Eve Ensler

Eve-ensler
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    “There is a Women’s Spring Beginning”: Playwright Eve Ensler and Congolese Activist Christine Schuler Deschryver on Gender Violence in Congo

    June 07, 2011 | Story

    A newly published study in the American Journal of Public Health estimates more than two million women have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2006. But women’s advocates say there is also positive news coming from the DRC. The group V-Day, a global movement to stop all forms of gender-based violence, recently held the opening ceremony for the City of Joy, a groundbreaking new community that will be run by women survivors of gender violence in the Congo. We speak with V-Day founder, Eve Ensler, the bestselling author and playwright behind The Vagina Monologues, about gender violence in DRC. We are also joined Christine Schuler Deschryver, director of V-Day Congo and the City of Joy, about the growing number of rape prosecutions in DRC. “The Congolese women are taking their power, because we told them that they don’t have to be ashamed for these rapes. The ones who are doing it have to be ashamed,” says Schuler Deschryver. We also ask Ensler about the growing rate of violence against women in Haiti and get her reaction to the sexual assault charges filed against former International Monetary Fund director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. [includes rush transcript]

  • "Eve Ensler: Bald, Brave and Beautiful." By Amy Goodman

    September 01, 2010 | Blog Post

    Bald, brave and beautiful: Those words can’t begin to capture the remarkable Eve Ensler. She sat down with me last week, in the midst of her battle with uterine cancer, to talk about New Orleans and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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    Swimming Upstream: Eve Ensler Marks Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with Performances of New Play

    August 26, 2010 | Story

    The award-winning playwright Eve Ensler plans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by staging performances of her new work Swimming Upstream in New Orleans and New York City. The piece was written by sixteen women from New Orleans who describe surviving the flood and living through the aftermath of the storm, which permanently changed their city and many of their lives. [includes rush transcript]

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    Eve Ensler Reads "Congo Cancer: My Cancer Is Arbitrary. Congo’s Atrocities Are Very Deliberate"

    August 26, 2010 | Story

    Earlier this year, award-winning playwright and bestselling author Eve Ensler was diagnosed with uterine cancer. In a widely read article in The Guardian newspaper of London titled "Congo Cancer," Ensler writes about her illness and relates it to the widespread violence against women in Congo. "The atrocities committed against the people of Congo are not arbitrary, like my cancer. They are systematic, strategic and intentional," she writes. [includes rush transcript]

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    UN Slow to Respond to Gang Rape of Almost 200 Women in the Congo

    August 26, 2010 | Story

    Aid groups reported last week that Rwandan and Congolese rebels took over villages in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and gang-raped almost 200 women and five young boys. The rapes occurred between July 30 and August 3, within miles of a United Nations peacekeeping base. A joint UN human rights team has now confirmed the rapes of 154 women. [includes rush transcript]

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    V-Day Founder Eve Ensler on "I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World"

    February 26, 2010 | Story

    Eve Ensler has made it her lifelong mission to end violence against women and girls. The founder of V-Day and the bestselling author and playwright behind The Vagina Monologues, her latest book is a collection of fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls. It’s called I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World. [includes rush transcript]

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    Haitian Feminist Leader Myriam Merlet (1953-2010)

    January 19, 2010 | Story

    We end today’s show with the sad news of the passing of Haitian political activist Myriam Merlet. She died under the rubble of her home after it collapsed on her last week. Myriam Merlet was the Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Women and an outspoken feminist who helped draw international attention to the use of rape as a political weapon. We speak with playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who knew Myriam very well, and air video of Myriam speaking in 2008 at V-Day. [includes rush transcript]

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    Playwright, V-Day Founder Eve Ensler and Congolese Gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege Raise Awareness on War on Women in DRC

    February 09, 2009 | Story

    Tens of thousands of women have been brutally raped
    in the DRC as part of an ongoing internal conflict. We speak with playwright and V-Day founder Eve Ensler and Congolese gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of one of the only hospitals that treats victims of rape and mutilation. Dr. Mukwege has helped over 21,000 women in the past decade and was named "African of the Year" by a Nigerian newspaper last month. [includes rush transcript]

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    V to the Tenth: Thousands of Women Gather in New Orleans for 10th Anniversary of Global Movement to Combat Violence Against Women

    April 11, 2008 | Story

    Democracy Now! broadcasts from New Orleans, where thousands of women are gathering to celebrate the tenth anniversary of V-Day, the global movement to combat sexual violence against women and children. V-Day began a decade ago when playwright and activist Eve Ensler held the first benefit performance of her award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues. This weekend, Ensler is organizing a two-day celebration at the Superdome called "V to the Tenth." Its focus is on helping the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South. We speak with activists from New Orleans, Kenya and Iraq. [includes rush transcript]

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    On Tenth Anniversary of V-Day, Vagina Monologues Playwright Eve Ensler Focuses on Violence Against Women in New Orleans and Gulf South

    February 15, 2008 | Story

    Playwright and activist Eve Ensler discusses the ten-year anniversary of the first benefit performance of her award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues, to spread awareness about violence against women and girls. Every year, "V-Day" has focused on women’s struggles from a different part of the world. This year the focus is on the women of the Gulf South, with a major event planned in New Orleans on April 11th and 12th. [includes rush transcript]