Dear sisters and friends,
A Chilean feminist anthem called “el violador en tu camino” or “the rapist on your way” that has gone viral worldwide reached London in early December. This powerful dance protest with fierce lyrics has been performed by sisters globally from South and North America, India, Kenya, Mexico and Greece to hold the violent men, complicit patriarchal institutions, structures and systems to account.
Please see the video of the powerful protest here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AAscy7qbI
Safety4Sisters are organising a response from Manchester during International Women’s Week - Saturday 14th March and invite you to join us and do the same protest dance.
Violence against women and girls, including sexual violence is transnational and kills. We at Safety4Sisters and our sisters at Women’s Asylum Seekers Together know the devastating impact of this abuse. We also know the utter silence that surrounds women’s attempts to speak out and seek justice. We know that women are blamed and shamed and that speaking out is risky. This is heightened for black and minority ethnic and migrant women many of whom cannot come forward due to the threat of community backlash, racism, immigration control and deportation.
Where:
We will gather at 12.30am on Saturday 14th March 2020 by Central Library in Manchester (nearest tram stop is St Peters Square). Our protest dance will start at 1pm. The protest takes about 15 minutes to perform.
See our Facebook group for the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1538883912928187/
Please wear masks/scarfs if you want to remain anonymous. We will have some spare ones on the day.
We will have some folded seats for those who need to be seated. Please find a member of our team if you need one.
Safety4Sisters will be setting up an Facebook page to keep you informed about the protest. We will also be asking for donations to support the dance rehearsals for women and public to help pay for the room for those able. If you can donate, please do get in touch with either of us on info@safety4sisters.org
Rehearsals
We will have a public rehearsal on Friday 13th March in the Collier Room at the Manchester Methodist Hall , Central Hall, Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ at 6-pm. Please note that this is free and in an accessible space.
If you cannot attend the rehearsal, our dance leader, Magdalen Bartlett will be putting together a video of the dance and lyrics which can be sent to everyone. Please let us know if you would like a video link to this.
Magdalen will also have a prominent place on the day to show everyone the movements that accompany the lyrics.
We hope you can join us. Please let all women in your group and network know. If you run a survivors group or deliver services for a women’s organisation, please do ensure all women in your group are invited to be part of this. We need to make this BIG to show our rage and resistance.
These are the original Chilean women’s protest, we will adapting these slightly.
Patriarchy is a judge who judges us for being born
and our punishment is the violence you don’t see.
It’s femicide, impunity for my murderer,
it’s disappearance, it’s rape.
And it wasn’t my fault, where I was, or how I dressed.
The rapist is you, the rapist is you.
It’s the police, the judges, the state, the president.
The oppressive state is a macho rapist.
Violence against women and girls is international, affecting all our communities. Let’s mark International Women’s Day with this amazing political global action against sexual violence started by our Chilean sisters.
Please note that this is women only. We use an inclusive definition of women and female and welcome trans women, gender-queer women and non binary people who are significantly female-identified.
Come Join Us!