Events

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Past Events

Aurat Azadi Jalsa on 5th March 2023 Islamabad

This year, Aurat Azadi March & Women Democratic Front call upon all our feminist sisters & allies to commemorate the International Working Women’s Day by collectively demanding a complete overhaul of the current economic, political & social system. To march in the name of peace, in the name of economic progress for all, and for the rehabilitation of the flood victims. We believe that there is no liberation without liberation for all, individual freedom at the expense and dispossession of another is no freedom at all.

In this economic crisis, most budget is allocated to debt servicing & non productive expenditure, leading to cuts in social sector, crippling inflation; impacting working class, women, gender minorities & oppressed nations disproportionately, while defense budget is untouched.

Additionally, several regions of the country are still under water after last year’s monsoon flooding. This expected climate catastrophe has been made worse by bad governance, the colonially inherited river management and the criminal silence of the ruling classes.

Against the backdrop of an economic system that serve capital over people, despite teetering on a complete economic shutdown, there are still millions of families displaced due to floods, war, operations & enforced evictions. Life for them is the most precarious it has ever been. These recent floods have been caused by the gross negligence on behalf of the state and a sustained dispossession of people and an expropriation of their lands.

We call all our allies to denounce recent terrorist attacks in KPK & military operations in Balochistan that have claimed the lives of 100s. Increased militarization of our state & society has provided a natural habitat for overdevelopment of patriarchy into more violent forms.They have led to further degradation of the status of women, and increased patriarchal violence, both in private and public spheres.It is now crucial to identify and recognise the interconnectedness of our lived experiences and how a system designed to serve capital and the interests of a few will never respond to the needs of the people.

We reject the overarching capitalist, imperialist and patriarchal system, which disciplines women within and outside the household, devalues their labor and depletes their wellbeing. This system has failed miserably and yet our state and society continue to uphold it. We demand an urgent resolution of the current issues including economic crisis, rehabilitation of flood affectees and restoration of peace!

We also call upon secular,progressive, feminist & democratic forces to join our struggle for establishment of an egalitarian society & state that guarantees #SocialJusticeForAll including working masses, oppressed nations, women, gender minorities & people of persecuted religions. Please join us on 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡, 𝟐:𝟎𝟎𝐩𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐃-𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐤 to raise our voice for restoration of the economy, flood affectees and peace. All wealth and power to the masses. Aurat Azad, Samaaj Azad. #AmanInsafZindagi

Protest against the horrific rape incidents in F-9 Park and Vehari

WDF calls for a road-block protest at the Bolan Gate (F-10 entrance) of F9 Park on Monday, 6th February 2023, at 5pm.

We invite feminist organizations, the civil society, women, children and families of Islamabad to engage in a night-walk with us at 7:30pm inside the F-9 Park on the same day to mark the grounds of the park as our own. We will hang our dupattas on the gates of the park to remind the perpetrators that we are watching and we are here to guard our public spaces and that we will reclaim them.

The Motorway rape case has called attention to the need for a national conversation pertaining to rape culture, victim blaming, notions of honour, the need for systemic change, and forms of punishment. In this study circle, we aim to discuss feminist discourses on punitive punishments, as well as rape as a product of power dynamics in a patriarchal society.

Note: We will have a Q/A session after the discussion.

Speakers: Amna Mawaz, Shmyla Khan.
Moderator: Xenia Rasul

About:

Amna Mawaz Khan began her training in at the age of 11 years under the dance legend Indu Mitha. With an emphasis on Bharatanatyam, she has also learnt and explored Kathak, Uday Shankar and Pakistani folk dances. From 2016 to 2018, Amna was appointed head choreographer and dance instructor of the permanent dance ensemble, the National Performing Arts Group, at the Pakistan National Council of Arts. During this time, she choreographed 3 dance pieces, Barzakh, Situation 101 and Mehergarh with the group ranging from 13 to 22 dancers.In 2016, Amna attended a short course in choreology and choreography from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in Greenwich, England. She has performed and given workshops across Pakistan as well as in China, America, India, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Amna is a part of the Awami Workers Party, founding member of both Women Democratic Front and Laal Hartaal. She is active in and has organized movements for housing rights, and works on the women’s movement, environmental issues, students, peasants, transgenders, and persecuted religious and ethnic groups.

Shmyla Khan is the Research and Policy Director at Digital Rights Foundation. She is a lawyer by training. Shmyla has previously worked as a lecturer teaching law, technology and gender.

Huda Bhurgri is a Secretary Education of WDF Islamabad Unit and is one of Aurat Azadi March Organizers.

Xenia Rasul is Co-Convenor of Women Democratic Front (Lahore). Her research interests include South Asian politics and history, with a special focus on the Frontier region of Pakistan.

Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/765023087654115