Campaign News

The Bus Campaign to End Gender-based Violence

On 8 March, International Women?s Day, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, in partnership with NGOs around South Africa, launched a bus campaign to raise awareness on the ground about domestic and sexual violence against women and children.? The bus travelled through communities in the country?s nine provinces, stopping to hold community information sessions and distribute pamphlets to hundreds of residents, and ending on 10 April at Parliament in Cape Town.? Volunteers on the bus said that most women are not aware of their rights to safety and security, how they should be treated at hospitals after rape, or how to report cases of violence to the police.? With the rates of rape and HIV infection soaring in our country, the Bus Campaign was rolled out to help end the silence and inaction around this crisis, and radio talk-shows related to the campaign were broadcast to widen the mobilisation effort.? The experiences and concerns gathered during the bus journey will provide a framework for building a strategy towards preventing further abuse of women and children, and empowering all citizens with knowledge of their rights and responsibilities in this struggle.

If you?d like to find out more about and join in this campaign, contact:

Sally-Jean Shackleton ? Women?sNet Co-ordinator
Tel: (011) 429 0000??? Fax:? (011) 838 9871
Website: www.womensnet.org.za

The Washing Line
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The KZN Network on Violence Against Women announced
?The Washing Line Project?, created by Durban artist Fiona
Kirkwood to inform people about HIV/AIDS, sexual health, rights
and responsibilities, and gender inequality.

The aim of the exhibition, which was held over four days in April 2006 at The Workshop in Durban, was to air and share experiences of women and men, with the ?washing line? symbolising women?s domestic work and displaying the clothes of families, of individuals and of groups hung out to dry.? Story-telling, drama, discussions and poetry performances took place among the hanging laundry, playing out theme-words marked in isiZulu and English on the pieces of clothing (such as ?virgin?, ?raped?, ?grandmother?).? Several partner organisations (Street-Law SA, Durban SAPS Social Crime Prevention, LifeLine, Women of Wentworth and Amnesty International) interacted with the public and distributed a range of campaign materials and resources at their information stands.
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To connect with the KZN Network on Violence Against Women, contact COOKIE EDWARDS at her office on (031) 304 6928, or FIONA KIRKWOOD on (031) 261 4500.

Men Against Rape
?Where is the police action? Time to get serious about stopping rape? ? this was the April newspaper headline introducing a new pressure group called Men Against Rape, headed by Adrian Steed, a retired TV and radio reporter.?

Saddened and angered by the rape at knifepoint of a teenage close relative two months earlier, he came face-to-face for the first time with this brutalisation of women and girls, and its effects on their lives and families.? The police were inactive in investigating the case, so he conducted his own search.? He has formed the MAR group saying ?Women in our beloved country have raised their voices, but where are the voices of men?? He urges men to be in touch with each other, to relate and report rape cases, to march with banners and deliver letters of protest calling for urgent changes and action by the authorities, so that all men, women and children in South Africa can claim back their streets and homes to live in safety.?

The One-in-Nine Campaign

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The One-in-Nine campaign was established by seven women?s rights and AIDS organisations in February 2006 to demonstrate support for all women who report having been raped, and who suffer ongoing abuse and discrimination because they have spoken out about these violations.? To symbolise the reality that at least one in every nine women in our country is subjected to this harm, activists and supporters wear a purple ribbon or other purple clothing at key locations on focus days, and contribute personal or organisational messages of support to gatherings and the One-in-Nine website.?

On its National Day of Solidarity (24 March 2006), public gatherings were held outside the High Courts in Johannesburg, Durban, East London, Cape Town and Grahamstown.? Ongoing visibility for all women who are raped is promoted through education via print-materials and drama, protest singing, media briefings and placard displays.?

To get involved, contact:

Dawn Cavanagh ? Gender AIDS Forum
Tel: (031) 307 1253??? Fax: (031) 307 1254?
Cell: 083 278 7033
e-mail: [email protected]?
Website: www.oneinnine.org.za

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