[Reader-list] Fw: [faowmeetings] 2nd june : meeting 2 to 6 pm

[kabi cubby sherman]

for us in bombay. 
apologies for any cross-posted already received

best
kabi
 

Meter Down - काली पीली की कहानी
blog: http://meterdown.wordpress.com
podcast: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/meterdown


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: faow india <faowindia at yahoo.co.in>
To: faowmeetings group <faowmeetings at yahoogroups.com> 
Sent: Monday, 28 May 2012 2:34 PM
Subject: [faowmeetings] 2nd june : meeting 2 to 6 pm
 

  
Dear Friends,

Dec 2012-Jan 2013 marks twenty years of the
shocking, violent, horrifying days of Dec 92-Jan 93.

Those
of us who were in this city in those days witnessed something that we probably
could not even imagine. Those were days that brought the worst kind of violence
to the foreground. Violence systematically targeted at some citizens of the
city. Violence that divided , that terrified, that made many flee, that gave
fresh meanings to the “us”  and “them”. 

The
last twenty years bear witness to the scars of that violence. Absence of
justice and the continuous mockery of the process of justice has not helped in
the healing. While some wounds have filled up with time and some acts of
kindness and support, many continue to fester – we are just better at not
showing them and at not seeing them. The chasms deepened then have not been
filled up. They have altered the city and its people in many ways. 

Our internal and the external landscapes have
shifted in the last twenty years in numerous ways. The violence of 92-93 was
one trigger but so also were the processes of globalisation,
neo-liberalisation, privatisation. They reconfigured the city and its citizens
in multiple ways. 


The familiar industries and organised labour have made way
for newer occupations and the unorganised sector. There has been an ever
expanding disparity between those few who have reaped the benefits of these new
capitalist ventures and the vast majority whose struggles for survival have acquired
newer meanings. 

Alongside, the cosmopolitan character of this
city too has been steadily replaced with a  parochial outlook and
character. The bogey of the “sons of the soil”, the slogans of cultural
nationalism and the narrowing definitions of the “true residents” have altered
the city in more ways than we would like to see and remember. 

And then there is the terror of terror. Wounded
by repeated attacks, the citizens have often welcomed rather than opposed the
easier solutions of safety through surveillance and targeting  of the
vulnerable offered by the state.  The spirit of the city is continuously
under attack and we get nearer to a police state with every such response.

With shrinking open spaces and growing private
spaces, protests have almost vanished. On the one hand there is no permission
to protest, on the other there are some voices that have become even more
strident. Very often these are not voices for dissent and solidarity, they are
voices of  the mainstream once again relegating the rest to narrower
margins.

Yet the voice of dissent has not died down
through all of this. Voices of people in protest have still found ways of being
heard. New kinds of protests,  newer formations, platforms and networks,
different issues and people have also found place. 

We, members of Forum Against Oppression of
Women, feel that it is important to do something that captures in some ways the
meaning of these changes for us, its citizens. A collective, public
acknowledgement that will help in reminding us of all that happened in 1992-93
and since. A remembrance that is needed so that we do not forget. A remembrance
needed not just to lament the loss but also to remind us of what is possible. A
remembrance that in charting the paths of the past shall also help to map the
future. 

There is already immense amounts of
documentation/ art/ film/ writing/ other cultural expressions/ research and
other artefacts of various kinds  that have been created and put together
by different people and groups over the last two decades. There is ongoing
work, there is work done over the years and there are plans for the future. Can
we jointly think about ways of  pulling some of these together to share
with the rest of the city and with each other? Can we plan some events together
particularly for Dec 2012 – Jan 2013? A series of events to put both memory and
resistance in the context of this city that we all so love and have such a
difficult relationship with.

We invite you to a meeting on 2nd June 2012
at Gender resource centre to start these conversations and collectively see
what shape and form these and other ideas can take. 

Let us all put
our memories, our anger, our frustration, our grief, together with our vision,
our love for this city and what it stands for, our faith and optimism along
with our laughter, songs and creativity to create things that will help the
dialogue on this city with its citizens.

Forum Against Oppression of Women,
Mumbai
Venue  :                                                                                                     Date/Time:
2nd June,  2pm to 6 pm
                                                                                    
Savitribai Phule Gender Resource Centre (SPGRC), 
Rajgruha Cooperative Society, 
Balshet Madurkar Marg, 
Elphinstone (West), Mumbai- 400013


 
Forum Against Oppression of Women, Bombay 
29, Bhatia Bhuvan, 
Babrekar Marg, 
Gokhale Road, 
Dadar (West) 
Bombay -4000 28 

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