February 14 – One Billion Rising

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, February 12th, 2013 - 31 comments
Categories: activism, crime, human rights, International - Tags: ,

Check out One Billion Rising:

One In Three Women On The Planet Will Be Raped Or Beaten In Her Lifetime.

One Billion Women Violated Is An Atrocity.

One Billion Women Dancing Is A Revolution.

Join V-Day on
02.14.13
STRIKE, DANCE, RISE
in your community &
Demand an
end to violence

There are several events scheduled in NZ – the South Island is looking a bit thin though! More background in this piece in The Guardian:

Now is the time. One month. 14 February. Rise in the streets, in the schools, on the buses, in your homes, in the dark alleyways, in the offices and factories and fishing boats and fields. Let our rising reveal our understanding that, until women are equal, safe and free, no society can prosper and life is diminished. Let our rising announce our commitment to make ending violence against women and girls the central concern of our times.

31 comments on “February 14 – One Billion Rising ”

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  1. David H 1
    12 February 2013 at 10:24 am

    As a male, and a father of a teen girl, this made me physically sick, so watch the video, read the article, and be sickened. This has to be the worst thing that could happen to a young girl. And the most sickening thing is that the Girls most trusted family members (Mothers, Aunts are actively involved.) Talk about betrayal of the innocent.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/25/female-circumcision-children-british-law

    “I don’t remember screaming, I remember the ridiculous amount of pain, I remember the blood everywhere, one of the maids, I actually saw her pick up the bit of flesh that they cut away ’cause she was mopping up the blood. There was blood everywhere.”

    And this was a 12 year old girl!

    • Aww 1.1
      12 February 2013 at 1:55 pm

      Ugh!

      The dance sounds like a good way of showing support for the women being mistreated.

      The Dr who sews women up on a daily basis in the Congo stated in an interview he feels the world has turned away. Perhaps we can change perceptions with a global response to the abuse and make it a popular topic gathering political support.

      I can’t see myself ever going to the Congo, but if attitudes to women are to change we have to encourage those on the ground there in their efforts, even if it’s only moral support.

      • bad12 1.1.1
        12 February 2013 at 3:37 pm

        I doubt if we import much from that country, a ban on imports from that country tho while only symbolic might force a change…

  2. King Kong 2
    12 February 2013 at 11:11 am

    Half of those who have ever lived have been killed by mosquitoes.

    While you are at it, have a dance to end Mosquitoes…oh and cancer.

    • felixviper 2.1
      12 February 2013 at 11:17 am

      Ladies and gentlemen, the right wing.

      • fenderviper 2.1.1
        12 February 2013 at 12:01 pm

        King Kong Klown needs a few million more years to evolve a functioning brain of substance.

        • King Kong 2.1.1.1
          12 February 2013 at 12:06 pm

          maybe I can dance one into existence.

          • felixviper 2.1.1.1.1
            12 February 2013 at 12:31 pm

            Yeah, demonstrating solidarity is so stupid.

            • King Kong 2.1.1.1.1.1
              12 February 2013 at 1:07 pm

              If you are prancing around like a numpty whilst doing it, then yes it is stupid.

              • rosy …
                12 February 2013 at 3:51 pm

                Pretty sure King Kong, that communities mark the day in a way that is meaningful for them. There’s no over-arching organisation that says ‘you must do…’

                Seems you’re focusing on one thing you don’t like so you can ignore the rest.

          • Colonial Viper 2.1.1.1.2
            12 February 2013 at 12:32 pm

            I’m sure dancing is good for brain development…in little kiddies

    • Colonial Weka 2.2
      12 February 2013 at 12:28 pm

      “Half of those who have ever lived have been killed by mosquitoes.

      While you are at it, have a dance to end Mosquitoes…oh and cancer.”

      Yeah, that’s right, raping and punching are natural phenomena outside of our individual and societal control.

      Always useful to have a rape apologists identify themselves so well.

      • King Kong 2.2.1
        12 February 2013 at 1:05 pm

        Certainly not a rape apologist. Have dealt with this issue in my family, so fuck you fatso.

        Dancing about it is the kind of hairbrained shit that makes a total joke out of decent causes.

        [RL: Run out of chances. You’re in moderation now.]

        • Rogue Trooper 2.2.1.1
          12 February 2013 at 1:16 pm

          u r my favourite rwt. love ya work ya big lug!

        • Colonial Weka 2.2.1.2
          12 February 2013 at 1:57 pm

          “Dancing about it is the kind of hairbrained shit that makes a total joke out of decent causes.”

          Then it’s a pity you didn’t find a way of communicating your ideas about that without coming across as someone who thinks that raping and punching women is akin to a malarial mosquito biting someone, isn’t it?

          Thanks RL, too many threads being disrupted by this useless kind of trooling lately.

        • bad12 2.2.1.3
          12 February 2013 at 3:42 pm

          Good one RL, that one never listens, i gave ‘it’ an estimation yesterday of 5 minutes to midnight as ‘it’s’ chances of continuing to comment here on the Standard,

          Should lift the level of debate here substantially…

    • emergency mike 2.3
      12 February 2013 at 4:17 pm

      maybe don’t feed the obvious trool?

    • David H 2.4
      12 February 2013 at 9:45 pm

      [RL: Deleted. KK’s piece of rope ran out today.]

  3. Rogue Trooper 3
    12 February 2013 at 12:36 pm

    Do The Safety Dance

  4. kiwi_prometheus 4
    12 February 2013 at 2:33 pm

    How about a dance to stop violence against men and boys?

    [deleted]

    [lprent: That old flame troll chestnut.

    Since you have raised this as a concern, go and read LudditeJourno on the topic. Come back in a week prepared to demonstrate you have read and understood the issue and what you personally are going to do about it.

    I’m tired of you being all blowhard and no do. I think I should encourage you to do more. 😈 ]

    • RedLogix 4.1
      12 February 2013 at 2:59 pm

      How about a dance to stop violence against men and boys?

      If you want to genuinely organise a protest against violence, in whatever way makes sense to you, then go right ahead. Really you’ve had every opportunity OK?

      Yes our Western society has made some changes over the last few decades which have reduced the worst of the discrimination women faced for thousands of years. But for billions of women world-wide little has changed. Look at the very recent uproar in India over the appalling rape/murder on the bus. Bear in mind that what caused the immense reaction was not just the horrendous details of the incident itself … but that similar crimes are such a commonplace in that country.

      And the developed world has little to be smug about. Ten thousand years of patriarchy has not been eliminated in a generation. Many of it’s attitudes and values lurk just under the surface. Far too many men still see women’s sexuality as something to be taken and used with no regard to the women herself. And oddly enough you wonder why they get more than a little defensive about this.

      And yet here is the paradox kp…. I would argue from both logic and experience that if men were to discard these patriarchal values, if we were to allow women their full sexual agency, to protect and defend their right to make their own choices …life would be a whole lot different (and much more fun) for all of us.

      PS: Lynn … I was contemplating much the same moderation response myself. k_p is not an extremist; there are millions of men who think like him, and it’s still worth explaining what they are missing out on.

      • lprent 4.1.1
        12 February 2013 at 3:25 pm

        I was contemplating much the same moderation response myself. k_p is not an extremist;

        Yeah I know. But he is also being somewhat pigheaded about it. So in the same spirit I pigheadedly directed him to a good source on the exact topic he was referring to, gave him time to read it, and asked him what he was going to do about it himself.

        But I was also getting tired of reading his comments today. He seems to have flipped entirely into flame troll mode today.

  5. infused 5
    12 February 2013 at 3:10 pm

    [RL: Deleted. Looks and feels like a thread de-railer. Make a case or I’ll moderate harder]

    Pretty self explanatory.

    [RL: No that’s not making a case. One last chance to expand on the point you thought you were making.]

  6. bad12 6
    12 February 2013 at 3:48 pm

    Why dancing, dancing in African,(and many other cultures),tell the stories from both history and modern times of that particular culture,

    Such dancing is both a form of protest and a form of celebration depending upon the story behind the dance….

  8. Robert Atack 8
    12 February 2013 at 4:40 pm

    When the global population hits 1 billion again then we can have a real dance party …. roll on 2020 (ish)
    Shame the people behind this inane crap don’t think about all the innocent victims all these woman (and men) are going to fling at the bottle neck of peak resources, or the climate change cork.
    That (0-2007) was as good as it gets, it is all down hill from now on.
    Oh that’s right we got Kiwi Saver and the Green party, happy happy joy joy.

    • RedLogix 8.1
      12 February 2013 at 4:53 pm

      You might want to contemplate how for at least 4m years before agriculture and patriarchy, humans lived in pretty much perfect ecological balance with the planet. And how much of what you deplore about human behaviour has it’s roots in aggressive, expansionist and exploitative modes of thinking associated with masculine dominated behaviour.

      Note carefully: both genders have of course participated in the last 10,000 years of so called civilisation, no-one really has any moral high ground to posture from.

      Nonetheless there has to be a thread drawn from thinking “this land is mine” and “this woman is mine”…. to “the world is mine to screw over however I feel like”.

      • Colonial Viper 8.1.1
        12 February 2013 at 5:02 pm

        You might want to contemplate how for at least 4m years before agriculture and patriarchy, humans lived in pretty much perfect ecological balance with the planet.

        4M years? That seems a long time ago on the primate evolution map. Regardless, for most of (hu)man’s history the global population has been under 100M. At those population levels, the human race could live like Americans and have no discernable impact on the ecosystem.

        Nonetheless there has to be a thread drawn from thinking “this land is mine” and “this woman is mine”…. to “the world is mine to screw over however I feel like”.

        well, it’s the biblically promised dominion over this world, is it not?

        • RedLogix 8.1.1.1
          12 February 2013 at 5:28 pm

          Well yes modern homo sapiens is dated from around 200 ka, but I was thinking more in terms our divergence from the pan genus around the 7 Ma mark and then the appearance of early hominins at 4.4 Ma.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution

          I’m not painting pre-history as some kind of golden era, it wasn’t. But we did live in ecological balance which points to the idea that it is possible.

          As for the Abrahamic religions, yes they are the very vehicle of patriarchy.

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