Reclaim the Night is an annual campaign against gender-based violence and sexual harassment lead by the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union. Originating in the UK over 50 years ago, the Reclaim The Night campaign has since been taken to the streets by activists all over the world, however this year the SU are working in partnership with The Warehouse Project to host Reclaim The Nightlife.
The event. which has unfortunately been cancelled. was due to take place on Thursday 24th November and run from 9:30pm-2am across multiple venues in the Students’ Union on Oxford Road and be headlined by DJ Mag’s 2022 Lifetime Achievement winner and Manchester icon, DJ Paulette.
However, despite the Reclaim The Nightlife event being cancelled, the campaign march on Wednesday 30th November will still go ahead. Starting at 6:30pm from Owens Park, Fallowfield, thousands will be taking to the streets to Reclaim The Night. This year’s campaign is focused on advocating for women and marginalised genders; empowering everyone to recognise sexual misconduct, “call it by its name” and report instances.
Celina Pereira (the Students’ Union’s Wellbeing and Liberation Officer) is leading this year’s campaign alongside the help of Samantha Bronheim (Union Affairs Officer), Tesnime Safraou (City and Community Officer) and Robbie Beale (Activities and Culture Officer). Throughout November they are campaigning and fundraising for two chosen charities, Manchester Rape Crisis and Galop.
The SU are hosting a series of events and workshops, including a ‘Know Your Rights’ training led by legal organisation Green & Black Cross, a talk by the Feminist Collective and Butterfly Effect and banner making sessions for the march. From buying a ticket for Reclaim The Nightlife, getting your hands on some merch, directly donating to the charities or taking to the streets for the march on November 30th– there are lots of ways to show your support for this cause.
For the Reclaim The Nightlife event, organisers were offering a number of ticket options including the choice of adding extra donations. These additional pounds to the entry ticket go towards funding resources for survivors of sexual violence and giving a survivor access to specialist support, a group session or counselling.