Revolución Violeta Confronts Gender Violence Across Borders

Revolución Violeta began as a response to silence. What started as a grassroots effort to raise awareness about gender violence in Latin America has grown into a national organization committed to education, advocacy and community. With members based across the United States and Mexico, Revolución Violeta continues to center lived experience and collective action as tools for justice.

Julia Eden coordinates partnerships and manages social media for Revolución Violeta while representing the organization in the Denver and Boulder area. Based in Boulder for a majority of her life, Eden is currently studying politics and working to bridge global feminist movements with local community needs here in Colorado.

Revolución Violeta was created to address the lack of accessible bilingual resources that reflect the realities of the Mexican feminist movement. Gender-based violence is often discussed in abstract terms, yet its impacts are immediate, devastating and deeply personal. According to Eden, in Mexico alone, an average of eleven women or girls are murdered every day, many without justice or accountability. Femicide exists within broader systems of oppression including state violence, police brutality and inequality.

Gender-based violence does not stop at physical borders. It has expanded into digital environments, intensified by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence which are increasingly used as tools for harassment, surveillance and abuse. These realities demand an adaptive and intersectional approach.

Revolución Violeta responds to these challenges in several ways. The organization produces bilingual educational materials, facilitates online learning and amplifies stories rooted in lived experience. While education alone cannot dismantle systems of violence, it is a critical first step toward collective understanding and action. With resources like a podcast, a mutual aid network channel and more, Revolución Violeta strives to bring awareness across various platforms. 

Although many members are from or based in Mexico, a majority of the organization’s current work takes place in the United States. In response to escalating attacks on immigrant communities, Revolución Violeta has prioritized education, awareness around ICE raids and direct support through volunteering at detention centers. This work reflects a broader understanding that gender violence is inseparable from racism, poverty immigration enforcement and other forms of disenfranchisement.

Our current times are marked by fear and uncertainty. Revolución Violeta’s response is to move closer to the community rather than retreat. For Eden, that commitment is deeply personal. 

“I have a unique conviction to help my communities here. These are the people who I have grown up around, whose children I have tutored, whose houses I delivered papers to as a teenager, and everyone who I have simply driven or walked by at some point, or never seen before,” Eden shared. “Over the last few months, I have been moved to organize in-person, and provide community care in an effort to give more people the opportunity and resources for upward mobility and security in the day-to-day.”

With the support of newly received grant funding, Revolución Violeta plans to contribute to existing mutual aid efforts through food, water, clothing and other essential resources while also building sustainable programs for the Denver metro area.

The approach to this work is with humility. No organization can understand every individual need without listening first. Building trust means learning from those already doing the work and those directly impacted. 

“There is no exact formula for getting activism right, but it is our greatest intention in everything we do to persist past barriers, listen to, learn from and integrate those perspectives we ourselves cannot contribute, and build coalitions with other people, groups, and organizations who believe in similar principles of justice and equity,” said Eden. 

Upcoming support from Revolución Violeta includes plans to work with Food Not Bombs Denver and Cats Not Cops in upcoming food distributions, alongside recognizing the vital work of organizations like Casa de Paz, Mutual Aid Monday, COLOR Latina and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Activism requires a willingness to persist, to remain accountable and to integrate perspectives beyond our own. Revolución Violeta is committed to building coalitions to inform and demand justice and equity.

Interested in getting involved? Connect with Eden at [email protected] or on Instagram at @revolucionvioletamx.