Women’s Resistance Movement against Violence

All India Union of Forest Working People Invites you to Programme on
Women’s Resistance Movement against Violence
Programme to commemorate the 60th birthday of
Comrade Bharati RoyChoudhury
27&28th October – Saharnpur, U.P.
29th October – Gandhi Smriti Darshan Samiti, New Delhi
Comrades! The resistance movement against violence spearheaded by marginalized women is gathering momentum these days. The nature of this resistance movement is the defining issue of women’s movement. Presently women, especially working class women are challenging all age old forms of violence and emerging as a strong force to reckon with. Violence against women has many forms – sexual, social, economic, and political. Unfortunately, however it is only the sexual aspect of the violence which gets highlighted though violence continues on all aspects but they are very rarely highlighted. Today working class, Dalit, Adivasi, Minority community women are raising their voice and are leading movements against patriarchal, capitalist and feudal oppression. The process of women empowerment in these sections of society is on the rise. Women’s participation in land and forest rights, right to livelihood, right to health and education is also continuously on the increase. And for this reason a revolutionary change can be seen in contemprary women’s movement.

In Bundelkhand, Kaimur and Terai areas of Uttar Pradesh there has been strengthening of the landless women’s movement for land rights in the last two decades. The struggle for land rights by the landless has been an old struggle which had been going on strongly from the British period till the 70s. In Post 80s such struggles weakened and most progressive sections resigned themselves to the fact that issue of land rights and land reforms had lost momentum. The 90s saw the beginning of capitalist liberalization with structural reform processes and programmes and the issue of land rights and land reforms disappeared from the political horizon. Peasant movements also got limited to articulating demands for the big and medium peasants. Even the mainstream left parties abandoned land reform movements. The era of capitalist liberalization saw the conditions of landless and poor peasants deteriorate even further. What was worse was that the very issue of land rights and land reforms vanished from the political horizon. However, in these bleak situations, in the beginning years of this century, women from the poor and landless sections of society exhibited an unforeseen awakening and brought back the demand for land rights and land reforms into the political horizon very strongly. Women from these sections developed this understanding that without land in their possession they could not ascertain their economic stability, dignity or their children’s future. These women did not look at land as commodity but as a source of their livelihood and because they did not look at land in property terms, this struggle for land rights has continued to grow and gather momentum.

It must be remembered that these women came primarily from the landless and poor peasant sections of Adivasi, Dalit and other backward or marginalized sections of society. They evolved as a force protesting against many so called “development” projects and schemes and fighting for a “life of dignity”. Urban working women also came up very strongly against injustice and for development rights. And thus this emerging women’s power made a strong impact and intervention in the political sphere. Even election equations were affected as the new generation of this section notice of this new socio-political factor. Entrenched political forces, formations and parties had to take notice of this emerging socio-political force and were quite helpless in front of this new political force and bowed down to it. And it was because of this reason that governments had to take serious notice of women’s voice and political will, especially those of the landless, marginalized sections and legislate such path breaking acts like MGNREGA, Forest Rights Act, Social Security Act, Domestic violence against women etc. It must be recalled that all these Acts had special provisions for women and the Forest Rights Act, for the first time, granted equal individual and community rights to women over natural resources. Never before had the revenue laws of the country such provisions for women. But still even after 7 years these Acts are not implemented effectively because of lack of political will for change.

It is however important to realize that the movements and struggles of Adivasi, Dalit and other marginalized sections of women have had to face many social, political, economic oppression and opposition. Indian society is primarily feudal, patriarchal and capitalist and the women’s movement had to counter all these forces to emerge as a political force. Their road was never easy and they had to face different types of suppressions, oppressions and violence. Wider society did not have much idea or information about this empowerment of the marginalized women as such movements and struggles did not become newspaper headlines and neither has there been any meaningful research in to the same. Discussions on violence against women remained confined to middle class urban women. And what is sad is that mainstream women’s movements did not give any recognition to this struggle of the poor and marginalized sections of women. The poor and the marginalized women are just looked upon as victims. History is however witness to the fact that in the advanced western countries it was the struggle of the poor and exploited sections of women which was the precursor of independent women’s movement as it emerged in the twentieth century. In countries like India with deep rooted casteism and dominance of eminent domain, the struggles and movements of Adivasi, Dalit and other backward and marginalized sections of women never had any recognition. But it is this movement and struggle which is posing a strong challenge to capitalist globalization, feudalism and patriarchy and demanding basic changes to the very structure of society and governance. It is critically important to recognize and understand this force as it is signaling towards a revolutionary change.

It is in this context that we are organizing a discussion on “Women’s Resistance Movement against Violence” which intends to open up discussions around this whole issue. This discussion would be organized in memory of our beloved comrade Bharati Roy Choudhury on her 60th birthday and would be a true tribute to her. She was associated with the struggle of the marginalized women and played a very important and leading role in this movement.

On the occasion of her 60th birthday All India Union of Forest Working People would be organizing a few programmes in which women community leaders playing leading roles in the forest and land rights movement in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand would be participating. It needs to be emphasized that these women have been fighting for over a decade against all odds to protect the collective and community rights they have won and this has given them an identity of their own. Progressive women’s organizations from Delhi would also participate.

A two day programme would be organized in village Nagal Mafi, Saharanpur , U.P. on 27th & 28th October.

A day long discussion session would be organized in Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti premises, New Delhi on 29th October.

Warm Regards

Jarjum Ete Ashok Chowdhury

(President) ( General Secretary)