The Geneva Women’s Assembly calls on all Genevans to join in a noise demonstration thanking all those working to keep our community together, healthy, and strong. Starting on Monday, March 23, at 6:00 pm, all Genevans should honk their horns or go to their porches and windows and make noise for five minutes as a way of expressing appreciation to the nurses, doctors, cleaners, gas station workers, drivers, restaurant and bar workers, grocery and pharmacy workers, and everyone else who is serving the community during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The statewide requirement that all non-essential workers stay home is hard on everyone. Many people have lost not just their wages but their jobs. Household labor has increased substantially with children out of school and family members working from home. Essential workers face additional burdens of securing childcare while potentially putting themselves and their households at risk of exposure. The Geneva Women’s Assembly is organizing Solidarity at Six in order to help demonstrate how we are all in this together.
“Solidarity at Six is inspired by similar actions in Italy and France,” explained Geneva Women Assembly’s Jodi Dean. “People go out on balconies and porches and blow horns, bang drums, clang pots and pans to tell all essential workers that they are not alone, that we all are grateful to them for all they do.”
Solidary at Six is also a way for Genevans to feel a strong sense of community at a time when we are encouraged to practice social distancing and stay home as much as possible. With cancellations of religious services and sporting events, people lose the regular contact with others that sustains social life. Solidarity at Six provides a safe way to remind everyone of the power of community.
Regular noise-making on our porches, at our windows, and in our cars can also help parents caring for children at home since daycares, schools, and after-school programs have been closed. “I imagine Mom saying to little Jesse: get your classwork done and you can bang the pots today,” said Penny Hankins, from the Geneva Women’s Assembly.
“The stress that the coronavirus epidemic puts on frontline medical providers is enormous,” said City Councilor Laura Salamendra, who is also a member of the Geneva Women’s Assembly. “They didn’t sign up to do a job where there was not going to be enough masks, gloves, gowns, and swabs, where cuts in hospital funds would mean not enough necessary beds and equipment for an overwhelming number of very sick patients. We have got to tell them that we’ve got their backs. Everyone in Geneva has to know that the way we stand together is to isolate but we don’t have to be alone.”