#BringTheNoise — Women’s March London
Action Aid UK — Dialogue series — How does U.S. Policy affect the U.K. and the rest of the world?
This week Women’s March Global will be highlighting key supporting organisations supporting in #BringTheNoise — a peaceful march and rally by Women’s March London. We are discussing with three organisations, their view on why this rally is important and how the policy decisions in the U.S. affect the U.K. and the rest of the world.
Today — July, 13th, the first day of the US President’s much-discussed visit to the UK, a coalition of organisations will be marching in protest over the inhumane, divisive, misogynistic and discriminatory policies and rhetoric of the Trump/Pence administration that have resulted in the Muslim ban, the recent scandal of caging and separating children from their parents at borders, mockery of disabled citizen, regression in respect for women’s rights, and its hostile stance on LGBTQIA+ rights.
______________________
Delyth Jewell is a campaigner on women’s rights and international development. She is the Senior Women’s Rights Campaigns Specialist for ActionAid UK.
Can you share with us the work you are doing at Action Aid UK?
My name is Delyth Jewell and I work for Action Aid UK, and we are an international development charity — all of our work is focused on empowering women and girls and on ending violence against women and girls.
Why is Action Aid UK joining in support with Women’s March London #BringTheNoise in response to Trump’s Visit 13th of July?
We’re really excited to be involved on the 13th of July. Firstly, the march itself is going to be a defiant celebration. So rather than being a protest per se, it’s a celebration of women’s rights. And we think that it’s a fitting time to have that celebration because it is falling on the same day as Mr Trump’s visit to the UK. The Trump administration has undermined human rights worldwide. It has carried through damaging policies like the so-called zero tolerance policy, which affect women seeking asylum, and women fleeing domestic violence. These policies don’t just affect America, it affects lots of the countries where we work. So we feel that it’s important for us to be there on the day as we are celebrating all the things that we value — women’s rights, women’s bodily integrity and their right to say what happens to their bodies.
Get Women’s March Global’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Do the policies of the current U.S administration have an effect in U.K issues and larger global issues?
Absolutely, like I said, what’s being referred to as the zero tolerance policy, affects women who are fleeing domestic violence, the global gag rule affects women in countries like Guatemala where we work. What happens in one country, particularly if it’s such a major global power as the US, it’s going to have ripple effect across the world. And as with so many cases, it’s the most vulnerable who are being most severely affected, and the women and girls who are in the most vulnerable situations who are being affected. And it’s their voices we’re seeking to amplify through our involvement on the 13th of July.
Can you speak to the impact of the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Human Rights Council and what that means for accountability in regards to the human rights in the United States?
I think in terms of the impact it’s going to have, we can’t know in a clearcut way yet, but it’s definitely going to have an impact. It sends such a worrying signal about that administration’s thoughts on the essential dignity of its citizens. Obviously I wouldn’t want to speak too much on what’s happening in the US itself, I’m sure that my colleagues in Action Aid USA will have opinions on that and they will know far more about what’s happening on the ground, but I think the fundamental point about anything that undermines the human rights of any country in the world, has an impact on human rights globally. There’s something so fundamental which should be upheld, and if that is ever called into question, then it’s very troubling. And obviously in terms of what that’s going to mean, we don’t know, but it’s definitely going to have an impact, and it’s something which really worries me. And I’m sure it would worry my colleagues in the US as well.
Why is the collective power of the grassroots that is coming together this Friday to #BringTheNoise so important?
We will bring the noise on Friday but we are also creating noise to amplify the voices of women and girls who are there, but also the women and girls who are not there — and this is powerful. I think that we’re making noise not just for the people who are there, but very much for the women and girls who are not there, and women and girls who are to come, who in future generations, will not have to wonder where they lost their voices. I will end by saying that this is best said by poet Jasmin Kaur:
scream
so that one day
a hundred years from now
another sister will not have to
dry her tears wondering where
in history she lost her voice.— jasmin kaur
______________________
Find out more information on the 13th July Event in London here.
Follow Action Aid UK on their Website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Follow Women’s March London on their Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
