5th
February 2014: This Valentine’s Day, Bristol Mayor George Ferguson will once
again join local organisation Bristol Rise and activists around the world for ONE BILLION RISING FOR
JUSTICE. The campaign
will build upon the energy and momentum that was created on 14th February
last year, when hundreds of thousands of activists in 207 countries came
together to rise, strike, and dance, in the biggest mass action in human
history, to demand an end to violence against women and girls.
The
‘flashmob’ event on Friday 14th February will start with a dance at 3pm at Clifton Down Shopping Centre on Whiteladies Road.
The parade will then travel down Whiteladies Road, past the triangle, and down
Park Street to College Green where the Mayor will join them at 4pm. Bristol
Rise would like to encourage the local community to join in and show their
support for this important issue.
The Mayor addressing the crowd at One Billion Rising 2013
Bristol Rise was formed after the One
Billion Rising event in 2013. “We’re really excited that Mayor George Ferguson
will be dancing with us again!” said Martina Gilli, 24, secretary of Bristol
Rise and resident of Bedminster. “And we hope that the city of Bristol will
come out in full force to dance, walk, sing and protest with us”.
Bristol joins many
other towns and cities across the UK in hosting this flashmob, including a
large event in Trafalgar Square backed by the London Mayor Boris Johnson, in
calling for change and dancing the signature One Billion Rising dance, “Break the Chain”.
This year’s UK campaign is backed by Shadow
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP, the Shadow Minister for Business Stella Creasy
MP, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC as well as a host of celebrities including the
actress Thandie Newton.
Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “On 14th
February, I will be proud to be amongst the one billion people rising up to say
we no longer accept violence against women and girls. In the UK, two women a
week are killed by a partner or an ex and one in five 999 calls are for
domestic abuse. There’s growing violence in teenage relationships and too many
women still face harassment and threats on the street or online. This must not
continue. One Billion Rising is an opportunity for us all to stand up and
demand action to keep women and girls safe.”
The format for the event on 14th
February will be:
·
A flashmob at
Clifton Down shopping centre at 3pm, followed by marching and chanting down
Whiteladies Road, past the triangle and down Park Street to College Green.
·
A second dance on
College Green at 4pm. From there they will march across the centre of Bristol
and up Corn Street to the Corn Exchange
·
A third dance outside the Corn Exchange at
4.30pm, followed by a march back down
Corn Street to the fountains on St Augustine’s Parade.
·
A fourth dance by
the cascade steps at 4.45pm, followed by a final march down the waterfront and
into Millennium Square by 5pm.
·
A final candlelit
flashmob at 5.15pm in Millennium Square.
Reporters are welcome to come along to
film and take photographs.
Contact:
For media enquiries, more information,
images and interviews, please email bristolrise@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter: @bristolrise
@OBRUK_1; @VDay; #1billionrising; #rise4justice
More Detailed Information about the
campaign
“This year, we will focus on the issue of justice for all
survivors of gender violence” said Jodi Ahmed, 38, of Easton, and founder of
Bristol Rise. Survivors like 38-year-old Bristol resident, Anna* (*name has been changed). Anna escaped from her abusive
husband in 2013 and is currently fighting not only a custody battle for their
son whom he has taken to live with his parents abroad, but also battling breast
cancer.
Tragically, Anna’s
tale is not unique. Stories like hers are commonplace in Britain and all over
the world and the subject of gender violence is seldom far from the UK’s news
headlines. Sex gangs, exploitation, female genital mutilation and online
trolling have dominated the news agenda over the last year while incidents of
domestic violence have risen by 7%.
According to statistics released in January 2013, approximately 85,000
women are raped in England and Wales every year, and an additional 400,000
women are sexually assaulted.
Those
gathered at the Bristol event will demand an end to such abuse and call for the
modernisation of compulsory sex and relationship education in British schools.
Specific calls to action for 2014 include:
·
Making Sex and Relationship Education compulsory
in UK schools via amendments to the Children and Families Bill.
·
The repeal of visa laws that tie domestic
workers to their employers and put them at serious risk of exploitation and
abuse.
·
An end to the detention of women seeking asylum
in the UK.
V-Day
Founder and award winning playwright, Eve Ensler said: “In 2013, one billion rose around the world to end violence against
women and girls in the biggest mass action in the history of the world. This
year we are escalating and connecting the dots. We are rising for gender,
economic, racial, and environmental Justice. We are rising and dancing with our
bodies, to end the violations towards our bodies and the body of the earth.”
Lynne
Franks, lead organiser of the UK
campaign added, “It is a crucial time for
London to be taking a leadership role in this major international
campaign. As a global hub, we have the
opportunity to amplify the key messages of One Billion Rising from our event at
Trafalgar Square to the rest of the world.”
