With just two weeks left, EKTA is very busy preparing for our event on November 28th. As part of the 16 Days Campaign, we've organized a ballet production of "Ahalya," and we will also be launching the Tamil Nadu component of the One Billion Rising Campaign.
Yesterday we had a planning meeting to discuss effective ways to inform participants of the OBR campaign, which culminates on February 14, 2013, and engage them in the global effort to end violence against women. There are so many startling statistics that demand attention and action, so many personal experiences with violence that women have that need to be articulated and transformed into motivation for action. We've decided to combine a mix of handbills, posters, and short films to allow us to both share information about the campaign and violence against women (globally and in India), as well as to enable women to share their stories and motivation to stand, dance, and rise against such intolerable and preventable violence.
Inspired by this powerful video, journalism students from Madurai Kamaraj University are making short films that show forms of violence that women experience every day here in South India: eve-teasing, domestic violence, rape, dowry-related violence, female infanticide, harassment in public places. Importantly, they also show women standing up and rising against such violence, individually and together. Some of the students came to EKTA yesterday to share some clips with us, and it really was impactful to watch how quickly such violence can disturb otherwise everyday scenes such as walking to class, riding a bus, reading a book. The videos will add a lot of context to the posters and handbills, which we will use to share statistics and solicit personal motives and experiences from participants at the ballet on the 28th.
Although things are a bit hectic with so much going on, we are excited to be involved with so many global campaigns striving to end violence against women and girls, and to have the help of so many people and organizations. Please feel free to comment below on "Why I Rise..." -- we would love to hear your personal reasons for being one of one billion rising!
Yesterday we had a planning meeting to discuss effective ways to inform participants of the OBR campaign, which culminates on February 14, 2013, and engage them in the global effort to end violence against women. There are so many startling statistics that demand attention and action, so many personal experiences with violence that women have that need to be articulated and transformed into motivation for action. We've decided to combine a mix of handbills, posters, and short films to allow us to both share information about the campaign and violence against women (globally and in India), as well as to enable women to share their stories and motivation to stand, dance, and rise against such intolerable and preventable violence.
Inspired by this powerful video, journalism students from Madurai Kamaraj University are making short films that show forms of violence that women experience every day here in South India: eve-teasing, domestic violence, rape, dowry-related violence, female infanticide, harassment in public places. Importantly, they also show women standing up and rising against such violence, individually and together. Some of the students came to EKTA yesterday to share some clips with us, and it really was impactful to watch how quickly such violence can disturb otherwise everyday scenes such as walking to class, riding a bus, reading a book. The videos will add a lot of context to the posters and handbills, which we will use to share statistics and solicit personal motives and experiences from participants at the ballet on the 28th.
Although things are a bit hectic with so much going on, we are excited to be involved with so many global campaigns striving to end violence against women and girls, and to have the help of so many people and organizations. Please feel free to comment below on "Why I Rise..." -- we would love to hear your personal reasons for being one of one billion rising!
No comments:
Post a Comment