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In Memoriam: Haitian Feminist Leader and V-Day Activist Myriam Merlet, Eve on Democracy Now talking about Myriam

01/19/2010

One year after the earthquake that changed Haiti forever, V-Day remembers those who were lost, and honors those who have worked tirelessly since the devastation to take care of their brothers and sisters and hold their communities together. We remember with love our sister and V-Day activist Myriam Merlet. As we forge ahead in our work, we think of her limitless spirit and vision.

We are thrilled to have chosen "The Women and Girls of Haiti" as the 2011 Spotlight Campaign. During the 2011 V-Season, activists in over 1,500 locations around the world will present a new monologue written by Eve Ensler, which will raise awareness about the increased violence against women and girls in post-earthquake Haiti, and will raise funds to support V-Day's efforts on the ground.

In Memoriam:
Myriam Merlet
Haitian Feminist Leader and V-Day Activist
1956-2010

Myriam Merlet, the Chief of Staff of the Ministry for Women in Haiti, perished in the earthquake in Port Au Prince. She was trapped in her home and passed away before she could be rescued. Like many who sought exodus from poverty and repression, she fled Haiti in the 1970's. After a politically active life in the Haitian Diaspora, Myriam returned to Haiti with her young family in 1986. As both a political activist and professional, Myriam remained committed to the process of social and political change in Haiti. Myriam is also a published author on women's rights, race and gender issues.

V-Day met Myriam in 2001 when she first requested to bring the V-Day movement to Haiti. Despite riots and coups, she brought The Vagina Monologues to the women and girls of Port Au Prince, raising the issue of violence against women and girls in a region where women suffer some of the worst poverty and gender-based-violence in the world. Myriam was a force of nature and one of Haiti and the Caribbean's most beloved leaders of the women's movement. As a true Vagina Warrior she was an integral part of creating the V-Day Haiti Sorority Safe House in Port Au Prince. She has been with V-Day through our small victories and our biggest moments, from building the safe house in Haiti, to joining thousands of women and men from all over the world in New Orleans for V TO THE TENTH. She was a leader, a warrior, a mother, and a friend. And she will be greatly missed by V-Day, and her fellow activists all over the world.

"She was one of the most humble, devoted, committed, brilliant, loving women. She was a revolutionary and a visionary and had the hugest heart. And she was fun. She inspired many and lifted many and I am grateful beyond words to have known her and been in this struggle with her. And now, all of us must commit ourselves to Haiti, to women, to their future with all our hearts."

-Eve Ensler

"I look at things through the eyes of women, very conscious of the roles, limitations, and stereotypes imposed on us. Everything I do is informed by that consciousness. So I want to get to a different concept and application of power than the one that keeps women from attaining their full potential...The basis of my work with women is to open them up to other things, give them new tools, give them new capabilities...give women the opportunity to grow..."

"The More People Dream," by Myriam Merlet, excerpt from Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance.
Continue reading here >

CONTINUE MYRIAM'S LEGACY AND SUPPORT HER SISTERS IN HAITI

DONATE to the V-Day Safe House in Haiti >

HOST a Haiti Teach-In >

PRODUCE a V-Day Benefit and Spotlight Haiti >

READ Eve’s 2011 Haiti Spotlight Monologue >

View Myriam Merlet Photo Gallery >

WATCH Eve speak about Myriam and Haiti on Democracy Now! >