“Chinese government shouldn’t take its carpet look in UN to be the encouragement of its domestic repression of feminism.”
The organizers call the government to stop the repression against the feminists immediately.
New York, September 22nd , 2015 – Xi Jinping, the President of China, as well as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Nacuka, were both invited to the opening of the exhibition on September 21st . 6 days later, UN Women and the People’s Republic of China will co-host a “historic event”, of which is expected to make “concrete commitments to overcome gender equality gaps”.
“These feminists activists are playing an important role on social justice. We hope President Xi will recognize the contribution of them and we truly hope Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Nacuka will realize that there’s no reason to still keep eyes shut on the Chinese government’s repression against the feminists activism,” said the organizers.
40 moments of the fighting history, documented
Human Rights in Action, Feminist Task Force, and Asian American Arts Centre will co-host the exhibition, which will take place from September 23rd to 27th.
There will be 40 photos and a dozen videos on the show, according to the Global Director of Feminist Task Force, Rosa G. Lizarde. This documentation represented the young Chinese activists’ fight against gender discrimination and the fight for women’s rights. “These performance arts, including ‘Bloody Wedding Dress’, ‘Occupy Men’s Toilet’, ‘Bold Girls Protest for Equal Education Rights’ and etc., were well-discussed through social media platforms in China. Moreover, some of their images have already become classics. They even went global!”
Rosa continued that they have broken the silence of the street protest. They acted out in the streets, in the public, using their bodies as weapons. It’s tremendously energetic and full of humor, yet determined and powerful.”
This March, five young feminists were detained by Beijing Police Department. “The exhibition will also show photos of the domestic and global support for The Feminist Five after their detention, including the Five Girls on Masks, which went viral during the time.”
“These photos were taken on the site. You may find them naive of the photo shooting technique, but they were more live and vivid, compared to some of the serious arts. You are attached to pictures visually and emotionally,” Robert Lee, the director of Asian American Arts Centre, “We should absolutely give special thanks to the photographers who even didn’t realize they just made the documentary for the Chinese feminist history.”
Three Leaders, invited
According to the organizers, President Xi Jinping’s, Mr. Ban Ki-moon’s and Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Nacuka’s invitation were already sent to the Chinese Consulate General In New York and United Nations’ Headquarter.
In 1995, in China, 189 governments adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. It made commitments a vision for women and girls to have equal rights, freedom and opportunities in all spheres of society and to live their lives free from the wants, the fears and the violence.
“The exhibition aims to commemorate the Fourth World Women Conference in Beijing from two decades ago years ago, as exactly the same as the Global Leader’s Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”, said Dr. Teng Biao, a board member of the Human Rights in Action, one of the co-host organizations of the exhibition.
The Chinese government shouldn’t take its carpet look in UN to be the encouragement of its domestic repression of feminism.
“Two decades later, ironically, feminists and lawyers in China who fight for such equal rights are subjected to search, harassment, and even detention. On March 7, 2015, the Chinese government detained five women activists on the eve of International Women’s Rights Day for their efforts to call attention to sexual harassment. The women received an outpouring of support from feminists, women’s groups, human right organizations, and politicians around the world. But dark clouds are still gathering inside China. Although ‘The Feminist Five’ were released after 37 days, it was conditioned on a strict form of bail that limits their movement, associations, and speech, and they are still treated as criminal suspects by Chinese police.”
Dr. Teng Biao expressed that The Global Leader’s Meeting shouldn’t be blind about what Chinese police had done to The Feminist Five. The Chinese government had made a statement to expect countries to make the commitment to action on Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in March, therefore Chinese government should make the change happens before requiring others. [Chinese government] should make a promise to stop the constant repression on these feminists. “Firstly, we hope President Xi could recognize their great effort pushing social justice forward. And stop the framing and the detention. Moreover, we truly hope Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Nacuka will realize that UN Women, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment, has no logic to overlook what Chinese government had been done to these feminists. UN Women shouldn’t reward the Chinese government turning the interactions within the UN into a red carpet show.
More contexts
The repression against “Feminist Five” continues, while the UN does not help.
On March 7th, 2015, the Beijing PD detained five young feminist activists. Feminists around the world, including Hilary Clinton, stood up against this injustice violence. After the Five were released, the case against has not be dropped by the Beijing PD. The Five are continually being harassed by the police as suspects, including integration, threaten, etc. Other Chinese feminists who supported them were also constrained on international travel. Hangzhou Women Center, a well-known women’s rights protection organization, was forced to shut down.
After the Beijing PD ignored the Feminist Five request for dropping the case, they reached out the UN secretary-general Ban and the UN Women director for help. But the UN remains silent.
Media contact: see attached.
Invitation Letter
The Honorable President of People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,
We cordially invite you to attend the “Photography Exhibition of Young Feminist Activism in China,” held from September 23rd to September 27th, 2015, in New York, including the opening reception at 4:30-7pm September 24th.
On September 26th this year, the Chinese government and UN Women will be co-hosting a global women summit at the UN headquarter in New York. This summit will surely attract global attention and display the achievements and determination on the part of Chinese government and the UN in promoting gender equality and women’s rights. Such determination also motivates us to host the “Photography Exhibition of Young Feminist Activism in China” because we believe that gender equality and women’s rights are topics not exclusively relevant to the government, but also belonging to the civil society and the self-determining fields of ordinary people. At this moment, it is indispensably important to review the achievements made by grassroots women’s movement, to explore future strategies for action that are both developed on its own and by its collaboration with the government, and to search for new opportunities and directions. Doing so would surely make complementary contributions to the summit, as you would like to see.
In September 1995 in Beijing, the leaders of China put forward “the basic state policy of equality between men and women” at the opening ceremony of the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women. On the special occasion of “Beijing Plus 20,” it remains a question whether this is a moment deserving celebration given the current situation of gender equality and women’s rights in China. We hope to highlight China’s grassroots women’s movement, in particular the actions taken by the younger generation, with their wisdom and courage in breaking through the barriers, pushing forward agendas, revitalizing ideas and making creative changes over the past few years. An unspecified group of people, loosely identified as “Young Feminist Activists,” have refreshed public memories with their efforts and achievements in advancing policies and social consciousness, which also enriched the global repertoire of activist strategies.
However, despite their wides support from the general public, the young feminist activists still lack legitimate acknowledgement from the government. In March and April this year, five young feminist activists were detained for 37 days under unwarranted reasons. The absurdity of their detainment has sent shock waves around the world. This incident provoked widespread suspicions about the Chinese government’s sincerity in delivering its promise to women. After all, it is hypocritical to suppress feminist activists in Beijing while chanting women’s rights in New York. And it should not get support from the international community.
We hope that President Xi Jinping could take advantage of this visit to New York to validate your good will towards women’s rights, human rights and the civil society. Therefore we invite you to our exhibition in the hope to expand mutual understanding and to start dialogue. We would also like to invite Mr. Ban Ki-moon and Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka to our exhibition to obtain information from the civil society that are not available from the global women’s summit. Such visit will surely be beneficial to informing China’s and UN’s future decision-making in this area, and this will be our mission and our honor.
We look forward to you or your representative’s coming!
About the exhibition:
Time: 9/23-9/27, 2015, 3:30pm-7pm
Reception: 9/24/2015, 4:30pm-7pm
Address: The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center (The Clemente), LES Gallery, ground floor 107 Suffolk Street NY, NY 10002
Direction: F,J, M or Z trains to Delancey/Essex Street. Main entrance on Suffolk st. (btw Delancey and Rivington)
China Rights In Action Feminist Task Force Asian Asian American Arts Centre
Please RSVP to aaacinfo@artspiral.org
Office address:
111 Norfolk Street, ground floor New York, New York, 10002
777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 6E New York, NY 10017
