This is the chronicle of the Flash Mob to raise awareness on violence against women in Patan Durbar square on Thursday afternoon (14 Feb 2013). Pictures by Cindrey Liu and text by Juanita Malagon.
It was 4.30 pm and Patan Durbar Square had its habitual visitors: neighbours, tourists, some foreigners wandering around. There wasn’t any activity planned that afternoon, one lady at the ticket office said firmly.
Shortly before five the square was quickly filling up with people who seemed to know each other, exchanging greetings and chatting among themselves. Cameramen and professional photographers were standing at strategic points of the square. On one side, there were big speakers connected to a laptop from which music for the dance was to be played. All around the square, there were people dressed in pink, red and black. Some were holding banners. To the unknowing passers-by and tourists, they looked suspiciously ready for something to begin.
Suddenly at 5 o’clock sharp, loud music began to play and the mob came together at Mangal Bazaar and started dancing and singing. It was the flash mob ‘Rise, Patan!’ organised by The One Billion Rising movement, a campaign calling for one billion people around the world to raise awareness for violence against women.
Diana Hinova, the organiser of the event in Kathmandu, said before the event that she expected at most two hundred people to attend. The invitation was on Facebook and so far more than four hundred had confirmed, but she thought that the Internet commitment was less than solid. She was wrong. More than six hundred people showed up. From local NGOs, international organisations, school teachers, students, housewives to passers-by, they all came to Patan Durbar square to take a stand against gender-based violence in a way that attracts attention: dancing.
Tourists and common visitors of the square alike watched in awe while the
women and men danced and sang ‘
’, the movement’s official song.Hinova added that Durbar square is a meaningful place for that event, as in Nepali culture there are accepted social and cultural practices against women that would be discussed and then removed from society. Violence takes place within families and at an institutional level and it needs to be exposed.
Caroline V. (withholding her last name by request) working at an international organisation but representing civil society, explained, “Dancing opens yourself up and it’s an expression of joy, the perfect way to show disagreement against violence in a peaceful way.”
The invitation was on Facebook about one month ago. Organisers uploaded a
on Youtube with the dance choreography and some people even rehearsed once a week at Core studio in Kathmandu to prepare for the event.
The result of all that preparation was a scene of Patan Durbar Square filled with people dancing. Even those who didn’t know the steps tried their best. Other than women, a few young girls and men also joined the mob. One man was heard shouting, "I'm for women's rights!" before jumping into the crowd and breaking into dance.
In just four minutes, the dance was over and the mob dispersed. The mood was joyful and after the event, the topic of violence against women was at least more visible. The daily life of the square resumed and visitors had another topic to talk about that afternoon: lots of people dancing and speaking out against violence against women.
The initiative was started by American playwright and feminist Eve Ensler to mark the 15th anniversary of the V-day campaign to end violence against women forever.