V-Day Europe
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Events
V-Season 2009
Organise your own V-DayV-Season runs from 1st February until 8th March (International Women's Day).
If you are interested in doing a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, you can register from September at: www.vday.org/signup
For information in languages other than English, you can contact V-Day Europe partners for help and information in French and German (emilie@vdayeurope.org) or in Spanish (contact Annemarie: aminbcn@hotmail.com )
Once you have registered in September you will be an official member of the V-Day campaign (You can withdraw from the campaign at any point). You will have access to all the relevant information for V-Season 2006 including a copy of the special V-Day script and an Organiser's Kit, which will give you guidelines for organising a performance of The Vagina Monologues.
By registering to do a performance you are entering into a contract with V-Day and this means that there are certain rules and regulations that you need to adhere to. In return V-Day staff and national coordinators will support you and offer advice and help. Click here to contact your national coordinator
They will advise you and help you organise your performance. You may also, at any time, contact the director of the Worldwide (Cécile Lipworth) or College Campaign (Shael Norris) for additional information.
V-Season 2005
V-Day Europe in BrusselsV-Workshop and special benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues in Brussels on 18 and 19 April 2005
On Monday 18 April 2005, a two-day workshop began for V-Day College and Worldwide Campaign organisers throughout Europe.
An astounding 55 women (and one man) representing 18 countries, such as Belgium, Serbia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Monaco, Turkey, Slovenia, Iceland, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and France, attended this first ever European V-workshop. Eve kicked things off with a large group introduction, a discussion about the evolution of V-Day over the last seven years and a fun group exercise requiring movement, sound and great creativity. She facilitated a lively discussion on men and women working together to end violence against women, raised the idea of "non-resolution" as a solution. This initiated an animated dialogue about the possibility of there not just being one way to do things but rather working together for the greater good. She concluded the morning session with the entire group sharing their vision of what a world free of violence against women and girls would look like.
After lunch the workshop continued with the topic "How can V-Day work in your country" which launched a series of V-Day success stories and discussions. Some of the success stories discussed included:
- Germany's successful "Bread Bag" Campaign (a Stop Rape Contest winner at Madison Square Garden in 2001): for the past four years local bread shops wrap fresh bread in bags that give statistics on violence against women in Germany and emergency contact numbers for women-what started as one campaign of 300,000 bread bags in a small town of 200,000 inhabitants is now a one million bag campaign in the capital of Germany Berlin and has escalated to numerous towns (30) throughout Germany and in Suedtirol, using bags and stickers as an effective way to promote local issues. For more information about this campaign, please contact Karin Heisecke.
- The V-Day Iceland team shared their four year success story, beginning in 2001 and leading to their wonderful V-Dagur 2005 attended by Eve Ensler as a special guest. They highlighted the issue of date rapes in Iceland and presented their work against it and their future strategies to develop the movement in Iceland. They also insisted on the importance of involving men in the work and campaigns against violence against women. More information can be found at: www.vdagur.is
- A college campaign in the Netherlands collaborated with a local shelter and a training program for social workers to develop an awareness campaign with posters that included slogans and their own "vagina" stories.
- By using V-Spot-the resource and communication website for official V-Day organisers -an organiser in the United Kingdom was emailed by a young woman in Lincoln, Nebraska and they became email buddies and supported one another as they planned their V-Day events.
The day ended with a dialogue between Bjorn, our only male attendee from Iceland, and the rest of the group about men becoming involved in local V-Day initiatives and Bjorn's honest and meaningful ideas were extremely helpful for the group.
Later that night the organisers, as well as the general public in Brussels, saw the European premiere of V-Day's documentary UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS at the Flagey and Eve Ensler led a Q&A session (in French) after the film.
The second day of the workshop began with a dynamic panel discussion on advocacy, facilitated by Karin and Tamsin, and included the following speakers:
- Colette de Troy, European Women's Lobby
- Francoise Guilitte, Amnesty International Belgium
- Tamsin Larby, Until the Violence Stops (V-Day UK)
- Ingrid Bellander Todiono, European Commission-Daphne Programme
The organisers raised some interesting points for discussion by asking the panel thought provoking questions like how to bridge the gap between the public and politicians so that their work as grassroots activists has some cohesion with the political agendas in their countries.
The next discussion, Women in War, was introduced by Eve and featured Yanar Mohammad of Iraq, whose group the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is one of this year's V-Day Spotlight Campaign beneficiaries. Yanar spoke of the realities in Iraq for women at this time - while the horrific stories of kidnapping, sexual assault, violence, lack of freedom and fear of leaving the house moved the group, there was an audible gasp when Yanar told the story about the woman government official who said on international TV (Al Jazeera) that "education is the key, we must teach women how not to make their men angry at them so that they will not beat them!" It was a true wake-up call and many of the workshop participants were visibly shaken by Yanar's stories from the ground. Eliza Moussavea, a Chechen Human Rights Activist, relayed some of the unspoken atrocities occurring in Chechnya at this time. This was an incredibly powerful session and it inspired all of us to discuss how V-Day can continue to bring forward the issue of women in war and ending ALL forms of violence.
The final presentation on Women and Prostitution was led by Claude Boucher, Director of the Women's Bus (Bus des Femmes) France, who also attended the Vagina Warrior Summit in 2002, and Sophie Hoffenberg, who works with Claude in the Platform against trafficking in human beings, a platform of organisations providing social, judiciary, administrative and medical help for victims of trafficking. They shared the overwhelming situation on trafficking of human beings in France and more widely in Western European countries. In France for instance, trafficking of human beings represents 70 to 80% of all prostitution and victims are mostly women coming from Eastern European countries and African countries. They also presented their new poster campaign, a national campaign against modern slavery, to be publicised in several cities in France and hopefully in other European countries.
The two-day workshop wrapped up with intimate discussions and networking among the organisers over the course of the afternoon.
Our organisers found that the workshop had a profound effect on them and on the V-Day staff. Each organiser was moved in a different way and all remarked on how inspiring and motivating it was to share their experiences with one another and with us. As Anna, from Finland wrote: "The atmosphere of our V-Day Europe was something so beautiful that I almost start crying writing this now: beautiful people saying beautiful things; warmth, love, support. Like in a home that everybody should have. I'm buzzing with ideas."
The workshop has been made possible thanks to the support of the European Commission, Mama Cash and the Communauté Française de Belgique.
The culminating event of V-Day Europe was "Jour-V" - a star-studded, multi-country, multi-language production of "The Vagina Monologues" at the beautiful Flagey theatre, which raised 40,000 EUR for the beneficiaries.
Performers included Annie Lennox (UK, singer and songwriter), Anita Roddick (UK, founder Body Shop), Rebecca Gomperts (The Netherlands, founder of Women of Waves), Mianne Bagger (Denmark, professional golf player and transgender activist attempting to get transgender women accepted to the women's golf tour), Katja Riemann (Germany, actress), Maurane (Belgium, Singer), Anémone (France, actress), Nathalie Corré (French actress shown at left) and many others!Click here for a videoclip of the standing ovation using Windows Media Player. 1MB
Click here for a videoclip of the standing ovation using Real Player (free download at www.realplayer.com). 1MB
The beneficiaries for this glittering event included Rape Crisis Network Europe (www.rcne.com ), Garance asbl (www.garance.be), Solidarité Femmes et Refuge pour Femmes Battues asbl and Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (www.equalityiniraq.com) .
The performance was sponsored by Mama Cash, l'Institut pour l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes, and the Communauté Française de Belgique.
And with the additional support of the following partners - Amnesty International, the European Women's Lobby, Commune d'Ixelles, Asticus Europe, Fnac, Just Campagne, Pierre Marcolini, Lefranc-Ferrant, Toni&Guy, ELLE Belgique, Le Soir, La Première, Ruinart, Mouchart, Dior, Théâtre de la Toison d'Or and IdeB, the event was an exceptional and poignant end to the 2005 V-tour.
Media coverage of the event included all of the regional daily papers including the cover of Belgium's Le Soir daily newspaper the day after the show, The Associated Press as well as numerous magazines throughout France and Belgium. Advertising included bus posters throughout Brussels. In fact, we saw them at our every turn in the city!
The organisers, the actresses and the V-Team networked, socialised and said their goodbyes after the show at two packed receptions and everyone went away feeling connected by the experience over the two days and inspired to continue their work in their own communities all over Europe and the world.
V-Day Highlights in Europe in the past
European activities
13 August 2004: Locarno Film FestivalEuropean premiere of the documentary "Until the Violence Stops" about the international V-Day movement.
The director Abby Epstein and V-Day France's Marie Cecile Renauld presented the film at this prestigious festival.
"Until the Violence Stops" is a one hour commercial-free documentary that follows the grassroots impact of V-Day in five international communities while exposing the pervasive and cultural forms of violence that women experience all over the world. Directed by Abby Epstein, the story begins at a star-studded V-Day benefit at Harlem's Apollo Theatre and travels to regional events in Ukiah California, the Philippines and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, culminating in the opening of the first V-Day Safe House for girls in Kenya. What emerges is an alternately devastating and hopeful look at the global and grassroots efforts in motion to stop violence against women and girls.
October 2004: European Social Forum, London:
V-Day in collaboration with CWASU, organised a workshop on the prevention of violence against women, and hosted a special benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues at the European Social Forum in London on Saturday 16th October.
The success of the performance was due to the great talent of the performers, young women, some of whom had already organised a V-Day, and directed by Lily Double, a great 'Vagina Warrior'! Many Thanks to all the performers!
In the UK
The first V-Day in the UK on Valentines Day 1999, which was also the first V-Day in Europe and the second in the world, raised £360,000 for National and international charities. It was performed by a celebrity cast, including Kate Winslet, Gillian Anderson, Cate Blanchett, Sophie Dahl, Melanie Griffith, Joely Richardson and Meera Syal, making front page news in 10 newspapers.
Since then, ever increasing numbers of local V-Days have been organized in all parts of the UK in different communities and colleges. Highlights included the V-Day Gala at the Royal Albert Hall, the first ever V-Day with an entire cast of women with disabilities and a performance at the Labour Party conference in 2002 as well as bilingual performances in Wales.
To celebrate International Women's Day, V-Day hosted a sell-out performance of The Vagina Monologues with politicians, peers and celebrities. The performance was also translated into sign language. At the end of the evening V-Day presented the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Caroline Flint, with five demands stipulating certain changes that the government need to make in order to prioritise the issue of violence against women in accordance with its position as a human rights violation. These five demands included a national violence against women strategy and an education and public awareness campaign.
In the aftermath of the event V-Day also attended a debate at the House of Lords about the status of women in society. The demands were re-presented to Baroness Patricia Scotland, Minister for Women at this debate.
In the UK over seventy local performances took place, including the first performance in Northern Ireland, a performance in Tagalog for the Filipino community, and a V-Day with a cast of deaf women in sign language.
In France
V-Day - Paris 2004V-Day Paris also celebrated International Women’s Day 2004 with a sold out celebrity gala performance of The Vagina Monologues at the Theatre de Paris (1150 seats) with high profile women from France: Among others Eve Ruggieri, Catherine Ceylac, Michèle Fitoussi, Marie-Laure Augry, Christine Janin, Véronique Jannot, Zouzou, Rachida Brakni, Léa Drucker, Souad Amidou, Nicole Croisille, Firmine Richard, Gabrielle Lazure, Chantal Ladessou, etc.
It honoured as “Vagina Warrior” Doctor Pierre Foldès. This French surgeon urologist has developed a revolutionary technique that allows to reconstitute the clitoris of women who have undergone genital cutting. Until now, he has operated on about 60 women for free. He has decided to share his technique with his colleagues by publishing a protocol of this intervention.
In Germany
V-Day Berlin 2002In 2002, a gala celebrity performance of The Vagina Monologues took place at ARENA in Berlin.
Other sell-out V-Days took place in Lübeck, Frankfurt and Idar-Oberstein.
In 2004, V-Days took place at universities and in theatres across Germany, including Frankfurt am Main, Trier, Bremen, Saarbrücken.
Awareness Raising Campaign: „Vergewaltigung kommt nicht in die Tüte” In 2001, V-Day organised the Stop Rape Contest and called on women worldwide to develop innovative action plans against rape. 60 finalists were invited in February 2001 for the contest finale at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Two German women, Karin Heisecke and Silke Pillinger, had a simple, but unusual idea: in order to reach the widest possible audience in Germany, they wanted to work with bakeries and use the paper bags that bread and pastries are commonly sold in as a medium to break the silence around the taboo of sexual violence against women and show the reality of rape through facts and figures, under the slogan “Rape – no way!” (the German expression is a word play, as it means literally translated “Rape doesn’t go in the bag”). For instance, it is often not well known that the perpetrators, in most of the rape cases, come from the direct social environment of the victim and that only 10 to 15% of all rapes are reported to the police. This information were printed on bread paper bags and then literally brought on the (breakfast) table. Moreover, one side of the paper bag was used to give the number of a service provider for victims and to advertise for a range of side events.
„Vergewaltigung kommt nicht in die Tüte” was selected as one of the three best action plans by an international jury and its implementation was financed by V-Day. The idea of Germany inspired the jury because the simple and at the same time extensive (and cheap) approach.
The implementation of the campaign, enabled by the V-Day financing, took place from the end of September 2001 to the end of November 2001 in Saarbrücken, and Karin Heisecke, with ProFamilia, the Frauennotruf, and the women’s representative of the city Saarbrücken, let this idea become reality: 330,000 paper bags were printed and distributed in 30 bakeries of the city. The campaign was a great success and has since then been implemented in many other cities through independent financing.
For more information on this initiative, please contact Karin Heisecke, Tel: +32 (0) 486 314 094.
In Luxemburg
V-Monat im März 2004 in Esch sur Alzette:Im März 2004 war V-Day Luxemburg Teil einer Reihe von Veranstaltungen, die Frauen gewidmet waren. Es gab unter anderem zwei Ausstellungen mit den Titeln " Frausein in Esch 2004" und "Frauen der Welt", ein Lady-Fest Konzert, eine Konferenz zu dem neuen Gesetz zu häuslicher Gewalt, einen Selbstverteidigungsworkshop und andere.
Die Veranstaltungen im Rahmen des Frauenmonats und V-Day wurden von der luxemburgischen Frauenministerin Marie Josée Jacobs unterstützt.
Am 14. März kamen im Rahmen einer mehrsprachige Vorstellung der Vagina Monologe über 30 Frauen aus Luxemburg und anderen Ländern zusammen, um V-Day zu feiern.
Serge and the Kulturfabrik organised another successful V-Month in March 2005. Several conferences, including a conference on women in armed conflicts, took place, and V-Day Luxembourg 2005 was a huge success, starring Juliette Gréco!
With the support of the