#16DaysofActivism – Guest Blog – R M Clarke
05 December 2017
I wanted to initiate The Broken Spiral anthology, or something like it, for a long time. I saw it as a way of raising the necessary funds that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are always in need of, but I also wanted to open a discussion about the work that the DRCC do, and why it is so necessary, through storytelling – which, I believe, in its sidelong way, helps us to get a little closer at truths that are often too difficult to engage with in everyday life.
I began volunteering at the DRCC about 4 years ago and I realised then very powerfully the extent of the incredible work they do on so many levels; work that is only made possible through the co-operative, warm, and supportive community that they foster throughout the many extended arms of the organisation. So it does not surprise me that The Broken Spiral anthology also came to be through an extraordinary act of community.
This anthology comes into the light at a most crucial time in our collective discussion about the deeply flawed way our society responds to issues of abuse, and as the #16Days2017 campaign to end sexual violence against women and girls begins, it, and all projects and campaigns like it that seek to change beliefs and behaviours about fundamental injustices in our society, are all the more vital. Like the #16Days2017 campaign, and all the work the DRCC do at every level of our society, The Broken Spiral anthology aims to acknowledge difficulty and trauma, to shine the light on it, to talk about it, but ultimately to move beyond it into a sense of coming back to home, to wholeness, and to healing. What I wanted this project to be – and what I hope it is – is a sort of alchemy: transmuting the grit of trauma into something brighter and more hopeful – something that the DRCC do in their work every day.
