IWD 2009 - Antigonish Rebellions

Over 50 women and children gathered on March 8 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia to celebrate women’s creativity and build feminist community.  Wyanne Sandler and Elizabeth Glinz, 2 participants at the Waves of Resistance gathering in October, organized the event with the help of a group of supporters.  The event featured several craft stations, live music, a performance of resistance dance, and lots of strong, beautiful women building feminist community and having fun.  

 A banner was set up in the middle of the floor with this quote from Arundhati Roy: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.  On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”  Women then imagined, painted, and created their own visions of a better world all around the central quote.  Stretching out from this central idea, several different activities were set up around the room.  This included a knitting circle, a group felting project, activist sticker art, journal making, a social justice sing-a-long, and a table to make cards for inspiring women.  There was also a kids zone set up with face painting and a place to make friendship bracelets. 

I organized the sticker table, and it was amazing to feel the creativity, the sense of community, and to watch so many different women coming together to celebrate.  On top of this, there were all kinds of discussions going on about how to build on what had taken place that day.  Talk of a women’s chorale, a sign-up for a young feminist group, plans by high school girls to start up an online ‘safe space’ blog – on all accounts, this event was a huge success.  We celebrated, we created, and we connected. 

  To see media coverage of this event, check out these links:

http://www.thecasket.ca/stories.asp?id=471

http://www.thecasket.ca/stories.asp?id=487

"We are the young RebELLEs who have answered a feminist call and we are proud to call ourselves feminists."

"We will: Create alternatives, write poetry, articles, letters, make art
We will: Join with others, find common ground, build community, create feminist spaces and gatherings, raise awareness, educate, spread the word
We will: Believe that a better world is possible and work to achieve it"

       -quoted from the Manifesto