MU Student Union Online

Thursday 30 October

7pm State library
Open mic

7:30 pm State Library
Rally and autonomous march to Trades Hall (autonomous means only women and children-we invite all socialized and identifying women to participate)

8:30pm End Rally at Trades Hall
Everyone welcome in solidarity! Food, live performances, stalls, zine fair, free child minding.

Reclaim the Night is an annual event worldwide demanding and envisioning a world without violence against women and celebrating womens` strength and survival. It has been running for over 30 yrs. Every woman has the right to feel safe at night no matter what they wear or where they go. 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime (CASA) and every woman experiences sexism in different forms. Furthermore there are not adequately funded resources to deal with this on a day-to-day basis. This is a great chance to feel empowered and network with other women from all around Victoria. The march itself is autonomous for a number of reasons.

Foremost we are putting in to practice; women directing the change which affects them. The End Rally is open to everyone and is a positive and exciting chance to engage with powerful women performers, eat delicious vegan food, find out about current projects and organisations and network.

Whether you have been going to Reclaim The Night your whole life or this is your first one, put the date in your diary and spread the word!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why autonomous?
This Reclaim the Night march is autonomous for a number of reasons. When organizing around a specific oppression, in this case sexism and violence against women, it is important that the people in charge of the direction are those who are oppressed. Women should be able to walk without fear at night regardless of what we wear, where we go and who we are with. We are the people in the best position to work out how, and direct action around issues affecting us. Not to say that it is our responsibility to educate everyone or to take away from the importance of solidarity and support. This is vital in our fight to end violence against women.

Autonomously marching together is a strong symbol of women walking without fear or the need for a male guardian. It promotes strength in a positive
way.

Not all, but most perpetrators of sexual violence against women are socialized men. There will be women participating in the march who have been victims of sexual assault and the presence of men could be intimidating, triggering and angering. It is important that this event be as safe and empowering as possible for as many women as possible.

So who does that mean?
The march is open to all women. This includes those who are socialized as
women and who identify as women. The feminist movement has had a history
of racism and transphobia. We understand that people feel their gender and
sex in different ways. For example, someone who presents or is viewed by
society as a woman no matter how they identify, experiences sexism.
Similarly people who do not fit neatly in to the box of what society
expects a woman to be or for example someone born a socialized man but
identifies as a woman, experience sexism also. Sexism cannot be placed in
a neat box though. It intersects with racism, ablebodyism, classism, queer
phobia etc and we hope to address this throughout the organizing and
execution of this event.

So what's the age limit for my children and how do you police autonomy?
Reclaim The Night does not believe in policing people's gender identity
nor will we stipulate a cut-off age for children attending this event. A
rough ball-park for children is under the age of 12 but this changes
depending on the context. It is up to everybody to think about what is
appropriate and exercise this accordingly. We will be using an honour
system but will not tolerate breaches of this and will be stipulating a
safer spaces policy. This means no racism, queer phobia, sexism,
militarism, ablebodyism, classism, aggression or general bad behaviour.

How do I get involved?
If you are a woman, you can join our organizing collective. We meet on
Modays at the RMIT Wom*n's Room at 6pm.

Everyone can get involved by coming to our Trivia night fundraiser on
Thursday the 25th of September at the Queensberry Hotel (6pm 593 Swanston
St). Entry is $3 concession, $5 regular or $7 solidarity.

Also just by spreading the word! If you want to help distribute posters,
flyers and stickers, this would be a great way of helping our very busy
collective. Just email womens@union.unimelb.edu.au . Talk to your
friends about the event and what it means to you.

Who is organizing Reclaim The Night 2008?
Your trusty UMSU Wom*n's Department is part of the Victorian Cross Campus Wom*n's Network (CCWN). In 2007 CCWN held a feminist boot camp.
We knew that Reclaim The Night had not been held for a couple of years and
given its history and the importance of the event, we decided to take on
the task. Thus Reclaim the Night Melbourne 2007 was born.
This year the event continues to be organized by CCWN, mostly a bunch of
feministy type students with too much to do and too little time! We are
unpaid and organizing not-for-profit. Just as we did last year, we are
really keen to get as much involvement from the community as possible.
Many people find it hard to commit to regular meetings because of work,
family, study etc, but you can have your input via our facebook or our
e-list.

Isn't RTN usually the last Friday in October?
Tradition tells us that this is so, however an ongoing problem has been the exclusion of many Jewish women from the event because of family and religious commitments on a Friday. Tradition isn't enough for us, we are progressive and will continue to make this event as inclusive and empowering as we can. So bring on RTN on a Thursday!

Contact
Georgia Ioakimidis-MacDougall 0414640912
Via Facebook-Women Unite Reclaim The Night!
womens@union.unimelb.edu.au

Love From George

Bookmark & Share. Posted Tuesday 21 October, 2008. Updated Friday 31 October, 2008.