‘We Are Rising’: Playwright Eve Ensler Talks Activism, Art And How To Create The World We Want

At a time when we need bold leaders who are willing to courageously speak the truth, push against the status quo and use their voice and platform to uplift and inspire others, as well as conjure up creative strategies for transformative change, we need to look no further than award-winning playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who has been doing just that her whole career and in 2020 has put forth a global call to “Raise the Vibration.” Ensler’s groundbreaking play The Vagina Monologues has been translated into 140 languages and inspired the creation of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence), which has raised over 120 million dollars for anti-violence programs around the world and staged events in over 200 countries since its launch on Valentine’s Day 1998. 

With Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Denis Mukwege and activist Christine Schuler-Deschryver, Ensler co-founded City of Joy—a transformational leadership community for women survivors of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is owned and run by local Congolese. She has also created One Billion Rising, the biggest annual mass action to end violence against women in history.  

Last year, Ensler released her incredibly powerful and moving book The Apology, in which she candidly chronicles years of childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse by her father, and writes from her father’s point of view the apology she always needed to hear. The inspiring message she hopes to convey is one that can provide healing and transformation for both those who have been abused and those who have abused.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ensler—a longtime friend and fellow activist whom I have known since the beginning days of V-Day—about the significance of V-Day’s “Raise the Vibration” theme, her hopes for this year’s campaign, what she sees as the way forward in the wake of #MeToo, her advice on leadership, how to stay strong and centered in these challenging times, her call to action and more. 

Marianne Schnall: Happy V-Day! What a treat to talk to you on this magical day that you transformed. The theme for V-Day and One Billion Rising in 2020 is “Raise the Vibration.” What is the significance of that theme and what do you hope to inspire by it?

Eve Ensler: Well, it’s really exciting to see how beautifully the theme has resonated with so many of our activists around the world. We are living in really treacherous times. We’re seeing the catastrophic impact of climate crisis in fires, volcanoes, droughts, floods, the rise of fascism, white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, hatred of immigrants, hatred of LGBTQ, workers’ rights being undermined. There is so much fear and hatred and division being generated by so many in power. Undermining of democracy, law, legitimization and normalization of corruption, a morbid inequality of wealth and power that is devastating.

I think our work right now is to raise that vibration so that we catalyze the energy, the hope, the collective sense that it is possible not only to resist the fear and demoralization but also, more importantly, to bring in a new world and way in the face of this prevailing darkness. That’s where art comes in—dance, music, poetry. It raises the vibration. It lifts spirits and builds solidarity and brings people back into their bodies. It’s just been beautiful to see thousands of risings in 180 countries—small villages in Africa, snowy towns in the Midwest of America, beach towns in Mexico, the streets of Delhi, Dhaka, Vienna, Berlin, Warsaw, etcetera. Youth and women and men dancing and moving—trans women, women of different abilities, every race and ethnicity rising to end violence against all women and girls and our Mother Earth. Rising to say restaurant workers should have one fair wage and not be dependent on tips as that leads to more sexual abuse. Rising to end sex trafficking, rising to stop indigenous lands from being mined or drilled, rising for rice. Youth rising for an end to climate crisis, for education, for a future.

“Our work right now is to raise that vibration so that we catalyze the energy, the hope, the collective sense that it is possible not only to resist the fear and demoralization but also, more importantly, to bring in a new world and way in the face of this prevailing darkness. That’s where art comes in.”

MS: Right now we need all forms of activism we can get—voting, protesting, whatever it is. But there’s something about what you do with V-Day every year that includes these other expressions with theater, music, art, poetry and dance. Why do you think they are such powerful means of activism? I think a lot of times people think activism means being very strident and that it’s hard, but there’s joy that is also a part of your movement.

EE: Well, I think joy is so powerful. Joy fills us and fuels us and connects us. I think when you’re in your body, when you’re connected to your community, when you’re feeling alive and dancing madly with 5000 people at the Brandenburg Gate, you begin to feel that anything is possible. You find your strength, and your imagination begins to be catalyzed. Art has the capacity to dissolve binaries and open up our humanity. 

 MS: You have been working for many, many decades to end violence against women and girls, so you have the long perspective on this. We’re currently living in this aftermath of #MeToo, which was a very major cultural tipping point in terms of awareness and a call for change. What do you see as a necessary next phase of this movement in terms of where did we come from and where do we go from here?

EE: I think everything is a continuum. I mean, #MeToo grew out of 70 years of this movement to end violence against women. We’ve made real strides. We’ve called men out. We’ve told our stories, broken the silence. I think finally we know, after many years, that violence against women is the mother issue. One out of three women on the planet will be beaten or raped in her lifetime—that’s a billion women. Women have done our work. Now men have to change.

One of the reasons I wrote The Apology was that I started to read and listen to all these different men who have been called out in recent times, to see articles they were writing afterward, to see what they were saying. And I realized none of them were actually owning their behavior, examining themselves, thinking about their victims, making apologies. Actually I could not find one public apology by a man for sexual or physical abuse—not in recent times, not in history. I started thinking, well, this non-apology must be pretty central to what’s sustaining patriarchy. In fact it must be a column of patriarchy.

I waited my whole life for my father to apologize to me for sexually and physically abusing me. I finally decided to write the apology letter from him to me that I needed to hear. It was a profound experience, but it was also a real teaching about what I think a lot of women need to hear in order to get free. And that apology is layered and it’s a sacred commitment and it requires time and it requires self-interrogation and self-reflection, and how are we going to create the processes and the mechanisms and the catalyst for men to want to do that?

 MS: The Apology was so incredibly powerful and important. What insights did writing the book and touring with it give you about the role that men can play in stopping violence against women? 

EE: Well, first of all, men are creating the violence against women. It’s their issue. It’s never been our issue. I mean, the fact that women took it on was just a great act of generosity. It turns out we don’t rape ourselves. This is a men’s issue. So if men do not take this on, we’re going to be locked into this for as long as the climate crisis allows us to be here. 

But this tour with The Apology has given me hope. I have met so many men who are looking for way to reckon with their past behavior, who want to change, who want to make apologies. I am hoping this will be the beginning of that process for them. It is the next step where they begin the work of investigating themselves, what is at the core of their family, of the culture, of their upbringing that allowed them to behave the way they did to women. To own and account for the details of what they have actually done. To look and feel the impact of their behavior on their victims. And then, of course, to take responsibility for what they have done and make amends. This four-step process can be used by men everywhere.

“To me, effective leadership is inspiring everyone around you to be a leader.”

MS: You have been a visionary leader in this space for so many decades and really forged your own unique style and path. What have you learned about what it takes to be an effective leader, and what advice do you have for women on developing their own leadership abilities?

EE: It’s really a good question because I’m always wary about what people think about power, you know? To me, effective leadership is inspiring everyone around you to be a leader. I look at City of Joy. Every six months we graduate 90 new women, and each of those women has gone from being a victim to a survivor to a leader. And when they go home to their communities, they then become leaders in those communities and really encourage other women to come forward to tell their stories, to come to City of Joy, to break the silence, but also really leading in their communities about how to build community and how to come out of poverty and end violence against women.

And to me, it’s a perfect example of what leadership is. We have amazing leaders at City of Joy, beginning with Christine Schuler Deschryver who is the director, and there are spiraling circles of leadership. Everyone is invested in endowing and embodying each woman at City of Joy to find their voice, their passion, their strength to become a leader. There’s no top of a circle. It’s rotating power—energy which inspires creativity, ideas and builds collective and shared responsibility. 

MS: How do you keep yourself centered and sane amongst all the craziness of the current moment? And with all we’re up against, how do you keep up your energy and stamina to do this work and continue to derive your courage and strength?

EE: Well, I get enormous strength from being in a movement with sisters around the world. I have been working with most of the women in this movement for 15 to 20 years, so I know them really well and I love them dearly. When they rise, I rise. When they’re in a struggle, I’m with them in the struggle. I get enormous energy when I see Agnes [Pareyio], for example, over the course of twelve years go from an activist who was once exiled in her community for teaching about Female Genital Mutilation to being the head of the FGM commission in Kenya. It’s mind-blowing to me, and I can give you example after example of women who have had those kind of victories working day after day on a grassroots level. Their victories are my victories and a source of great energy. 

I get incredible energy from writing books and plays and being in the theater and putting work into the world that hopefully inspires people, provokes people, moves people.

I also get an enormous amount of sustenance living in nature and being so deeply connected to trees and water and birds and animals. And a lot of time, it’s as simple as breathing or moving my body. Dancing, meditating. 

“I get enormous strength from being in a movement with sisters around the world. When they rise, I rise. When they’re in a struggle, I’m with them in the struggle.”

MS: You just mentioned living in nature, and you had written this really beautiful piece called “My Apology to the Earth” that was so moving. And I know that you recently attended a Fire Drill Fridays protest in December with your good friend and V-Day board member, Jane Fonda. What do you think it is going to take to create awareness and the necessary shift needed to address the threats to our planet, and what can we all do about it?

EE: You know, I think it is the number one question. One of the things we’ve done at V-Day is we’ve changed our mission, so it’s now ending violence against all women and girls and Mother Earth because we don’t see them as separate struggles. How we treat the body of women is often how we treat the body of the earth. We don’t honor and cherish women and the earth. We invade and pillage and take without consent. We don’t think of the future impact of our violence. 

I wrote “My Apology to the Earth” because I truly feel remorseful about how long it took me to actually see the earth, to know her, to cherish her. I lived in the city most of my life. And I realize that if we don’t love the earth and understand there is no separation between us—that she sustains us and generously feeds us and provides us air and water and beauty and everything we need to survive—if we don’t know this, we won’t be motivated to truly fight to protect her.

MS: What is your call to action for women today?

EE: Defy gravity. Stand up for what you really believe. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here.

MS: In these concerning times that we’re living in, what makes you hopeful?

EE: This day. V-Day makes me hopeful. One Billion Rising makes me hopeful. I was literally sitting there last night with Susan Celia Swan (V-Day/One Billion Rising Executive Director) until 1:00 in the morning watching all of the risings coming in from across the planet. We were just crying. To see humanity at its best. To see the months and months of preparation all these activists have gone through in their towns and their villages and their cities, to organize, to plan, to do outreach, to make t-shirts, to design posters, to set up their stages and get permits. All the weeks of rehearsing, practicing their dances.

And then to see the glorious way people are occupying squares and auditoriums and town halls and churches where they’re bringing their best energy, their best energy, to try to shift what’s going on. That gives me so much hope. And to see the women rising where it’s dangerous, where it’s outlawed and they could be arrested, and they’re still rising. To see thousands of radiant beings committed to raising the vibration in their community so that the vibratory energy field of the entire planet soars into a higher, more loving, more revolutionary gear.

 For more information visit V-Day, One Billion Rising and City of Joy.

Marianne Schnall is a widely-published interviewer and journalist and author of What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?, Leading the Way, and Dare to Be You. She is also the founder of Feminist.com and What Will It Take Movements.