Reclaim the Night Sydney

The Reclaim the Night Collective would like to thank everyone who attended the march on Friday 31st October. Despite the strong winds and ominious clouds we marched on to Hyde Park and made an impression on all those who saw us.

At Hyde Park we heard our fantastic speakers, Christine Robinson, Monique Wiseman, Barbara Shaw, Karen Willis, Lee Rhiannon, and Skie Barwick.

Christine spoke about the struggle of Aboriginal women’s organisations in NSW to have the state government implement the recommendations of the Breaking the Silence report, highlighting government’s hypocrisy on child abuse. Monique and Barbara spoke about the devastating effects of the Northern Territory intervention on Aboriginal communities, particularly women and community-based anti-violence initiatives. Karen and Lee spoke about the need for government action on violence against women, and Skie told her story as a survivor of violence.

Photos of the march will be uploaded soon.

Please feel free to download, copy and distribute the zine that the Reclaim the Night collective produced, which is available here. Acknowledgements should be made to the Sydney Reclaim the Night collective of 2008.

For Reclaim the Night this year we have an amazing line-up of speakers. This year’s speakers include:

• Christine Robinson, Co-ordinator of Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre. Wirringa Baiya exist to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, children and youth, in NSW, with a gender specific service which is sensitive to their culturally diverse needs and to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who are victims of violence, with access to appropriate legal representation, advice and referral. Christine is an organiser of the Aboriginal Women Reclaiming Back Our Rights Corroboree.
• Barbara Shaw, from Mt. Nancy Town Camp near Alice Springs/Mpartnwe. Barbara is one of the principal organisers of the campaign to end the Northern Territory intervention, and works with the Intervention Rollback Action Group in Alice Springs. She has attended the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Peoples and co-ordinated the historic Prescribed Areas Peoples’ Alliance meeting in Alice Springs in September this year. Barbara also runs an unofficial safe house for residents of the local community.
• Karen Willis, Director of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre. NSW Rape Crisis Centre was established in the early 70’s by a group of volunteer women. NSW Rape Crisis is a twenty four hour telephone and online crisis, support and referral service for anyone in NSW who has experienced sexual violence. Karen has been working on sexual violence for 30 years through campaigning and providing services to survivors of sexual violence.

The rally and march will be followed by a Festival with performances and stalls. Performers include:

• Nadeena Dixon – a Wiradjuri/Yuin/Dharug Aboriginal Woman Singer/Songwriter who grew up in a large extended Aboriginal family with strong Aboriginal Cultural and Spiritual Values. The eldest grand-daughter of Aboriginal Rights Activist Chicka Dixon, many of her songs reflect the harsh reality of the struggle and resistance of Australian Aboriginal Nations for Self-Determination. A powerful advocate for Aboriginal womens rights Nadeena is strongly involved in Aboriginal Womens issues.
• Kaya – a vocal band featuring the four exquisite voices of Emma Deans, Sally Stevens, Alexi Kaye and Juleiaah Boehm. Together, they create a truly captivating and heartfelt show that is both lyrically and melodically compelling – if not a little cheeky and sensuous as well.

Friday 31st October
6:30 pm
meet at Town Hall Square

This year is the 30th anniversary of Reclaim the Night. We are still fighting to eliminate violence against women!

Demands

This year the organising collective has decided upon the following demands:

• Support women’s solutions to violence against women.
• End the Northern Territory intervention.
• Implement the recommendations of the Breaking the Silence and Little Children are Sacred reports.

This year the central demand of Reclaim the Night 2008 is to end the Northern Territory Intervention. We believe that the sexual abuse of women and children in the NT has been used as a political smoke-screen that allowed the Howard Government to implement this racist legislation.

We are demanding the repeal of the Emergency Response legislation and the implementation of real solutions to violence against women and children. We are demanding the Government fully fund and support feminist and community based initiatives to violence against women. We are also demanding the implementation of the recommendations in the “Little Children Are Sacred” and “Breaking the Silence” reports. We have come to these demands after consultation with women from the Northern Territory, local Aboriginal women’s organisations, and anti-intervention networks in Sydney.