London calling…Million Women Rise…
March 14, 2008 by sparklematrix
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It was a fabulous day, shame that some of you live too far away to attend.
The march was not covered by mainstream UK press — only feminist blogs and Indymedia. That was it. Not even the BBC.
The media seem to have no problem covering smaller marches and protests, yet a feminist one of decent size is all but erased.
Next year I think it will be even bigger. Several thousand was a fantastic number for the first march. We have to make these numbers too big to ignore. (Which reminds me of the Helen Redy song: “I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore”
Learnt some fabulous new chants too, almost lost my voice at one point.
My favourite new chants:
2-4-6-8
Stop the violence
Stop the rape
And my absolute favourite, which may be from Southall Black Sisters:
Say it once
Say it again
No excuse for violent men
Yes, I wish I could have gone but a 600 mile round trip plus the cash needed was a no go this year. It’s interesting but I hazard a guess that a 4,000 strong march of any group (especially in London) would have warranted some BBC coverage.
Yeah they always give publicity to a couple of idiots from Fathers4justice don’t they? Maybe we should climb on the roof of the commons next time….
Nah - any march which is women only or women-centered will be ignored by the male owners of media. Remember we live in a male-centered world and it is men’s actions which are supposedly news. Women - well the only time a woman or women gets in the news it is either because she/ they are PETA or and it is the same thing really - she/they are men’s sexualised commodities.
Jennifer - I’ve just read a quote “freedom of the press is only for the owners of the presses”
And we all know who these are.
I left this comment over on Grace’s post:
http://graceneedshelp.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/women-rose-dontcha-know/
Hi - yes I was also at the Million Women Rise march in London on the 8th of March. It was amazing!, the organizer’s did a brilliant job!! and to look around at the beginning and to see all the wonderful, diverse wimmin arriving to take part was a really moving moment for me! So many colourful banners, many handmade, you could sense the atmosphere and it made me think deeply of the reason’s that I was there.
I guess it all started about 20 years ago, as a teenager, I was sick of the sexism, abuse, violence and oppression etc..that I saw taking place against girls and wimmin and some of which I had already experienced for myself (although at that time I didn’t have the words to understand all of it, they were to come to me many years later.) I’ve been moved to question and take action on various causes over the years.
I really felt forged into action on the 8th March 2008 and also that I was taking part in something really big!. As I look at the all the faces around me I wondered what the other wimmin were experiencing, what had brought them there on that day?, a dreary, wet, chilly day in March. Perhaps it really was a case of enough is enough, now!!
I felt hugely proud to march along side of people I didn’t know and have never met, something had brouht all of us together that day and for me it felt like something really huge!!. As I looked out amongst the crowds that looked out from the pavements onto all of us, some stood open mouthed, some clapped in union with us, acknowledging us and what we were doing, other’s seem to reach out and they seemed to be saying “we just need to know a bit more”. People march along side us, all the way to Trafalgar Square and what a moment it was as we all marched in and found a space, ready to listen to the assembled speakers. It felt like an aknowledgement, WE ARE ALL HERE, LETS START FINDING WAYS WE CAN GROW, GROW IN EVEN LARGER NUMBERS, SO THAT WE CAN BE HEARD EVEN LOUDER AND NEVER BE IGNORED!!.
So I think that maybe the feeling I have personally come away with from that day, is this; how can I inspire more women to question, to look into themselves, to expect more from our society and the men that share it with us. The word HUMANITY comes up for me time and time again. We need to somehow express our needs to be more vocal than ever before, to help guide and secure a future for each and everyone of us and the children in our society. We can only do this by voicing our concerns and how we feel, things can be changed. We need to talk to our partners our families and our supporters, be them friends/collegues/professional organisations, etc, WE MUST BE HEARD.
Lets all make Million Women Rise 2009 THE BIGGEST march in Wimmins Events ever!!
A MASSIVE thank you to all the organisers, participants and supporters that made Million Women Rise 2008 possible, we have got to keep the momentum going now, we must not let it stop!! Lets keep talking and talking. As one of the speakers said at the rally afterwards at Trafalgar Square if we all go away and tell 100 Wimmin, just think what we could be and what could be achieved!!
Thanks to you all and Sparkle for such a GREAT blog!!!
LIZ X
Hi Liz welcome and thank you.
We’re not going to let it stop and here’s to 2009.
In sisterhood.
Teh sparks
Props to everybody who did go, however how about having the next one somewhere else - like Madchester? It is actually a lot more central in terms of those who (like Sparks) are up in t’frozen north east. And we give good demo here. It is a bit much for a lot of us to schlep to giddy London, home of the brash outrageous and free.
Re: the frozen north. I had just started seeing this guy from Brighton (when I was staying there) and I told him that in bad winters we would sometimes get the odd penguin - and he believed me for like 5 minutes with squeals of “srrrly?”
Hi D !
http://sparklematrix.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/when-would-you-run/
Ya should have gone for polar bear sparks….
I smile every time I see these pictures & get chills thinking about how great it is - even though I wasn’t there! I really hope I can be a part of Million Women Rise 2009!
I really love your blog btw, I’ve been a reader for a while
it has encouraged me to get more involved in feminism, so thank you!
Hi Sarah thanks and welcome. Ya see even tho’ I’m stuck up here in the frozen and penguin infested NE wilds of whinny* someone’s listening…
*Joke I actually like it here and we ain’t got any penguins really. Tho’ we do have Geordie men which is a topic of its own worthy of feminist analysis.
Ya should have gone for polar bear sparks….
now there’s a woman what knows her poles (NOT for dancing…). come on sparks; highly amusing your continued joke on the brighton contingent but we true northerners know that penguins are in fact from the deep south ie gateshead. how is the breeding colony getting on in the sage btw?
The Sage still looks like some giant alien spacecraft to me - especially in Gateshead.