will be available free of charge to registered activists hosting benefit productions solely from 1 February – 8 March.*
One Billion Rising activists worldwide mobilize, engage, awaken and join people across the planet to end violence against all women and girls. 1 in 3 women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. Every February, we rise – in countries across the world – to show our local communities and the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face. We rise through dance to express joy and community and celebrate the fact that we have not been defeated by this violence. We rise to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable.
In 2020, we invite OBR activists to keep our risings strong, radical, creative. That they embody a true and higher consciousness of the body, revolution, imagination and love. Something that captures the gravity and urgency and cruelty of the political and economic situation of today, and something that at the same time harnesses the huge and powerful energy of the collective creative power of our movement that continues to bring hope, connection, possibility and the future.
City of Joy is a revolutionary leadership center for women survivors of gender violence, located in Bukavu, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. City of Joy, the film, tells the story of the first class of women at City of Joy, and chronicles the process by which such a transformational place came to be, from its origins with the women survivors themselves, to the opening of the center’s doors.
Whether you are new to City of Joy and V-Day or have been with us in the movement since its inception, know that you are joining a network of activists who will be viewing the film and hosting screenings and house parties around the world to celebrate the work of City of Joy, honoring the women leaders of the Congo and the 1294 women who have graduated from the City of Joy, joining together in a network of love and revolution, Turning Pain to Power. Watch the Film, Host a House Party or Screening & Spread the Word.
Go to vspot.vday.org, and register for an account or sign in to your existing account. Afterwards, click on the event or events you want to apply for and follow the instructions.
*If you wish to perform The Vagina Monologues in other months, you may purchase the rights from Dramatists Play Service. Performance rights information can be found at www.eveensler.org/plays.
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 17 September 2019) – V-Day and One Billion Rising announced today that 52 civil and human rights, refugee and religious organizations (see list of signatories below) sent a letter to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation urging the charity to not award its premier Global Goalkeeper Award to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at its Goalkeepers event next week, citing human rights violations.
The letter opposes awarding Modi given his government’s well-documented human rights abuses targeting minority Muslim, Dalit and Christian communities, as well as its recent and illegal revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, stripping the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its protected status and laying siege to its eight million residents.
Signatories to the letter recognize the positive impact India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan sanitation campaign has had in eliminating open defecation in that county but believe that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation cannot in good conscience bestow an award on Modi while he oversees a brutal military campaign of collective punishment in the Kashmir Valley – while concurrently stripping 1.9 million Bengali-speaking Muslims of their citizenship in the Indian state of Assam and constructing prison camps to detain these now stateless people.
The letter also mentions that since Modi was elected as Prime Minister in 2014, there has been a 400 percent increase in hate crime violence against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits, and that leaders of his political party, Bharatiya Janata Party, have been credibly accused of emboldening “communal violence” and failing to forcefully condemn or put a stop to it.
TEXT OF LETTER:
17 September 2019
Mr. Bill Gates and Mrs. Melinda Gates
Co-Chairs
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
RE: Request to Rescind Award Offer to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Citing Human Rights Abuses
Dear Bill and Melinda Gates:
We, the undersigned 52 state, national and international organizations, write to request that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation not award its premier Global Goalkeeper Award to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at your Goalkeepers event this month. We furthermore express our serious concern that you would offer this award to Modi given his government’s well-documented human rights abuses targeting minority Muslim, Dalit, and Christian communities, as well as its recent and illegal revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, stripping the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its protected status, and laying siege to its eight million residents.
While it is praiseworthy for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to recognize the positive impact India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan sanitation campaign has had in eliminating open defecation by constructing 90,000,000 toilets and adopting other community-based approaches, you cannot in good conscience bestow an award on Prime Minister Modi while he oversees a brutal military campaign of collective punishment in the Kashmir Valley that includes:
Revocation of the region’s protected status;
A near-constant curfew leading to an urgent humanitarian crisis of severe shortage of food and lifesaving medications;
The forced unwarranted detention of some 4,000 elected Kashmiri political leaders, business leaders, civil society members, and rights activists in secret jails by Indian forces, including mass arrest and beatings of children and widespread torture of detainees;
Gross human rights abuses of Kashmiri residents by Indian security forces in the Kashmir Valley;
A halt on the publication of all local news and prevention of international journalists from entering the Kashmir Valley; and,
A continued communications and internet blackout of Kashmir.
In August, the Indian government illegally revoked Article 370 of the constitution, taking away the protected status of the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir. The legal maneuvering that led to the revocation of Article 370 has been widely panned by legal experts as unconstitutional and a complaint has already been filed in the Indian Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the revocation. The Indian government’s mobilization of more than 50,000 additional military personnel to the existing 700,000 stationed troops in the region has also made it the most militarized region of the world.
Since revoking Article 370, India’s military has maintained a continued communications and internet blackout of Kashmir, forcibly detained some 4,000 elected Kashmiri political leaders, business leaders, civil society members, and rights activists in secret jails, and levied a near-constant curfew on the region’s 8 million residents. There are widespread reports of torture of detainees. Indian security forces have also arrested children and kept their whereabouts secret from their parents.
The siege has led to an urgent and grave humanitarian crisis in which residents are facing a serious shortage of food and other life essentials. The Kashmir Valley has now run out of lifesaving medications, turning “hospitals into graveyards.”
The Modi-led Indian government continues to shut down all local media and is not allowing any international journalists to enter the Kashmir Valley. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the news from the Kashmir Valley is smuggled out on flash drives that are then published in international media. The United Nations’ Human Rights Council has called the blackouts a “form of collective punishment” lacking “even a pretext of a precipitating offense.”
You should also be seriously concerned that under Modi’s leadership, the Indian state of Assam has stripped 1.9 million Bengali-speaking Muslims of their citizenship and is constructing prison camps to detain these now stateless people. The Indian government has now expelled all international journalists from the State of Assam. Prime Minister Modi’s plan to open similar detention centers across India is causing widespread fear and panic in the Indian Muslim community.
Modi’s government has tried to pass a new citizenship bill in the Indian Parliament that would create a pathway to citizenship for migrants from neighboring countries that are Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, or adherents of other faiths — but leaves out Muslims. While that discriminatory bill passed the lower house it has thankfully stalled in the upper house of parliament.
Leaders of Modi’s political party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been credibly accused of emboldening “communal violence” and failing to forcefully condemn or put a stop to recent mobs of violent Hindu nationalists lynching, murdering, and brutally beating minorities, especially Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and members of lower castes within India’s society.
Since Mr. Modi was elected as Prime Minister in 2014, there has been a 400% increase in hate crime violence against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits. Reports in the media indicate that victims of such communal violence are beaten and murdered while mobs shout or force their victims to repeat the phrase: “Jai Shri Ram,” which means “Praise Lord Ram,” one of the gods in the Hindu pantheon.
Moreover, the 2019 University of California at Berkeley study titled “Islamophobia in India: Stoking Bigotry,” found that the 10 Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Telangana, and Assam collectively accounted for 1,972 cases of politically-motivated violence, and implicated BJP leaders of stoking “communal violence” and hate.
Prior to becoming prime minister of India, in 2005 the U.S. Department of State banned Modi from entering the United States. Modi was denied a visa because as then-head of the state government in Gujarat between February 2002 and May 2002, he comprehensively failed to stop Hindu nationalist riots that resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 Muslims, including the reported gang-rape and murder of 250 women and destruction of countless homes and businesses. Modi and his government’s silence during the rioting earning him the shameful title “Butcher of Gujrat.”
Again, we request that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation not offer the Global Goalkeeper Award to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he will use this prize to deflect criticism of his government’s egregious human rights violations in Kashmir, Assam, and throughout all of India.
Sincerely,
National Organizations:
Action Center on Race and the Economy
Afghan Diaspora Equality and Progress
American Muslim Empowerment Network
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Franciscan Action Network
Indian American Muslim Council
Islamic Association of North America
Islamic Leadership Institute America
Islamophobia Studies Center, Berkeley, California
Muslim American Society
National Lawyers Guild International Committee
Only Through US
Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross USA Province
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
United We Dream
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
US Council of Muslim Organizations
Win Without War
Yemeni American Merchants Association
State Organizations:
American Muslim Voice Foundation, California
Baltimore County Muslim Council, Maryland
Capuchin Franciscans Province of St. Joseph, Midwest Office
Faith in Public Life, Ohio
Flint Islamic Center, Michigan
Franciscan Sisters of the Poor US Area, Ohio
Franciscans for Justice, California
Islamic Center of Detroit, Michigan
Islamic Center of Old Bridge, New Jersey
Jewish Voice for Peace – Atlanta Chapter, Georgia
Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission, Province of Our Lady of Consolation, New Mexico
Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York, New York
Montgomery County Muslim Council, Maryland
Muslim Identities & Cultures, Townsend Center and Center for Race & Gender Working Group, Berkeley, California
Order of Franciscans Ecumenical, California
Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, California
Showing Up for Racial Justice – Montgomery County, Maryland
United Maryland Muslim Council, Maryland
Women in Black, California
Women in Black, Maryland
Women in Black, Pennsylvania
Women in Black, Washington
International:
American Friends Service Committee
Education Justice for Global Peace
Global Justice and Human Rights Law Network
Independent Old Catholic Church
International Center for Rights and Justice
Joining Hands for Justice in Israel and Palestine
Mujeres de Negro, Madrid, Spain
One Billion Rising
V-Day
Women in Black, Vienna, Austria
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
It is with great sadness that we learned about the passing of our vagina warrior sister Lissy Gröner on 9 September 2019 at age 65. Our thoughts are with Lissy’s children Myriam and Nicolai and her whole family.
Lissy was a passionate champion for women’s and LGBTI rights, and during her two decades as a Member of the European Parliament (1989 – 2009), she was instrumental in putting violence against women on the EU agenda – and for keeping it there! Her political savvy, her warmth, her wit and her integrity made her a respected partner across party lines and a true role model for her peers and the next generation. Her commitment for gender justice was always resolutely global and intersectional. She recognised the potential of the arts to bring about social change, and the connections between gender equality, culture and education in her political work. Lissy has been part of the V-Day movement since the early 2000s and we have fond memories of our shared moments in Brussels. Her creativity and tireless commitment to ending violence against women was honoured when she received V-Day’s European Vagina Warrior award in Brussels in April 2005. She had a deep impact on us, as a trusted partner in our advocacy, and as a dear, much loved friend. Her positive energy and spirit, up to the last weeks of her life, make it difficult to believe that she is gone.
Dear Lissy, vagina warrior sister, we salute you and will uphold your legacy. Until the violence stops!
In this time of escalating femicide in South Africa – ONE BILLION RISING (OBR) – AS A GLOBAL MOVEMENT AND AS A GLOBAL COMMUNITY – STANDS WITH OUR SISTERS IN SOUTH AFRICA, as we RISE, RESIST and UNITE for their freedom.
We have recently seen the escalation of femicide in South Africa, and women have come together in the thousands in the streets, at huge protests, to demand an end to this diabolical violence being perpetrated continuously and with impunity towards women and children in the country.
One Billion Rising South Africa Coordinator Lucinda Evans, one of the leaders and organizers of the 17,000 strong protest, spoke out about the current situation and what the South African women are demanding:
“What our President recently announced, talk about improving the system to lessen violence towards women and children, is inadequate and does not give us hope. We need more accountability from the government, and an admission of the gravity of the situation in the country, as well as strong, direct and tangible actions to end the violence. We need more front line services for women and children – legal and medical protection services. And to make ending violence towards women a priority issue. But most of all, we need solidarity. National solidarity so we can become a unified voice, and global solidarity to apply pressure on the South African government to implement better protection services for our women and children. Here in South Africa women have been Rising against gender based violence and femicide. It is in this call for unity in South Africa, and global solidarity for the women and children in our country, where we will find true protection, freedom and liberation – and be able to hold our government responsible for not providing the protection for our Vaginas and our bodies.”
Eve Ensler, founder of One Billion Rising stated:
“Women from South Africa are leading the way, with their fierceness, courage and action. Let’s join them in solidarity and spread their rising across the world. This is the moment. Rise, Rise Rise.”
OBR GLOBAL ACTIVISTS – led by OBR AFRICA, OBR Europe and OBR Asia – lead the global call to RISE IN SOLIDARITY with our South African sisters.
Statement from OBR Africa:
OBR Africa is rising in solidarity with the women of South Africa – calling for the protection of all women and children. Women in Africa suffer from systematic and legalized discrimination. This discrimination is exacerbated by institutions , cultures of patriarchy and laws which contribute to violence against women. It is time to end impunity for violence against women and children, and the silence and stigma associated with it. By not addressing this violence, and if African women are under threat, if their bodies are constantly and massively violated, if their safety is not secure, their progress is stymied. And without the women of Africa there is no future.
Violence against women and children is a calamity across the world, this is why we RISE IN SOLIDARITY. We urge the elected leaders of South Africa to End this situation. We urge all leaders in all African countries to act swiftly to end this situation in all African countries.
We RISE against the xenophobic attacks happening in South Africa.
We call for Unity and Peace in South Africa and Africa as a whole! #HandsOffOurVaginas
For more information on One Billion Rising South Africa and Rising actions, contact:
+27 78 8772107 obrsouthafrica(at)gmail.com
To learn more, read this recent article in The Guardian:
“Activist Lucinda Evans addressed protesters in front of parliament, stating that the fight against gender-based violence was a 365-day process. “As a country we are in a crisis. Violence against women, children and the LGBTIQ+ is a crisis. I am addressing the female ministers. When are you going to hold these men accountable who have been failing us for so long?”
“If this government fails to protect us, we, as the women of South Africa, will take them to the constitutional court,” Evans yelled as the crowd cheered.
Students across the globe have been striking on Fridays to demand solutions to the climate emergency. Now, they are calling on everyone to disrupt the status quo and join them on Friday, 20 September for the Global Climate Strike. Three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, 20 September will start off a week of climate action, with a walkout to show politicians that our demand for justice is strong, and that we will not stop until the climate crisis is properly addressed and necessary action and system change are put into motion to restore dignity, integrity, and respect for Mother Earth.
Together we call for justice against the aggressive greed and global exploitation of nature and people that deepen inequalities in wealth and power. We call to restore dignity, integrity and respect towards Mother Earth and to all people of the world, particularly women and girls, who have been violated by policies and programs that cause environmental degradation and plunder.
V-Day and One Billion Rising activists are RISING and STRIKING in support of the student led movement. Their actions will platform the connections of climate justice and our movement to end violence against all women and girls, inviting everyone to participate.
One Billion Rising has been connecting the dots between multiple systems of oppression that escalate, exacerbate and profit from violence against women, including the extractive industries of oil and gas, militarized neo-colonial and corporate “development”, and the poisoning of our global food and water and eco systems. With the intentional burning of the Amazon by agro businesses in Brazil, action to address the climate crisis is needed more than ever. This earth is not meant for consumption. The global climate crisis continues to affect communities around the world, but women and girls suffer the most in terms of long term loss of livelihood, forced migration, trafficking and other climate related conflicts. Indigenous populations everywhere have also suffered gravely – displaced and forced to flee and relocate – making them the world’s first climate refugees.
In 2017, there were over 18 million climate refugees – people who have had to leave their homes due to long-term changes to their local environment which threatens their livelihoods. If nothing is done, an estimate of 143 million people will be forced to leave their homes due to desert expansion, devastating floods, fires, and heat waves by 2050. People all over the world joined the Risings in many countries to demand and end to violence against women and girls, by looking at policies that pillage, devastate and destroy the environment in the name of “development.”
All over the world, people will rise up to stop business as usual in the face of this climate emergency.
The climate crisis won’t wait and neither will we.
Business as usual is no longer an option.
The house is on fire.
Join us,
RISE and STRIKE everywhere #UntilTheViolenceStops
Eve’s best-selling book, The Apology, continues to generate meaningful discussions in media, social media, communities and groups. For over 21 years, V-Day, the global activist movement that grew out of The Vagina Monologues, has galvanized women survivors to tell their stories, break the silence, and call out systemic violence against all women, including cis women, trans women, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence.
Yet, we haven’t seen men move into the process of true apology. Of reckoning with their actions and moving towards accountability and transformation. Until now.
Survivors are writing their own imagined apologies from their perpetrators, and sharing their experiences of transformation and healing.
In response to the interest and enthusiasm, Eve penned a powerful Op-Ed for NBC News, which you can read here.
“It then occurred to me that I had never heard a man make an honest, thorough, public accounting of his abuse. I had never heard a man openly apologize.”
Explore The Apology, via:
The Toolkit – created Farah Tanis, a transnational Black feminist, human rights activist and co-founder and Executive Director of Black Women’s Blueprint, the toolkit is designed to help survivors and their allies grapple with the idea of reckoning and apology.
The Website – Building upon years of work with survivors, activists and anti-violence groups, V-Day launched theapologybook.net as an online space for readers, activists and survivors to process and explore the themes raised in the book, for perpetrators to begin their own processes of accountability and apology, and for survivors to write imagined apologies and offer themselves healing.
Spotlight Blog Series on Women in Prison & Detention
V-Day’s Spotlight on Women in Prison, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women has been created in collaboration with Kathy Boudin and Cheryl Wilkins and formerly incarcerated women and activists working on prison reform and prison abolition. In this blog series 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.
The Experience of Pregnant Women in Prison:
Shackling, Medical Treatment & Diet
My story is a freedom song of struggle. It is about finding one’s purpose, how to overcome fear and to stand up for causes bigger than one’s self.
– Coretta Scott King
Many women come to prison and find out that they are pregnant after routine tests are administered by the medical staff. Most often they are single mothers that come from communities with high rates of poverty, crime and low educational attainment. This can be a very daunting time for an expectant mother-to-be. There are so many things to consider about being pregnant but then those concerns are multiplied when an expectant mother is incarcerated.
The shackling of incarcerated women who are pregnant and in labor is a routine practice throughout the criminal justice system. It is considered by the Department of Corrections to be a safety measure to ensure that people in prison do not escape or engage in physical harm while being transported to and from various locations, including court dates, hospital trips, funerals or traveling to other correctional facilities. Although this is seen by Corrections as a safety measure, in reality it has nothing to do with public safety. It is an added form of punishment.
This practice is dangerous and a public health issue for pregnant women and it needs to be addressed as well as rectified. While there is movement toward change in areas there needs to be a universal policy throughout the United States.
Throughout my pregnancy I was put in restraints going to and from the hospital for my scheduled prenatal doctor’s appointments as well as after having a caesarean birth. Oftentimes, these trips would last from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. My wrists would be swollen and often the handcuffs would break through the skin, causing bleeding because the cuffs were too tight and any movement rubbed the skin raw. I was in full restraints (leg, wrist and waist chain shackles) in the prison van for every appointment. When I was eight months pregnant and my mother passed away, I was shackled for the entire 6 hours trip.
The only time I was not in restraints was during labor and delivery due to the doctors and nurses who put up such a fuss about not being able to do their jobs with the restraints on me. The medical staff explained that the restraints would impede their professional performance and that if a prisoner was restrained and anything went wrong, it was not their responsibility. They also denied the Corrections Officer from entering the operating room.
In 1993, while incarcerated, I gave birth to my daughter. This was before Governor Cuomo signed a bill in 2015 to stop the shackling of pregnant women in New York.
“These common sense reforms strike the right balance that protect the health and dignity of a pregnant inmate, while also addressing public safety concerns,” Governor Cuomo said. “This legislation has made New York’s criminal justice system fairer and stronger and I thank the sponsors and advocates who worked so hard to get it passed.” [1]
The Federal First Step Act (The Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act), which prohibits the shackling of pregnant prisoners among other reforms included in it, has been passed into law also. Many formerly incarcerated women have worked diligently with various organizations to lead the struggle and bring awareness to these issues.
Prison Birth Project states, “In women’s prisons, 85% are mothers, and 25% were pregnant on arrest or gave birth in the previous year. The criminal justice system and media demonize people in conflict with the law to justify and prevent outcry against denials of basic human rights, such as adequate pregnancy healthcare, nutrition, and reproductive choice.” [2]
The Pregnant Women in Custody Act, which was introduced by Reps. Karen Bass, Mia Love, and Catherine Clarke, calls to end the practice of using restraints and restrictive housing on female inmates while they are pregnant, in labor, and post-partum.
Bass has stated: “In the United States in 2018, the idea that we would actually shackle a pregnant women to a gurney while she is delivering a baby is really egregious…of course, there is no policy that says a pregnant woman should be shackled to a gurney. There’s a difference between policy and practice, and we know that this is a practice.” [3]
The practice of shackling should be banned and addressed. It causes an undue amount of stress on the mother and child; several people have lost their lives because they were shackled and it is just an inhumane way to treat people. On every trip that I went on I constantly prayed that we wouldn’t get into an accident because I was afraid that we would be killed or that I would trip or fall getting into and out of the prison van and injure my unborn child. I was in constant pain from the handcuffs and had anxiety build up before each visit. Shouldn’t we all think about humanity and ensure basic medical care for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women as well? I also want to say that many other prisoners, male and not pregnant women, have died being transported while shackled in prison vans. It’s just an unsafe practice, period.
The other issues that we can address as far as pregnancy is concerned, is the proper diet a woman and her child should get while incarcerated. Prisons are not required to provide pregnant women with the proper nutrition. Trying to maintain a healthy diet for yourself is a struggle while incarcerated but when your carrying a child it becomes life threatening to you and your unborn baby. Prison food is loaded with starches to fill you up and little nutritional value. Everything is mostly processed and devoid of essential nutrients for a healthy food regimen. The recommended diet for pregnancy includes three or more servings of fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, and protein every day, in addition to complex carbohydrates. These vital sources of nutrition are absent from most meals served to incarcerated people. [4]
There are many ways that we can support pregnant women in prison and bring awareness of the disparaging practices of how prisons treat all human beings. I would encourage anyone who is reading this to look for organization that are fighting and supporting the rights of anyone who is imprisoned. We all can make a difference in this world and change the paradigm of how we treat one another, free or in our justice system.
Although it seems that things are turning in a different direction please note that we have to stay vigilant on these issues so that they will not fall by the wayside and be forgotten. Contact your local officials and congresswomen and men, voice your opinions to get them involved in this fight for women’s rights. Our work will not be done until all women are free from discrimination, suffering, and pain.
[1] “Governor Cuomo Signs Legislation to Prohibit Shackling of Pregnant Inmates During Transportation”. NY.Gov. 2015
This past Friday (5 July), Border Agricultural Workers Project, La Mujer Obrera, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas & One Billion Rising presented ARTISTIC UPRISING – EL PASO BORDER, beginning in the evening at the Border Agricultural Workers Project, and ending at night with activists, artists, and the audience marching together to the border, where they chanted and protested at the Santa Fe bridge.
“Last night we brought in the revolutionary winds in El Paso Texas through our singing, dancing, poetry, readings, testimonies, performance art, fire dancing and drumming. Over 30 artists arrived from all over the country and locally to the Border Agricultural Workers Project which generously hosted our Artistic Uprising. We rose up honoring and celebrating migrants to join forces and denounce the diabolical inhumanity being enacted at our borders and in detention centers. So proud of the extraordinary solidarity between La Mujer Obrera and Allianza Nacional De Campesinas and One Billion Rising which energized and created this event. This all happened in 8 days. Just imagine what’s coming! Artists have the power to tear down walls, push boundaries and dissolve borders. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who turned out.” – Eve Ensler
Organizers put out a call to artists and activists everywhere to stand up for freedom, dignity, and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers clinging on to survive under the diabolical inhumanity of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Artists and activists from across the country and El Paso and Juarez brought their music, poetry, drums, words, passion, theatre, outrage, love, and brilliant calls to action – including writer Denise Chavez, playwright Eve Ensler, Alixa Garcia of Climbing PoeTree with Tonya Abernathy and Claudia Cuentas Oviedo, musician Amalia Mondragón, poet Rubi Orozco, journalist/organizer Rosa Clemente, playwright and Founder of The Trevor Project James Lecesne, Gabriel Mendez, Kelly Curry of CODEPINK, photojournalist Paula J. Allen, poet Anne Waldman, artist Sekou Luke, singer Morley, Border Agricultural Workers Project, Lorena Andrade of La Mujer Obrera, Mily Treviño-Sauceda of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Susan Celia Swan of One Billion Rising, Jennifer Nagda of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Alicia Rascon of The Center Against Sexual & Family Violence, Diane Wilson, MAKS, poets Tongo, Michelle Mush Lee, Dominic Chacón, Gris Muñoz, Anne Talhami, and Anju Kasturiraj, readings by Veronica Frescas and Ela Banerjee, musicians Ceiba and Chris Davis, Aztec dance group Danza Omecoatl, and fire dancer Jacqueline Barragan.
The event centralized the voices of immigrants, refugees, and organizers working on the ground directly with impacted communities. Rosemary Rojas, president of the board of directors for the Border Agricultural Workers Project expressed that the event came together quickly in response to the urgency of the humanitarian crisis at hand, as as “children are being held in cages now. Mothers are without their babies. Families are without their children.”
As we RISE in El Paso, we RISE in solidarity with all refugees who face displacement due to political, social, and environmental injustice. There are 70 million displaced people in the world today, living away from their homes and often in unsafe and impossible living conditions.
Bianca Acosta came to the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager. “Art itself can cross the borders,” she says. “An artistic uprising really makes an impact.”
CREDIT: MALLORY FALK
Artists from around the country gathered in El Paso Friday night for what they called an “artistic uprising” at the U.S.-Mexico border. With an international bridge as their backdrop, they sang, played music, and recited poetry expressing love for migrants and denouncing family separation and child detention.
The setting was dramatic. Just beyond the stage — a small, raised platform — stood the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center. In May, a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General warned of dangerous overcrowding at the facility. At one point, 900 migrants were held in a space designed for 125.
When organizer Lorena Andrade took the stage to kick off the event, she gestured to the processing center. “This is where our people are held,” she said. “This is where this whole, horrible process begins. And we are here to be loud with our poems, with our songs, with our danza, with our drums. With everything that is in us, we are going to demand of these people that they let our people go.”
Andrade directs La Mujer Obrera, a women’s community organizing group in El Paso. She put on the event with the playwright Eve Ensler, who founded the international anti-violence campaign One Billion Rising. Border Agricultural Workers Project and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas also helped out.
“I think many people in this country need to express what they’re feeling about what we’re witnessing on our borders and in detention centers,” Ensler said. She put out a call to artists all over the country: “Let’s join forces and rise up and say not in our name. Not in our conscience. Not in our witness. We do not accept.”
Within a week, Ensler said, about 30 artists signed up to perform. “I think it reflects the absolute heartbreak and anger and outrage people feel that our government is behaving the way it is.”
Andrade said it made sense to host the event in El Paso. “The effects of immigration policies, this is where we feel it first,” she said. “It’s almost amplified. If you want to have clarity about what’s going on and you need to erase any doubt of what’s going on, if you want to see for yourself what the truth is, you come here to this part of the border.”
Alix Garcia was with the spoken word and hip hop duo Climbing PoeTree. She traveled from New York to perform.
“I’m an immigrant,” she said. “I was without status for a long time. I know a lot of this struggle.”
Garcia took the stage around dusk, as clouds swept in and provided relief from the scorching desert sun. She performed alongside two friends and fellow musicians from Portland, Oregon. She explained that the group chose pieces that would be “soothing and healing, but at the same time informative and connective.”
“When talking about these very hard issues, we try to take spins on it,” Garcia said. “Look at the positive. Look at how we’re winning. Look at how we’re surviving, how we’re thriving, despite them…Creativity is the antidote to destruction.”
Tonya Abernathy, who shared the stage with Garcia, said she can’t stand by while others are being harmed.
“A piece that I can offer is my voice,” she said, “and I’m committed to sing out in love against this injustice until it stops.”
A large crowd gathered to watch the performances and participate in the protest. Bianca Acosta traveled from Colorado. She grew up in Mexico and crossed the border “somewhere near here” as a teenager, fifteen years ago. She hadn’t been back to the region since but felt it was important to show up for this event.
“For me, being here is so I don’t forget I was one of those people,” she said.
Acosta added that it was hard being back and confronting how her story might have played out if she tried to cross the border today.
“If I had done that right now — what’s going on at this moment — things would be different,” she said.
At the end of the night, a group of artists and activists marched to the base of the Paso del Norte International Bridge. As Customs and Border Protection officers looked on from a distance, the marchers chanted phrases like “never again is now” and “no U.S. violence in our name, immigrants are not to blame.”
Before dispersing, they formed a circle, held hands and called out their wishes for migrants: freedom, dignity, love.
Border Agricultural Workers Project, La Mujer Obrera, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas & One Billion Rising
Present an ARTISTIC UPRISING At the El Paso Border Friday, July 5 5pm – 10pm (Updated time!) Border Agricultural Workers Project 201 E 9th Ave El Paso, Texas 79901
CALLING ALL ARTISTS! Bring your music, poetry, drums, words, passion, theatre, outrage, and love. Join artists from El Paso & around the country for an ARTISTIC UPRISING at the El Paso border.
Stand up for freedom, dignity, and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. End the diabolical inhumanity in detention centers and demand freedom, justice, and humane treatment for all those seeking safety and a better way of life. Support the front line groups who are doing the urgent work on the ground.
Show up! Make art! Make noise!
Together, we will RISE against the systemic violence and denial of human rights that immigrants and refugees experience. We RESIST the governments and institutions that create and support inhumane conditions of detention. We UNITE in our demand that these camps be closed, and that children be reunited with their parents – the most fundamental and basic human right.
JOIN US as we RISE at the El Paso border.
WANT TO RISE WITH US? ARTISTS: If you are interested in performing, email RSVP@vday.org ATTENDEES: To attend, please go to our Eventbrite page
Artists and activists attending include: writer Denise Chavez, Alixa Garcia of Climbing PoeTree, Poet Laureate of Texas Carrie Fountain, playwright Eve Ensler, journalist/organizer Rosa Clemente, playwright and Founder of The Trevor Project James Lecesne, Gabriel Mendez, Kelly Curry of CODEPINK, photojournalist Paula J. Allen, singer Michaela Harrison, artist Sekou Luke, playwright Kirk Lynn, Border Agricultural Workers Project, La Mujer Obrera, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, One Billion Rising, Jennifer Nagda of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Morley and Shari Rezai. List in formation, more artists joining.
Let’s UNITE in our demand that these camps be closed, and that children be reunited with their parents – the most fundamental and basic human right.
Six children have died while in detention. Many others are locked up in filthy conditions, deprived even of soap and water. Oscar Alberto Martínez was clutching his two-year-old daughter, Valeria, when they both drowned. More than ten thousand refugees – and the numbers are climbing everyday – have been forced back to Mexico to fend for themselves in extremely dangerous circumstances because our President has declared “there is no more room.” This has to stop. It undermines our values and our humanity.
As we RISE in El Paso, we RISE in solidarity with all refugees who face displacement due to political, social, and environmental injustice. There are 70 million displaced people in the world today, living away from their homes and often in unsafe and impossible living conditions.
V-Day, the global movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence) has seen its work evolve over the past three years. The rise of misogynist, authoritarian regimes the world over – from the United States to the Philippines, India to Brazil – has recalibrated our work, further escalating the urgency with which we feel compelled to fight for gender, climate, economic and racial justice.
City of Joy is a revolutionary leadership center for women survivors of gender violence, located in Bukavu, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. City of Joy, the film, tells the story of the first class of women at City of Joy, and chronicles the process by which such a transformational place came to be, from its origins with the women survivors themselves, to the opening of the center’s doors.
OBR Africa is rising in solidarity with the women of South Africa – calling for the protection of all women and children. Women in Africa suffer from systematic and legalized discrimination. This discrimination is exacerbated by institutions , cultures of patriarchy and laws which contribute to violence against women. It is time to end impunity for violence against women and children, and the silence and stigma associated with it. By not addressing this violence, and if African women are under threat, if their bodies are constantly and massively violated, if their safety is not secure, their progress is stymied. And without the women of Africa there is no future.
“Activist Lucinda Evans addressed protesters in front of parliament, stating that the fight against gender-based violence was a 365-day process. “As a country we are in a crisis. Violence against women, children and the LGBTIQ+ is a crisis. I am addressing the female ministers. When are you going to hold these men accountable who have been failing us for so long?”
Earth warming, forests burning, glaciers melting, oceans rising, animals extinct, storms more frequent, intense & deadly, climate refugees fleeing homes.
