The global movement against women exploitation, One Billion Rising was relaunched Wednesday here at the church compound where hundreds of Lumad are seeking sanctuary. (Earl O. Condeza/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The global movement against women exploitation, One Billion Rising was relaunched Wednesday here at the church compound where hundreds of Lumad are seeking sanctuary.
Monique Wilson, global director of the One Billion Rising Revolution on February 14, 2017 led the relaunching with various women groups in Davao City.
Wilson said this years’ OBR, which will be participated by 200 countries around the world, will be a call against different forms of violence, not just physical but also on economic.
“If we will not look at the political and social context, the exploitation [of women] will not be stopped,” Wilson said during the launching of the fifth OBR inside the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Haran compound in Father Selga Street.
“We could not fight violence without fighting all forms of violence. We could not go any further with only one battle,” she said.
Wilson pointed out that the OBR will just be an “umbrella”.
“We have to look at deeper layers of causes, not just in the Philippines but also the world.”
The OBR was launched on Valentines’ Day in 2012 and has since become an annual synchronized dance and mass action calling to end violence against women and children.
The dancing, according to Wilson, is a symbolic protest action that shows women’s body are the main subject when it comes to violations. She said dancing “is a defiant action that women could again use its body with its power to free herself from his oppressors.”
In Davao City, the OBR was somehow different. It shows different varieties of dances where the indigenous peoples participated with their own music applied to the global movement.
Luz Ilagan, national president of women’s group Gabriela, said that the launching this year was held at the Lumad sanctuary in the city “because they are still here, because they are also victims.”
“Sexual violence, domestic violence, and other forms of exploitation,” She said.
In the region alone, according to Mary Ann Sapar, secretary general of Gabriela Southern Mindanao region, “both women and Lumad in the region suffered worst forms of exploitation.”
This year, the Davao region’s OBR will be highlighting four issues: defense of the ancestral lands, release of political prisoners, campaign against the continuing neoliberal policies, and the total end of US intervention in the country.
Sapar said with the continuing entry of US troops in the country issues of violence against women continue. Sapar cited the rape case of Nicole and the killing of Jennifer Laude as “reminders that justice for the victims of US atrocities in the country remains elusive.”
The OBR launching today, will be a kick-off to the months-long campaign which will culminate on Feb. 14, 2017.
Sapar said they will be visit different schools, church communities, workplaces, and communities for the activities.(davaotoday.com)
