Aath March Saath March!
International Women’s Day 2019
Press Note
This Women’s Day, we gather to mark our collective actions towards creating a world free of violence, injustice, inequalities, stigma and oppression. We celebrate the gains of our women’s movements and rebuild our strength and energies to continue to resist and challenge patriarchal and regressive forces, both state and non-state.
The year gone by has seen a rise in casteist and communal violence in different parts of the country. The #MeToo moment has seen women from across geographies and backgrounds bravely share their experiences of sexual harassment and violence. There were shameful sexual assaults on young girls living within institutions, including girls with disabilities. Increasing cases of mob lynching and murders have met with cold silence from the state, impunity for the perpetrators and chillingly, even celebrations by ordinary people. In such an environment, no one is immune from attack and/or arrests, neither human rights defenders, writers, cultural artists, academics nor lawyers. The recent shrill cries for war against Pakistan drown out voices of reason in the name of nationalism. The demands for justice for women, dalits, bahujans, adivasis and religious minorities, farmers, domestic workers, sex workers and LGBTQIA+ peopleare completely sidelined in the process.
We, the women of India, stand united and say in one voice, #NoToWar! No to war in the South Asian region, and #NoToWaron democracy and the violations of the people’s rights. We stand opposed to ideologies of hate and the cycle of violence that emerges from wars.
We stand together in solidarity to uphold the Constitution of India and save democracy. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with women’s groups in Pakistan advocating for peace in the region. We continue to resist forces that seek to institutionalisediscriminatory practices and that inflict physical, sexual, emotional and mental violence on women and girls. On International Women’s Day, we reiterate our commitment to:
• Fight for life, livelihood and dignity of people marginalised on the basis of gender identity, caste, religion, disability, ethnicity, sexuality and sexual orientation.
• End the exploitation of workers and farmers and support their just demands.
• Struggle for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and State assemblies.
We will assemble at Mandi House on March 8, 2019 at 11.30 AM, to declare that we stand more united than ever against patriarchy, toxic masculinity and rabid nationalism. We will not tolerate any forces that seek to divide our solidarities. We march together for ourselves, the nation and for freedom from hatred!
#Nafrat aur Zulm se Azaadi!
#YesToPeace #RightsForAll
In Solidarity:
Action India, AIDWA, AIPWA, Azad Foundation, BDS India, CBCI Council for Women, CSW, Feminism in India, Jagori, JWP, NFIW, NNSW, Nazariya, Nirantar, PMS, Saheli, Sama, SLD, SMS, Tarshi, VAMP Collective, Sama and Many Individuals
Also read: Aath March Saath March Statement 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.
To join the march, RSVP on the Facebook event page.
