02 Oct SURVIVORS ARE RISING.
Photos: Stephanie Augello/Getty images for V-Day; FEMINIST/@jessglistening
Last Friday night, survivors, artists, activists, advocates and allies came together in Union Square to give voice, to bear witness, to share support and strategy, and to remind one another of the power we have when we rise together.
Survivors made visible the connections between all we are rising for – including giving voice to the latest allegations emerging from the Jane Doe case at Cornell University, New York State law’s voluntary intoxication exclusion, and the urgent questions they raise about fraternity culture, institutional accountability, complicity and what happens when survivors come forward. They also made clear how patriarchy fuels violence against women and girls across the world, such as what we are seeing in India and South Africa now, and how our solidarity with survivors and activists is more urgent than ever.
60 Million Survivors Rising is a call to survivors across the United States to find each other, organize, speak out and disrupt the injustice. There are more than 60 million survivors in this country. Imagine if we understood the enormity of our collective power – across every community, every identity, every movement. Imagine what becomes possible when survivors and those who love us rise together to demand justice, accountability, healing and an end to the systems and cultures that enable violence and protect those who perpetrate it.
In NYC, survivors, speakers and performers included: Rosanna Arquette (Actor, Advocate & Weinstein Survivor), Taína Asili (Singer & Activist, One Billion Rising US), Batalá New York (All-women, Black-led, Percussion Ensemble), Aisha Becker-Burrowes (Co-founder & Co-Executive Director, FEMINIST), Dani Bensky (Advocate & Epstein Survivor), Lara Blume McGee (Advocate & Epstein Survivor), Maria Elisa Escobar (Co-Founder, World Without Exploitation Youth Coalition), Cheyenne Hunt (Attorney & Reckoning Justice Founder), Alva Johnson (Advocate & Trump Survivor), Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis (Middle Church Senior Minister & Theologian), Jess Michaels (Advocate & Epstein Survivor), MILCK (Singer & Songwriter), Maya Penn (Filmmaker, Entrepreneur, V-Day Board member, climate activist), Singing Resistance NYC / Songs in the Key Of Resistance (Singing Movement for Liberation), Liz Stein (Advocate & Epstein Survivor), Susan Celia Swan (Executive Director, V-Day & One Billion Rising), Amy Tamayo (Workers’ Rights Advocate, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas), and V (formerly Eve Ensler) (Playwright & V-Day / One Billion Rising Founder).
We heard survivors tell their truths. We sang. We drummed. We connected. We shared support, strategy and ways to take action. Throughout the evening, survivors and activists made visible the connections between the many systems and cultures that enable violence – against women and girls, gender-expansive people, marginalized communities, and the planet. Again and again, the message was clear: our struggles are inextricably connected, and so is our power. Survivors are speaking openly, refusing to have their experiences dismissed, buried, or forgotten, demanding accountability from the people and institutions that have failed them, and taking their power back. Women farmworkers spoke powerfully about the violence, exploitation, and inequity they face – and about their fight for dignity, justice, and the right to thrive, not simply survive. We connected their struggle to the larger fight for our Earth and our collective future, celebrating women and girls around the world who are fighting for Mother Earth, for their communities, and for themselves. Survivors lead. Together, we rise.
Our stories are connected. Our struggles are connected. Our liberation is connected.
60 MILLION SURVIVORS.
Thank you to every survivor who spoke, every artist who lifted us, every activist and organization that stood with us, and everyone who showed up in solidarity.
Photos: Stephanie Augello/Getty images for V-Day
WE ARE BUILDING. JOIN US. TAKE ACTION
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Photos: Stephanie Augello/Getty images for V-Day; FEMINIST/@jessglistening