After the Kwa-Zulu Natal COP meeting in June the students decided to have a national day of action. The idea of having a Pride march was inspired by the Kwa-Zulu Natal universities (MUT and UniZULU) which had never had a pride march. Initially it was supposed to be 9 universities coming together, however, due to financial constraints the KZN universities were no longer able to join. Institutions present were University of the Witswaterand’s, University of Free State, University of Mpumalanga, North-West University (Vaal campus), Vaal University of Technology, Tshwane University of Technology and University of Pretoria(Transformation Office, #SpeakOutUP, CSA & G, JustLeaders and Tuks UP&OUT).

The Theme for this year’s protest was Remembrance, Healing and Solidarity beyond

performance.

The reason for this theme is because we want this year’s protest to be a space where we:

1. remember those who we have lost to GBV, remember those who were brave enough

to speak out and where we remember those names we have not heard of.

2. Heal by sharing our experiences and speaking out in a safe space.

3. Stand in solidarity with those who self-identify as survivors, stand in solidarity with

those who do not identify as survivors and stand in solidarity with those whose names

we have not heard of.

The objectives of the protest were:

1. Raise awareness on the problem of rape and gender-based violence in universities and

in South Africa

2. Encourage victims to speak about their experiences in this safe space and other spaces

where they feel supported.

3. Raise awareness on what solidarity beyond social media looks and feels like

4. Raising awareness on what rape culture and rape apologia looks like

It was planned to be a Pride march in conjunction with a solidarity protest against rape, homophobic rape, and sexual violence in our universities. This marrying of a pride march and a solidarity demonstration against rape, homophobic rape and sexual violence in our universities is in line with our beliefs that:

Queerphobia is an issue which cannot be divorced from the greater advocacy work around GBV as Queerphobia is GBV (The motivations behind Queerphobia may not be the same but its manifestations are the same as any other form of GBV and in most cases Queerphobia manifests itself as several forms of GBV). There is a call for student activism that is intersectional, united, non-partisan and historical in its approach to combating GBV.