Since 2004, the London Feminist Network has organised an annual, national women’s Reclaim the Night march against rape and all forms of male violence against women.
Reclaim the Night 2011 was held on Saturday 26th November in central London. It was a perfect evening for marching, and we warmed ourselves up with lots of chanting and singing through the streets of the capital. Photographs are now up on our website, courtesy of our feminist photographer Charlotte Barnes and you can view more on our Facebook page.
Women travelled from all over London and the rest of the UK to mark the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and to shout a loud NO to male violence and NO to cuts to women’s services.
The march went through central London and ended at the Camden Centre opposite Kings Cross for a rally and party until late. Over a thousand people packed the Camden Centre, visiting stalls from a variety of feminist organisations and enjoying the cake stalls, hot food and two licensed bars! Speakers kicked off the rally, with representatives from NUS, Abortion Rights, NASUWT, Women Against the Cuts, Million Women Rise and a special guest speaker from Afghanistan – Selay Ghaffar, Director of HAWCA – Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children in Afghanistan.
The speeches were followed by a fantastic rendition of Peggy Seegar’s ‘Reclaim the Night’ song, led by RTN Committee member Becca Mordan. We were then kept dancing until late by our DJs Mz Piggy and Ruth to celebrate another great Reclaim the Night, another great year of Feminist activism and lift our spirits for 2012.
Join us in 2012 for the 9th revived London Reclaim the Night march. Marches are always held on the nearest Saturday to the 25th November to mark the UN Day to End Violence Against Women. All women are welcome at Reclaim the Night, including: women of all colours and cultures, of all religions or none, women of any age, disabled and non-disabled women, heterosexual women, lesbians, trans women, bisexual women, refugee and asylum-seeking women and any other women you can think of! We would love to see you all there. Bring along your mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, and daughters.
Meanwhile, if you live in London, you may be interested in joining the London Feminist Network. We are one of the largest grassroots feminist activist organisations in the country with over 1600 members. We hold monthly meetings, book groups and seminars, we have a lively e-mail discussion group and a new chat forum. We organise conferences and of course, Reclaim the Night. We are all volunteers and we are unfunded. We always welcome new members and new volunteers to get involved in making feminist things happen in our capital!
Check us out on: www.londonfeministnetwork.org.uk
You can contact the London Feminist Network at londonfeminist@yahoo.co.uk
We are also on Facebook – please ‘like’ us!
In the meantime there is much feministing going on and LFN, as usual, will be taking part in Million Women Rise 2012, look out for us and our giant purple LFN banner. We hope to see you there on Saturday 3rd March 2012, please see the website for Million Women Rise for more details. www.millionwomenrise.com.
Join the feminist revival!
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