SACW | March 6-8 , 2009 / Womens Day Special
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at gmail.com
Sun Mar 8 04:00:01 CDT 2009
South Asia Citizens Wire | March 6-8, 2009 | Dispatch No. 2611 - Year
11 running
From: www.sacw.net
[1] Pakistan: A new political context for Juliet (Beena Sarwar)
[2] South Asia: An Interview with Kamla Bhasin (Nazneen Shifa)
[3] South Asia: It's Women's Day and it's back to basics (Rajashri
Dasgupta)
[4] India: Witness To A Kidnapping (Meera Nanda)
[5] India: Women for Secularism - A new initiative
[6] South Asia Random Readings :
- A century later the issues are very similar (Brinda Karat)
- Out of sight Nepal's 'confined women' yearning for change (BBC)
- Bangladesh: Laws of Discrimination (Hana Shams Ahmed)
- Gender Differentials in Education: Exploring the Capabilities
Approach (Jeemol Unni)
- Writing the History of the Invisible (S Anandhi)
- Have Family Courts lived up to Expectations? (Namita Singh Jamwal)
- Fire-related deaths in India in 2001: a retrospective analysis
of data (Prachi Sanghavi, Kavi Bhalla, Prof Veena Das)
- Sexual Frustration Will Hurt Asia's Economies: William Pesek
(William Pesek)
- Disappearing Daughters: The Tragedy of Female Foeticide (Gita
Aravamudan)
[7] Announcements:
(i) 30 years of Tehrik-e-Niswan - Theatre & Dance festival (Karachi,
7-15 March, 9 & 27 to 29 March 2009)
To highlight’s work over the last 3 decades by showcasing achievement
and experiences during that period
(ii) Karnataka Domestic Workers Union Rally (Bangalore, 9 March 2009)
(iii) Discussion: Mumbai - Anti Displacement & Lok-Adhikar Yatra
(Bombay, 8- 9 March, 2009)
(iv) Women’s Rally (Bombay, March 8, 2009)
(v) On the occasion of International Women's Day Ajoka's play "Kala
Meda Bhes" (Lahore, 9 March 2009)
(vi) Panel discussion on the case of detained activist Dr Binayak Sen
(Edinburgh, 9 March 2009 )
(vii) Public Defence PhD Thesis "on Sri Lankan domestic workers" by
Mallika Pinnawala (The Hague, 13 March 2009)
_____
[1] Pakistan:
The News
March 8, 2009
A NEW POLITICAL CONTEXT FOR JULIET
Women are speaking out all over the country, attempting to exercise
their rights to personal autonomy
by Beena Sarwar
Another March 8, another 'women’s day'. Time to focus again on the
injustices that half the world's population faces because of being
born female. This day also provides a benchmark to look back and
celebrate how far women have come. But all this is not just about
women. What women suffer, and what women achieve, has to be looked at
in the socio-political context in which they -- we -- live.
Gender injustices are as much about class and power struggles, about
economic policies that continue to increase the gap between rich and
poor, about inherent racism and prejudices. Among the marginalised
sections of society, women are further marginalised. Where there are
class and economic inequities, it is women who suffer the most. And
when there are wars and violent conflicts -- initiated, it must be
said, almost exclusively by men -- it is women who bear the brunt. Of
the over 31 million people displaced by violent conflicts around the
world, most are women and children.
Often, women's bodies are the battleground over which men satisfy
their lust for revenge and to bring 'the enemy' down. This is not
just the case during full-scale wars and violent conflicts. It is
also the norm in patriarchal societies where rape for revenge is
common, when a woman is targeted in order to teach the men of her
family a lesson. Mukhtiar Mai in Meerwala village near Multan is only
one example of paying the price for a supposed transgression by her
brother.
In actual fact, the men who assaulted her had first sexually
assaulted her younger brother Shakoor, about 14 years old in 2002
when the incident took place. When it appeared that he would not
remain quiet about the assault, his assailants sought to protect
themselves by accusing him of having an affair with their sister.
The politics of caste and class figure prominently in this saga as
they tend to do in other such cases. Mukhtiar Mai's family belongs to
the lowest social rungs in the village. Their opponents, who belong
to a 'higher' social class, convened a village council to settle the
matter and said that they would 'do to Shakoor's sister' what he had
allegedly done to their's. Those present tried to convince them
otherwise. According to Abdur Razzaq, the village maulvi, whom I
talked to in 2006 while making a documentary on the issue, "We said
that would be wrong. Instead, one of them should marry Mukhtiar (a
divorcee) and Shakoor should marry their sister". This kind of watta-
satta arrangement is common in the area.
When they insisted they would dishonour Mukhtiar, he says, he left
along with other villagers. Some stayed back at the site of the
meeting, across the field from Mukhtiar's house. The men appeared to
agree that Mukhtiar should come to them and ask pardon for this
'crime'. When her uncle escorted her out of her parents' home for
this purpose, the young men, who were armed, seized her and dragged
her into a room in front of all those present. No one dared step in.
Rape itself was and remains common. As Maulvi Razzak said, "It
happens. Two or three bad boys will sneak into someone's house and
commit an excess ('ziadati', as most people commonly refer to rape).
But this was really bad."
What he meant was that while rape was commonplace, the way that it
happened with Mukhtiar could not be countenanced. He said that he
heard about the incident a few days later. That Friday, he spoke
against it in his sermon. A local journalist who was present took up
the matter. Their intervention kept Mukhtiar from committing suicide
as she says she felt driven to do. Instead, she registered a report
with the nearest police station, at the next village. It is also a
sign of the changing times that other villagers supported Mukhtiar,
enabling her to remain in the village, which doesn't happen usually
after such a public disgrace.
Remember Nawabpur in the early 1980s, the first such case to come to
media attention, where a carpenter was accused (like Mukhtiar's
brother) of dallying with a woman from a higher-caste family. The men
of that family beat him so severely that he died. They stripped the
women and paraded them in the streets -- made them 'dance naked' as
news reports put it. The family subsequently left the village, unable
to bear the shame. Many similar cases have taken place.
A major difference in Mukhtiar's case is that the opposing family did
not kill her brother when they accused him. Secondly, she received
enough local support to be able to survive in her own home (the
government also provided her with 24-hour protection, even building a
police station across the street from her house). Thirdly, she had
the innate courage and wisdom to focus not on herself, but on others.
In the process, she has polished herself, gained self-confidence,
learnt to read and write (at her own school), and gained an
international profile.
It began when she used the 'compensation' cheque provided by the
government to buy land on which to build a school -- the first in the
village. Inspired by her courage and also driven by their own need to
earn income, young women from nearby villages come and teach there.
One teacher, Parveen, told me that she used to walk an hour from
Waduwalla village where she lives to Meerwala and back, until
Mukhtiar Mai bought an ambulance van that that doubles as a school
bus, picking up and dropping students and teachers.
"I realised that those who supported me were the educated people,"
said Mukhtiar, explaining why she felt education was so important.
"Before this, women had no other options but to work in the fields."
Yet, despite all the international and national support and sympathy
Mukhtiar has generated, her rapists have still not been punished,
nearly seven years later.
Her story reflects the changes taking place in our society as well as
all that remains stagnant within it. On the one hand, there is an
increasing refusal to accept injustice. Unable to countenance this
defiance, those perpetuating the injustice respond with greater
brutality – for which they are now well armed, thanks to the great
Afghan 'jehad' of the 1980s that introduced an influx of arms and
ammunition into Pakistani society.
Women are speaking out all over the country, attempting to exercise
their rights to personal autonomy -- education, choice of life
partner, employment. Those who acquiesce to their family's wishes at
the expense of their own aspirations fade quietly into the sunset.
Those who refuse now make media headlines not for their acts of
defiance, but when their families respond with violence. For all
those embroiled in such high-profile dramas, many others get away
with it -- their families reluctantly accept their choices or
'merely' ostracise them. This does not make the news.
In most cases, the more civilised responses either come from those
too poor to have an 'honour' front to keep up or the better educated.
The British columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, whose family migrated
from India to Uganda where she was born, relates how her father never
spoke to her again because she defied his wishes to act (Juliet) in
an English play while in school, back in 1965.
Writing about the relevance of Shakespeare to people of various
backgrounds around the world she comments, "South Asians and Arabs
and their diasporic peoples are Elizabethan still. In their world,
children are parental possessions, marriages arranged, personal
autonomy frowned upon. Strong women like Beatrice in Much Ado About
Nothing or Katherine the shrew must be tamed. Countless Juliets are
bullied, beaten, even killed if they refuse to be despatched to a
chosen bridegroom."
Today, more and more Juliets are speaking up, not only in Pakistan
but around the world. Somehow, somewhere, this will make a
difference. It gives cause for hope even as we despair about those
who continue to insist on dragging us back into the Middle Ages.
The writer is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker based
in Karachi beena.sarwar at gmail.com
____
[2] South Asia
New Age
March 8, 2009
AN INTERVIEW WITH KAMLA BHASIN
‘Movement is a larger thing’
Kamla Bhasin is a renowned feminist activist and gender trainer in
South Asia. She has written extensively on gender issues. Most
notable among her publications are: Borders and Boundaries: Women in
India’s Partition, co-authored by Ritu Menon, Rutgers University
Press, 1998, and What is Patriarchy? Kali for Women, 1993.
Interviewed by Nazneen Shifa, a development worker and feminist
activist in Dhaka
NS: We know that you have a long experience in South Asia. Do you
think that there is any difference between feminist movements and NGO-
based gender rights activities?
KB: I think movement is a much larger thing. So, if there is NGO-
based feminist thinking and activities I call it part of the feminist
movement. I do not make a distinction whether you are working in an
NGO or you are working in a government organisation or you are
working in a newspaper. A movement is not an organisation, a movement
is a much larger thing. So, if NGOs are doing something in a very
strong feminist way, according to my understanding and definition,
they would be part of the feminist movement. So, I do not thing there
is a difference in that way. I mean weather you are eastern NGO or
you are based anywhere…I think sometimes the misunderstanding is that
movement is an organisation. Movement is not an organisation. For
example, a writer like Taslima Nasrin according to me would be part
of the larger feminist movement or somebody like Shameem Akhtar, a
feminist filmmaker, is part of a movement; she does not have to be
part of a group to belong to a movement. So, I think they are all
part of the larger feminist movement.
In every context, we have specific kinds of movements, like
women’s rights movement, but how do you relate these with the
globalised gender rights movement?
A movement is spontaneous work of a large number of people all
over the world. So, all the activities which take place in Bangladesh
or India are automatically part of the global movement. So we don’t
have to be connected to somebody outside. That’s my understanding of
a movement. What is global feminist movement? Global feminist
movement is made up of hundreds of group working in Bangladesh,
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka or anywhere else; that is the global
movement. Movement is not a membership thing. Movement is not
something thing that you have to become a member of something global.
Since the 1980s, the feminist movement has been reshaped by the
appropriation of global gender rights discourse. After the 80s, there
took place a huge change by the intervention of NGOs in the context
of women’s rights movement. Now we do not see a lot of spontaneous
activities; more often than not things are NGO-funded. How do you
evaluate this situation?
There are the advantages and disadvantages of the mainstreaming
of gender. The concerns of gender have become mainstreamed and I am
sure after sometime the cultural movement that you mentioned will
also be mainstreamed. Now why did this happen? In the context of
feminist movement because it has become mainstreamed, thousands of
NGOs are doing it and today they are doing the same things which we
were doing 20 years ago without payment. I do not know whether the
work is less or the work is bad. The work is perhaps better
organised. It is perhaps happening in all districts of Bangladesh and
it is working on all issues which we are working. Just because it is
funded by somebody, it does not reduce the value of the work
necessarily. You have to see whether this is bad work or good work.
For example, the work of most of the women’s rights organisation, is
it bad work because they have just borrowed money? Or the work that
the United Nations Development Programme is doing for the
sensitisation of the police force. Earlier we had no access to the
police but today because of our efforts, because of the women’s
movements, the police also realise that they have to do gender
sensitisation.
So this is what happens to any issue which becomes mainstreamed
and really gender is one of the finest examples of mainstreaming.
Very few other issues have got mainstreaming like that. I think it is
a result of the women’s movement and I think what you have to judge
is not the fact that whether these things have been taken over by
NGOs. We have to judge whether they are as effective as before or
more effective than before. Earlier, how many of the spontaneous
michil and demonstration were taking place? Today, when we celebrate
women’s day in Bangladesh, it is celebrated in 5000 villages.
Earlier, were we able to do it? No. So I think I look at it that way.
But, yes, some organisations have become established and may be if
the women’s day merges in a holiday, may be they will not celebrate
it. Because now you only do it 9 to 5 and some people are also
working like that. But I would still consider them as part of the
movement because for me the concept of movement is a much larger
thing. They are still challenging patriarchy, they are still writing
against it, working against it, even if they are working 9 to 5. Now,
thousands of organizations are working 9 to 5 on these issues.
So, what we need to look at is not where the funds are coming
from but the proper utilisation of the funds and the quality of work?
We have to see the quality of work. Funds are not a bad thing.
Earlier also we needed funds but you were contributing small money
here, small money there. People were required and at that time many
of us were doing a full time job somewhere else, maybe selling Coca-
Cola, and for two hours we were doing feminism. Now, because of the
existence of funds, we are not selling ourselves to Coke or to a
university or a college, we work full-time on these issues.
Do you think there is any difference between India and Bangladesh
in terms of the feminist movements or women’s rights movements?
According to new feminism, the feminist movement should be like
water. Water changes shape according to the vessel. So, obviously
there are differences in the movement between every country and not
only difference between Bangladesh and India, there are also
differences in feminist activities in urban and rural Bangladesh
because the movement is in response to patriarchy. So patriarchy is
different, our movements are different, our issues are different. For
example, in Bangladesh the acid issue is much more important because
more acid is being thrown here. In India, we do not work on acid
because acid has not become a technique for patriarchy to oppress us.
In India, we are doing much more work on sexual issues because the
sexual issue is a bigger problem. So, I think that it is obvious that
in every country the movement is different according to the specific
situation and other than that perhaps the NGOs are much bigger here
in Bangladesh and the country much smaller, so perhaps the NGOs are
reaching out to a much larger percentage of the population than the
NGOs reach out in India. Maybe because of the size of India there is
much more work on theoretical issues. Other than that, I do not know,
issues are different, some issues are different otherwise all the
issues are the same because most of the issues are common. Rape is
common, violence is common, and dowry is common.
In Bangladesh, the issue of sex workers has not been properly
addressed. Though in recent times a number of NGOs have been working
on the issue, the movement has not gained momentum like in India. Why
do you think this is?
This is obvious. Like I said, in different countries the
movements will be different. So there are these kinds of differences,
and once again I do not know how strong the sex worker’s movement is
in India. I think in Kolkata it is very strong but I do not know
where they are that strong in north India. So, what I am saying is
that I am hesitant to make very general remarks because you should
not generalise India. I hesitate, because I would say that even in
India, the same differences exists, that in Kolkata they have been
able to do it, but in Delhi the sex worker’s movement is not that
strong or even in Bombay. So, there are many things, first of all
their size, their issues and then at some place some kind of
combination occurred, you find some activists, some sex workers
participate etc. So I think Kolkata and Maharastra are the two places
where the sex worker’s movement is strong and really nowhere else in
the country. India is so large.
I was actually thinking about the documentary ‘Tales of the night
fairies’, by Shohini Ghosh.
Yes, I have seen it and they are in Calcutta and once a year they
have one meeting where they gather but that does not mean that this
is happening everywhere in India.
So, what you are suggesting is that the formation of a movement
cannot be generalized. It depends on context and so many contexts-
specific reasons.
This is one issue, the sex worker’s issue, on which the women’s
movement is divided completely. The women’s movement does not have
one opinion, does not have the same analysis of sex work; this is one
example where almost half the women’s organisations are on one side
and the other half the other side. And what is the issue, some people
accept prostitution as work and call them sex workers, only those
people call them sex workers, who say well prostitution is one kind
of work. There are other women’s organisations which say no, it
should not be treated as work because it is so demeaning an activity;
it is not respectable work and we should not legitimise it. Same
divide exists about child labour. One group says child labour should
be made legitimate and you recognise child labour, and other groups
say that children need to be in schools, how can you allow child
labour to become a legitimate, accepted activity. So sex workers and
the child issue on both sides we have passionate people who speak for
or against it.
But women who are already in the occupation needs to have rights
and as an activist we have to ensure their rights but try work to
stop the occupation in future. Wouldn’t you agree?
If you are calling sex work legitimate then you can’t say this is
legitimate only for those who are in it. Then their daughters who
come into it will say this is work, it is her choice and other people
will say this is a wrong choice. It’s a very difficult choice; I as a
feminist find it extremely difficult to decide which side I am on. If
it is legitimate work then would I allow my daughter to become a sex
worker? No. So then how do I allow other people’s daughters to become
sex workers? Someone said to me, if you can sell your brain, like you
are selling your brain to Steps and I am selling my brain to SANGAT,
then what is wrong in selling sex. I as an older feminist find it
difficult to make the equation. But publicly and politically my stand
is yes, sex work is work, but that is my public thing, personally it
is very difficult for me.
So it is not a choice?
No. I would say that it is very difficult for me to say that one
can choose it. This for me is never a genuine choice. If they could
get respectable work for the same amount of money, then would they
become sex workers? I do not know. Today they become sex workers
because they did not have alternatives, so I can’t say theoretically
that they had a choice; they don’t really have a genuine choice.
In Bangladesh there are different customary laws, religious laws
and different practices with regard to women’s rights like marriage
law, inheritance law etc. In recent years, the women’s movements in
Bangladesh have demanded a uniform family law. What do you think
about that?
In India also we have been demanding for uniform civil court. You
see, if income tax law — you may be a Hindu or a Muslim you pay the
same income tax — and criminal laws are the same, then civil laws
relating to family, marriage should be the same. Why should it be
based on religion? So, in principle the women’s movement in India and
Bangladesh is supporting it and I think in principle I am for uniform
laws on all these issues. But to some extent in India the women’s
movement has slowed down on it because suddenly the right-wing Hindu
political parties also started demanding uniform civil laws. Their
reasons were different, though. Their main contention is: why should
Muslims be given the freedom to have their own laws? Our reason is
that all women should have better laws regardless of whether Hindus
or Muslims.
But in principle we feel it should be uniform and it should not
be based on either Hindu or Muslim or this or that. We should take
the best laws from the world wherever they are. But I think it will
only be possible if there is less communal conflict in our countries.
Unfortunately, however, instead of religious fundamentalist groups
becoming weaker, they have become stronger; in your country the
fundamentalist groups have become stronger. In my country, Muslim and
Hindu fundamentalists have become stronger and in Pakistan the same.
Is there any good example of implementing uniform family law in
any county of South Asia or South East Asia?
I do not think any country has done it. Nobody has gone for it.
At least not in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri
lanka. I do not think that it has been done in Bhutan either. Nepal
may be.
What are according to you the major challenges for the women’s
movement in South Asia?
I think the biggest challenge is economic globalisation, and this
kind of totally capitalist oriented feature in the context of the
global hegemony, is destroying huge number of livelihoods of people.
That is for me the biggest challenge. And as a result of this
privatisation — privatisation of education, privatisation of health,
privatisation of everything — I think these are the biggest
challenge. And recently, like many times before, we have seen that
free market is neither free nor fair nor without corruption. Earlier
we used to say that the governments are corrupt. Today we have seen
company after company which are corrupt. So, our government has to
come back to a model of economy where there is state control, and to
control the state, our democracies will have to be stronger. So I
think that is the biggest challenge. For example, one big super
market where you can buy everything in air-conditioned comfort, each
one of those destroys a thousand, two thousand or three thousand
shops. And those two thousand or three thousand shops are owned by
three thousand families and many more people who are getting jobs
there. Now today one family or one company owns that and all the
profit is going there.
Like that also this kind of globalisation is destroying nature
and environment and ecology. The second challenge for me is this
whole challenge of communal conflicts which is leading to terrorism
etc. where instead of we becoming less Hindu or less Muslim, we have
become more Hindu and more Muslim and all that. And that is another
big challenge in many countries in South Asia.
Another very big challenge is making democracy work, making
governance much more transparent, and fighting corruption, because
the index of corruption in all our countries is very high. So these
are some of the major challenges
How would you evaluate the women’s rights movement in Bangladesh?
I think it is the best one and again for me a movement is a
larger thing. That’s not only if volunteers gather or if I see that
thousands of NGOs are working on women’s rights issues. Governments
are working much more today than they did before. Even some serious
newspapers are giving us space. The electronic media, though there
are may be some good programmes, I am not very happy with. I think
95% of their programmes are very sort of anti-women and very
stereotypical. Some feminist artists are coming like Krishnakoli,
Anushe. They are the product of the feminist movement. I also say
that people like Taslima Nasreen and other feminist film-makers, they
are products of the feminist movement. Their consciousness, the fact
that they are feminist film-makers, it means that they are daughters
of the feminist movement. I think universities have women’s and
gender studies departments, everyone talks of gender sensitisation,
so I think the movement is quite strong. Even after this new
government came to power in Bangladesh, women’s groups have given
their agendas to the government and before the elections women’s
groups gave their manifestos, so I think it is a strong movement.
(Also available at: http://www.sacw.net/article725.html ]
____
[3] South Asia:
WOMEN'S DAY AND IT'S BACK TO BASICS
by Rajashri Dasgupta
For over a decade, the terms 'women's empowerment' and 'gender
development' have been widely brandished.
Government ministries and commissions in the South Asia region
proclaim the urgency for women's development, academic institutions
boast of gender units, policy makers voice concerns about the
"feminine face" of poverty, trainers master lessons on gender
sensitivity and smart kits are created to "empower" women.
This new visibility of women is showcased as a benchmark of success,
the result of innumerable struggles of women throughout the world.
But among a broad section of feminists, women's activists, academics
and development practitioners, there is a sense of disappointment.
They believe that 'success' in terms of gender empowerment is a
somewhat mixed bag. The notions of justice and equality they had
fought for over the years are now in danger of being misrepresented
and misused.
This year, March 8 or International Women's Day, celebrates the
hundredth year of its existence and activists want to reclaim that
memorable event.
It was in 1909 that more than 15,000 women marched through the
streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and
voting rights. They were women workers of garment companies, plying
their needles in sweatshops under appalling conditions.
Today the issues those faceless women raised a hundred years ago
remain as relevant as ever in South Asia. The only difference is that
there is now also a great deal of toasting to the spirit of the New
Woman. As workers face pay cuts and retrenchments, the big corporates
use Women's Day as a marketing opportunity. Simultaneously, gender
issues are now pared down to "development projects", hijacked by the
governments and NGOs and compartmentalised into stand-alone issues
without the critical gender perspective.
Women have become a "development category", treated as passive
objects of change rather than active political agents bringing about
social transformation. "The State has co-opted, fragmented and
corrupted our ideas. In the momentum to bring about change, gender
has been reduced to mechanistic modules and kits to be imparted on
women to empower them," says Shireen Huq. Huq is the founder member
of a women's rights group, Nari Pokho, who for more than 30 years has
been at the forefront of the women's movement in Bangladesh.
Huq was simply voicing the collective frustration of women gathered
together from all over South Asia at a conference on Gender Knowledge
Production and Dissemination in Development Work held in Kathmandu
earlier this year.
The meeting was the third in the series of conferences organised by
SAHAYOG, an organisation working on gender rights and health, and the
Royal Tropical Institute (KIT, Amsterdam), with support from the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), to assess the
experiences of producing and communicating knowledge on gender in
both research institutions and development practice over the last 20
years.
In 1995, participants at the Beijing Conference had adopted a
strategy to mainstream gender so that gender equality could emerge on
the centre stage of governmental and organisational agendas. The idea
was to integrate gender in policies, programmes and institutions.
"But from being tools for raising awareness, developing analysis and
challenging power structures, gender knowledge has been marginalised
in the hands of the bureaucracies," notes economist Navashran Singh
of IDRC.
As a result, smart manuals, checklists, and self-help kits have
become the key tools to attain gender equality rather than
substantive activism. "Undoubtedly, notions on gender and feminism
have created an impact in policy forums and development
institutions," says Maitrayee Mukhopadhya, head of the gender unit at
KIT, "But the challenges ahead are even more daunting."
While programmes on women do have positive spin-off effects, they are
limited, do not challenge basic power inequalities and don't bring
about deep change. There is also a growing concern that the political
sharpness of gender issues has been compromised to make it
comfortable and acceptable for the powers that be..
For instance, issues like child marriage are seldom viewed as the
right of a girl's autonomy and choice of 'when' to marry. The focus
is on how delayed marriage can bring down birth rate in a country.
The education of girl children is promoted as an instrument to defer
child marriage, not as a fundamental right. Similarly, reproductive
rights, couched in development rhetoric, have attained importance
only as a health issue and to bring down fertility rates. In the
process other concerns, including those related to women's sexual
needs, are marginalised. In fact, it is only when the HIV/AIDs
campaign gathered momentum and when lesbian and gay groups struggled
for their rights that the issue of sexuality gained prominence.
It is not just State and NGOs who have played spoilers, feminists and
social activists, too, have been divided and confused in dealing with
issues like sexuality. The women's movement has often seen sexuality
as diversionary, trivial and elitist. Activists admit that when they
did get around to addressing issues of sexuality, it was done from
the limited perspective of violence against women.
Another problem is that each issue, whether of gender or caste, had
been left to individual groups to be dealt with separately. There has
been a general failure to link gender agendas with radical struggles
in South Asia that aim to change women's lives substantively.
The good news though is that women activists in South Asia are not
about to give up. Farzana Bari, from the Centre of Excellence of
Gender Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, argues that
radical change is possible not just by bridging the unequal gender
number gap whether in Parliament or in institutions, but by resuming
the struggles of challenging social and political structures and
cultures that shackle women. Observes Bari, "Women activists in
Pakistan succeeded in changing the Hudood Ordinance for rape and
adultery against right-wing opposition only through meticulous
research and sustained activism."
Among the several strategies, activists are convinced that the
movement for gender equality and justice must forge links with other
people's struggles such as those for peace, land rights and the
rights of minorities and caste groups.
Research too will get the impetus, feel academics, when it links up
again with the concerns of the women's movement. It is only then that
debates in academic and development institutions on gender, at
present so subdued and formal, will once again regain their vitality..
The one thing on which most academics and activists agree is that
there can be no shortcuts to putting gender back on track.
-(Women's Feature Service)
____
[4] India:
Magazine / The Hindu
March 1, 2008
http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2009/03/01/stories/2009030150010100.htm
WITNESS TO A KIDNAPPING
by Meera Nanda
Seeing a woman getting kidnapped in front of one’s eyes and the
public reaction to it brings home many truths. Why is it that we
remain silent when it comes to more violent infringements of personal
space that happens every day in the country? Are we defining the
notion of personal freedom too narrowly and in a way that is convenient?
But I am not sure where they will stand when it comes right down to
the heart of the matter — namely, the right of individuals to defy
family and community and choose to marry someone from a different
caste or creed, especially Islam which is so little understood and so
aggressively condemned these days.
Photo: AFP
Bearing the burden of honour...
The district court building happens to be barely five minutes walk
from my parental home in Chandigarh. Outside this house of justice, I
witnessed the kidnapping of a young woman who had come there seeking
justice.
The violence of the act — and how it was accepted by so many as
natural, just and “for her own good” — revealed the ugliness of the
City Beautiful. What I saw is very much on my mind as I think about
the recent protests to defend women’s right to go to pubs. I wonder
if all the pink chaddis the protestors sent to shame the hoodlums of
the Hindu Right have anything meaningful to offer to that poor woman
in Chandigarh.
It was early February when I came to Chandigarh for a short visit. I
was walking past the high court building on my way to the market
around midday. A woman was walking in my direction. I would have
passed her by without noticing her, but suddenly I heard her scream.
Before I could figure out what the matter was, she began to run in
the opposite direction. Just then I saw a huge white van stop by the
curb. Burly young men — four or five of them — stepped out, and began
to run after the woman. Within a matter of seconds, they had grabbed
hold of the woman who was screaming and struggling. I saw them drag
her by her hair into the van. Before I could unfreeze myself and try
to take down the license number, they were gone.
Soon a crowd gathered. One of us discovered the woman’s handbag that
had fallen off in the scuffle. The bag contained a cell phone which
was dead, an attested copy of her school-leaving certificate (which
put her around 20 years of age), some money and few knickknacks. We
decided that we should take the bag to the police station nearby.
Then a middle-aged Sikh man who was in the crowd spoke up. He told us
that it was all right, it was all a ghar ki baat and nothing bad was
going to happen to the woman. He claimed that he was her father and
it was her brothers and cousins who had “taken her home”.
“How can you allow your own daughter to be treated like this? What
kind of a father are you? Have you no shame?” I asked.
This is what he offered by way of an explanation: His daughter was
having an affair with a Muslim man and that was not acceptable to
him. She was a bright girl, he said, an engineering student, but this
Muslim man was ruining her life. He said something garbled about a
lawsuit the couple had filed against the family. It appears that she
had come to the court in connection with the lawsuit and the family
had been waiting for her.
Justifed?
Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury
Paying a heavy price: Relatives of Rizwanur mourning his death.
It seemed to me that many in the crowd cooled down after they heard
this “explanation”. But there were four-five young men who agreed
with me that we have to take this man to the police station and
report the kidnapping.
We narrated what we had seen to the policemen on duty. Then the old
man started talking about the affair with the Muslim man, as if it
were a crime. To show that he was not narrow-minded, he said that he
would have had no objection to a chura-chamar (derogatory reference
to “untouchable” communities) but he could not accept the idea of his
daughter marrying a Muslim.
His story had an immediate and a dramatic effect. The policemen were
far more interested in the old man’s travails over this supposedly
wayward daughter than the violence she had been subjected to. My
pleas that the victim was past the age of consent and had the full
right to choose her partner were met with total incomprehension.
Madam, you don’t understand these matters, the cops told me. How can
this poor man let his daughter marry a Muslim? Would I let such a
thing happen to my daughter, they asked, without heeding my
affirmative answer.
It was self-evident to these guardians of law and order that
respectable women from Sikh and Hindu families should not marry
Muslim men. In their eyes, the old man did the right thing by having
his own daughter kidnapped.
It was also self-evident that these cops were not going to do
anything to help. I insisted that they take me to their chief. By
now, our group of eyewitnesses had dwindled to just two: myself and a
young man. I pleaded with the inspector that for all we know, this
kidnapping could be the first step toward an honour killing. I
threatened to get the media involved if the police did not make all
efforts to find the woman and to ensure that no harm came to her.
After receiving assurances of action, I took down the inspector’s
phone number and left.
Later that day, the police inspector called to tell me that the woman
wanted to stay with her family out of her own free will. He put her
on the phone to me: she dutifully told me that the misunderstanding
had been cleared, her family was treating her well and that she
wanted to stay with her family. I gave her my cell phone number and
asked her to call if she needed any help. This clearly was an
unreported re-enactment of the script of the 2007 Rizwanur case from
Kolkata.
I can’t get this young woman out of my mind as I watch the recent
wave of protests against the spate of violence against women
unleashed by Sri Ram Sene and other hoodlums in Mangalore and
elsewhere. While I fully support their right to choose to go to a pub
and make other lifestyle choices, I worry that they are defining
their freedoms way too narrowly.
Why, I wonder, did it take this ugly incidence in a pub in Mangalore
to create a sense of crisis that is bringing women and men into the
streets in defence of personal freedom? Is it only when violence
comes knocking at middle-class watering holes that we will take
notice? After all, far deadlier crimes against women are taking place
every day. It has been well-established — and well reported in the
media — that honour killings are on the rise throughout Northern
India. Nearly one tenth of all murders that take place in Punjab and
Haryana involve family members who kill their own kin who dare to
break the bounds of caste and creed. A majority of the victims are
women.
Disturbing trend
Another thing that worries me is the soaring popularity of arranged
marriages among the same hip crowd that is so protective (and rightly
so) of their right to go to a pub and hold hands in public without
the moral police keeping an eye on them.
Most of them, I am sure, will condemn the Chandigarh abduction in no
uncertain terms. But I am not sure where they will stand when it
comes right down to the heart of the matter — namely, the right of
individuals to defy family and community and choose to marry someone
from a different caste or creed, especially Islam which is so little
understood and so aggressively condemned these days. Will they stand
with the woman, or will they stand with the father, not so much to
condone the violence but to “understand” why he had to stop the
marriage?
I am afraid that the principle that it is the right of the individual
to make such fundamental choices like marriage has not found much
favour with the seemingly modern youth. Their idea of freedom of
choice seems to stop outside the institution of marriage where the
principle of the-family-knows-best seems to prevail. Surveys show
that fairly large majorities — between 60-75 percent — of modern
urban middle classes, including IT workers, prefer to have their
parents find a mate for them. After enjoying the personal freedoms
which an average young person takes for granted in the United States
and Europe, many enthusiastically go through the most extravagant
weddings, complete with incomprehensible rituals and inexcusable
dowries.
As long as they accept that marriages are family affairs, why would
they care to fight against honour killings or honour abductions, as
in the Chandigarh case? After all, wasn’t the father in this case
acting on the principle of father-knows-best? Yes, he carried it
farther than the hip set would like, but the underlying idea remains
the same.
The real hero
The unsung hero in this is the young woman who was so badly treated
by her family. She had the courage to follow her heart. I am quite
sure she did not send pink underwear to the pub-smashing hoodlums:
most probably, she does not condone the idea of women going to pubs.
But at the same time, her idea of personal freedom is thicker and her
battle is much harder and lonelier.
My thoughts and best wishes are with her.
(Meera Nanda is the author of Prophets Facing Backwards: Postmodern
Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India. She is currently
a fellow at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advance Studies, New
Delhi.)
____
[5] India: Women for Secularism
http://www.sacw.net/article726.html
March
7, 2009
Dear Friend,
It is our fundamental conviction that women can play very important
role in promoting secularism and secular values in our country which
is coming increasingly under the influence of communal forces. We met
in Mumbai for a day on 7th February under the aegis of Centre for
Study of Society and Secularism and decided to launch a forum "Women
for Secularism". A committee was formed to draft vision statement for
this forum. We are forwarding this vision statement on this Women's
Day which we think is appropriate day to launch this forum.
We are forwarding this statement to you with the hope that you will
join us in our endeavours and help spread the message of this forum.
Let's make efforts to bring more and more women into this forum to
put a check on communal forces and as peace lovers allow a hundred
thoughts to contend, and allow a thousand flowers to bloom. Kindly
do join us and we are sure together we will be able to fight this
hydra-headed menace
Yours
sincerely,
Ms. Anuradha (Aman Vedika)
Ms. Noorjehan (BMMA)
(Co-convenors)
Women for Secularism
C/o.Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai.
E-mail: csss at mtnl.net.in
Ph: 022-26149668, 26102089, Fax.
022-26100712
WOMEN FOR SECULARISM
A FORUM FOR HARMONY, INCLUSION, JUSTICE, PEACE
While we see the world around us divided on class, caste, race,
community lines, we also see an urge to see a more peaceful and
inclusive world. And this urge is growing by the minute as more and
more people want to have their voices heard - voices of sanity,
harmony and peaceful co-existence. 'Women For Secularism' was formed
precisely to give women of this country a forum to reassert their
rights as a free and independent citizen for a more inclusive, plural
and peaceful India. We believe it is time for women to take proactive
steps and initiate actions to counter the growing influence of
divisive forces.
Under the leadership of women, this Forum seeks to mobilize women for
bringing visibility to the secular values enshrined in the
Constitution of the country. It strongly believes that secular values
must be promoted at all levels of our public and private lives. We
believe that our strength as a nation lies in our multi cultural and
plural existence and this must be protected and promoted through
harnessing the potential of vast numbers of already organised women
leadership at the grassroots level including those from poor,
marginalised, stigmatized backgrounds through out the country.
The Forum wants to (show) demonstrate to the world that it is
possible to live harmoniously in a society that has enormous
religious, linguistic, cultural and social diversity. And we want to
encourage and celebrate this pluralism. The Forum also believes in
the inherent dignity of all human beings and seeks to condemn all
forms of discrimination based on religion, caste, class and gender.
The Forum being managed by women will strive to promote women's
rights in all spheres and will seek to reach out to a wider and
varied section of our society to promulgate the vision of the Forum.
Thus the vision and objectives of the Forum are:
To organize and mobilize women to reiterate and reinforce the
importance of secular values for a harmonious coexistence.
To create pressure groups
to condemn acts of violence and exclusion and to propagate actions
and initiatives to promote peace and inclusion.
To reaffirm secular values and multiculturalism for maintaining and
strengthening democratic values based on respect for human rights.
To encourage, facilitate and establish similar networks/coalition of
women to promote secular values, religious tolerance, democracy and
human rights and accelerate women's participation in secular
movements striving for equality and justice.
To counter violence on women and to contribute to the efforts for
gender justice
To consistently raise our voices against fundamentalism and
communalism and to initiate action against all forms of discrimination.
To expose the consistent abuse of religion, tradition, national and
cultural heritage by vested interest and to gain legitimacy and
political power.
WE, THE WOMEN OF THIS COUNTRY INVITE EVERYONE TO JOIN THE FORUM TO
HELP US ALL LIVE IN DIGNITY AND PEACE
_____
[6] SEE ALSO
A century later the issues are very similar
by Brinda Karat
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/08/stories/2009030859441000.htm
Out of sight
Nepal's 'confined women' yearning for change
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7870616.stm
Bangladesh: Laws of Discrimination
by Hana Shams Ahmed
http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/01/04/human_rights.htm
Gender Differentials in Education: Exploring the Capabilities Approach
by Jeemol Unni
http://epw.in/uploads/articles/13231.pdf
Writing the History of the Invisible
"We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement by Urmila
Pawar and Meenakshi Moon"
by S Anandhi
http://epw.in/uploads/articles/13160.pdf
Have Family Courts lived up to Expectations?
by Namita Singh Jamwal
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1205.html
The Lancet, 2 March 2009
Fire-related deaths in India in 2001: a retrospective analysis of data
by Prachi Sanghavi, Kavi Bhalla, Prof Veena Das
Editors' note: To date, national estimates of fire-related deaths in
India have been lacking, and much of what is known on the prevalence
of such incidents is derived from police-reports. This study
retrospectively estimates the number of fire-related deaths in India
for 2001, using data derived from (1) a death registration system
based on medically certified causes of death in urban areas, (2) a
verbal autopsy based sample survey for rural populations, and (3) all-
cause mortality estimates based on the sample registration system and
the population census. It is estimated that there were over 163 000
fire-related deaths in 2001 in India, which accounts for 2% of all
deaths in the country.
[. . .]
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)
60235-X/fulltext
Sexual Frustration Will Hurt Asia's Economies: William Pesek
by William Pesek
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=20601039&sid=a9R.dwXkar1U&refer=home
Disappearing Daughters: The Tragedy of Female
Foeticide
By Gita Aravamudan
Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 2007, 188 pp., Rs 250
ISBN 0-14-310170-6
______
[7] ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(i) "A Festival of Theatre & Dance to be held at the Karachi Arts
Council from 7th to 15th March, 09 & 27th to 29th March, 09"
To highlight Tehrik’s work over the last 3 decades by showcasing
achievement and experiences during that period
Festival Starts 6.00 pm
Listed Performances 8.00 pm
Tickets: Rs. 300/- Season Pass: Rs. 1200/-
Available at Agha's Supermarket and the Venue
What Makes Up The Festival?
Performances in the Theatre Hall
A retrospective of some of Tehrik’s most acclaimed and well-loved
theatrical productions…
Programme:
March 7: Inauguration: An enjoyable hour of song, dance,
talks and film - Time: 6pm
followed by ANJI: (With the original cast of 1985) - Time: 8pm
March 8: RAQS KARO: To Celebrate International Women’s
Day - Time: 8pm
March 10: BIRJEES QADAR KA KUNBA - Time: 8pm
March 11 Repeat - Time: 8pm
March 12: JINNAY LAHORE NAHIN VEKHYA - Time: 8pm
March 13: ISMAT KI DOU KAHANIYAN - Time: 8pm
March 14: USS BEWAFA KAY SHEHR MAIN - Time: 8pm
March 15: Repeat - Time: 8pm
March 27: EK HAZAR AUR EK THI RATEIN: To Mark World
Theatre Day - Time: 8pm
March 28: Repeat - Time: 8pm
March 29: Repeat - Time: 8pm
We take pleasure in informing you that 2009 marks the 30th year of
Tehrik-e-Niswan.
To celebrate this we have chalked out a programme of events
throughout the year, the first being a Festival of Theatre Plays
entitled TLISM (magic).
This will be the first ever Festival of its kind taking place in
Karachi and these days when we are facing such daunting circumstances
and apprehension for our future it will be a breath of fresh and
soothing air.
This Festival will be a retrospective of some of our most acclaimed
and well-loved theatrical productions.
In keeping with past traditions, we hope to present for the citizens
of Karachi a truly unique and enthralling week of exciting and
magical entertainment.
Another event – A Festival of Dance will be held to celebrate World
Dance Day on 29 April at Arts Council.
Day 1- Saturday 7 March
* An exciting inaugural programme at 6pm followed by performance
of ‘ANJI’ at 8pm
ANJI - A witty and hilarious modern “Nautanki” with live
musicians, about the comic and tragic aspects of Anji, a middleclass
working girl and her search for a husband. This play was originally
performed in 1983 and since then has been one of the most popular
plays of Tehrik. It has had many successful repeat performances over
the years not only in Karachi but also in Lahore and Islamabad. The
uniqueness of this acclaimed production will be that Tehrik is
presenting it with the original cast of 1985.
Direction: Khalid Ahmad
Cast - Sheema Kermani, Khalid Ahmad, Rashid Sami, Anjum Ayaz,
Akber Subhani, Zakia Sarwar, Ehteshamuddin.
Day 2 – Sunday 8 March
* To celebrate International Women’s Day
RAQS KARO - a fascinating and inspiring multi-media musical
extravaganza, incorporating dance, music, poetry and video
projections, based on the poetry and writings of Fahmida Riaz. This
unique ballet depicts the changing position of woman in society over
the ages. The vocals are by Gulshanara Syed and Tina Sani, and the
dance is choreographed and performed by Sheema Kermani and her dance
troupe.
Day 3 & 4 – Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 March
* BIRJEES QADAR KA KUNBA - (Originally performed in 1988 as
CHADAR AUR CHARDIWARI) - Adapted from Garcia Lorca’s ‘The House of
Bernarda Alba’, this is an uncanny but faithful portrayal of the
lives of a vast majority of unmarried girls living under the yoke of
brutally repressive feudal male values in a world dominated by
twisted notions of honour, tradition and social oppression.
Direction: Anwer Jafri
Cast - The all women cast includes Shehnaz Ismail, Mahvash
Faruqi, Asma Mundrawala, Shama Askari, Shireen Naqvi, Sana Nizamani,
Huma Naz and others
Day 5 – Thursday 12 March
* JINNAY LAHORE NAHIN VEKHYA - (Performed originally in 1992
and The play was remounted in August 2007) Based on a true incident
of 1947 set in Lahore, about a family that migrates from Lucknow and
an old Hindu woman left behind in an abandoned Haveli. With the
poetry of Nasir Kazmi sung live.
Besides many shows in Karachi, this play has been performed in
Lahore, and 10 cities in India including the prestigious NSD Festival
in New Delhi.
Direction: Anwer Jafri, Sheema Kermani
Cast - Salim Meraj, Mahvash Faruqi, Saife Hasan, Adnan Tipu
Shah, Asma Mundrawala, Hafeez Ali and others.
Day 6 – Friday 13 March
* ISMAT KI DOU KAHANIAN - Based on two famous short stories of
Ismat Chughtai, KAAFIR and AMAR BEL, one about a Muslim girl marrying
a Hindu boy and the other about the marriage of a young woman to a
much older man.
Direction: Anwer Jafri, Asma Mundrawala
Cast – Asma Mundrawala, Mahvash Faruqi, Salim Meraj, Saife
Hasan, Sheema Kermani
Day 7 & 8 – Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March
* USS BEWAFA KAY SHEHR MEIN - (First performed in 1999). An
adaptation in Minglish, of Somerset Maugham's ‘The Constant Wife',
this witty and hilarious comedy brings to life the story of a
seemingly docile housewife who decides to pay back her philandering
husband…in kind!
Direction: Sheema Kermani
Cast - Dr Mervyn Hosain, Arjumand Rahim, Shehnaz Ismail,
Aamir Masood, Sheema Kermani and others
Friday 27 to Sunday 29 March
* To celebrate World Theatre Day
EIK HAZAR AUR EIK THI RATAEN - (With the original cast of 1998)
A musical play taken from the stories of “A Thousand and One
Nights” that brings to the surface the problems related to the
position of women.
This play has toured all over Pakistan and India and
participated in many festivals.
Direction: Dr. Jamil Ahmed
Cast - Asma Mundrawala, Mahvash Faruqi, Saife Hasan, Sheema
Kermani, Ehteshamuddin, Amjad Ansari, Ather Abbas
The Venue
Karachi Arts Council Theatre
The Organizing Team
Organized by Tehrik’s volunteers and supporters.
* Sheema Kermani
* Anwer Jafri
* Asma Mundrawala
* Shama Askari
* Saife Hasan
* Mahvash Faruqi
* Dr. Asif Farrukhi
* Attiya Dawood
* Khuda Bux Abro
* Mehmood Bhatti
* Huma Naz
* Baber Khokher
* Junaid Zubery
* Rumana Hosain
* Zaheer Kidvai
Media Partners
Geo TV
- - -
(ii)
To all friends, comrades, wellwishers,
March 8 International working womens day--a day of struggle,of
victory,of celebration.On this historic day,we domestic workers,bring
your attention to the fact,that even after so many years,we remain
part of the invisible economy.Our work although productive and
enabling our employers to go to work,is still not recognised either
by society,or the government.We today reclaim our dignity as workers,
demand our right to decent livelihood,living wage,legislation, end to
caste discrimination, social security. In addition to this , we
condemn all the recent attacks on women, by the culture vultures--
moral police!!
As domestic workers,we would like to be treated as human beings,and
not looked on as criminals. The blame falls on the worker first, for
any theft or murder, and now the antecedents are to be checked by the
employers and the police!!! We strongly wish to state here,that let
the Labour department take the responsibility of registering us as
workers, and the employers details too, so that there is a legal
identity and not a criminal identity!!
In assertion of this demand and for all our other rights,the
Karnataka domestic workers union invites all to participate,and lend
solidarity to the domestic workers.
The program details;
DATE MARCH 9TH 2009
TIME; 1PM ONWARDS
VENUE; GANDHI STATUE, M.G.RD BANGALORE.
HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU ON THAT DAY, WITH FRIENDS.
Geeta Menon
Support group,Karnataka Domestic Workers Union
---
(iii) Do join us in, in an innovative celebration of International
Women's Day
Mumbai, the financial capital of this country, house to more than 60
lakh people who are forced to stay in in-human settlements called
'slums' is claiming to the status of a global financial hub. Amidst
this is the realty, which is stark and crude, with exploitation &
expropriation of the resources of the working class populations and
those residing in slums. In the name of development, lakhs of people
have been evicted or under threat of the same. Mills have been closed
down to give way for malls and slums been pulled down to raise
towers. To challenge this unjust development, a Yatra through the
slums and a panel discussion has been organised on the occasion of
International Women's Day. The details are as below:
Anti Displacement & Lok-Adhikar Yatra
8th & 9th March, 2009
Schedule 8th March:
10,30 am- Ambujwadi, Malad
12 o'clock- Sanjay Nagar, Laljipada
2 pm- Andheri West
4 pm- Vishv Shanti Buddh Vihar, New Ambewadi,
Kherwadi, Khar (west)
6 pm- Near Collector Office, Shastri Nagar, Bandra
(East)
Schedule 9th March:
10.30 am- Ambedkar Grounds, Shivaji Nagar-Mankhurd
Panel Discussion on
Mumbai's Development: Which Way?
Venue: Vanmali Hall, Dadar (West), Time: 2pm to 5 pm, 9th
March
Panelists: Dr. Amita Bhide, Neera Adarkar, Ramdass Bhatkal,
Medha Patkar & others.
Chairperson: Pratima Joshi
---
(iv) March 8, 2009: Women’s Rally to start from Kotwal Garden
(opposite Plaza cinema) Dadar (W) at 4.00 pm. Public Meeting at
Bhupesh Gupta Hall,
Sayani Road, Prabhadevi at 4.45 p.m. [Bombay]
---
(v) On the occasion of International Women's Day Ajoka will perform
its renowned punjabi play " Kala Meda Bhes" written by Shahid Nadeem
and directed by Madeeha Gauhar, on Monday 9th March 2009, 7pm at
Alhamra Hall # 2, the Mall, Lahore.
---
(vi) From the frontline: the case of detained activist Dr Binayak Sen
Panel discussion 9 March 2009
Hear from human rights defenders at the forefront of campaigns to
release to Dr Binayak Sen.
Ilina Sen, professor of womens studies at the Mahatma Gandhi
International University, Wardha, India will be in the UK in early
March to galvanise support for the campaign to free human rights
defender Dr Binayak Sen.
She’ll be speaking about the situation of the underprivileged in
India, with particular reference to Chhattisgarh state where her
husband Dr Binayak Sen is in detention.
Ilina will be joined by Kavita Srivastava the national secretary of
the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a leading human rights
organisation in India. For the last 20 years she has been working to
protect women’s rights, building a movement to combat violence
against women, and in 2005 she was nominated for the Noble Peace
Prize in for her human rights.
About Dr Sen: Human rights defender Dr Binayak Sen was arrested in
May 2007, accused of links with armed Maoist groups. Denied bail, he
has been in prison ever since, proceedings in his trial repeatedly
delayed. Amnesty international believes the charges against him are
politically motivated, aimed at preventing him carrying out his
valuable human rights work and are calling for his release.
Event Type Panel discussion
Event venue Edinburgh University - Chrystal McMillan Building, School
of Social and Political Studies, 15a George Square
Time 18.00-20.00
Price Free of charge
---
(vii) Public Defence of the PhD Thesis by Mallika Pinnawala
Title: 'Gender Transformation and Female Migration' Sri Lankan
domestic workers negotiate transnational household relations
Those wishing to question the candidate on the subject of the thesis
must register their intent and submit their question(s) with the
office of the Academic Registrar one week before the Public Defence
date.
Event Details:
Date:
13 Mar 2009 16:00 hrs
Location:
Aula B ground floor, The Institute of Social Studies, The Hague,
Netherlands
4:45 to 4:50
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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