The Call went out to women across the world, on one day, One Billion women across the globe would rise up and dance together to challenge violence against women and girls, in a universal act of solidarity.
It won’t. Not on its own. But the real point of One Billion Women Rising was to make visibly manifest women’s rejection of the violence meted out to them daily in every corner of the world and to bring home the scale of the violence directed against women and girls, a violence that doesn’t just happen in far-flung places but right here in our own backyard too.
When a young woman in Galway dies because a hospital will not provide her with the termination she needs to save her life,that’s violence against women. When judges give rapists fines and suspended sentences in Dublin courts, that’s a double violence against women. When a father is allowed to abuse, rape and terrify his daughter throughout her childhood, then walk free from a courtroom because of his age, it’s a statement that the woman’s suffering has no value. These incidents demonstrate how little value is placed upon women’s lives and upon their pain.
Women’s bodies are the battlefields on which male violence is conducted, so deciding for ourselves to use our bodies in a calculated act of celebration and joy, of challenge and strength is how we make it known that we are resisting, we are fighting back, we are standing together against a culture of woman hatred and the terrorism directed at women and girls.
So, here in West Cork, we too heard the call and we answered. On V Day ( Valentine’s Day) 2013, we would come together and dance- the dance we learned from the One Billion website to the stirring and powerful anthem written especially for the occasion. We practised in Leap, in Ballydehob, in Union Hall, in our living rooms, offices, with our kids, with friends, alone. Stalwart women kept the momentum going, organising rehearsals, making banners, negotiating with the local council for use of a public space to dance, begged and borrowed pa systems, designed and delivered leaflets, put up a facebook page, texted, twittered, talked to the mothers outside the school, enthused their work colleagues, asked friends for favours and within a few short weeks, it was ON!
Wolfe Tone Square, Bantry, West Cork, 12.30pm on the 14th February 2013: a small gang of women are hanging beautiful banners from nearby buildings and stringing them between the trees in the Square, dragging amps out of cars, testing the music system but none of them quite sure what to expect. By 1pm there are about 2 dozen women gathered, some have come to dance others are there out of curiosity. Gradually in twos and threes, in carloads, individually, women and children and a few men start to form a large crowd in the centre of Bantry. The sky is a perfect blue, the sun is shining on the sea behind us bouncing silver light across its surface, the air is warm for a February day and there’s a tangible excitement growing.
At 1.30pm the opening strains of “ Break the Chain the anthem of the One Billion movement plays out across Wolfe Tone Square, women fall into lines.. lots of lines, 10 deep, there are over 100 of us and we begin to dance together, using our bodies to tell the story of our strength, our experience and our anger. A palpable collective force can be felt, it uplifts, it produces smiles and determination. It generates a visceral power.
The dance ends with a few seconds of women standing silently, each with an arm stretched skyward and one finger pointing upward- to denote One Billion. As the music ends, women look around at each other , waves of laughter and delight break out. Like it did that same day in Kabul, in Moscow, in Manila, in New York, in Galway, in Johannesburg, in Sydney, in Belfast, in Dublin and in Bantry, we gave voice, visibility and value to all of the scarred, scared women with whom we share a sisterhood. We danced our declaration to STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & GIRLS.
*Special thanks to Rose, Jane and Annabel…. who made it all possible and to all of the staff, friends and supporters of West Cork Women Against Violence.