„The moment you speak up, is the moment you help!“

Auch im Englisch-Training haben unsere Teilnehmerinnen ihre Gedanken über Gewalt an Frauen und Mädchen in Worte gefasst. Unsere Teilnehmerin N.S. hat in der #futurefactory-Talenteshow eine Rede auf Englisch vor begeistertem Publikum präsentiert. Sie ruft uns dazu auf unsere Stimmen lautstark gegen Täter zu erheben, um Betroffenen mehr Sichtbarkeit und Vertrauen zu geben. Ihre Rede gibt’s hier zum Weiterlesen …

„Dear People of Austria,

Did you know that according to the official government website of Vienna 63% of women have been sexually harassed. Every second women you meet has a story of injustice.
And these are just the official numbers, not accounting for the many, many women and girls who are too scared to speak up.

I ask you: How is it possible that we have these the horrifying numbers?
I ask you: How is it possible that we preach safety and security, yet we do not feel this safety and security?
I ask you: How is it possible that my friend gets sexually harassed and she isn’t even allowed her anger at the injustice? Isn’t allowed to feel anger simply because ‚it is the way it is and her anger won’t get her any justice?‘
How is it possible that we have been conditioned by society, by the people, by the government to just take it. Every day our trust in our patriarchal government erodes. Slowly but surely, we stop relying on the law for help.

We teach our next generation not to rely on the justice system. So who do we tell them to ask for help if not the police – if neither the law nor the government?
We teach them to look after us. Normal people. People like you and me. And we teach them to look out for each other.

When a person is being victimised in public, who is at the scene of the crime? Most people would say: the victim, the harasser and the witness.

Today! I stand before you to say this: There ARE NO witnesses when injustice is enacted. The moment you stay silent is the moment you become part of the harassers.
The moment you stay silent is the moment you give the harasser the power of numbers. The moment you stay silent is the moment you give the harasser confidence.

But then…isn’t the opposite true as well?

The moment you speak up, is the moment you help.
The moment you speak up, is the moment you give the victim the power of numbers. The moment you speak up, is the moment you give the victim confidence to fight back.

And suddenly, the harasser is outnumbered. By one, by two, by twenty. If all of us speak up… by the thousands.
What’s one man to a thousand?

There is power im numbers, in being part of a group.

If nothing else, here and today, I appeal to your empathy. I beg you to find the courage, in yourself and others around you, to stand up and say something.
I ask you one last time: Who do we rely on, if not each other?“

Teilnehmerin N.S.

FF/G.A.