Throughout our history are moments when it seems like collective efforts for justice are hopeless. For every step forward, it feels like we are pushed two steps back, with no finish line in sight. This year feels like one of those moments, where almost everywhere in the world, violence and inequality are deepening, while our very survival is at stake as corrupt governments and corporate interests control and exploit our land and precious natural resources.
It is easy to feel defeated where the just world we imagine seems impossible. But, we have been here before.
As our history shows repeatedly, these challenging times are also opportunities to ignite our frustration into action. Women have turned their collective rage into big and small wins; we stand on the shoulders of their gains and draw lessons, strength, and hope from their struggles to carry us in this current moment.
Over the next 16 days, in celebration of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, we will honor the struggles and wins that have come before us, while also highlighting powerful examples from today of women organizing and winning against all odds. Some you may recognize, while others are lesser-known, but each offers strategies, tactics, and tools for sustaining our organizing (and ourselves) in difficult times.
Women are rising again – mobilizing their communities to co-create a better future that restores our hope, humanity and the planet.
Join us for the next 16 days to learn, support, and share in these efforts to build a just and feminist vision of the future in which we can all thrive #16DaysOfActivism #FeministFuture
P.S. Don’t miss JASS Southeast Asia’s annual One Day, One Voice campaign in celebration of #16DaysOfActivism!
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign initiated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) in 1991 to raise awareness about gender-specific violence. The 16-day campaign starts with the International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25) and ends on International Human Rights Day (December 10) in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights.
