Break the Chain: Flash mob, entertainment, art for One Billion Rising

January 31, 2014
Santa Paula News

By Peggy Kelly 

Santa Paula Times 

The February 14th One Billion Rising for Justice will circle the globe and include Santa Paula, where all are urged to take part in the biggest mass action in human history staged to demand the end of violence against women and girls.

According to Loni Kate English of Santa Paula, “The campaign will build upon the energy and momentum that was created on February 14, 2013 when one billion activists in 207 countries and territories came together to rise, strike, and dance,” to demand an end to violence against women and girls.

The 2013 event was the biggest mass action in human history.

English and Darien Kincaid have been planning the Santa Paula portion of the worldwide event to include a “flash mob” that dancers will be trained for at a February 8 workshop. 

Then,  at 5:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, English said, “We will gather in downtown Santa Paula in front of the Odd Fellows Clock Tower (868 E. Main St.) for a community dance performance to music and choreography composed for this global event,” titled Break the Chain. 

The group will then move to the Universalist Unitarian Church (740 E. Main St.) for an hour program (6 to 7 p.m.) that will include music, art, theater and speakers from local organizations engaged in frontline work with victims of violence.   

Said English, “This year, we will focus on the issue of justice for all survivors of gender violence, and ending the rampant impunity that prevails globally. One Billion Rising for Justice for Women is a call to women, men, and youth around the world to gather safely,” on February 14 outside places “where they are entitled to justice,” from court houses and police stations and embassies to places of worship, homes, or simply public gathering places where “women deserve to feel safe but too often do not.”

The Santa Paula Ministerial Association “They were very receptive...and the Rev. Jenny Crosswhite of First Christian Church agreed to emcee the event,” and might also participate on an artistic level.

English said there will be representatives from various organizations within Ventura County that deal with issues of gender violence, and, “Hopefully we will raise some money and awareness for these groups doing this important work in our area.”

Local actress Gloria DeLeon will perform a monologue, English and Darien Kincaid will sing, and “I am trying to round up some more visual artists to display art with a feminist or anti-oppression perspective... and there will be more!”

English said the one-hour program at the church will be “Dense and quick... I want to spin peoples’ heads and send them back out to their Friday night and Valentine’s Day plans,” with a new awareness of what is faced by women and girls and a resolve to make a difference. 

To learn more about One Billion Rising for Justice Santa Paula or if you would like to participate in the “flash mob” portion of the event, contact English at (805) 207-5013 or e-mail the organization at spvday@gmail.com. 

The One Billion Rising campaign is a recognition that all factors - from poverty and racism to war and patriarchy - practiced with impunity contributes to the creation of gender violence.

The campaign began as a call to action based on the staggering United Nations statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7-billion, this adds up to more than 1-billion women and girls.

On Valentine’s Day 2013 people across the world at 10,000 events came together to creatively and strongly demand an end to violence against women.

V-Day, the global activist movement to end the violence raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award-winning play “The Vagina Monologues” and other artistic works. 

The movement has raised more than $100 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, among other programs and projects. V-Day is also a highly rated nonprofit charity. For more information visit www.vday.org or www.onebillionrising.org





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