So, it's another weekend light on reading. Yesterday, I left my nice comfy sofa and my books, and took to the streets of central London with a huge number of women for the Million Women Rise march, against violence against women. From the website:
It was a fantastic event. I confess to being a 'march virgin', and so have no basis for comparison, but the atmosphere was tremendously positive and huge numbers of women showed up. The march route itself was great – we marched from Marble Arch, down the middle of Oxford Street/Regent Street, we marched through the middle of Piccadilly Circus and finished up in Trafalgar Square with a rally. It was wonderful being part of such a huge number of women, shouting out about violence against women, stopping traffic and making a huge noise (I totally had a whistle, and oh how I used it).
I wasn't expecting it to be as emotional an experience as I found it, but marching, shouting and chanting in unison with these thousands of other women, was exhilarating and powerful. What we were marching about is such an important message to send, and being united in the company of so many other people who support that message and are willing to shout about it felt amazing.
The rally afterwards was also great – partly because it was possible to really see just how many people were gathered for the cause! I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing, but was appreciate of the wonderful women who spoke out, using their own personal experiences as well as their knowledge and perspective, in opposition to violence against women and the structures that enable, legitimise, and minimise it. I don't want to highlight some over others, but here were the women that who spoke while I was there, and what they had to say:
Eleanor Lisney and Michelle Daley spoke about the particular issues faced by disabled women, both when they are victims of domestic violence (for instance, by their carers) and in their increased vulnerability to violence and sexual assault. It was a powerful talk, and it was brilliant to hear it.
Cath Elliot I'd heard of before, as she writes for Comment Is Free at The Guardian, and also blogs on Liberal Conspiracy, in addition to her numerous other activities. Her words were very personal (and political), and she highlighted the support that she had from other women, and her great commitment to fighting with others to end violence.
Leila Parnian rose her voice in a fantastic shout about the oppression of women in Iran (her home country), Afghanistan, and elsewhere. She and Judith Adorkorach, a speaker from CARE International from Northern Uganda focused not just on the tremendous difficulties that these women face, but on their continued capacity to fight back.
There were a number of other speakers and it was great to hear what they all had to say. All of them focused on the importance of people working together to fight violence against women in its many forms all over the world. And, not least, the singer Sarah Bennett used her wonderful voice to sing that message too. I'll be looking her up, as I certainly want to hear more from her.
That's not all there was to the march, but only my lone perspective from where I was on the day and what I saw and heard. It was a very special experience, and I'm very glad I was there.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, but Jess McCabe from The F Word has got a great blog up here, with links to her Flickr photos. As she points out, there are also some photos up at The Independent! I'll update with more links as time goes on, because I'd really like to have a record of this to go back to.
