For immediate release: 

CONTACT:  Nina Serrano

                        510 763-8204

November 25, 2009 Noon Press Conference on

International Day for the Elimination of Violence towards Women and Girls: “They are all our daughters!”

(Oakland, CA), November 4, 2009 ---   On Wednesday, November 25th, a noon press conference will take place on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall, immediately followed by a 1-3 PM healing ceremony for survivors of violence with a multi arts performance in the esplanade across the street, entitled “They Are all our daughters.”   

As the Bay Area community reels in horror due to recent gang rapes, a coalition of local arts and human rights groups announce a community healing ceremony, free multi-arts performance and press conference.  November 25 is the UN mandated day to kick off 16 days of action for the elimination of violence towards women and girls, globally.  Similar activities will take place around the world that day.

Bay Area musician and healer MamaCoAtl, an “Artivist” who first initiated this observance in the USA five years ago, said, “This significant day has been marked internationally since 1999.  But, in 2004 in San Francisco, a few friends and myself first began the commemoration with simple prayers at the Mission St, BART station for a societal healing of violence. “

Human rights activist and radio host Nina Serrano added that, “While the femicide increases, the urgency to stop the violence increases. So this year our commemoration of the day has expanded to a broad coalition of arts, healing, human rights and feminist groups. ”

MamaCoAtl urges the public to initiate activities, “We invite other groups to hold public events to raise this issue throughout the days of activism from Nov 25 to Dec 10, which is proclaimed “Human Rights Day.”   The public is invited to list their human rights activities on the following website:  http://sites.google.com/site/theartvistcoallition/be-a-part-of-16-days-of-artivism>

The press conference includes a Cherokee opening benediction by Nanette Bradley Deetz; proclamations by Mayor Newsom and Emily M. Murase, PhD, of the San Francisco Department of the Status of Women. Speakers include:  City Supervisor David Campos along with Alameda poet laureate Mary Rudge, and MamaCoAtl.   The MC is Nina Serrano.

Chief Luisah Teish and the Women’s Spirituality Program of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology will lead the ritual healing. The arts performance “They Are All Our Daughters! /!Todas Son Nuestras Hijas!” will feature poet, Judy Grahn; singer-songwriter and event initiator, MamaCoAtl;  choreographer, Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers; Musician, Diana Gameros; Aztec Dancers Mixcoatl; and other community artists.

Sponsoring organizations include: the SF Bay Area Artivist Coalition on Gender Violence, ABD Productions, Survivors International, The SF Bay Area Chapter of the US National Committee of UNIFEM, and the Women’s Spirituality Program at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology (ITP).

The public is invited to participate free of charge.  For a full schedule of events please check the website:

http://sites.google.com/site/theartvistcoallition/be-a-part-of-16-days-of-artivism

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Calendar Editors:
What:              They Are All Our Daughters!  

                         International Day for the Elimination of

                         Violence towards women  & Girls

When:             Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 12 noon      

Where:           Steps of San Francisco’s City Hall  

Cost:                Free to the Public 

About the UN Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Women's activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981, in remembrance of the brutal assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists, in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 25, 1960, on orders from Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo.

On Dec. 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated Nov. 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations to launch activities to raise public awareness of the problem on that day. See: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/violence.

MamaCoAtl brought the celebration to San Francisco from Mexico City three years ago, when she began asking friends to gather and pray at the BART station on Mission and 24th Streets on Nov. 25 to amplify the intent of the women of Latin America who were mobilizing on that day to demand an end to violence against women and girls. The following year, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed the holiday, making San Francisco the first city in the U.S. to align with this UN-proclaimed day of awareness. 

 “At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her.”

– United Nations Development Fund for Women

“In Europe, domestic violence is the major cause of death and disability for women aged 16 to 44. In the United States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Rape of women is widespread in armed conflicts such as Colombia and Darfur. Trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are sexually exploited, forced into labor and subjected to abuse. Murders of women in Guatemala, Russia, India, and other countries often go uninvestigated …”

– Amnesty International

“Since 1993, over 450 girls and women have been killed in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City, Mexico.  Most of the victims were young and poor and many were sexually assaulted prior to their deaths. For many years, the authorities did little to investigate or prosecute those responsible and on occasion they used torture to extract confessions from scapegoats. …"

– Washington Office on Latin America

“In Guatemala, over 2,500 women and girls have been murdered since 2001.”

– Amnesty International

Femicide in Mexico and Guatemala has been condemned by the U.S. Congress with resolutions sponsored by Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN). 

“Some of the victims in Ciudad Juarez are as young as 7 years old, and many were abducted in broad daylight in well-populated areas,” said Solis. “Over 90 of these murders show signs of being connected to one or more serial killers … and to date the perpetrators of most of these heinous acts remain unknown.”

The Artivist Coalition: MamaCoAtl, ARTivist; Anne Bluethenthal, ABD Productions; Cecilia Lipp, Survivors International; Chief Louisah Teish, Women’s Spirituality Program, ITP; Nina Serrano, Poet, Activist.

                       Contacts: