On Tuesday, March 8th, V-Day held its 5th Annual LA Gathering, held this year at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. Film producer and V-Day activist Lauren Lloyd was on hand to document the intimate event, which was hosted by Eve Ensler, and V-Board members Charlize Theron, Rosario Dawson, Carol Black, Pat Mitchell, Linda Pope, and Susan Celia Swan.
Held on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, the evening featured updates on the opening of City of Joy in Bukavu, DRC, as well as V-Day’s work around the world including the 2011 Spotlight Campaign on Haiti, developed and designed by women activists on the ground.
V-Girls Action Team member Coco Kimelman shares why V-Girls and I Am an Emotional Creature are meaningful to her. How can the book be used as a tool to empower girls? “The book is connection to me,” says Coco. “No matter how different we are, there’s a connection of emotions.” When asked how she is an emotional creature, Coco shares, “I’m bold and ready to take action.” Coco was interviewed by her fellow V-Girls Action Team member Olivia Oguma at the Hudson Union Society in New York City.
Follow all of our girl reporters on the V-Girls blog, and check out Coco’s blog post “I Will Dance to Find Myself” here. You can join Eve Ensler and V-Girls on the Emotional Creature tour in Chicago, Illinois on April 10. Stay tuned for more videos and tour updates!
South Asia Solidarity Initiative and War Resisters League in association with Center for Place Culture & Politics at CUNY present
An evening with Malalai Joya featuring Eve Ensler:
Women Facing War in Afghanistan, and the Need for U.S. Solidarity
Friday, April 15 – 7pm til 9pm
CUNY Graduate Center, Recital Hall
365 Fifth Ave at 34th Street – Ground Floor
[BDFV & NQRW trains to 34th St, 6 train to 33]
This event is free and open to the public, We may get a FULL HOUSE — arrive early to guarantee admission!
We encourage everyone to make a donation to support the cost of Ms. Joya’s tour, her health clinic in Farah Province, and her office in Kabul.
The donations should be made at the following link: http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?page_id=518
(Please be sure to indicate “Malalai Joya” in the “order comments” section).
Copies of Ms. Joya’s memoir will be available for sale at the event.
As the U.S.-NATO occupation of Afghanistan approaches its 10th anniversary this year, the U.S. anti-war movement is in dire need of clarity and momentum. The Afghan people still face overwhelming oppressive obstacles to creating movements toward social justice and self-determination — obstacles empowered by the context of foreign intervention and war. Please join us for a rare opportunity to hear from the one of the most courageous voices for justice and peace in Afghanistan, Malalai Joya. She will be joined by the acclaimed U.S. artist and activist Eve Ensler, to discuss the experiences and resilience of women (and all people) in Afghanistan — and what people in the U.S. can do to raise their voices and support their struggles.
Speakers:
Malalai Joya is the youngest person to have been elected to Afghanistan’s parliament, and an outspoken activist against military occupation and for women’s rights in her country. She has been called the most famous and bravest woman in Afghanistan by BBC News. She was selected among the “heroes” for the Time 100 [TIME magazine, 2010] — and she was just selected among the top activists of the world’s Top 100 Women by the UK Guardian newspaper. Her memoir, “A Woman Among Warlords,” was just published in paperback by Simon&Schuster, with a new chapter on Afghanistan in the Obama era. She just wrote a piece for the Guardian on the U.S. soldiers’ “kill team” and atrocity photos, a story that has returned U.S. news attention to Afghanistan this March-April.
Joya was supposed to arrive in the U.S. on March 18 to start a nationwide speaking tour, but at the last minute her visa was denied. A quick mobilization of media attention, activist petitioning and pressure on the State Department turned it around! [See articles in TIME magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.] She arrived in the U.S. on March 25, joining Noam Chomsky to address a crowd of over a thousand people at Harvard. Having spoken all across the U.S., her tour concludes in New York City on April 15 at this event.
Eve Ensler is an acclaimed playwright, performer and activist. She is the award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Eve’s work, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World (2010), made the New York Times’ best-seller list. She is the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised over 80 million dollars for the cause. Ensler has traveled to Afghanistan, and built relationships of solidarity with activists for justice and peace there.
A large coalition of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and other advocacy organizations have announced a broad based movement of fasting, prayer and advocacy, provoked by budget cuts proposed by Congress that would disproportionately hurt those living in poverty.
On March 27th, Ambassador Tony Hall, Jim Wallis, president and CEO of Sojourners, Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World and Ritu Sharma, president of Women Thrive Worldwide–announced the beginning of their own fasts. They challenged people of faith and conscience to join them, pledging to put pressure on Congress to form a “circle of protection” around programs benefitting poor and hungry people.
“Seven in ten of the world’s hungry are women, who are also responsible for ensuring that their families are fed,” said Ritu Sharma, “As someone who has tried to live on a dollar a day myself in some of the world’s poorest areas, I have experienced a little of what they struggle with every day. It is essential for our lawmakers not to slash budgets that invest in the sustainability of global food supplies when food prices and hunger are both at all-time highs.”
Hunger and poverty are, at their core, women’s issues. Women and girls make up a little over half of the world population, but they account for over 60 percent of the worlds hungry. Cuts to international assistance programs affect these women and children, in tangible and long lasting ways.
On April 1st, climber and activist Georgina Miranda began her trek to the Mount Everest Basecamp as part of her campaign “Climb Take Action,” which is raising funds and awareness around the epidemic of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Miranda’s Everest climb marks the sixth mountain on her quest to scale all seven of the highest summits in each continent. Only 13 women in the United States a total of 37 globally have climbed the seven summits, and Los Angeles native Miranda hopes to reach new heights of her own and join this elite group of women, while also raising awareness about the issue of violence against women and girls in the DRC. Funds raised through her climb will benefit V-Day and International Medical Corps.
“I embarked on this journey three years ago not only to fulfill my personal dream to climb the seven summits in the world, but also to bring awareness to the harsh conditions and realities women experience daily in DRC,” says Miranda. “These women inspire me to climb and to take action and I hope that my work will also inspire others to help the people of DRC.”
A U.S. Embassy today granted acclaimed Afghan human rights activist and former MP Malalai Joya, a visa, a little over a week after she was initially turned down. The outspoken critic of the war in Afghanistan was informed at her initial visa interview that because she “lived underground” and was “unemployed” she would not be allowed into the U.S. for an extensive speaking tour, even though she had been granted visas 4 times over the past several years. Due to the visa denial, Joya has already missed all her events in New York and Washington DC and is now on her way to Boston to attempt to finish up the rest of her tour.
Afghan Women’s Mission’s Co-Director Sonali Kolhatkar responded to the news saying, “We are ecstatic and gratified that the government finally did the right thing and allowed Malalai Joya into the country so that Americans could hear what she has to say about the reality of the war, and particularly how Afghan women are faring under the occupation.” Kolhatkar added, “It is a testament to the nationwide campaign that was launched by our national coalition of organizations and individuals who worked very hard to put the events together and to bring her to the U.S.”
The co-writer of Ms. Joya’s book, A Woman Among Warlords, Derrick O’Keefe, was optimistic that the visa hold-up would boost audiences for her speaking tour. “This is a victory for free speech, and I’m confident that over the next couple of weeks thousands will welcome Malalai Joya into their communities — Americans need to hear in-person what she has to say about the U.S.-NATO war,” said O’Keefe.
The campaign to pressure authorities to grant Ms. Joya the visa was a multi-pronged one. Within days of her initial visa refusal, organizers in many states lobbied their representatives in Congress to send a letter to the U.S. Embassy urging them to grant her a visa. Washington Congressman Jim McDermott took the lead on signing the letter. Representatives Jay Inslee, Keith Ellison, Peter Welch, Betty McCollum, Bill Pascrell, and Senators John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, and Patty Murray co-signed the letter.
Following that an online petition was set up, which has been signed by over 3000 people to date, including well known activists and intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Eve Ensler, and many others. And, on Wednesday March 23rd, a national call-in day was announced, calling on Americans to flood the State Department with phone calls urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to grant Joya a visa.
While Ms. Joya was forced to physically miss all her events in New York and Washington DC, she managed to make a presence via live video chat or recorded video talks. She now heads to Boston to pick up the remainder of her tour. From Massachusetts she heads to Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minneapolis, Oregon, Washington, and California. Click here for a full schedule of events.
The nationwide speaking tour coincides with the paperback edition of Malalai Joya’s book, A Woman Among Warlords (Scribner). Copies of her books will available for sale at her speaking events.
Malalai Joya is available for a limited number of interviews during her tour. Contact Sonali Kolhatkar (626-676-7884) or Natalie Reyes (562 319-3046) or email press@afghanwomensmission.org.
* * *
Praise for Malalai Joya and A Woman Among Warlords:
‘The youngest and most famous of all the women in the Afghan parliament…a powerful symbol of change’
– Guardian
‘A courageous female MP’
– The Times
‘… one of the few symbols of hope for Afghanistan’s future.’
– New Statesman
‘Quite simply the most passionate and devastating critique of Western intervention in Afghanistan I have ever read.’
– Peace News
‘[Has] spoken her mind as few Afghan women dare to do’
– New York Times
‘Malalai Joya leaves us with hope that the tormented people of Afghanistan can take their fate into their own hands if they are released from the grip of foreign powers.’
– Noam Chomsky
‘Unwavering in her mission to bring true democracy to her country…Women have been known to walk for miles just to touch her. For them, she is their only real hope for a better future’
– Telegraph
‘Joya is a model for women everywhere seeking to make the world more just.’
– Six women Nobel Peace Prize laureates
‘Joya’s pain and bravery are genuine and can be felt on almost every page’
– Christina Lamb, Sunday Times
‘A fascinating account of Afghanistan’s political reality…Malalai Joya has been compared to Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi’
– Irish Times
‘Malalai Joya is a staunch defender of human rights and a powerful voice for Afghan women.’
– Human Rights Watch
Watch as Eve discusses her cancer battle and explains why working with the women of Democratic Republic of Congo to create the “City of Joy” saved her life. TAVIS SMILEY is a unique hybrid of news, issues and entertainment, featuring interviews with politicians, entertainers, athletes, authors, and other newsmakers.
In November 2010, VPerú, an incredible week of events, took place in Lima. Organized by V-Day activist Vanessa Oniboni and a dedicated team of local activists, VPerú was a huge success, igniting the V-Day movement in Perú. On March 8th, 2011, VPerú picked up where it left off with an incredible International Women’s Day march through the streets of Lima. Following is an update from VPerú Director Vanessa Oniboni:
Working in collaboration with Women Organizations in Peru (Colectivo Canto a la Vida) and Lima’s Municipality, VPerú painted the city of Lima pink once more! This time, we celebrated International Women’s Day and kicked off our 2011 V-Calendar. VPerú activists wearing V-T-shirts and giving out flowers participated in the march with happiness and pride, showing the importance of committing to end violence against women and girls in the world.
By celebrating the strength of women and spreading V-Day’s message, we transformed the idea that this march is only for women: this mobilization is for everyone who believes in a free world with equal opportunities and rights. The march ended up with an emotional speech from the Mayor of Lima, Susana Villaran, an offering to the earth by the Collective of Campesinas (local peasant women) and a series of concerts by renowned women singers and bands.
Many of the activists were there for the first time and this important march received significantly more media coverage than years before. As many of VPerú activists and volunteers stated, it was a very special day and the energy of the people who were there marching, committed to the cause, could be felt everywhere.
As part of the new V-Girls Blog, V-Girls reporter Lulu Mickelson interviewed three high school students, Violet Guardado, Betty Marquez, and Diana Lopez from Berkeley, CA during the Los Angeles stop on Eve’s I Am An Emotional Creature speaking tour. These incredible V-Girl activists will present a performance of The Vagina Monologues at their school after overcoming resistance from the administration.
In 2010, one-third of the House and the Senate co-sponsored the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) and in the last weeks of Congress’s lame duck session the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to pass the bill. Unfortunately, just as momentum was heating up, the clock ran out on the 111th Congress. Now more then ever your elected officials need to hear from you. V-Day joins Amnesty International USA, Women Thrive Worldwide and Family Violence Prevention Fund in strong support of I-VAWA and we ask you to continue to TAKE ACTION!
A large coalition of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and other advocacy organizations have announced a broad based movement of fasting, prayer and advocacy, provoked by budget cuts proposed by Congress that would disproportionately hurt those living in poverty.
On April 1st, climber and activist Georgina Miranda began her trek to the Mount Everest Basecamp as part of her campaign “
In November 2010, VPerú, an incredible week of events, took place in Lima. Organized by V-Day activist Vanessa Oniboni and a dedicated team of local activists, VPerú was a huge success, igniting the V-Day movement in Perú. On March 8th, 2011, VPerú picked up where it left off with an incredible International Women’s Day march through the streets of Lima. Following is an update from VPerú Director Vanessa Oniboni:
As part of the new 
In 2010, one-third of the House and the Senate co-sponsored the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) and in the last weeks of Congress’s lame duck session the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to pass the bill. Unfortunately, just as momentum was heating up, the clock ran out on the 111th Congress. Now more then ever your elected officials need to hear from you. V-Day joins