NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF WOMEN (NAWO)
WORLD MARCH OF WOMEN (WMW)
Report of the World Relay of the Charter in India
July 17 –
23, 2005
The "Women's Global Charter for Humanity" launched on March 8,
2005 in the 163 participating countries in the world, along with the
International launch in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The World Relay of the Charter and
building of the "Feminist Solidarity Patchwork Quilt" also started in
Sao Paulo. Between March & October the Charter and the Quilt was scheduled to
travel to 53 countries around the world, when each country would add a piece to
the Solidarity Quilt depicting their vision of a new world. After traveling to
39 countries the Charter reached Kolkata, India on July 17, 2005 from Thailand/Burma.
During the 5 days, the Charter was in India. National Alliance of Women (NAWO), the National Co-ordinating body for
World March in India organized a series of regional events in 6 different
cities – Kolkata in West Bengal, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand,
Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and in New Delhi.
We translated the Charter in 4 regional languages – Hindi, Tamil,
Marathi & Oriya, which was widely used for discussions at the grass roots
level meetings. We also printed the Charter on hand made silk in Hindi and
English for the Regional Events and built two National Patchwork Solidarity
Quilts. Each of the participating groups contributed a patch. One of these
Solidarity Quilt was given to the World March Organizing Committee in Pakistan.
A
Glimpse of the Regional Events :
During the week of July 17 to 23, 2005, six Regional Events were organized as already mentioned above. The
first event in Kolkata on 18th was a roaring success. With more than 800
participants from rural Bengal, activists from Kolkata and other dignitaries
including the Mayor of Kolkata and the Chairperson of Women's Commission. On
the occasion we also honoured an Advasi (tribal) woman named Andhari Majhi for
her leading the struggles for Advasi Rights specially for land, water and
forest. Ms.Koely Roy, Ms.Indrani Sinha, Ms.Nupur Sanyal and the other members
of the State Organizing Committee organized this programme with full
participation of more than 68 Organizations in the State.
In Ranchi, Jharkhand 200 women participated at the Regional Event. Ms.Suman
Gupta, the Superintendent of Police was the Chief Guest, who affirmed that
women are capable of bringing about change in the world. Ms.Vineeta Meher
introduced the "Land to the Tiller" Campaign taken up by World March
and also launched the Postcard Campaign to be sent to the Chief Minister of the
State & the Prime Minister of India by the women demanding the
implementation of the Land Ceiling Act, whereby each woman would be entitled to
5 to 7 acres of land. Ms.Chaina Moitra was honoured as the Brave Woman at this
event for her struggles for the Right of the Daughter in the father's property.
This event was organized by the State Organizing Committee for World March
under the leadership of Ms.Rosalia Tirkey.
In Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh the Regional Event was organized under the leadership
of Ms.Prarthana Mishra, member – National Co-ordination
Committee for World March. 150 Women from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh
gathered together for this Regional Event. Two women – Ms.Basni Bai of Ekta
Parishad, Morena and Ms.Gangotri Bai of Bilaspur were honoured as Brave Women
for their struggle for women's access and control over land. The cultural team
of Sangini, an umbrella organization for groups in Madhya Pradesh presented a
Street Theatre based on the Charter.
The Regional Event in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
brought together nearly 400 women from 35 districts in Uttar Pradesh, most of
them representing women's organizations, people's organizations and civil
liberties organizations. The cultural team of Sakhi Kendra, Kanpur presented songs and raised slogans of solidarity. Ms.Kumkum
Tripathi of Mahila Samakhya, Lucknow
informed that the names of 6 women from the state of Uttar Pradesh for the
Nobel Prize for 1000 women had been recommended. At this event, 15 women from
different districts were honoured as Brave Women. A cultural team – Natya Yuva
Manch presented a Street Play, "Faisla Kiske Haq Mein" raising the
issue of Violence faced by women. The programme concluded with women marching
on the streets as an expression of their solidarity to women of the world
struggling to create a better world.
A total of 1000 women from 60 organizations in the state of Andhra Pradesh
gathered together for the Regional Event where the Charter was presented in
their regional language – Telugu. Each woman was given a cloth patch on which
to express their vision of a new world. These patches were displayed as a State
Solidarity Patchwork Quilt. It was also shared that Ms.Vasanth Kannabiran has
been nominated for the Nobel Prize from the state.
This Regional Event was organized by the NAWO – State Committee under the
leadership of Ms.Vasanth Kannabiran, who was also on the National Delegation to
Pakistan as part of the World Relay of the World March Charter.
Finally, the last Event was organized in Delhi
at the India International Centre, where Ms.Girija Vyas, Chairperson – National
Commission for Women (NCW) and Ms.Mohini Giri, Former Chairperson of NCW were
the Chief Guests. About 50 representatives of different organizations of Delhi
itself had gathered. They also flagged off the National Delegation to Pakistan. The presence of 3 International Delegates – Dr.Roya, Founder Member of
Turkestan Peace Foundation, Turkestan, Ms.Farah from Iran and another delegation from Iraq was very important as they had traveled to India to express their solidarity to the Delegation to Pakistan and to stitch their patch on to the Solidarity Quilt of the World
March. Ms.Nasreen Faiyaz, National Liaison Secretary and Ms.Deepa Rathore of
NAWO Secretariat at Delhi organized the
programme and also made the logistic arrangements for the National Delegation
to Pakistan.
It is important to mention that these events were possible only
because of the NAWO – World March team in India. During the Preparatory Meeting of the programmes on the receipt of the
Charter, Shashi received news of her brother in the US being critically ill. All the members of the Co-ordination Committee
took on the responsibility of organizing the 6 Regional Events as part of the
World Relay of the Charter and even though, she returned to India only 3 days before the Charter arrived, the Programmes had been well
planned, within the spirit of collective leadership in NAWO – World March.
Date:
August 2005
Venue:
Mahasamund, India
Ms.Shashi Sail
Forgot your password?
