Next - ' Action Hero Picnic ' - Next Sunday 11 am

Action Hero Picnic dated 9/11/2014
Next Action Hero Picnic in Bangalore on November 16th at noon.
Do email blurtblanknoise@gmail.com for exact location

Kissy Map

Do you know the word for 'KISS' in Indian Languages?

Send it to Paromita Vohra here

reference:
Kiss Of Love

Sunday !

Hello Bangalore Action Heroes,

It's November. 

Action Heroes must get out and play.
November 9th is picnic day.
Timing - 12 noon until 3 pm

Location : Central Bangalore / will be shared when you confirm attending.

Bring along friend, your own water bottle, something to sit on,
scissors and a stack of old newspapers.

Pets are allowed and very welcome.

Don't be late. Picnics must not be missed.
Call us at 9886840612 and or email us blurtblanknoise@gmail.com 

Yours truly.
Blank Noise Team

In Case Of Domestic Violence : LEAVE

If you're feeling
Threatened
Small
Worthless
Unsafe
Unheard
Invisible
Bruised
Exhausted
Tired
Attacked
Burnt
Worthless
Invisible
Small
Unheard
Unseen
Blamed
Exhausted
Defending
Trying
Justifying
Over
and
Over
and
Over
and
Over again
Trying
Explaining
Justifying
Excusing
Allowing
Hoping
Wishing.
Justifying.

Leave.

Cycles
Circles
Cycles
Circles
Circles
Spinning
Cycles.
Circles.
Wishing
Hoping
Exhausted
Burnt
Blamed
Burnt
Raw
Burnt
Bitter
Burnt
Bruised.
Red.

Leave.

Attention Action Heroes Worldwide : Call To Volunteer/ Intern

We're on full gear preparing for the I  Never Ask For It campaign ; designed to tackle and arrest blame across spaces of sexual violence. 

With this we're creating a Global Action Hero Network. This is a call for new internships (duration 4 months) , and to volunteer (time involvement can be designed by you in collaboration with us)

• You can volunteer/ intern from where you are geographically located
• You are also welcome to work with us from our studio in Bangalore, India
• We can match your area of interest / skills with campaign requirements
• Last day for application October 15th
• We will get back to you by November 1st, 2014

Apply here to intern and or volunteer 

Please do write to us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com incase of any questions. 

If you have already volunteered with BN in the past and would like to re connect,  we would be thrilled to have you back!

There is no application criteria and we've been built 100% by Action Heroes, i.e you.

Do forward this to those interest, encourage people around you to apply. Yes we want Action Hero Grandmas to apply too!

We're currently particularly seeking individuals with an interest in video editing, sound editing, 

illustration, comics, communication design ( web and print) , programming, research , multi lingual skills, fund raising. 

Have stated that, one of our recent interns from Bangalore did none of the above, and chose to work with the police.

Another set of volunteers / Action Heroes include law students from Kolkata.  

A new Action Hero has moved to Bangalore from Norway and is taking the deep plunge into a participatory research project that is part of the campaign. We will be sharing internship and volunteer contributed projects shortly.

In solidarity,

Blank Noise Team 

* Wearing my label * I Never Ask For It #StandWithSuzette #ParkStreetGirl

Call To Action :

Kolkata citizens gathered opposite Ginger. Action Heroes at BN had prepared a secret action plan , which could not be executed due to the level of threat and policing organised by Ginger.
Take Back The Night, Kolkata had also called citizens to action at the venue.
Action Heroes, Shuktara Lal, Dana Roy and Sumona Chakravarty engaged with individuals gathered at the protest . We created labels as an attempt to own the label we wear, to turn the insult #ParkStreetGirl back as a strength instead. Cheering the three Action Heroes for intervening and reporting to action on such short notice! While the intervention wasn't as planned and scripted, the team of three worked around the many shifts of events that took place on the same evening ; for instance at 5 pm we heard that section144 had been imposed.

Shuktara Lal's report below:

photo credit: Sumona Chakravarty

photo credit : to be updated

Shuktara Lal:
I’ve never found it easy to claim access to public spaces in Calcutta as a woman. One of the many hurdles stacked up between my lived reality in the city and the city I would want it to be is the virtual impossibility of standing still. That is, standing still without being harassed whether verbally or physically. What I appreciated most about this intervention was that I was able to stand still on a fairly busy pavement for nearly half an hour – and I felt as if I could have done so even longer. The space I occupied was respected, my body language was respected, my spoken (or in this case written) message was respected too. It was my label which seemed to protect me and act as a kind of shield, separating passersby from me. Some of them glanced at my label (but not too many actually read the whole of it) and moved ever so slightly away from me as if to indicate a degree of wariness. Some, perhaps having already seen others wearing labels, slotted me as a member of a protest gathering and didn’t pay me much attention (the fact that the city at that time was protesting a number of different things was shared public knowledge; Calcutta can be a lot of things but one thing it always is, is aware of what its citizens may be protesting). However, everyone let me simply be, including shopkeepers with stores behind where I was standing. And because I can count the number of times I have been able to do that in my life, I stood still, took in the ambience around me and lapped it all up.

*

'We' have the right to protest. Be heard. To dissent. 

The protests organised by Take Back The Night and Blank Noise are both non violent and peaceful.
We have been told that Section 144 has been invoked, and there is risk involved in participating today. If you can make it, be there at Ginger, 7 pm, to join in a non violent and peaceful gathering.

For those who are not attending the collective action, we request you to share solidarity by uploading a self portrait, yes ‪#‎selfie‬ with your message on your t shirt. ‪#‎StandWithSuzette‬ 

Make that you fb profile photo tomorrow, through the week. Share this far and wide. Now.

How to prepare for a message on your t shirt:

1) " Park Street Girl " - I _____ ( add your name)


* choice 2 - the challenging one, but worth the effort 

2) Make your message personally relevant.
Think of your own label. How are you stereotyped? 
Are you, 'slut', 'single', 'good girl', 'cougar', 'divorcee' , 'unmarried', 'rape survivor', 'survivor of sexual assault' ( most of us are), ' gay', 'lesbian ', 'queer' , 'transgender' - identify your label and appropriate it on your t.


Example:
" Groped by my tuition teacher at age ____ " survivor of sexual assault
'DIVORCEE' - I walked out of my abusive marriage.
" I survived rape " - rape survivor
" Chakka' - Transgendered Citizen 


Selfie dates:  Sept 20th -  Sept 28th

Please use the following hashtags on twitter
#INeverAskForIt
#StandWithSuzette

Calling Kolkata Action Heroes:

Action Hero, Suzette Jordan

Suzette Jordan was denied entry at Ginger. The manager said she couldn't be allowed in because she is the 'Park Street Rape Victim'. Read more here

The victim blaming continues, it's easy. 
" She was drunk and made a commotion" (response from Ginger authority)
" She had an outstanding bill  (response from Ginger authority)
" She is attention seeking " (comments made online)

We are preparing a collective response  and need you with sleeves rolled , heart and in numbers.

Here's what we need for the secret plan of action
1. A plain tee shirt of any colour but not a dark shade ( yellow/ blue/ pink / orange / white )"
2. A permanent marker to write on the tshirt. Colour black.

Further details will be shared when we hear from you. Please note that this is a secret action plan and we can only disclose further as soon as we hear from you. Be there.

Action Heroe will join Take Back The Night team following the secret plan.
Please do email us asap at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

Thank you.
BN team

In solidarity with Suzette Jordan : Calling Kolkata Action Heroes

Suzette Jordon
Another humiliating moment in my life!!!! Was not allowed into a restaurant/pub! Known as. Ginger, Was told by the manager that being the 'PARK STREET RAPE VICTIM' he could not let me in, this was told to me reptedly by the rude manager who brazenly challenged me and added that I could even report his name.

As narrated to Harish Iyer on the phone:

"I was bored and wanted to go out. My fiance wanted to take me to a restaurant called Ginger in Hazra, Kolkata. I agreed and we decided to go there and chill. We parked and went close to the hotel. At the entrance itself I was told by some junior staff 'you cannot enter'. When I asked him for a justification he directed me to his manager. I went up to the manager and asked him for a valid reason to deny me an entry. He said sternly "we can't allow you because you are the Park Street rape victim". I was shocked and aghast. I couldn't believe what I just heard. I asked him again, he repeated again. My fiance stood there shocked but held on to me closely as a pillar of strength urging me to fight it out. The manager still repeated the same thing. He repeated the same 3 times. I almost felt like I was raped once again. There were some 20 odd people in queue to get in. All of them seemed in a hurry to eat,none of them intervened or even acted as if they heard anything. Humiliated beyond repair I stormed out and called a reporter friend from 24 Ghanta. When i narrated the complete incident to the reporter, they sent their OB van to shoot. A female reporter came to cover the incident. When she stormed near the entrance, another man came out, who I presume was the owner, and spoke rudely and indecently to her which she caught on camera {and this was shown all day today in the channel (14 September) } A kind police man saw the OB van and asked me to contact him if I needed help. He offered to intervene. I was too angry for anything that time. I am going to the police on Monday to register a complaint. May be I would be asked again "why did you take 2 days to report". Well, I was asked this question when I was gang raped, nothing in this country surprises me. Right from police stations, to court rooms to everyday life, we get raped again and again and again. There are some mute spectators who champion me when they see me on TV. I get many mails supporting me. I equally get hate mails too but I am happy that india did stand up with me when I spoke about it in national and international television. But in the end all the adulation has no meaning when you dont stand up at the time of abuse. I wonder why none of those people standing in queue stood up. The manager was rude, I wonder why his subordinates didn't speak up rather stood there listening and supporting the manager. I wonder how many rapes would this country take to finally stand up with survivors. I am truly angry" - Suzette Jordan

To Action Heroes in Kolkata:

We are preparing a collective response to the above and need you with sleeves rolled , heart and in numbers.

Things we need:
We need you to be 'prepared' with a white shirt/ yellow shirt / any light coloured Tee and a permanent marker to enable this act. For those of you in Kolkata, please confirm and or email us blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

For those interested, email us right away : blurtblanknoise@gmail.com 

fb event here

Recent media updates:

IBN live

100 % Action Hero Response

YES!I am a Woman.I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??
— Finding Fanny (@deepikapadukone) September 14, 2014

Compliment is that which can make you feel respected. It carries the capacity to elevate.

To Times Of India

Your Attention Please

This is NOT a compliment.