READY TO RISE? New Video from V; Snapshots of Risings

06 Feb READY TO RISE? New Video from V; Snapshots of Risings

A MESSAGE FROM V: RELEASE ALL THE FILES, PROTECT SURVIVORS, DEMAND JUSTICE & ACCOUNTABILITY

READY TO RISE?

One Billion Rising is the largest global campaign to end violence against women, gender-expansive people, and the Earth. Our 2026 theme – RISE FOR OUR BODIES, OUR FUTURE, OUR EARTH – is an invitation to survivors, artists, activists, to everyone everywhere to RISE. Around the world, communities are launching OBR 2026 with bold actions, creative uprisings, and fierce calls for justice – through art, dance, dialogue, marches and collective organizing.

This is our 2026 call to action; this is why we RISE.

One Billion Rising 2026 launched globally in late November, coinciding with the 16 Days of Activism and continuing through December with the theme: RISE FOR OUR BODIES, OUR EARTH, OUR FUTURE. It is an invitation to survivors, artists, and activists everywhere to rise together and imagine a future free from violence, patriarchy, exploitation, and destruction.

Globally, the energy is building as 187 launch events have already taken place across 27 countries, led by a network of coordinators, grassroots activists, survivors, and artists. Highlights include India with 95 launches, the Philippines with 30 launches, and Eswatini with nine launches. Countries that have held launch events include Austria, Cambodia, Croatia, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Australia and Taiwan alongside an Africa-wide online event featuring participation from activist leaders from Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In the United States, activists gathered on 14 January for a virtual launch and activists are bringing the call to action to the streets with events building for International Women’s Day and Earth Day. READ about the launch events here.

Snapshots of rising activities –

RISING for the Earth, in Indonesia, OBR activists are heeding the call: “As we launch One Billion Rising, our hearts are with. our sisters and communities in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. Lives have been lost, homes destroyed, farmlands buried, and entire communities displaced. This tragedy is the result of corporate greed and extractive development. When the land is stripped off of its forests and diversity, it can no longer protect life. Women are the most affected. Losing land and seeds, carrying the burden of care in evacuation camps. Increased risks of hunger, violence, and insecurity. This is why we clearly say: Climate injustice is violence against women. This is also why OBR Indonesia is not just about protesting. It is about transformation. Through Seruni’s work in the rural areas of Indonesia, women are building alternatives that challenge this destructive system. Through acroecology, organic farming, and cultivation of food crops and local fruits such as duku, women are reclaiming land, restoring ecosystems, resisting palm oil expansion and other extractive industries. To rise for our bodies means rejecting systems that exploit women’s labor and lives. To rise for our earth means ending extractive economies and monoculture expansion. To rise for our future means defending land, food sovereignty, and ecological justice.”

One Billion Rising India’s Newsletter for October–December of 2025 shared past risings as they look forward to their upcoming events: “Greetings from One Billion Rising India & Jagori. We are delighted to share the OBR India Newsletter (Oct-Dec 2025). We saw a lot of youth leadership in the risings guided by the theme ‘Rise for Our Bodies, Our Earth, Our Future’. Risings across India are more inclusive, collaborative, and creatively expressed. Organizations and communities are rising through art—dance, music, storytelling, and public expression—ensuring the participation of all sections of society. From cities to villages, each rising affirmed a simple truth: this campaign of change belongs to everyone. Between October and December 2025, 9 Organizations across 10 States organized an extraordinary 95 Risings. Many more risings are planned across the country in January, February and March. The energy continues to grow. This momentum belongs to all of us.” – Abha Bhaiya, One Billion Rising India Coordinator

Last weekend, Eswatini held their One Billion Rising Eswatini 2026 Festival on ending Violence in partnership with the University Of Eswatini. They rose for Our Bodies, Our Earth, Our Future through music, dance. Artists, students, community members, government, development partners and civil society gathered marking 14 years of the global movement to end gender-based violence (GBV). “The laughter, joy, solidarity were a true reflection of the future we are rising for,” stated OBR Eswatini.

In Afghanistan, women and girls rose in private spaces, raising their voices and coming together in solidarity amidst the most heightened restrictions and repression. They rose to say:

Enough. Enough of religious fascism, and enough of foreign proxy games being played with our future and our lives.
Caged. Silenced. Threatened. Still, we rise.
They silence our voices, they crush our bodies, they steal our rights, they try to erase our existence — and still, we rise.
No more foreign wars on Afghan bodies! Their wars, our lives, it’s enough.
Used, ignored, exploited and betrayed, still we rise.
Against fundamentalistism we rise, for freedom we stand.

These risings are fueling a powerful global wave, with One Billion Rising events now unfolding across the world toward 14 February 2026, our Global Day of Action.

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