Silent Protest – Break the silence, stop the violence against women (Rhodes University, 23 March)

On Friday 23 March over 1400 protestors, both women and men, will participate in the 6^th annual ‘Sexual Violence = Silence’ Protest. The protest, organised by the Rhodes University Dean of Students’ Office, aims to show solidarity with rape survivors who are silenced by sexual violence. Both staff and students have participated in previous years.

For the past 6 years student activists at Rhodes University have staged this protest in order to draw public attention to rape and to demand better services for survivors.

The majority of women protestors will be silenced using black gaffer tape, and will be unable to speak, eat or drink water for over 12 hours as a sign of their solidarity with the silence of rape in the national discourse and the silencing of rape survivors. Those survivors that are brave and empowered enough will speak out about the crimes committed against them by wearing shirts describing them as “Rape Survivors”. Over eighty women wore this shirt last year.

We are protesting against the statistic that 1 in 20 rape survivors will report their rape for fear of social stigma and secondary victimisation by the South African judicial system. According to the collated figures in South African Police Service crime stat reports between 2008 and 2011, after the Sexual Offences Act came into effect, over 205 000 sexual offences were reported, of which just under over 165 500 just rape. If only 1 in 20 survivors of sexual abuse reports their rape, then over 4-million South Africans suffered some form of sexual violation in the last 5 years. Similarly, over 3,3-million South Africans were raped.

These numbers are unacceptable. Rape limits human potential; it silences people, makes them feel less than human, keeps them afraid and creates isolation. Our protest on the 23rd of March affirms our solidarity with the 19 in 20 women silenced by rape and sexual violence. Freedom of Speech is denied to victims of sexual violence. Despite the laws and policies that have been put in place, patriarchal attitudes and misogynist practice render laws and policies meaningless in the lives of many rape survivors. Survivors face victim-blaming, secondary victimisation and social stigma when they speak out about the violence they have experienced. State service providers do not always respect the rights of rape survivors and fail to comply with norms and standards set out in national legislation and policy; these are just some of the reasons why reporting of rape cases remains low.

The judicial system’s disregard for rape survivors is most aptly exemplified by the Sowetan’s recent report that a rape survivor was forced to wait nine years for justice, and her case was delayed a total of 48 times.  The Department of Justice Director-General Nonkululeko Sindane apologised to the survivor for her ordeal 15 months after an order to do so by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. Sindane then said the department would not compensate the survivor for her trauma (despite an order from Madonsela) as “no crime was committed against her”, according to the Sowetan report.

PRESS CONFERENCE

We will be hosting a press conference at the Student Union building in seminar room 1 at 1pm on Tuesday, 20 March. All local journalists, photographers, TV crews are encouraged to attend.

PURPOSE OF THE PROTEST:

1. to highlight the state’s silence around sexual violence and its inability or unwillingness to support rape survivors and successfully prosecute rapists.
2. to symbolise all rape survivors whose voices are silenced by rape and to represent the 19 in 20 rape survivors who do not report their violation.

FORMAT OF THE PROTEST:

There are FOUR different kinds of participation in the day-long protest on 23 March:

• Silent women: T-shirts with ‘sexual violence causes silence’ on the front & explanation on the back (gagged all day, no food or water)
• Rape survivors: T-shirts with ‘rape survivor’ on the front & explanation on the back
• Men in solidarity: T-shirts with ‘solidarity with women who speak out’ on the front & explanation on the back
• Women staff members & students with health issues: T-shirts with ‘solidarity with women who speak out’ on the front & explanation on the back

PROGRAMME

06h00    Gather at Alec Mullins Hall on Friday 23 March.

06h00 – 07h00   T-shirt distribution

07h00 – 07h15   Briefing and address by organiser

07h15 – 07h45   SILENCING

07h45 – 08h15   Group photos in front of Main Admin of ALL, then SILENCED, SURVIVORS and MEN IN SOLIDARITY.

08h30 – 12h30   Lectures & tutorials as usual. Protesters to remain visible.

12h30 – 14h00   DIE-IN outside the Rhodes University admin building. ALL (silenced, survivors & men is solidarity) PROTESTERS GATHER.

14h00 – 17h00   Lectures & tutorials as usual.

17h00 – 17h30   ALL volunteers gather outside Main Admin and process from via Drostdy Arch down High Street to the Cathedral

17h30                    ADDRESS BY ORGANISER & BREAKING THE SILENCE!

17h30 – 20h00   Debriefing, discussion & reflection

20h00 – 20h30   GAP ‘Take Back the Night’ March

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michelle Solomon

Media liaison, Silent Protest

michelleHsolomon@gmail.com

072 396 8302

Stop the Bus! – Day 6 (Trip 2) – Time to say goodbye

Stanford - the last day of the workshop

This morning we headed to Stanford where we continued with the workshop. The topic today was care for the caregiver.  We also had a networking meeting in Hermanus where the needs, problems and resources within the Hermanus, Gansbaai, Pearly Beach and Stanford communities were identified and to build better capacity and finding ways of broadening the network of support for rape survivors. Moreover, we visited the hospital, the police station and the Regional Court in Hermanus in connection with the Shukumisa campaign to see whether the rape survivors’ rights and services within the system are followed.

The team has found this journey very rewarding and interesting and we all agreed that the needs for the support of rape survivors in the area visited were vast. We will close this enlightening journey with a quote from Soren Kierkegaard: “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself”.

Some of the participants from the networking meeting in Hermanus together with Eleanor

Goodbye and thank you!

Stop the Bus 2011 – Day 4 (Trip 2) – Volume down – quietness, tranquility and serenity. Thank you!

The team at Hermanus beach

This day was the teams’ day off. We started this beautiful morning with the sun dancing. Not a cloud to see on the horizon. We had a delicious breakfast at 9.00 am. (thanks to our hostess Loretta for her fine cuisine and hospitality).

Afterwards some took a nap, others a chat and the rest were just glad. At around 13 am. the team went to Hermanus. There we enjoyed the stunning seaside and some were lucky to get a glimpse of a whale – where did the great white go to?

On the way back the team made a stop at Cliff Path where everybody took a dip in the ice cold sea – very much appreciated on this very, very hot day.

This evening all and sundry agrees to be full of renewed energy and ready for the forthcoming workshops and hard work the next two days.

Dipping in the ice cold waters of Cliff Path

The team fooling around in Cliff Path

Eleanor! Need I say more!

Stop the Bus 2011 – Day 3 (Trip 2) – Making a difference

Children arriving for the christmas party

Today we started the day by going to Buffelsjagsbaai together with Siswe from Badisa where we did our door to door campaign. This part of the Overberg region is poverty stricken and the need for social support is startling. The unemployment rate is mammoth in this small community (approx. 1,000 people live in this area). Even though, the team was met with warmth and friendliness by the locals, which made us reflect upon how self-absorbed we in our own little bubble can be when facing the difficulties other people have to struggle with in their daily lives.

Afterwards we went to Baardskeerdersbos where we did a talk around about understanding rape at the Family in Focus volunteers Diploma Ceremony and Christmas party, and then we e.g. were entertained by the children singing Christmas songs.

The team all agreed upon being tired today as it had been a challenging day and a lot of us were emotionally drained.

Thobeka tête-à-tête with a male resident in Buffelsjagsbaai

Eleanor and Sizwe together with the locals

The team having fun with the locals

Some of the team members and the participants from the ceremony at Baardskeerdersbos

Woman from Buffelsjagsbaai

Eleanor informing the participants about understanding rape