V-Day Annual Report 2015 | Page 4

MESSAGE FROM EVE 4  Dear V-Friends and Risers,   2015 was a revolutionary year for V-Day and One Billion Rising.   The V-Day campaigns expanded the dialogue around sexual violence. Activists raised funds and awareness through performances of The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer—from a prison in upstate New York to a theater in Tehran. The plays catalyzed important conversations and inspired new works of art.      City of Joy and V-World Farm continue to blossom and grow in the Democratic Republic of Congo, transforming pain to power. The women who graduated in June are new seeds of revolution. The farm is going even deeper, transforming pain into planting, healing the body and the earth.   In its third year, One Billion Rising called for Revolution, to escalate tectonic global change. It was stunning to see how the call resonated around the world. Never have we seen such diversity—children, men, older people, LGTBQI, religious leaders, people of all abilities, farmers, workers, NGOs, presidents and prime ministers. Never have we seen such creativity; the movement continues to be led by art, theater, music, dancing, poetry and drumming because that is where revolution is activated. Revolution exists on many levels—our hearts, mindset, against the state, against violence, against patriarchy, against inequality of wealth, revolution of our beliefs, consciousness, and a rising for the earth. Almost every country of the world rose, and many inside each country, all 34 provinces in Afghanistan, 200 risings in the Philippines, all of India, across Taiwan, 22 states in Mexico, most of Germany and Italy. Some places rose to oust their president, some rose to end abuse in families, some rose for the power of love not the love of power, some rose to save their rivers, their mountains, some rose to demand wage increases, to end modern day slavery, some rose for peace, to make their colleges safer, some rose to end poverty, racism and imperialism.   What we know is that all these stories are connected and as we rise we are weaving a larger tapestry, a larger story that knows that any economic system where one percent owns half the wealth—85 people make the same as 3.5 billion—any system that blames the poor, the raped, the marginalized, the orphaned, the hungry, the oppressed and the abused for their suffering is a system that is perpetuating lies, cruelty and brutality. It’s the system that has failed us, the system that values success over solidarity, profits over people, criminalization over care, and greed over sustainability. The revolution is the evolution of the new system. Which is why we continue the call for Revolution in 2016.   Join us this year—ONE BILLION RISING: RISE FOR REVOLUTION Listen! Act! Rise!    Eve Ensler, Founder