This coming Thursday (the 31st) is the National Day of Action for Thursdays in Black. This campaign focuses on rape and violence in our community; wearing black on Thursdays "demonstrates a desire for a community where we can all walk safely without fear of being beaten up, verbally abused, raped, or being discriminated against due to your sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender or ethnicity. It shows you want to be free."
For the National Day of Action, we have a speaker Karolin Potter from the Human Rights Commission giving a talk on the subject- this is on at 1pm in the Shelly Common Room (upstirs in the UCSA building). Karolin is a very engaging speaker with a lot of experience in Women's rights, so this promises to be an excellent event.
We also have the Thursdays in Black Quiz night that evening in Bentley's Wing (normal quiz night stuff, teams of up to 5, $5 entry).
Hope to see you all there!
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3 comments:
Why does that desire need demonstrating?
Is there going to be someone watching to whome it is not self evident that we don't desire to walk in safety without fear of being beaten up and raped, etc?
Are there any abusers and rapists known to be watching on? Will the sea of black clothing make them realise they're on the wrong team, make them reform?
I don't see the logic of this gesture.
It's more about raising awareness that this is going on all around us and that it's not ok! For example, only 18% of domestic violence in Chch is ever reported to the police. It's happening all around us and if noone speaks up then nothing can ever be changed.
Raising awareness isn't silly but that's not the explaination given. And this particular ritual traces back to specifically woman's rights issues far far away. Our own, more intelligent, initiative would be more logical.
What percentage of domestic violence should be reported? Better that private persons deal with family matters themselves rather than enlist the police force to do it. In a better world 0% of domestic violence would be reported, and in a still better world there would be nothing to report.
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