During the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012, a feminist flashmob dance to the tune of “I am Woman” led by World March of Women – Pilipinas was held at Plaza Miranda (in front on Quiapo Church, Manila, PH), at noon.
Women dancers-activists first blended with the vendors, with some holding balloons, as fortune-tellers, beggars, etc. Three dancers started clapping to the tune of the music, then seven dancers joined releasing purple balloons bearing the logo of the World March of Women. They were joined by another 20 coming from the crowd, until it grew to 70. The last batch of dancers, students from the University of the Philippines –Manila made it a throng. On the last minute of the song, as steps turned to hip-hop, dancers took off their costumes, revealing white shirts which defiantly bore words “RH Now” in the face of continued delay in its passage in Congress. Some shirts shout “Climate Justice!”, in the face of ongoing negotiations in Doha, Qatar and the devastation of typhoon Pablo in Mindanao. Other shirts carried slogans such as “Women Need FOI!”, “Secure Jobs for All!” and “Scrap VFA!”
Around 100 participated in the flashmob from Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Bagong Kamalayan, Batis Center for Women, Buklod, Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), Focus on the Global South, Foundation for Media Alternatives, KAISA – Nagkakaisang Iskolar para sa Pamantasan at Sambayanan – UP Diliman, KAISA-KA, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (PKKK), Partido ng Manggagawa, Sarilaya, TIGRA Philippines, UP Manila students, WomanHealth Philippines, Women’s Crisis Center (WCC), and Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE)
This Video Production is part of 16 days x 16 stories of Take Back the Tech campaign
Produced by Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA)
Editor: Hazel Tan
Videographers: Eric Sister, Hazel Tan, Johanna Acielo, Hazel of Sarilaya
