women's
rights page @ www.sacw.net
| June 22, 2006
Towards a
Politics of Justice
Affirming
Diversities; Resisting Divisiveness
Declaration
of the National Co-ordination Committee of the Seventh National
Conference of Autonomous Women’s Movements in India, Kolkata -
9th to 12th September, 2006
Since 1980, six National Conferences have been organised by autonomous
women’s groups, in response to our need to link up with each
other, to share experiences and build friendships, express solidarity
with each other’s struggles, strategise and formulate joint
action plans for the future. Over the years, the Conferences have
evolved as a space for expression of our ideas, politics and struggles
- where no one voice is more important than another, but rather, where
the spirit of democracy, sisterhood and solidarity seeks to encourage
debate and dialogue. We hope that this upcoming Conference too will
reflect the rich history of women’s movements in India, build on
our collective strengths, make visible the continuing intervention of
women in society for justice, and our solidarity with the struggles of
all people for equality and justice.
We are women from different women’s groups and various streams of
life, coming from different states, having different feminist political
persuasions, belonging to various cultures and religions, (with some of
us refusing religious persuasions), as well as from different class,
caste, sexuality, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, who work in
diverse ways to challenge oppressive and patriarchal structures in
society. We remain committed to recognising and respecting these
‘diversities’, even as we seek justice for the inequities
that result from those very diversities.
This Declaration is a shared expression of our politics, perspectives,
and commitment to the women’s movement. First drafted in 1998 by
the National Coordination Committee* of the conferences, it has, over
the years, changed and grown to reflect our varied journeys and
concerns. The Conference is open to all those who abide by this
Declaration.
The Indian Women’s Movement has many streams and hues, and we do
not claim to be representative of all of them. The National Conference
brings together women and organisations who are
‘autonomous’ – i.e. non-government, non-electoral,
non-political party, non-violent and not underground groups or funding
agencies. These are groups, both formal and informal, that form a
distinct political stream united by a broad critique of society, and
patriarchal institutions, and of the intersections of caste, gender,
class, religion and sexuality.
As the Autonomous Women’s Movement, we share a broad common
understanding of women’s oppression and liberation, but differ in
our emphasis and practices. Yet our beliefs and ideologies have evolved
into another collective way of looking at the world, of weaving theory
with practice. In strategising for change, we all attempt to
personalise politics and politicise the personal. This has meant
confronting patriarchy and social values such as authoritarianism,
aggression, competition and hierarchy in the family and society, and
the oppression and exploitation imposed by dominant class, caste and
patriarchal rule.
The last few decades have witnessed substantial economic and political
changes in India. Yet women remain controlled by families, communities,
the State and increasing corporate power. Our labour is controlled
through strict sexual division of labour at home and the workplace; our
fertility is regulated by a glorified emphasis on motherhood and
purity; our sexuality is repressed by a double standard of morality and
compulsory heterosexuality; our bodies, while youthful, are
commercialised and commodified; our lives when ageing, are often
forgotten. Religions and cultures depend on us, yet circumscribe us and
violate our rights. These controls and power relations operate subtly
as well as overtly, at the ideological and material levels, to
reinforce each other through various relationships and institutions,
including the family, the market, the media, education, religion,
customs and the law… All, while the State, grants itself
increasing powers of censorship to silence voices of dissent, while at
the same time, steadily withdrawing from providing essential services
to its citizens, particularly the marginalised and the poor.
At an international level, we resist the coming together of global
capital, imperial power and military might to threaten the sovereignty
of regions and the will of people over their own political destinies.
State sponsored ‘wars on terror’ in the name of protecting
and promoting human rights, democracy, peace, justice, national
security, in fact only breed militarisation, heightened conflict,
increased cultural nationalisms, racism and xenophobia.
The National Conference has a vision of an alternative society based on
equality, social justice and equitable development. A society that is
free from violence and that believes in women’s rights, human
rights, democratic processes, diversity, dignity and peace. We condemn
the forces of fundamentalism and communalism that are sweeping the
country, and oppose nuclearisation, militarisation and war. In doing
so, we seek to find ways to create a world of peace, equality, rights
and a politics of justice.
Challenging Violence against Women
Violence against women, ranging from the visible to the invisible -
from battery to sexual atrocities like molestation and rape, dowry
tortures and murders, trafficking and female infanticide - continues to
be perpetrated by families, communities and the State. Abortion of
female foetuses is still rampant in spite of a law banning it. Violence
against women and girls within the family, both parental and marital
continues, as does sexual harassment at the workplace. Community-based
honour killings are still common, and casteist and communal power
struggles take recourse to chilling forms of sexual violence against
women. Aggressive masculinity leading to rape and murder of women,
including minors and adolescents, are other heinous examples. Women who
desire women, including those who identify as lesbian and bisexual, as
well as those who do not conform to the binaries of ‘men’
and ‘women’, such as transgender women including hijras, as
well as women in prostitution/sex work are becoming victims of
increasingly repressive norms of normality and abnormality. Norms
bolstered by law that criminalises alternate sexualities perceived to
threaten patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality. Such laws urgently
need to be repealed, and many others on sexual violence, etc need
immediate reform.
Today, State and societal recognition of the problem is increasing, and
legal aid, crisis intervention and support mechanisms are more easily
available to women, yet violence against women also continues to rise.
Despite substantial achievements in legal reform, we recognise that
laws passed to protect or empower women are still confronted by
societal and institutional patriarchy in implementation. The road ahead
is long, but we continue to challenge violence against women in all its
forms.
Challenging Increasing Communalisms, Fundamentalisms and Conservatism
As rising nationalisms, religious fundamentalisms and fascist pressures
sweep the world, they pervade political space and civil society, and
have become entrenched in institutions such as education, the law, and
the media. Instances of virtual genocide against people from the
minority communities and increasing attacks on dalits and other
marginalised castes, often with State complicity, have resulted in
deaths, mutilation, widespread fear, insecurity and the aggressive
displacement of thousands from their homes, even as economic and social
boycotts make their lives more vulnerable. And the system of justice
has failed them time and again.
The increasing hold of communal forces on society and polity always
have an adverse impact on women, with an increased control of family
and community on women’s lives, freedoms and mobility. Even more
disturbing has been the centrality of sexual violence against women
during times of conflict. Alongside, have been rising waves of
conservatism, moral policing and control over women through anti-women
personal and customary laws as well as extra-judiciary bodies like
caste and community panchayats. So much so that both, within and across
communities, women’s space to express dissent, debate and discuss
change, and negotiate is shrinking by the day. We believe that the
secular, multicultural fabric of the country must be preserved, and all
politics of hate, and the forces propagating it, be challenged.
Challenging globalisation and its impact on ‘development’
More than a decade of economic "liberalisation" has resulted in the
withdrawal of the State from many essential sectors like healthcare,
power and water. As they get privatised, the inequalities between the
rich and poor are getting starker, large sections of the people are
losing access to them, especially women and girls. Education is
becoming dispensable for girls and women are becoming more migrant and
homeless than ever before. Simultaneously, natural resources are being
overused and polluted, forests degraded, rivers disrupted by
cost-intensive and unviable mega-developmental projects, including
tourism, and consequently, hundreds of thousands of people are being
violently displaced by the State - destroying lives, livelihoods, and
whole communities. The control and governance of forest based resources
and commons are being increasingly centralized in the hands of the
State and subsequently set up for private commercial interests,
displacing the existing subsistence use. Even within projects of
urbanisation and industrialisation, it is the women who bear the brunt.
The dismantling of labour laws and the growth of unorganised sector
where large numbers of women work, has only increased women’s
economic vulnerability manifold.
We oppose economic policies which adversely affect the poor and
marginalised, especially women. We hold the government liable to
initiate policies to ensure food security, clothing, shelter, health
and education for all, and to decrease defence spending. We oppose
policies that fail to protect the environment; we hold liable
corporations, both national and multi-national, towards the
environment, communities and society. We are committed to economic
systems that guarantee peoples’ right to livelihood, allow for
the participation of all sections of society in economic activity and
policy making, and ensure the equitable sharing of benefits among all.
Challenging Coercive Population Policies
We resist the view that women are reproductive beings alone, to be
targeted for achieving population control goals through the
manipulation and coercion of State-controlled and eugenic population
policies. We strongly oppose the population control programme of the
‘government-donor agencies-pharmaceutical companies’
combine, which continues to promote hazardous contraceptives in its
programmes and through the market, with little or no regard for
women’s health.
We oppose coercive population policies like the two-child norm, imposed
on members of Panchayati Raj institutions or in several states on the
people at large, even denying access to irrigation facilities, as
undemocratic and unacceptable measures that mainly penalise women, the
poor and the traditionally oppressed castes. Such laws also impede
women’s right to compete in the system as equals, give impetus to
sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. We stand firm against
the unethical use of Indian women as research subjects for Indian and
foreign companies, private and government research agencies. We assert
the need for better health care and safe birth control choices for
women.
Challenging State Aggression and Manipulation
Over the last few decades, the Indian State - a powerful conglomeration
of upper class, upper caste, patriarchal and large capital interests -
has been compelled to respond to the demands of the women’s
movement in many ways. Yet in failing to implement many of these
completely it has managed to maintain the status quo, even as it has
co-opted our ideas and language to acquire legitimacy. "Empowering"
women, through special development programmes and granting reservations
in local self-government, have not been matched by changes for women,
either at grassroots or at various levels of the political system, such
as the Government & the political parties. We challenge the
state’s projection of self-help groups as a panacea for
women’s empowerment and poverty reduction, since they fail to
address the root of women’s subordination and place the onus of
poverty redressal on the poor, especially women.
On the other hand, arms of the State meant to protect citizens, have
routinely used rape and sexual assault in order to intimidate,
terrorise and control populations. Mass rapes by the Army during the
anti-insurgency operations in the North East or Kashmir, or of Muslim
women by Hindu nationalists during the State-sponsored violence against
the minority community in Gujarat, are just a few cases in point. We
condemn such State violence and repression on both men and women,
irrespective of whether the pretext is internal peace, national
security, or the global war against terrorism. Today, the State is
resorting to more and more violence to suppress people’s
struggles, censoring differing points of view and silencing voices of
dissent, instead of finding democratic solutions. We strongly oppose
draconian legislations like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the
Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
etc., that only strengthen the abusive powers of the State, the
military and the para-military forces, leaving behind a terrible trail
of human rights’ abuses. Such legislations should be repealed
immediately.
Challenging Divisiveness, Affirming Diversities:
We believe that as women, we share common interests and goals, and
hence come together in our collective struggles. But caste, nation,
class, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, ability or disability are deeply
rooted social constructs which create multiple identities for many of
us. Consequently, the politics of identity throws up several
contradictions, yet we remain committed to recognizing and respecting
these ‘diversities’ even as we seek justice for the
inequities that result from them. In particular, we seek support for
the struggles of women who are made further vulnerable by specific
facets of their identities – as adivasis, dalits, poor and
working class, religious minorities, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered,
sex workers, disabled, and women of other socially marginalised groups.
We believe as women we must have the right to make choices about our
lives, our bodies, our sexuality and our relationships. We also
recognise that these choices are not unchanging. We commit to creating
the space for different choices to be recognised and evolving the
supportive structures that can make all of these choices a meaningful
reality. We reiterate our commitment to continue our efforts to
realise these expressions of our politics and struggle, and to support
the struggles of all who seek justice, with a vision that remains
autonomous of the discourse of dominant powers and politics.
The National Conference calls on all women who fight against
oppression, struggle for equality, justice and for the liberation of
all; to affirm our diversities, to resist the divisions that social
reality confronts us with; To come together for a vision of greater
justice and peace.
*The National Conference is organised by the National Coordination
Committee (NCC), that comes into being prior to every conference, and
then disbands itself. The NCC is not a registered or permanent body.
Prior to a National Conference, the NCC reconvenes and collectively
inducts new members. Funds are raised for the Conference through
donations and registration fees. The National Conference does not
directly seek or accept funds from any funding agency.