Dalit Women Fight: A report back on the Dalit Mahila Swabhiman Yatra

The Association for India’s Development (AID) and the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA) Presents:
Dalit Women Fight

A Report back by
Asha Kowtal (General Secretary of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch) and
Thenmozhi Soundararajan (Filmmaker and Organizer) on

Dalit Mahila Swabhiman Yatra
(Dalit Women’s Self Determination March)

Events:

April 17th, 2014, 7:30 P.M. – East Bay
223 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/770164436351718/

April 18th, 2014, 5:30 P.M. – South Bay
San Jose State University Boccardo Business Center Room 320
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/751592884873965/


The All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (All India Dalit Women’s Rights Forum) organized the month long Dalit Mahila Swabhiman Yatra (Dalit Women’s March for Self Determination), in early 2014, spanning several States in India to demand accountability and justice for the victims of, and an end to, caste-based sexual violence. This historic multi-state march intended to put the State, media and society in the dock for the continued impunity with which the subjugation of Dalit women, to sexual assault and violence, is carried on in India.

Asha Kowtal, the General Secretary of the AIDMAM, and Thenmozhi Soundararajan, who marched with hundreds of Dalit women as part of this historic Yatra, are in the Bay Area to report back on its antecedents and impact.

Come participate in the report back and conversation around caste, an insidious and omnipresent South Asian institution that subjugates and oppresses those at the bottom of a man-made social hierarchy, with Women, more often than not, bearing the brunt of discrimination, oppression and extreme violence against already marginalized communities.

Be part of the conversation of how caste continues to persist today, and colors South Asia, at origin and in diaspora, and what it means for to fight for social justice, here in the United States as well as abroad.

Co-sponsors (list in progress):

IDEX (International Development Exchange)
Center for South Asian Studies at UC Berkeley
South Asian Advocacy Group as SJSU