What Catherine Said About: Chime for Change

"Women have a voice, a voice that can't be stopped"

-Jada Pinkett Smith 

Chime for Change was one of the most epic experiences of my life, the music was amazing and one of my dreams came true when I got to see Beyonce perform. However, the show was so much more than an exploration of musical talent, women came together to make a change in the world. 

As I have mentioned previously I'm a keen fund-raiser and any opportunity to be part of a charitable event I am there, which is why this concert struck a cord with me. After trying and failing to get tickets to the Mrs Carter Show I felt like I would never get to see her, but then this concert came about and in my opinion, was a million times better than any other show I could have gone to. First off, it was £20 cheaper than The Mrs Carter Show, but also the whole ticket cost went to a charity of your choice. Not only that, but as well as Beyonce headlining, there were performances from Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding, J-Lo, Haim, John Legend and many more as well as appearances from James Franco (BABE), Jessica Chastain, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Madonna, Jada Pinkett Smith, Salma Hayek and loads of others!

Through out the show there were videos for the different causes you could use your ticket to support, as well as videos showing the pure passion of women and the strength we all have and must use to enforce equality. 

One video that stuck in my mind was one that told the story of a young woman from the UK who had been walking home one night and had been groped by a man in between her legs. She was shocked by the violation and inspired to set up @EverydaySexism a twitter page where women can post their experiences. The video is below and shows the complete lack of respect that exits, but seems totally accepted. Please watch:

           

A powerful video, donate here.

That's just one of the hundreds of worthy causes ticket holders could donate to, and one of the many inspirational films that were shown that night.

UK viewers who watched the "highlights" on BBC One on Saturday night may note that you didn't see this. In fact you saw very little. 

The BBC did a horrendous job of covering the event, advertised as "Beyonce and Friends" in some listings, it showed just an hour of the four hour long concert only showing some musical acts and none of the guest speakers apart from Madonna. They showed none of the campaign videos, viewers could be forgiven for thinking that this was just another summer concert like The Big Weekend, rather than a charity gala run by the same people who did Live 8. 

It has made me so angry that the BBC didn't give the concert proper coverage. In the country it is being hosted we are given the least amount of TV coverage. Here's the broadcast summary just to show the horrific correlation between the coverage in the UK and that of the rest of the world: 

Africa – MNET
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea (Including Malabo), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria Principe Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome, St. Helena, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe

Australia – 10 - Live

American Forces Network

Brazil – TV Globo - Live

Canada – TLN - Live

Denmark – DR- Live

Finland – YLE - Live

France – M6

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal – STAR - Live

Israel – IBA - Live

Italy, Vatican City, Monte Carlo, Republic of San Marino – SKY - Live

Japan – WoWow  - Live

Korea – CJ E& M - Live

Kosovo – RTK

Latin America & Caribbean – DirecTv - Live
Argentina, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Caribbean (Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles (Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Non-exclusive: Puerto Rico/USVI

Middle East – ROTANA – Live
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, West Bank, Gaza Strip and Palestine

Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia – ASTRO - Live

Mongolia – Mongol TV - Live

Norway – TV2

Sweden – SVT

Thailand – TRUTV - Live

Turkey – CNN Turk, Dreams - Live

UK – BBC – 1-Hour Highlight Special Saturday Night

US – NBC – 2-Hour Highlight Special Sunday Night

 

Live, live, live, live, live, everywhere is getting it live and then the UK shows an hour at 10pm. What the fuck? 

This show was created for the empowerment of women around the world and I feel the BBC have sorely neglected that. It makes me want to scream and cry, actually. How could they do it such an injustice? To me it comes across as though they have no support for the cause, and I'm not the only one who has recognised the fault in their actions. Harvey Goldsmith, the lead promoter of the event, confessed his disappointment in the BBC's decision to decline a live broadcast of the event, to the Daily Mail. He said "The idea behind the concert is to launch a charity which will help millions of women and young girls around the world. In a lot of countries it went out live. In fact in most of them. I am disappointed that the BBC did not broadcast the event live." He went on to say that the BBC are obsessed with Glastonbury preperations and anything else comes second to that. The BBC reportedly responded, explaining that they were unable to show more because of the concerts commercial sponsors. I understand that the BBC doesn't do adverts but they managed to show the whole Super Bowl including Beyonce's half time show, the whole thing. Now I'm just going to assume that a massive sporting event such as the Super Bowl has some commercials in it? The UK broadcast didn't, so they some how must have worked around that was there no way they could have done the same for Chime for Change? At the event there was certainly no adverts or any "Chime for Change, Sponsored by...", so it must have been done in post production. This whole thing just confuses me a lot. The BBC broadcast Comic Relief and Children in Need and they are always sponsored by huge supermarkets and department stores so what's the problem?

 There's nothing much to do about it now but I do think it was badly handled. The show was amazing though and not just the performances, as I said before but the informative nature of the show there was a sense of unity in the crowd as some cried during the emotional videos and we screamed and cheered together when the embassadors came on stage. I really would recommend checking out the videos on the Chime for Change YouTube channel, here. 
You can also read the Daily Mail, Harvey Goldsmith article here.

I think the most important thing I can take away from that concert is that women do not have equality, as Beyonce said "everybody knows racism is wrong but sexism is tolerated", women are paid less than men, money is power. Men are given the opportunity to run the world, whilst women are held back and told to be happy with their lot. The glass ceiling is real and we will break it and the glass will fall on those who ever believed that they could keep a woman down.
WOOOO WOMEN EMPOWERMENT RAH RAH RAH FSGHDJFGKHJKL BEYONCE!!!

As you can tell I have had a massive surge in feminist emotions in the past week and I'm just letting it all out now, but in all honesty Chime for Change was phenominal I can't say it enough.
LOVE WOMEN!
Peace
Catherine