RECLAIM THE NIGHT
Women live in fear of male violence, because for us, sexual harassment is an all-day, everyday occurrence.
Women have begun to reclaim the night in many countries. The first "reclaim the night" march took place on the night of April 30, 1977 in Germany (Federal Republic) where women demonstrated in towns all over the country against being barred from the streets at night, against the way we're hassled, abused and raped. The idea caught on and since then there have been many marches in Canada, Britain, Ireland, the USA and other countries.
The idea of reclaim the night is not to demonstrate in order to ask men for the right to walk the streets without fear; it is a collective and positive move of women to take some measure of control over our lives. It is innovatory because it is also a celebration, a night when, as the name indicates, women for once take over the streets for themselves, singing, dancing, and brandishing torches.
All the reports women have made of these marches have talked of how positive an experience this action is: a great sense of solidarity, a joy, and a feeling of power. Reclaim the night is not the puritan pilgrimage the traditional media would prefer to portray Women are reclaiming the streets, reclaiming space for women, reclaiming the right to be out and ourselves at any time, retrieving our bodies. But the action has not always been without incident.
In Britain the first "reclaim the night" demonstrations were held, simultaneously, in November 1977 in eleven different towns. It was a positive and enjoyable event. By the second reclaim the night in London on 7 July 1978, the racketeers and the police were already on their guard, though the event passed without incident. But the third time through Soho (Halloween, 31 October 1978) the joyful atmosphere of the torch-lit demonstration, with many women in fancy dress, was rapidly shattered. After a scuffle in the New Swedish
Cinema Club in Brewer Street (central London) where women were registering their protest at the material displayed, an employee threatened them first with a stool and then with a hammer. A few police officers then arrived and waded into the crowd with their wooden truncheons, hitting women at random. Sixteen women were arrested on charges of obstruction, threatening behaviour, assaulting police officers, bodily harm. Five women had to be treated in hospital with head and face injuries, and numerous others left with big bruises. Sixteen women were arrested to set an example, to make women think twice before we go out again.
Six of the women were tried at Marylebone Court on April 22nd when the magistrate. Sir Ivor Rigby, acquitted three of them, gave three token convictions and criticised the police, both for their behaviour on the demonstration and for the way in which false evidence had been given in court. The magistrate said that he was influenced by photographs which showed women being assaulted by the police. The same magistrate heard the cases against four more women on May 2nd. Again he criticised the police and cleared the women. The women who have been acquitted are considering civil action against the police for assault, wrongful arrest, and malicious prosecution. Donations and letters of support to Reclaim the Night Defence Group, Box 1, Sisterwrite, 190 Upper Street, London N1. There has also been a call for a public inquiry into police behaviour at demonstrations and in court. The existence of photographic evidence against the police should ensure that the incident is not 'forgotten'. The
photographs were taken by Diane Bailey who had to flee from the demonstration when police noticed her with her camera.
In spite of this incident, and the violence - ironically -displayed by the police, these events are extremely important, both for women to see what it is really that we are up against, and for us to gain strength and power from each other.
(Information from Women's Report, and Spare Rib)