Africa-Press – Eswatini. One Billion Rising Eswatini launched the local 2024 theme on November 23, 2023 through a media tour to five media houses.
Media houses committed to rise against violence to all women. Below is the statement that was released for the launch.
RISE! Be the New World – End Violence Against ALL Women!
One Billion Rising Eswatini is looking forward to the 2024 ‘Rising’ of Emaswati in unity against the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country, particularly violence against women; and the inequality in our society that perpetuates poverty, abuse and marginalisation.
We invite everyone who longs for a better world to join us as we connect through art, to imagine a more just world ourselves and the generations to come.
Why Rise?
The world is in turmoil. Wars, poverty, oppression, destruction and sustained violent eradications of freedom continue, and are aggravated in the contexts of gender, race, environmental issues, youth, indigenous and workers’ rights.
Eswatini has not been spared as the country continues to grapple with multiple socio-economic and political challenges. Amongst the most urgent is the escalation in levels of violence against women.
This year we have seen an increase in femicide – the killing of women – on an unprecedented scale, murdered in the most brutal and horrific ways, in most instances, by their spouses or partners. The rising figures of GBV are not just numbers – they are human beings whose security and bodily integrity have been egregiously violated, and in too many cases, without access to support and justice, and with impunity of perpetrators.
The impact of GBV permeates all levels of society, and we cannot afford to continue like this!
Rising to Imagine a New World, a New Eswatini, Without Violence
Rising festivals ask the questions: If we saw ourselves as artists, what would we imagine and design?
What world would we see? What new language and expressions for freedom would we find? How do we create and envision deeper, bigger and bolder?
The festivals are artistic and experiential spaces of where compassion and healing thrive, where healing and honouring take place, they provide spaces for circles of listening and storytelling and are powerful havens of love and seeing.
They express rage and resistance, while also catalysing the renewal of body and spirit in the experience of art and beauty, touch and kindness.
Since 2013 One Billion Rising Campaign has been holding ‘Rising’ celebrations all over world. For the past 10 years, based on an annual theme, activists across the globe have localized the call to RISE FOR FREEDOM with self-determined and specific regional, national and community- based issues.
This has seen millions across the globe express their pain, anger and agency, in various ways. They have unapologetically condemned social injustice, and violence against women and they have been resolute in calling for and being part of the solution.
How Do We Rise?
Rising festivals include a variety of creative and regenerative activities: dance, theatre, music, poetry, songs, painting, murals, workshops, massage, storytelling, oral histories, testimonies, drumming, planting, talks, connecting with nature, discussions, bodywork, rituals, ceremonies, circles and more…
Rising means committing to the principles of ending violence towards women, gender nonconforming and gender expansive people; ending violence towards the earth; ending racism; understanding dismantling patriarchy, supporting indigenous women leadership in their call to protect the biomes and diversity and indigenous lands; cultivating care, community, trust, sharing, interconnectedness and compassion; upholding cooperation rather than competition; refusing the inequality of wealth and of injustice; placing people over profit; actively listening; engaging instead of simply erasing or cancelling; removing hierarchies of oppression; knowing our true history; making apologies and reparations; honouring the artists, visionaries, seekers, storytellers, shamans, poets, healers; celebrating diversity; embracing collective energy; practising solidarity; embodying the power of art; placing love in the center; and leaving no one behind.
Rising for GBV to be Declared a National Emergency
We continue to call for the Declaration of gender-based violence as a National Emergency! We say enough is enough with the brutal killings of our sisters, mothers, and daughters – we have buried enough, and we have shed enough tears – it is now time for ACTION!
We cannot take a ‘business as usual’ approach to GBV as it continues to ravage our society and plant seeds for continued violence in the future.
The country has various policy and legal frameworks to address GBV, including the 2018 Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, National Development Plan 2023/24 – 2027/27, National Gender Policy 2023, and the National strategy to End Violence in Eswatini and Cost Action Plan 2023-2027. These are steps in the right direction, but regardless of how good such law, polices and strategies may be, they will not help if they are not implemented.
Declaring GBV a national emergency will ensure that much-needed resources are allocated from the national budget to an effective multi-sectoral GBV response. A declaration would also enable the country to engage development partners for more support.
We strongly believe that the new legislature and Cabinet, if committed, can make a difference by prioritising GBV.
We challenge them act with the urgency that recognises the gravity of the problem. We are committed to working together with government and all other stakeholders to eliminate violence in Eswatini.
However, we will also continue to hold all our leaders – in government, traditional institutions, private sector, civil society, faith-based organisations, etc. – accountable where they do not fulfill their responsibilities.
Source: times
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