Re: South Asian Women's Day
Abha Bhaiya
--Greetings!
As we are gearing up for South Asian Women’s Day on November 30th, please join us to reflect on this day and celebrate with us in your countries and communities.
The South Asian Women’s Day, a creation of the Sangat network, is a celebration to engage women and men in South Asia and mark their role in peace, justice, human rights and democracy. The day has been celebrated since 2002.
Like for most of its campaigns, Sangat works with various other civil society organisations in India and the South Asian region for the South Asian Women’s Day. The significance of the day could not be emphasized more in the aftermath of the increasing violence and intolerance in South Asia in the last few years.
Join us as we light candles between 5:00 and 7: pm, in all our countries, to express solidarity with the people of the region, and demand democracy and peace.
This year we have decided to pay a tribute to South Asian women activists as a thread that highlights our joint struggles and solidarity to end violence. As a suggestion we are sharing the following names of women who's contribution can be highlighted on South Asian Women's Day. Their pictures and bios could be printed and displayed in prominent places. A few blank frames could also be kept in honour of the unnamed, unknown, sheros in South Asia.
Sunila Abeysekara (1952 – September 9, 2013) who has been an integral part of Sangat since its inception. She was an award-winning human rights campaigner from Sri Lanka. She worked on women's rights and human rights issues in Sri Lanka and in the South Asia region for over 20 years as an activist and scholar.
Priya Thangarajah - (1982 - 4 November 2015) was a queer feminist activist, lawyer and scholar. She worked with different women’s organisations based in the North of Sri Lanka on issues of women’s rights.
Sabeen Mahmud was a Pakistani human rights activist who founded theKarachi-based cafe The Second Floor (T2F) and president of the Karachi branch of TiE. Mahmud wanted to challenge injustice and discrimination, and to encourage critical thinking. She founded PeaceNiche, an organisation that provides a "social platform" for public good.
Please do suggest other names from your countries so that all of us can include them in our tributes.
The South Asian Women’s Day highlights women’s voices and stories of resistance for change. It forms an integral part of the International 16 day campaign to end Violence Against Women in the region. Many organizations in South Asia come together to celebrate this day, expressing South Asian women’s solidarity for key principles of peace, justice, human rights and democracy. The aim behind this day is to create a collective consciousness as South Asians for concerns in the region, to enable friendships across borders, and to come together to make a peaceful South Asia.
We can’t emphasize this day enough in the context of the increasing violence in the sub-continent. We invite you to join hands across the region to raise our voices in solidarity with women and men everywhere to root out violence and demand justice.
Further, as we gear up for the ONE BILLION RISING CAMPAIGN 2016, we request you to connect your celebrations on South Asian Women’s Day to this global campaign. The theme for this year is RISE FOR REVOLUTION Listen! Act! Rise!
In the past three years of the OBR campaign (2013, 2014 and 2015), South Asia has been recognized to have some of the most vibrant and meaningful risings.
This year, let’s all together rise for revolution in our own unique and creative ways, in order to remove patriarchy from its roots, and create a culture of challenging all forms of violence against women.
Every year, men and women of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Tibet gather to speak in one firm voice about the need to reinforce democracy, peace, human rights and dialogue in the region. Let us continue these efforts this year as we rise for revolution.
Suggested Actions
1. Organise a gathering of women and men at around 4:30 pm in your region to light candles, and stand in solidarity with other human rights defenders in the region.
2. Begin to reach out to the groups in your own countries that are a part of One Billion Rising to involve them in activities around 30th November.
3. Ask activists to gather women’s stories of resistance to highlight the voices of women and share them with others across the borders
4. Share your plans, activities and campaign materials with others in the region so we can join in solidarity and amplify voices.
5. Share Pictures and videos of women and men rising for revolution in the region
6. Hold up a placard with the message ‘I believe in South Asian solidarity because…’ and take photos and upload on https://www.facebook.com/OneBillionRisingSouthAsia
Warm Regards,Kamla, Dhiviya and Logna
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