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RECLAIM THE
NIGHT
COLLECTIVE MESSAGES FROM AND TO RTN WOMEN
FOR WOMEN GATHERING AT RTN EVENTS
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National Theme Request In light of the recent televising on the ABC show Lateline about what is happening in what appears to be endemic proportions to indigenous Womyn & children throughout rural Australia. I was wondering if there was a possibility that this could be considered in the 2006 theme for RTN on a national level. I realise that RTN is for all womyn but something has to be done to get politicians to get off their butts and do something about the family violence committed against indigenous womyn and children. We need more than bandaid knee jerk reactions we need real money and planning to address and stop this terribly destructive cycle most importantly the governments must stop listening to the perpetrators of this family violence and speak with the womyn, this is not a cultural issue. I ask that we as Womyn get together and force the governments to stop this violence and destruction of Indigenous society. Thankyou Rebecca 2006
Geelong Tonight we march in solidarity and strength with womyn and children all over the world. We carry the simple message "No Violence Against Womyn and Children." Our spirit is with you in sisterhood, Reclaim the Night Collective Geelong 2006
Coolangatta Women's Cross Border March - Congratulations for organising your 2005 Reclaim the Night march, we wish you peace and safety, all the best. Yours in solidarity, The women of the Tweed Shire and Gold Coast 2005
Geelong Reclaim The Night Marches have been held world wide each year since 1976. In Geelong this is our 16th year of Reclaim the Night Rallies/Marches. The Rally is a protest against the violence and harassment perpetrated on women and children, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Women will gather to speak out about the injustices and inequalities experienced by women victims of sexual assault and other forms of violence, and to proclaim that all women and children have a right to live in safety in their homes, workplaces and on the streets. This Rally is also a celebration of women's collective power and the reclaiming of safety in our public spaces i.e. reclaiming the night.2005
Gold Coast woman of Australia need choice in childbirth - may we all, mothers, babies and families reclaim our birth rights...have a great rally!! take the time to see the beauty in the moment! Deirdrie Cullen 2005
Jeska Uni of WA I wanted to say to you all well done, on maintaining and encouraging the RTN movement. I am currently engaged in a research dissertation that examines the first RTN march in England, in Leeds in 1977. I love the fact that your website (herstory) mentions these women, who were just a few among many, but who were so passionate about women and their right to be safe that they made a real difference to their local community in Yorkshire. I love too the fact that women like yourselves are likewise passionate about such an important issue. Women everywhere are harassed and injured in public spaces, and RTN provides a focus for us to raise awareness and protest against such treatment, so often considered the norm. I wish you and all of the women and men and children who will be marching the best of luck. I would that RTN did not have to continue every year; but as long as we need it, it's inspiring to know that we will be gathering in our respective cities and towns, united if separated by physical distance, to make our voices heard. Love and sisterhood, Jeska 2005
Mackay Hi everyone, We wish you all clear skys, strong voices, strength in numbers and passion to celebrate through the night, it will be heart warming to know that when we are chanting and marching as a collective here in Mackay there will be a universal connectedness for all women to stand up for our right to live without violence. Anne from Mackay Qld 2005
Sydney - Our Sistas, our friends - Violence against women has to end ! - Women need to feel safe at home - Children need to feel safe at home - Women need to feel safe in the streets - Children need to feel safe in the streets - Women need to feel safe at work & in community - Children need to feel safe at school & in community - Women & children need to feel safe in the service system which supports us - We are not objects to be abused, violated and met with hatred - We are deeply worthy of a magnificent life! - We deserve nothing less than love, respect and freedom from violence! Gabe Sydney Reclaim the Night collective 2005
Tweed Shire - Congratulations for organising your 2005 Reclaim the Night march, we wish you peace and safety, all the best. Yours in solidarity, The women of the Tweed Shire and Gold Coast 2005
RTN Web Reclaim The Night is different ages in different places - In Sydney will be 27 years old this year while Maitland are holding their first. There are some big absences also. RTN has had many women and children from diverse backgrounds participate over the years both in the march and organising or supporting the event. Each year - the new collective and working groups are usually a mix of newbies and RTN old girls. The RTN 'old girls' are those who have past experience of marching or organising RTN so they can be young as well as elders and in between. New collective members are not mentored they are womentored. Women hear about the collective in different ways. Some group representatives sign up and then liaise with their group. Some sign up on the night of the event while others come through individual women making their personal political and encouraging other women and girls through the year. The collective is for all women and we rely on all to spread her word. RTN old girls over the years have developed information that assists newbies with orientation. There are 'L' plates for learners and 'training wheels' for apprentices. To my knowledge - RTN has had between 5 and 10000 women marching in different places and across times. There are over 20 events happening around Oz this year listed in the national RTN event guide so far. She waxes and wans in concert with women's constantly taxed energy levels competition - level of cooperation with supplies and promotion and not forgetting that fear plays its part each year. She relies on word of - mouth earmail snailmail email imail - woman to women. If there is trouble in the women's movement among the groups including governments and groups - she is the first casualty as she is a platform for grassroots women to speak and all women to march. Herstorically - when we don't have our act together as womAn over protesting men's sexual violence - then the RTN movement feels the ripples as tidal waves. Our differences need not divide us in protesting this aspect of patriarchy but it seems to. Many of our different cultures have spaces for women to gather together an example well known to us all now is the 'women's business' of Australia's First Women. Nationally - some men each year show interest in RTN. Some call each year and some are newbies. Some make contact just to abuse a feminist - and some are committed to addressing men's sexual violence. But mainly they want an 'in' to the march space. After a discussion some men respect the space and assist rtn in some of the many ways that men can. We lose women some years because they girlcott her unless their men can come. Some RTN event organisers around the country have felt 'obliged' to include men. There have been many reasons given for this some horrendous - and some because they felt couldn't have an RTN unless men were there which some would say is horrendous also. After so many years of this reoccuring debate I now ask - what is it that men and some women find objectionable and become hostile to - when even just talking about women and children gathering together to protest men's sexual violence. Most of the women who have marched - know why it is non-negotiable that RTN is respected as a women and children's space. The national RTN webspace abounds with quotes from across the years from women all around the country about the effects of a women's march. RTN's success is a reflection of how courageous individual women - their networks and groups and communities are. A factor well known - and planned as much as possible for - by RTN collectives around the country. There are many issues each year that come up for RTN. Some are nasty and reoccuring. You don't have to be a feminist to understand that men's sexual violence against women and children is not 'natural' but an atrocity anywhere and everytime it happens no matter who is doing it to whom. Thanks to probably just a few committed feminist women working against the odds - and over a long enough time the 'issue' of rape by soldiers - is now recognised in international law as a war crime. It is undeniable that some of our own did this too. There were soldiers who were and are raped and sexually abused by their own they are also beginning to break their silence. The Japanese 'comfort women' stand together and have raised being trafficked as sex slaves in wartime to their own soldiers. The abuse and even murder of family by returning soldiers in the USA - was put on the agenda by the steep rise in military men killing their partners shortly after returning home. They only 'measure' actual death - not what happens up to just short of it! We in Oz are at war right now what is happening to our families and friends? Even earlier than this again probably the few worked hard and long enough to show that conjugal rights are not rights - and that without consent it is marital rape! When I was on a bus talking to two young women about this a booming male voice shouted from the back of the bus "there is no such thing as rape in marriage". This 'belief' and the delivery of it made the two young women's eyes open wide - along with many on the bus who may have thought what I thought - wonder how his wife and children are!? Women in the inner city of Sydney live under an official police serial rapists alert - issued before RTN 2004 - this alert remains as we prepare to go to RTN 2005! No - they are not caught yet. Police released pictures of two different men who appear to fit eachother's descriptions. If one is caught - the track record shows little hope of conviction and a just sentence being served. How is it that law practitioners - in their many forms - can behave more like lore practitioners and subvert secular law. What credibility can we give to qualifications and institutions that issue and regulate them. Why are we be criticised for not using them in their current form? Mostly - women are still blamed for not reporting and only sometimes the police are caught not recording. Even when the facts are clear and evidence abounds there is no guarantee of justice. That woman who consented to group sex with footballers was one such example. Apparently the judge construed her initial consent to group sex as consent to whatever those men wanted to do. Was it not clear to the judge that the grevious bodily harm that that pack of men did to that woman's body - was not in the original agreement? I wonder if the NT girl being raped by the old man welding a boomerang was also wondering why assisted abduction and her ripped anus wasn't 'that proof' of non consent the judge was looking for or even a breach of traditional law that elders didn't raise. RTN is a dialogue from womAn and children to those empowered - which today includes some women and their groups. She is grassroots and not a platform for pollies or candidates or business. Her message is TO these peoples and therefore the law and its enforcers. She askes the whole community to appropriately address the 'issue' of sexually violent men and to fully support women and children trying to survive it. In this current climate of global terror and now home grown terrorists - it is appropriate to recognise that sexual violence is indeed a war crime - no matter where it happens! Then - rape as gendered terrorism and a domestic war crime - is only the right words away. susanne martain Reclaim The Night Web
Cairns far north QLD - Women and children of Australia, Women and children in Cairns, Far North Queensland, support your right to live a life free from sexual violence. In the words of one of our Murri sisters, Dee Murphy (playwrite): NO MORE SECRETS, NO MORE LIES, NO MORE PAIN. May our combined voices be heard and acted upon. Congratulations on having the strength and commitment to make a public stand against sexual violence. Our combined thoughts and support are with you all. The QLD Minister for Women, the Hon. Desley Boyle, is a guest speaker at our march tonight. We have faith in her representing women in our state and in presenting our list of demands to parliament. Where on earth are women safe from rape? Lets make it our towns. Cairns RTN women 2004
Gold Coast QLD - Dear Sisters - On Friday night, 29th October, the women and children of the Gold Coast and Tweed Communities will join together and march to end rape. Together we will raise our voices in celebration of our collective strengths, to demand our right to safety and an end to all violence in our world. You will be marching in your respective communities and our thoughts and best wishes will be with each and every woman and child marching across Australia tonight. Be loud and strong and have a wonderful night. In Sisterhood - Gold Coast & Tweed - Reclaim the Night Organising Group. 2004
Port Macquarie NSW - Despite the unseasonally cold wind whistling down our march route, the RTN March went off without a hitch along the main street of Port Macquarie. Approximately 100 marchers of all ages carried banners, beat their drums and chanted enthusiastically on the march to the Town Green where they were informed, entertained and inspired by guest speakers Donna Carson and Jackie Curran, and local drummers, belly-dancers and choral groups. The mood was warm and supportive, despite the cool weather. Features this year were providing glow sticks and necklaces rather than problematic candles, and a local traffic control company- Men At Work- donating their services to keep the marchers safe. Carolyn Wilkes Acting Crime Prevention Officer Hastings Council 2004
Sydney - Greeting RTN Women where ever u are and everywhere u are - RTN lives on !!!! there are over 34 events happening around the country - so we know that our voices are raised as one - in protest of men’s sexual violence against us – Sydney women are still living under an ongoing official rapist alert - they cant catch him – he just adds suburbs to his list - we are blamed for leaving our doors or windows open – or being for being alone – or for just being women – so keep your voices loud girls !! all the way around the country !! don’t let up !! we will not be prisoners of the night !! break the silence !! reclaim the night !! Sydney RTN Collective 2004
Many Women members of the NSW State Parliament - We recognise that violence against women is still a significant problem both here in Australia and throughout the world. For many years Reclaim the Night has sought to raise awareness of this important issue and to empower women. As women members of the NSW State Parliament we support the aims and organisation of Reclaim the Night 2004
Adelaide SA Your commitment to working towards an end to violence against women and children is shared by so many women gathering at Reclaim The Night celebrations around the country tonight. We must continue to struggle against violence in any form and demand this right to safety - on the street and in our homes. Best wishes - the Adelaide RTN Collective 2000
Darwin NT The 1999 ABS Recorded Crime Statistics show that the Northern Territory has one of the highest sexual assaults per capita in Australia. Tonight the women and children of Darwin will walk loudly and with dignity to express our outrage that the right to safety and freedom in our streets and homes is still not realised. from The Darwin Collective 2000
Hawkesbury NSW Dear Wonderful Women Celebrating Reclaim The Night, Tonight women and children from the Hawkesbury will March and Rally in solidarity against violence and abuse in our community. Our theme this year is "You Can Try To Silence Us". And despite the obstacles, and there have been a few, we will not be silenced! We are with you in spirit tonight as women everywhere sing their own songs and tell their own stories. Let's Reclaim The Night - The Hawkesbury Reclaim The Night Collective 2000
Katherine NT is marching on October 27th. We are Reclaiming The Night. We are uniting with women around our town, in the Northern Territory and Australia to say that we want to live without violence. We want to feel safe. We especially acknowledge and understand the difficulties of women who live in small communities. These women confront additional barriers and issues when faced with sexual assault and domestic violence. We congratulate you all for standing up against violence and for your courage to make a difference 2000
RTN National Webweaver - Australian Women and Children - be strong - be loud and be thrilled to be here tonight along with 30,000 other women around the country - all Reclaiming The Night. The silence around sexual assault in our country and lives is deafening - make our protest heard this century - Reclaim the night, everynight - cheers Susanne Martain 2000
Rockhampton Qld - to sisters all over the world, speak out, march and generally let everyone know we want to reclaim the night! enjoy tonights festivities yours in sisterhood. 1999
Hobart Tasmania Reclaim the Night Collective - Let's celebrate women's ability to remain active, focused and together, staying strong and never giving up. So many women all over Australia - together we are a force to be reckoned with. Wishing you all clear skies, strong voices, stomping feet. Make enough noise so that we can hear you from across the waters. In solidarity with you 1999
Greetings from Gladstone, Queensland! We are a small but, excited band of merry women, who are organising Gladstone's first RTN march. It is/has been challenging, growth inducing, frustrating, fun, and above all, an empowering process. We were wondering if anybody has any chants and/or slogans that they would be willing to share with us; being in our embryonic stages, we are still gathering resources. Any donations, or ideas will be gratefully accepted. Cheers for now, Michelle Whiley 1999
Melbourne RTN Collective To all women and supporters of the women's liberation movement - the annual Reclaim The Night Rally and March is happening this Friday, 29th of October, 6.30pm, State Library, City - SO BE THERE!!!! As we have witnessed over the last few years there has been a real decline/retreat? in the women's liberation movement with dropping numbers participating and attending important public events such as Reclaim The Night and International Women's Day. Very obvious and disturbing has been the abstentionism and reluctance of feminist services to get involved and build these (still the largest) public gatherings demanding an end to violence and oppression of women. Neither the women in ALP, feminists in leading and public positions nor 'supposedly strong' feminists like Natasha Despoja play any role in these crucial events. And if they do they damn well keep it pretty hidden. Frankly I don't think they are interested at all. Maybe a real activist and fighting feminism is a touch too radical after all? This state of affairs is especially worrisome and more to the point "frightening" in the context of a concerted backlash against sexual assault victims and feminist services al large. However, just because some women have given up or are only interested in persuing their designer made individualistic brand of liberation through making money and being famous ain't gonna stop us!!! Feminism is not about talking but doing! We want more then being equal with men as slaves in a intrinsically oppressive system To cut a long story short: come to Reclaim the Night and have a great time. The main demands are: stop violence against women, increase funding to women's services, repeal all anti abortion laws and freedom for East Timor. Men can come to the Rally and listed to the speakers, the March will be women and children only (some great actions are planned along the way!!!). The March will be followed by a women's rave at RMIT, featuring the best Melbourne women DJ's More than ever we have to stand up in public and show our rage at this blatant attack on women. Your participation and support is vital. In Solidarity Margarita 1999
Katherine RTN Collective NT Congratulations to all our sisters out there who are still working hard after all these years to make the world a safer place for women and children. Our thoughts will be with you as we march the streets of Katherine this Friday night 1999
Adelaide Reclaim the Night Collective 1999 Glenda Reid To Reclaim the Night marches and rallies around Australia. Tonight in Adelaide hundreds of women and children will be marching through the city streets. We march to protest against attitudes that condone violence against women and children. We march to demand changes to a legal system that still fails to deal justly with sexual violence. We march to support women and children who are living with violence in their lives, or who are recovering from the effects of violence. We march to celebrate the strength of survivors, and we march to show our strength as women working for an end to sexual violence. In Adelaide this is the twenty first Reclaim the Night’ rally. It's hard to believe that we have been marching for the past twenty-one years and that the reasons for doing so have barely changed. But we know, and we are reminded daily, that rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and child sexual abuse have not gone away in twenty-one years. We know that we still need to reclaim the night, morning and afternoon, as well as the streets, our homes, our workplaces and every other space. From Adelaide we send you a message of solidarity, support and strength. Know that in joining your local Reclaim the Night rally tonight you are joining with women who are working for an end to violence against women and children in every other state of Australia and every other country in the world. March loud and safe and strong! 1999
From Byron Bay NSW To all our sistas sharing this night around Australia, Stride, dance, FLY through the night. Sayin' it LOUD. "We have the right to a world free of violence." We'd like to particularly send out our hope, joy, and welcome to the courageous wimmin of Ballina for their first Reclaim The Night. With all our love and sisterhood, from the Wimmin of the '99 Byron Shire Reclaim The Night Collective 1999
Elizabeth Cronin Hello there around Australia and the world!!!! My name is Beth Cronin and I'm the chair for the Reclaim the NIght committee for Armidale 1999 and the Sexual Assault Counsellor for my region. One of our members gave me this list of people and groups involved in RTN and I really wanted to touch base with you all. The fight to eradicate violence against women can often feel fairly isolating and lonely and it never ceases to amaze me how RTN broadens the battle and incorporates an army that you can often forget exists. It's a great reminder of the power we have as women when we walk together and honour each others journeys - both the individual and the collective journeys we travel together. I find my job such a privilege and RTN is always one of the highlights in terms of community education and social action. It is exciting to see women inspired and empowered through such a passionate and rich display of community outrage at the level of violence and fear that women live with. I wanted to say 'hello' to women I now know are 'in the same army' and to draw strength from walking beside you all (even though we'll never meet). I send you all much energy and passion for the last RTN of the century and hope that it spreads its message far and wide into your communities and cities. I would love to correspond with other women who are interested in the 'art of gentle (or not so gentle) revolution' of our world and share ideas about the development of programmes and ideas etc that continue to fight violence against women and children all year long. Here are a few things Armidale is doing for RTN: * RTN - march and rally. Women and children meet at a central point where we have musicians and an opening ceremony with all women invited to light a candle for women they know are living with or have survived sexual or domestic violence. We then proceed (loudly and colourfully) through the streets up to a park where we gather for the rally (men are invited to attend the rally but only female speakers, musicians, poets etc take the stage). There we have a magical evening of dancing, creative performers, singers, inspiring stories from survivors of violence, other speakers and poets. We also have food available. This year we are making up a few hundred information bags with information about local services, sexual assault, domestic violence, women's health, sexual health, Amnesty International, Community Aid Abroad, magnets, groups against violence etc. As a university city, we have some energetic and passionate students really getting the student body involved. We're all anticipating that this will not only be the LAST RTN of the century, but also the biggest and the best. Will be thinking of you and your communities on the night. Beth 1999
Maseru - The alliance against rape movement in Lesotho - "Rape! the nation can no longer tolerate it; Rapists!! give us a break please!! Real men do not rape - 'M'e 'Mathato Mosisili remarked that in the old good days, men's duty was to protect their families and the country against enemies, but now men have changed and they even rape their own children and other women who they are supposed to protect. She appealed to the Lesotho government to protect children and women as the government is signatory to the convention on the rights of children and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women - Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network 1999
Viviane to Quilters Greetings to us all, 5 years ago, with a few women we started a Domestic Violence Quilt (patterned after the AIDS Quilt0. 3x3 ft panels for DV survivors, 3x6 for Memorials. It even made the front page of the local gazette and was circulated and exhibited around the island. I was wondering about a Rape Quilt.... Love and hugs, Viviane 1999
Marguerite Wegner From archives (opinion) - http://www.sattler.com.au - A Nagging Problem... Members of the judiciary continue to confirm that they are out of touch with reality... The latest to confirm this status is an unnamed individual magistrate, one of 122 surveyed for a New South Wales judicial commission report on apprehended violence orders...which are apparently consuming increasing amounts of court time. The magistrate has found an incredible reason to excuse men who bash their women...a hormonal imbalance which re reckons prevents them from bitching back at their nagging wives. They have no recourse but violence...he contends. If he is saying that women are intellectually superior communicators then I object on behalf of the male population. What he is suggesting is a load of rubbish that is meant to excuse some of the worst kind of behaviour in domestic relationships. There is no excuse for violence towards partners from men or women. The irresponsible message coming from the mouth of this member of the bench confirms that some of his fraternity remain in need of gender education courses and that while they remain on the bench victims of domestic violence have reason to fear they will continue to be abused. 1999
Sydney demands for this year are: 1. That a commitment be made from all sectors of government to review existing legal and court processes for women and children survivors of sexual assault. This is to ensure that all women and children have access to legal and social justice. 2. That a firm commitment be made from all sectors of government to prioritise the increase in services and resources for survivors of sexual assault, particularly in rural areas. 3. That an annual national campaign around issues dealing with child sexual assault be held. 1999
RTN Web - shamefully rtn has 'come of age' this year being our 21st. also shamefully, in this international year of elder persons, many older women will not be present tonight as they are no safer on the streets or at home than they were when this march began 21 years ago - march proudly and loudly and celebrate survival, just as millions of women are doing around this time of year and over the 16 days of activism coming soon - start your activism now - get your paint pots out and reinscribe public and private spaces - paint 'rape', under the word 'stop', on every stop sign you see - write, 'take no for an answer', on every billboard you can find - remember these words in times of strife - 'not your right, our right our right', and then fight - reclaim the night - everynight! from susanne martain - rtn webwitch 1999
1995 - NSW Hansard Reclaim the Night - A Matter of Public Interest 1995 (offsite - use back button)
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