Reclaim the Night March

11.44.47am GMT Thu 11th Dec 2008

WLD banner carried at the march

WLD joined the march organised by the London Feminist Network on Saturday November 22nd. It was a long walk on the coldest night of the year so far but it was great to be part of the 2000 strong group of women of all ages and backgrounds who took to the streets of Central London to say NO to rape and male violence against women and to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the revived UK National Reclaim The Night marches night.

The Reclaim The Night marches started in the UK in the 1970s. In America they are known as 'Take Back The Night' and the first one was held in San Francisco in 1978. In Britain they first began in Scotland and then in England , first in Yorkshire . Around this time, a man who would go on to become known as the Yorkshire Ripper, was murdering prostitute women in and around Leeds . Feminists in the area were angry that the police response to these murders was slow and that the press barely reported on them. It seemed that it was only when young student women began to fall victim to this serial killer that the police started to take the situation seriously. Their response was to warn all women not to go out at night. This was not a helpful suggestion for any woman, let alone for those women working in prostitution who often had no choice about whether they worked at night or not. Feminists and a variety of women's and student groups were angered by this response. So they organised a resistance of torch lit marches and demonstrations, they walked in their hundreds through the city streets at night to highlight that they should be able to walk anywhere and that they should not be blamed or restricted because of male violence.

Over the years the marches evolved to focus on rape and male violence generally, giving women one night when they could feel safe to walk the streets of their own towns and cities.

Today we walk for the same reasons. Because we still have not got these rights; because women are still blamed for rape and male violence. An ICM poll commissioned by Amnesty International in 2005 found that over one third of the British public surveyed believed that women were sometimes wholly or partly to blame if they were raped, for example if they had been drinking, if they flirted or dressed outrageously.

Today we march, as so many women have done before us to say that we are NEVER to blame for rape and male violence. Those men who choose to commit these crimes are to blame. We march today to demand our right to live without the fear or reality of rape and male violence, we demand an end to male violence against women, we take back this night to win the day.

From the London Feminist Network website www.ldnfeministnetwork.ik.com Visit their website for a full report on the 2008 march.