The phrase violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, which it is sometimes considered this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive.
The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself.
Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. A UN resolution designated 25 November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Poem written by Seye La Poet, Olulu, Kemistry, Arch Angel, Atilola and Titilayo.
Poem was compiled/ synchronized by Atilola
Executive Producers: Stephen Oshilaja Media Production and i2X Media Company Limited.
I can’t tell
my friends or family; who would believe me?
I can’t tell
the police, they will only mock me.
I am that girl
who people describe as little;
But you really
don’t have a clue what I’ve been through.
The ones who
are supposed to protect me;
End up taking
advantage of me.
At sixteen I
was called a pretty teen;
But daily I
deal with low self-esteem.
Used and
abused by the ones I look up to;
I being
pushed, and might take my life if it comes to.
Marriage was
supposed to be my sweet haven;
Nothing else
to compare except God’s Holy Heaven.
But in the
arms of the one I truly loved;
I suffer the
pain of his fist as thick as gloves.
And when he is
not hitting me;
He speaks
uncaring cold hearted words, stinging me.
For better
fore worse was the vow I took;
But better
remains oblivious,
As this
journey keeps growing worse.
I am that
woman next door;
We even go to
the same market, in the same bus;
I am that girl
in your classroom;
Who you think
is being pompous in your point of view;
I am the
little girl in the playground;
All by myself,
ensuring no boy is around.
I yearn to
tell my story
That justice
would take the glory
But will you
accept back in society
And not point
your fingers back at me….
I beckon on
you;
Come to my
rescue.
Help tell my
story;
That justice
would take the glory.
Else I'll cry;
till I have no more tears in my eyes.
by Daniel Ikekhuah
Word Up Volume 6 is scheduled for November 23, 2013at Terra Kulture, V/Island, Lagos, with the theme, "Stop the violence." The event theme is centered around the United Nation’s
“International day for the elimination of violence against women.”
Enough is Enough..
If it is true love.. then u say it to my face.Cos all I need is one love.. Tuface .
Just the other day I saw on CNN, I hide face..
CHIDI was d violence..
so Lloyd used d mace..
u say one word.
I say change..
I am not afraid..
Don't u know.. I am "rage"..
I may be deranged ; but I still wage.. wage wars..
war of words.
I am not the spoken word.
I only speak change through words... Time we sheathe our swords , guns,
bombs and be born, reborn, buildings true bonds of freedom.
We all are freeborn.
U maybe young, lazy..
But u cannot be forever young ..Jay z
still chasing wrong..since history..
Posterity will never seize to judge us.. until we stop and change course:
"off course"..
I have a dream..
I dream to live..
I dream to live my dream.
to be king: "Martin Luther"
King without a crown..
crown him king we deed ..Indeed..
for our sufferings;
offering even his on life..
life less he now is but less life we even shall be should we not rise and speak.
If u speak change,
then u must bring change..
If u want change ..
then u must change..
Do not change yourself,
Be "Change" itself..
Rise up and speak..
Be the change u seek..
Still raging , still waging wars
"war of words"
I am still "Rage"..
A Poetry Slam is a competitive event where poets
perform their own poetry on stage. Performances are judged on how much the poem
moves the audience.
During open slams, poets perform one piece of original work that
will be scored 1-10 by five different judges, dropping the lowest and highest
score. Before the first competing poet, there is a ‘sacrificial poet’, who
performs to warm up the judges scoring. After the first round, low scores are
eliminated and the top few poets slam again. Eventually, two poets are left in
the finals.
Slam poets pour their hearts and souls on stage while
communicating their deepest thoughts. Some slams are powerful enough to change
perspectives and they never fail to include a line or two that gives you
goosebumps.
There are many styles of slam poets ranging from “ranting
hipsters, freestyle rappers, bohemian drifters, proto-comedians, mystical
shamans to gothy punks” as described by Slam master, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz.
You never hear the same poem twice or the same side of an issue.
So, what does it take to be a slam poet? One thing and one thing
only: honest expression. Express your emotions, express your thoughts, and
express the glimpses of your life your willing to share.
Helpful Slam Tips
·You don’t need to rhyme words as much. In a slam poetry the
pauses and pronunciations of your words create the rhythm and that rhythm
creates poetry.
·Be fully honest with yourself. Get down to the core of your
emotions, even the little things you might not want to except. Poetry is a
strong catalyst for self-awareness.
·Some slams are more like raps while others are more like
speeches; it’s all how you feel and what your mind, heart, and body is artfully
expressing.
A Slam Poem
A poet leaks part of his soul into a book, words brimming with
life,
Vibrant and alive,
Trying to speak but sealed between pages never to depart
But still waiting to arrive
Waiting to be told , because every time we write these words
we hear how they want to be spoken,
And when we speak them,
They create a symphony of expression
Our souls compose and ours lyrics are our lessons
See when you slam,
Your mind becomes a storyteller,
Your body a dancer,
And your heart a jazz musician,
All trying to communicate the messages of your soul
Sharing
that symphony with someone is something to behold.
Life wife strife Strive Hive Five Surive Well, just trying my rhyming skills, but its not about me, its about El-Karis as he tells us his view on life. #WarOfWords - Life by El-Karis Kbeat Ipinmoroti
LIFE- can anyone define it
we know not what its all about we only know who designed it
the quest to know the answer is the reason am writting
so many findings has been done ultimatesearch couldnt find it
ya.now to the issue of the day
why are we born if we are still going to die anyway?
why do we smile if we are still going to cry anyway?
and why do we cry if we are still going to smile anyways?
i guess life should be called a two way traffic
cos u either sell or u buy
u either smile or u cry
u say the truth or u lie
u either live or u die.
now some people are born poor for no fault of theirs
nobody sends them and no one really cares
while others are born into fortune and inherited shares
IS THIS FAIR
they say the only place to find ultimate peace is in the grave
its applicable to everyone,rich or poor it remains desame
human wants are unlimited,one goes another comes in
demn,another comes in.
atimes i wonder why we worry about things we cant change
Tolu Agbelusi is a performance poet with an uplifting message delivered in a heartfelt manner that engages across generational divides. She speaks about the human condition with an endearing sincerity. More of her poems can be found on her blog http://poetic-echos.blogspot.co.uk
Time and time
again, you have justified your reason for leaving our fatherland. Or is it
motherland? You said it is because you want to give your children a better life
and opportunity than you had. We accepted your reason, as looking at the
current state of our nation, we see every validity in your reason. And we did
not trouble you or hassle you over that decision.
Just like we
did not hassle you over this decision, we would like you to reciprocate this
gesture by not hassling us over our decision to stay back.
Dear NID, I
have noticed that the way you talk about issues pertaining to our country is
far different from the way we here take it. Have you ever wondered why the tone
of your comments about this country is far different from the tones of the Nigerians
in Nigeria? Once there is a tragic event, you have a way of blowing it over the
top, exaggerating, and wondering what our dear country is turning to. If only
you reacted this way to every good thing that happened in our country, maybe
the western world won’t always present a single story about us in their press.
Your comments
of “I can never send my children to Nigeria on a holiday because they would
either be robbed, kidnapped or used for rituals,” doesn’t really sound
encouraging, especially as you have never suggested one solution to this
problem we are facing. Please tell me, what percentage of the ones who came
here during last holiday were subject to this cruel fate you imagine?
But Dear NID,
I begin to wonder
Why are you
always the ones to point out just how bad our country is to us, as if we are
too blind to see it?
Why are you
the ones that always hammer on the fact that we here are the stupidly religious
ones? That we all follow our pastors like blind fools? Please, let the people that
want to buy jets for their pastors do so. As you have tied your hope to the
white man giving you a better life, they have also tied their hope to their
pastors giving them miracles, since many of them would never have the
opportunity to leave this side of the world. After all, they learnt it from the
numerous pastors in America, who also bought private jets from money they got
from televangelism and offerings too. Our pastors still have a long way to go
when it comes to acquiring private jets.
Why are you
always the first to mention how you don't see Nigeria ever getting better, how
you lost hope in Nigeria a long time ago? We know about your lost hope, your
exit already tells us that much.
Why are you
the ones who dismiss songs of hope in Nigeria, such as Great Nation by Timi
Dakolo, The Future is here by TY Bello, etc. as wishful thinking? Just because
you have lost hope in our country doesn’t mean you should try to kill the hope
of those left.
You have
left, fine! Your children and grandchildren would probably never visit Nigeria
in their life time, fine! We don’t have an issue with that, it’s your family,
you can do whatever you like with them. You have said over and over again how
you don’t care for Nigeria and her issues anymore. Yes, we get that. Since that
is the case, we expect you to follow suit with your words, and really NOT care
again, by forgetting that Nigeria exists in your dictionary. Or does the fact
that you can’t stop talking and complaining about Nigeria despite the fact that
you claim not to care really mean that your ‘care-less’ statements are not
true? Selah
Dear NID, you
should know that not all of us have the opportunity to leave like you, and even
when some of us do, we just don't want to. We have chosen to stay. We were not
forced to stay, we chose to. Live with your choice and let us live with ours.
Dear NID,
even if you have stopped believing in Nigeria, and do not see yourself ever
returning here, can you please stop asking us to do the same? Can you please,
stop expecting us to stop hoping that we would get better, just because you
stopped hoping? Cos unfortunately, some of us have nowhere else to go, and no
matter how many people leave, some of us here still have to stay back, and make
Nigeria good again.
Dear NID, you
forget that when your family is bad, and you choose to run to another family
because they are good, it won’t solve the problem of the ‘badness’ of your
family. Your family will still be bad. Selah
Dear NID, why
is it that whenever I ask you about the solution to this country you claim you
do not care about, but can never stop talking about, you tell me the only
solution is to split? Unity or splitting - which of the options would cost
more? Are you ready to sacrifice the remaining family you left here to the
unavoidable bloodshed that would happen if your splitting fantasies ever became
a reality (no pun intended)? Wait no, you would move all of them out of the
country and make them fellow NIDs like you - another fantasy that would never
become a reality, thanks to the white man that would rather die than see that
happen.
Nigeria is a
big menace and it is like a time bomb waiting to explode, with the injustice,
corruption, insecurities, and other negative nouns I would not even bother to
mention, but rather leave for the political bloggers and writers to deal with.
One thing we know is this, in no way would leaving the country ever solve all
the migraine-generating problems of our country. But as we have said before, we
don’t have any problem with the choice you made. After all, there is the fight
or flight approach to be taken in any battle. You chose the flight, while we
chose the former.
It is okay
that you have decided to have as little as possible to do with us, but please,
live and let live. Don’t tell me to shut up when I say something good can still
come out of Nigeria – I will still say it. Don’t try to take away the hope we
have left with your comments of how failed and hopeless we are. Hoping in this
k-leg country of ours is very difficult, and we should be encouraged and
commended for doing so. In the face of the unexplainable nonsense our leaders
put us through in this country, our hope is honestly the only thing we have.
Take that away from us, and we had better started committing suicide because a
hopeless person is a walking-dead.
And if you
are a NID because your parents stole our commonwealth, sent you out to have a
better life, and you in turn, pay us back by trying to kill our spirit with
your hope-sucking statements, thereby making me spend time to write this letter
which would most likely generate comments I would rather not deal with my way,
well… since I have no power to do anything to you, I leave you for God to
judge. That is not because I am meek like Moses, it is because I really have no
power to do anything to you – at least, for now.
Dear NID, in
spite of all the nonsense happening in every sector of the country, you can
call me deluded, but I still say Nigeria has a great future. Okay, I said it
come and flog me. Oh I forgot, you would have to come down to Nigeria to do
that.
Dear NID, I
think I should stop here for now, as I strongly suspect that I am beginning to
ramble.
Up to now, we have read how Mankind has a natural affinity for poetry which began since ancient times and how this form of expression helps the development of language skills. But, even though poetry is such a wonderful tool to lighten up children’s minds, many teachers would argue that it seems to elicit the most groans from students. How can this be? If we want our students to understand that poetry brings them to a deeper understanding, we need to find meaningful ways to engage them with poetry.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that all children, at least until adolescence, are natural poets.”
How does poetry help 21st century literacy?
Literacy is the ability to read and write proficiently. For the last thousand years, men and women have written on and read printed pages; this was the preferred medium. But now to excel in literacy, people not only must be able to read and write on a piece of paper they also have to be skillful in the use of technology. How can poetry help?
Poetry helps Literacy in two important ways.
First, it improves children’s language skills:
·“A focus on oral language development through the reading and performing of poetry acknowledges that sound is meaning. When we hear the sound of the words in a poem read aloud, we gain a better understanding of the meaning of the writing.
·Attention to the language and rhythms of a poem serves to expand oral and written vocabulary.
·Students express the kinds of connections to feelings and senses that they experience.
·Poetry supports the multiple goals of literary development, including making inferences, identifying the main idea, making judgments and drawing conclusions, clarifying and developing points of view, and making connections.” (Hughes, 2007)
Secondly, it gives children material that can be put in multiple technological platforms because poetry is a very versatile art form. It is not only meant to be read aloud but also to jump up from the page so the audience may engage with it. Technology makes this very easy.
“Consider a group of students in an Ontario school who used Corel Presentations to create a Seuss-like poem for a class project. The students combined sound/music, text, and images to synthesize their ideas. In one student’s words, not only was the project “fun” but students were able to “see poetry differently” when they created their poems on screen. The use of new media adds multiple layers of meaning and interpretation of a poem in ways that are not available with a conventional textual format”. (Hughes, 2007)
"Poetry reflects on the quality of life, on us as we are in process on this earth, in our lives, in our relationships, in our communities."
