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TURNING PAIN INTO POWER

TURNING PAIN INTO POWER

Christine Schuler Deschryver’s
TED Talk on City of Joy

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V-DAY IS A GLOBAL ACTIVIST MOVEMENT

TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST ALL WOMEN, GIRLS AND THE EARTH

Growing from a singular play to a vast global movement of survivors, artists and activists, V-Day works at the intersection of art and activism to shatter taboos, create space for women and the most marginalized, and initiate community led culture and system change. V-Day is a movement of everyday grassroots leaders demanding change for their communities.

New Campaign

VOICES

Voices is a new interdisciplinary performance arts project and campaign grounded in Black women’s stories by V-Day to unify the vision of ending violence against women: cis women, trans women, and non binary people across the African Continent and African Diaspora. Our goal is to use art to embody and inspire solidarity-making in our collective imagination.

We are the poems we have been waiting for. 
No movement will survive without our sistering.

Global Rising

ONE BILLION RISING

1 in 3 women across the Earth will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. Every February, we rise – in countries across the Earth – 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.

One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action to end violence against women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence) in human history. The campaign, which launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the Earth will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS

City Of Joy

TURNING PAIN TO POWER

City of Joy is a transformational leadership community for women survivors of violence, located in Bukavu, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a region plagued by an ongoing proxy war for the area’s vast mineral resources. Since opening in 2011, 2069 women have graduated from the CITY OF JOY, healed themselves, been nurtured, learned new skills, empowered themselves and joined into a network of love and revolution. These women have released massive trauma and horrific memories. They have danced, sung, learned their rights, performed plays, developed agricultural skills, come to love their bodies. They have become leaders in their communities. They are no longer stigmatized for being raped.

These women are forces of energy and determination, entrepreneurs of small businesses, initiators of collectives, restaurants owners, farmers with new land, educators and advocates on sexual violence, volunteers in a self-created recruiting network for new women at the center, journalists, immigration workers, tailors, students, herbalists, and more. 42 graduates are employed at V-World Farm, a large sustainable farm run by V-Day Congo.

City of Joy serves 90 survivors of gender violence aged 18 to 30 at a time.

Student Uprising

DISMANTLE PATRIARCHY

V-Day and A Call to Men have launched a competition calling on high school students in the United States and college students around the world to use their creative talents to Dismantle Patriarchy. Enter the Dismantle Patriarchy Contest to address how patriarchy impacts your life, your community, the world. How might we dismantle – take apart, break into pieces, deconstruct – patriarchy? What would it take? How would YOU do it? Bring your creative voice to this contest! Tell us, in whatever creative method reflects your project, and you just might win an award for your idea. Submissions can be in the form of essay, poetry, music, art, photography, film, etc.

Experiment. Think outside the box. Break down patriarchy and show us what a post-patriarchal world looks like. Articulate your vision using all the creative tools at your disposal.

Latest Posts

NEWS

  • UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS! V-Day and One Billion Rising stand in solidarity with the women of Gambia and against the repeal of the ban on FGM (female genital mutilation). Dr. Isatou Touray, former VP of Gambia & OBR Gambia Coordinator, is on the front lines of this grassroots work to ensure the rights of women and girls. See below her urgent statement and call to action. ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2ND READING OF THE ANTI-FGM LAW PRESENTED FOR REPEAL BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS (NAMS) H.E. DR. ISATOU TOURAY: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GAMCOTRAP 18TH MARCH 2024 PRESS RELEASE Not upholding the......

    19 March, 2024

  • One Billion Rising events are taking place and will continue through 22 April, Earth Day with the 2024 theme: RISE for FREEDOM, Be the New World. Rising Freedom Festivals are 1-2 days in length, including theatre, music, poetry, songs, painting, murals, workshops, massage, storytelling, oral histories, testimonies, drumming, planting, talks, connecting with nature, discussions, bodywork, rituals, ceremonies, circles, and more. If we saw ourselves as artists, what would we imagine and design? What world would we see? What new language and expressions for freedom would we find? How do we create and envision deeper, bigger and bolder? We are in......

    07 March, 2024

  • Nadia (not her real name), a young unmarried woman, resides alone in Kabul with her elderly mother. They lack the support of any siblings, and the absence of her father and brother during these challenging times under the rule of the misogynistic Taliban is deeply felt. The Taliban’s oppressive policies have stripped women of their rights to work and live in peace. Nadia is facing a pressing concern as her mother’s health has deteriorated, necessitating an urgent operation. Unfortunately, Afghanistan faces a shortage of skilled doctors, and the quality of healthcare is often subpar. The lack of well-qualified teachers and......

    07 March, 2024

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