For the first time at Monash South Africa, a Silent Protest
against gender and sexual violence took place on campus. As silence fell over
the university, a palpable wave of emotion swept over us. Participants, all in
purple, some with duct tape across their mouths, linked arms and marched in
unity.
Building up to this important day, bits of purple had been
trickling through campus starting with the umbrellas that the Intersections
team set up. Students were invited to sign up and register
as volunteers to help make the protest a success on the day and were issued
with T-shirts to wear to aid awareness of this protest.
The colour purple
represents courage, survival, honour and dedication to ending gender violence.
It has a long history of being used as a symbol by women seeking justice. The visual protest is an act of solidarity with survivors of gender violence. It aims to draw public attention to the realities of gender violence and to demand better support services for survivors.
The purple pillars outside Building F invited all students and staff to help spread messages of hope around campus for the survivors of gender violence as notes of encouragement and support were pinned to the pillars for all to read.
On the big day, students and staff wore duct tape across their mouths representing the silence that victims feel they
have to keep. The isolation and debilitation of not being able to tell somebody
about their experience for fear of getting hurt or being blamed for what
happened. The Silent Protest aims to break the silence and let the victims of
gender violence speak out and finally let go of the hurt they have been
harbouring.
The protest began at 12:00 at Lekgotla Square between Buildings E and F. In a sea of purple, people linked arms and stood together in solidarity, then proceeded to march through the campus buildings and gardens in total silence. Not a word was said and the quietness caused many to become emotional as they identified with the true meaning of this protest.
Steven Maverick, who
organized the protest, was the first to give a speech about the event and he
too became emotional.
“Thousands are brutally
raped and murdered annually, in an undeclared war on women. But it’s hard to
imagine what this looks like, the tragedy gets lost in all the numbers. So like
taped mouths, the purpose of the die-in is to create yet another visual cue,
allowing people to imagine what the stats look like. So we ask people to take a
moment to be still and really imagine how many lives have been lost. To become the
embodiment of that loss, for just a short time in order to honour the dead and
recommit to the living action to end violence.”
The Die-In took place immediately after the speeches and all
participants lay down on the floor for a couple of minutes to create a visual
and highly graphic representation of the lives
that have been lost due to sexual violence, thus taking a moment to remember
those who are no longer here today.
Representatives from Intersections had their say too. “Many people are out there are victims of rape. They say, ‘Because of this I have been de-humanised. I am not the person I used to be.’ But now we’re saying as Intersections, ‘No!’ We’re telling you that everyone who is standing in solidarity with everyone who is wearing the T-shirt that you are still the human being you used to be. I am standing for every other person out there who has been raped and is keeping quiet. Open up. Say your mind. Go for counselling. Do not kill yourself. Do not resort to taking alcohol and drugs because it leads to all that. It is time for you to speak up. To all this say, ‘You know what, is it time to end the silence.’ The time is now. The time is not tomorrow. Believe in yourself. If you have made that change, you have made a change in your community. We as Monash South Africans are saying that now is the time for us to join together and end gender inequality and come together and say we’re ending this violence.”
The Reflection Session took
place after the protest in order to provide counselling and help to those who
felt they needed to talk about their experiences. Those who felt that they
needed to share their opinion and give others hope and support were also
welcomed.
Salomn, a third year student studying International Relations and Media says, "Personally, I feel strongly that violence against women should be put to an end because so many women are being abused out there and so many of them remain silent because they are afraid of stigmatization. I believe that being a voice for them is a good thing and the perpetrators of such violence should have harsher sentences to deter them from sexual violence." Others said that their
confidence has been boosted after the protest and now felt that they could
stand up for other women and stand up for their rights.
The Head of Student Development, Vedhna Lalla, said that she
was very happy with the turnout. “It was the first time that Monash South
Africa has embarked on this event. Our department decided that we want to
create an awareness around this. We weren’t expecting the students to respond
in the way that they did and we’re very pleasantly surprised.” Steven Maverick
says that he hopes to make it an annual event across all universities including
Rhodes, Cape Town University, University of Pretoria and Johannesburg and many
more.
Intersections says
they would like to thank Vedhna Lalla and Steven Maverick for this great
initiative, the whole staff of Student Development, all who participated and
everyone who helped make the protest such a success.
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Vedhna Lalla, Steven Maverick and other Student Development staff members |
Let us stand together in solidarity against gender violence!
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