| Subject: AP: Justice campaign launched for
"comfort women"
Justice campaign launched for "comfort women"
February 27, 2005 10:13am Associated Press WorldStream
NEW YORK_V-Day, an anti-violence movement founded by Eve Ensler, author
of "The Vagina Monologues", launches a campaign Monday to seek
an official apology and compensation for women forced into wartime
brothels run by the Japanese army.
The Japanese government has refused to provide official compensation
for the women, claiming postwar treaties dealt with the issue. Japanese
courts have rejected several lawsuits brought by the former sex slaves
known as "comfort women."
Historians estimate 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and the
Philippines but also from China, Indonesia and the Netherlands, were
pressed into prostitution for millions of Japanese soldiers stationed
throughout Asia before and during World War II. Some were forced to sleep
with up to fifty men a day.
"I was so incredibly moved by their struggle," said Ensler.
"They are such amazing women. They have such dignity and wisdom and
their lives have been hell. They have not had justice."
"If the Japanese government were to admit it happened and say they
were sorry, it would be a huge statement for the world," she added.
V-Day, a global movement against violence against women and girls,
began in 1998 on Valentine's Day as a benefit performance of "The
Vagina Monologues." The play by Ensler is based on interviews with
more than 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality.
By last year, V-Day had grown to 2,300 benefit shows in 76 countries.
It has raised more than $26 million (?19.75 million) for shelters for
battered women, rape hot lines, safe houses in Africa to protect women
from genital mutilation and other causes.
V-Day's will unveil its plans for a spotlight campaign on the
"comfort women" with groups from South Korea, Japan, the
Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor and the Netherlands at the UN Plaza
Hotel in New York on Monday. The launch is timed to coincide with a
session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
The global campaign includes a petition seeking one million signatures
to be presented to the United Nations demanding that Japan take legal
responsibility for crimes of military sexual slavery and protesting
Japan's aim to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Other campaign events include the construction of museums in Japan,
South Korea, and Taiwan documenting the enslavement of the "comfort
women", demonstrations in the Netherlands, a street march in Taiwan,
as well as photo exhibits and testimonial books in Japan, the Philippines
and Taiwan.
Celebrity benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" in
July in Seoul, Korea and Tokyo will feature the stories of the
"comfort women" in a monologue written by Ensler.
The campaign will culminate with a day of demonstrations outside
Japanese embassies around the world on Aug. 10.
The "comfort women," many of whom are in their eighties, will
not attend Monday's event in New York but Ensler is hoping to bring them
to Washington later this year.
"We are celebrating the fierce spirit and resistance of these
women," Ensler said. "The comfort women are now speaking out. It
is a celebration of them."
Ensler added: "Everyone in the world honors those women because
they are old. They don't have much time left."
She described a meeting with some of the women in Manila. "I asked
if any of them had had an orgasm and none of them had, but they said the
greatest orgasm is knowing that Japanese are not lying on top of
you."
Ensler waives royalty fees for benefit shows of "The Vagina
Monologues" as long as proceeds are donated to stopping violence
against women and girls. Organizers of benefits in 2006 will be asked to
donate up to 10 percent of their proceeds to the campaign for the
"comfort women."
The spotlight campaign this year has been for Iraqi women and last
year's V-Day spotlight was on the hundreds of women and girls who have
disappeared or been killed in the Mexican border city of Juarez.
"The Vagina Monologues" has been translated into 35 languages
and performed by stars including Jane Fonda, Winona Ryder, Kylie Minogue,
Susan Sarandon, Salma Hayek and Whoopi Goldberg.
Ensler says she never expected her one-woman off-Broadway show would
become a global phenomenon.
"I was amazed. What is truly incredible is that this movement has
a life of its own. We have never promoted the play. It has spread like
wildfire," she said.
The V in V-Day stands for Victory over Violence, Valentine and Vagina,
Ensler said. Asked to explain V-Day's success, she said: "I think
women are hungry to be empowered and feel good about their vaginas ...
women are hungry to be in a community of women."
Hibaaq Osman, V-Day Special Representative to Africa, Asia and the
Middle East, said: "The uniqueness of the play lies in when women
start telling stories they have never told anyone else. Some will tell
about rape, some will tell about abuse, giving birth, their
relationships."
On the Net: http//www.vday.org
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