One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action to end violence against women in human history. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that one in three women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at seven billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls. On 14th February 2013, people across the world came together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and rise in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women. In 2014, One Billion Rising for Justice focused on the issue of justice for all survivors of gender violence, and highlighted the impunity that lives at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy. For the third year of the campaign, One Billion Rising’s global coordinators chose the theme of “Revolution” as an escalation of the demand for justice, and to build upon the massive efforts of communities worldwide that also looked at the roots and causes of violence as part of their call for justice, with millions of activists in over 200 countries gathering in 2015 seeking to change the paradigm, demand accountability, justice and systematic change.
This toolkit provides everything you need to start your own protest or activist project in your area. On February 14th, 2017, One Billion Rising are calling for activists all over the world to disrupt their usual days and raise awareness under the theme “Rise, Dance, Disrupt”. The toolkit has all the social media links to share and publicise the campaign, and can help you to:
- Gather your team to help plan the event.
- Choose your location, your start and ending time.
- Choose your music and your dance moves! If you are not comfortable using the Debbie Allen choreography for “Break The Chain,” the campaign encourages you to consider creating your own choreography or using choreography created by activists around the world.
- Decide how you want to make your voice heard. It can be anything!
- Make signs, posters, stencils, shirts, & any other artistic method to spread the word and engage your community.