Rise for Justice
population of Africa or the UK 16times over or Nigeria 6 times over. Lets make it even more palpable, if there is a group of 6 girlfriends, 2 of them statistically will have been beaten or raped in their lifetime. In other words, if you have a church or mosque with a congregation of 3000 split evenly between males and females (1500 each), 500 of these females (women and girls), which you would encounter, would have suffered some kind of violence from men. This is what 1 billion looks like.
The One Billion Rising campaign came about on the 14th February 2013 on the 15th anniversary of V-day movement. The aim was simple to get women and men all over the world of every creed, colour, culture, religion, to walk out, rise up, dance and demand no more violence against women and girls. The non-discriminatory nature of the movement means that it encourages men too to get involved because violence against women is not a gender issue but a 'human issue' and one that all humans should stand up and fight against. Fathers of daughters, husbands to wives, brothers to sisters, sons with mothers and anyone who loves a woman wants a world in which women are protected, free without oppression and for whom the justice system also fights for, for women are also leaders of our free world.
This may seem like a feminist movement but as the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche said ‘All men should be feminist’. This shouldn’t frighten our fathers, brothers, sons or friends because feminism is about equality and not domination. It is not about disempowering men, it is about empowering women. This isn’t saying that women should rule the world (at least not by themselves). It’s about encouraging the women in our lives to be their best selves. For if behind every great man there is a great woman, wouldn’t you want the woman or women behind you as a man to be their best possible selves? Any society where women are treated as second-class citizens should not be deemed as acceptable.
We are raising sons in a world where women are violated and considered as merely objects of affection. Thus they are used as tools to cater to the sexual desires of men. When it comes to sex there is often a lack of respect for mutual consent before getting involved in the act, and this is why we find situations in which rape is used as weapon of oppression against women, so much so that it is now an officially recognised weapon of war. Women are not facing battle from male oppressors only in the Congo or Iraq but in the streets and in their homes. War is not something we enter into with those that we love and therefore such a weapon should hold no place in society, yet it does. We must consider that sons will be fathers, husbands and leaders tomorrow and therefore we must ensure that we encourage the right worldview, that their mothers, wives and daughters should be treated with respect and should be given the equal opportunity to be successful human beings without fear of abuse.
Women and girls are continuously at the losing end of gender violence. Violence need not be limited to just beating and rape. The oxford dictionary defines violence as ‘a strength of emotion or of a destructive natural force’ and as a result there are many women who suffer at the hands of political, economic and educational violence. This again leaves the woman in a position that is destitute and unjust.
The question that arises when we look at violence is why would any individual want to demean, erode and disenfranchise one half of society? The answer is simple, fear. Fearful men rape and beat women; powerful men love, support and elevate women. If we consider those men at the forefront of history Mandela, Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr, it is their non-violence as well sacrifice that is held up as an example (not to mention they all seem to be very much for the feminist agenda for equality).
So today on V-day, the day we celebrate the victory we will one day have over violence against women, One Billion Rising encourages female survivors and their supporters to break their silence and rise in whatever best represents the release of their story through ‘dance, art, marches, ritual, song, spoken word,testimonies, and other ways that best express your outrage, your need, yourdesire, and your joy.’ Thus I ask that today that on 14th February (whilst you maybe consumed by the love of your wife, husband, wife to be husband to be, son, daughter, friend, whoever), I encourage you to be one of the billion that rise. And whether you are organising a rise party in your work or your home, church, mosque or synagogue it doesn’t matter, the important thing is that we rise together for betterment of our society. For we are all human and we are all one.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one.
Femi
Photo source: Vday.org