At midnight SLT on the 13th/14th February, 2015, One Billion Rising in Second Life will commence 24 hours of music, performance and art is support of the global One Billion Rising campaign.

Now in its third year in both the physical world and the virtual, the campaign uses music and dance to draw attention to the domestic and societal violence so many woman face in their every day lives, and to provide a platform from which action can be taken in changing our attitudes towards gender-based violence.

As with previous years, Victor1st Mornington has again brought together a stunning 4-part stage for the main events, which straddles the four OBR regions of OBR Drum, OBR Dance, OBR Rise and OBR Change. modelled on a huge turn table, complete with stylus and record, the stage is marvellously in keeping with the overall themes of music and dance.

Around this central stage, visitors can follow the path past this year’s art installation and also to the additional poetry and performance stage located in OBR Dance, with the picture Gallery alongside it on OBR Rise, both of which face the Sculpture Garden (on OBR Change) and the 2Lei installation (on OBR Drum) across the main stage.

Full details of the events taking place over the 24 hours of the event can be found on the official website’s event schedule.

A critique sometimes levelled at OBR / OBR in SL is that the issues it raises cannot be solved by dance. Well, that’s absolutely true, just as marching through the streets carrying placards and banners is unlikely to have a lasting impact on whatever it is people might be marching about.

BUT like marches and protests, dance and music does serve to draw attention to matters; it provides a means by which people are encouraged to stop and think, and through which information and ideas can be disseminated. And it does so in a manner which is a lot less confrontational and antagonistic than a march or protest might be seen, particularly in some parts of the world where the right to protest, even peacefully, isn’t always a given. And that’s an important point to remember.

About One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising was the biggest mass action in human history. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls.

On 14 February 2013, people across the world came together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women. On 14 February 2014 OBR called on women and men everywhere to harness their power and imagination to rise for justice. In 2015, OBR are calling for a revolution for change.

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