BURN IT DOWN
A film brought to you by GABNET New York
read and learn more here: http://gabnetnynj.blogspot.com/2008/12/international-human-rights-day-2008.html
16 Days of GABRIELA Network
GABRIELA Network (GABNet) is taking part in the 16 Days of activism against gender violence which happens each year from November 25 - December 10. Our goal is to arouse, organize, mobilize, and incite women to take action against gender violence.
We will be blogging, protesting, writing, and educating in our communities wherever we have chapters. Please join us! Comment! Take part in the action! We have 16 days to illuminate the injustices of gender violence. Here we go!
Please email losangeles@gabnet.org with any questions or more info.
We will be blogging, protesting, writing, and educating in our communities wherever we have chapters. Please join us! Comment! Take part in the action! We have 16 days to illuminate the injustices of gender violence. Here we go!
Please email losangeles@gabnet.org with any questions or more info.
Dec 11
GABRIELA NETWORK HELD COMMEMORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DAY NATIONWIDE; BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THE PLIGHT OF WOMEN WORLDWIDE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2008
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748
December 10 – Gabriela Network chapters in San Diego, Irvine, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, New York and New Jersey closed their
2008 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign as they
commemorated Human Rights Day. Gabnet highlighted the struggles and
victories of women worldwide through art, protest, and
community-building in cities across the United States.
In San Diego and Irvine, CA, Gabnet chapters hosted “Human Writes Day”
events where women writers, poets, musicians and performance artists
exposed the plight of women affected by militarization, trafficking,
and political repression. “We gathered women who exposed the US government’s role in wars overseas and honored women who have given their lives to protect freedom,” said Mona Navarro, coordinator of the Irvine chapter, which convened over 100 people last night.
In Los Angeles, Gabnet hosted “Human Rites Day,” where women performed rituals to commemorate those politically killed or currently harassed by their respective governments. Participants listened to award-winning poet Alison de la Cruz, as well as the music of La Santa Cecilia, before lighting candles to pay tribute to women survivors and fallen activists.
Women in the NY/NJ Gabnet chapter continued their work to collect
Purple Rose pledge cards against trafficking and support for the
Philippine Divorce Bill. They also published their video entitled,
“Burn it Down,” where they call attention to the commodification of
women in the media and the correlation to alarming rates of rape and
assault on women globally.
San Francisco and Berkeley Gabnet women participated in a rally and
vigil at the Oakland Federal Building to draw attention to human
rights issues around the world, including the case of the SF8 and
calling an end to the sex trafficking of women. In the evening, they
co-hosted a town hall meeting with the Bay Area Coalition for Our
Reproductive Rights where discussions that reproductive justice is
essential to women’s human rights took place.
Gabnet marked the end of their 16 Days of Activism Against Gender
Violence campaign yesterday, but recognizes that the rights of women
are inseparable from the rights of humanity. Therefore, the
organization pledged to continue its activism to expose women’s
oppression and recognize women’s contribution to liberation movements,
until victory is achieved.
For more information and reports from each of the Gabnet 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender Violence campaign, please visit www.16daysofgabnet.tumblr.com
GABNET IRVINE
GABNET SF RALLY
LA SANTA CECILIA - LOS ANGELES
LIVE PAINTING - ALFIE - LA
CROWD GATHERED AT IMIX - LA
Dec 10
Gabriela Network Los Angeles presents:
HUMAN RITES DAYWednesday, December 10th@ 7:00pmat IMIX Bookstore 5052 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
Performances by: La Santa CeciliaAllison de la Cruz
Faith Santilla
* $5 donation, nobody turned away
“
As an artist for social change, artivist, my world revolves around
abstractions and distortions - creating characters, telling stories, and
bringing to life all manner of strange visions. Like a creative vision
springing from our mind, the ghosts of sexism make themselves manifest in
our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we create sexism in
our heads - rather I am saying that sexism is so deeply ingrained in our
brains that we sometimes get confused about whether these images are of
our creation or not.
I am asking women today, to identify the manifestations of sexism in your
own mind so that you may allow your reality to take shape. The images of
strength, love, hope, closeness, success, and all manner of good things
are what we are meant to embody.
Sexism’s ghosts exist all around us, we just have to pay attention. How
many times have I held my tongue, or twisted it so that my words barely
came out, just so I wouldn’t appear angry, or hysterical, or emotional?
In that moment I am fighting with a ‘me’ that doesn’t exist but that seems
so real. There she is, with a frazzled head of hair, half matted, big
bloodshot eyes, and wrinkled, rumpled, worn out clothes. This is who I
start to imagine myself turning into when I want to speak up, stand up,
get noticed. My ghost practically possesses my body as I begin to speak
and that woman, with those eyes, and that hair shoves the words back into
my mouth because if I speak them, I will turn into her. The truth is, she
is created by others, not by me, and she doesn’t exist anywhere.
I sincerely want happiness, closeness, a sense of pride in my work. I
want to be honest, smart, desirable to others, confident, sensitive,
emotionally connected, expressive and lively. But when I move in the
direction of my desires, sexist messages in my head line up to intercept.
Sometimes they are sent as gorgeous women dressed to the nines, with hot
bodies and perfect skin, hair and nails. They tell me to try and look a
little more like them and then I can say what I want, act how I want, do
what I feel. I have learned to see all these ghosts as what they are -
lingering voices of sexism installed in my head to isolate me, fragment my
power, and make me feel inadequate. I have to take notice of how they
act, what they say, and how I behave when they are around. When I see
them coming, I can push them away, tell them to shut up, and walk right
through them. All the while - I am living into the image of the “me I
want to be”. This is the me that will stand up to violence, talk about
sexism in our society, and hold others accountable for what isn’t being
addressed.
We can stop violence against women by rooting out the violence that still
lives in our minds. Identify those distortions in your brain and let them
know they are being evicted.
—
Kayhan Irani
Dec 09
DAY 15 | Health is a gender-based violence issue
The global issue of violence against women results from serious gender and health inequality. There is discrimintation in access to services, in research, and in the health hazards women are exposed to.
For Day 15 GABRIELA Network would like to remind the Filipina community that we have the highest death rate of Breast Cancer among Asian American Women. Empower yourself and learn how to do a self examaniation. Share this information with your Lolas, sisters, mothers and friends.
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/self_exam/bse_steps.jsp
Click on this image to download the orignal pdf
Click on this image to download the original pdf
“ SF and Berkeley Guerrilla art for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence!
