3 Questions With: Cecile Lipworth

Cecile Lipworth is the managing director of V Day and the co-producer, along with a team of volunteers, of One Billion Rising for Justice. On Feb. 14, Santa Fe will again rise with several events aimed at starting a much needed conversation about violence against women. At 10:30-11:30 am a press conference giving the public a chance to demand justice is scheduled. At noon, make way for the flash mob, which illustrates strength in numbers. The event is followed by a march from the capitol to the Farmers Market Pavilion led by Pomegranate Studio belly dancers. Break those chains!

Tell me a little about One Billion Rising.
It's a global campaign happening right now in 189 countries. It's the second year of a campaign that V Day envisioned to show the world what 1 billion women look like.

What in particular makes SF a receptive audience?
Santa Fe and New Mexico have a very high rate of violence against women. The intersection of poverty, racism, immigration and LGBTQ all intersect to provide a Petri dish for that violence. Violence is so rife in so many homes [that] it's really part of the fabric of the lives of people—whether it's incest, rape or domestic violence. One in four [New Mexican] women—that's 250,000 women—will experience violence.

What event do you think has the biggest impact?
If anyone wants to feel the power of what it means to be a community rising up locally and globally against violence they should come to the flashmob outside the Roundhouse. There is so much power when we come together in numbers and that's what the whole campaign is about; when we come together, a billion women and men who stand up to end violence, we really can affect change.

Santa Fe Reporter