September 2016 – Anasuya Sengupta

Whose Knowledge? at the AWID Forum

We set up a Wikimedia user group! This means we join a set of formal and informal organisations within the broader Wikimedia movement, who are thematically or geographically focused around free knowledge.

We wrote a pretty fun grant report (oxymoronish, hmm?) in which we reported back on what we did. As I wrote in it: “I had many fascinating conversations about Whose Knowledge? and Wikimedia at the AWID Forum. But one of my most delightful (and delighted) stories is of supporting Lebanese activist Nadine Moawad, to learn how to create a well-sourced and written Wikipedia article. We uploaded a stub on Isatou Touray, and then spoke of her first foray into Wikipedia editing in 2010, with a stub on a Lebanese women’s rights advocate. Nadine had felt upset with the way a patroller had treated her then, and thought her article had been deleted. We went looking for it. Not only does the article continue to exist – Laure Moghaizel – but it has since been improved by over 10 other editors, and translated into both Arabic and French. By the time we finished our Wikipedia editing session, Nadine was planning an editathon in Beirut!”

…and here’s the op-ed we wrote for GenderIT.org on our mapping.

Aamra bhulbo na, Agniva

This is the form of Wikipedia editing I hate the most, updating an entry to reflect the passing of an inspiring human being. Agniva Lahiri, rest in power, and in amusement at the foibles and ironies of this world. Was it only a month ago that I reached out and you told me about setting up the first Asian transgender home in Kolkata? I hope we can make it happen in your memory.

I’ll miss the adda and the shared cackling at different points in time in our connecting stories. I’m heartsick, once again, at the struggles my trans friends have to go through to be seen and to be, fully. I’m so sorry your body gave out on you, but your spirit will not. Aamra bhulbo na.

Plays are acts of protest

“Martha: Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference.
George: No, but we must carry on as though we did.
Martha: Amen.”

‘Plays are acts of protest meant to change people.’ Rest in power, Edward Albee, knowing your dark humour and incisiveness changed many of us.

Amplification, not representation

And this, my friends, is one of the essential pillars of Whose Knowledge?. Not only re women, but around race, sexuality, caste, class, indigenous peoples… the many many marginalised communities of knowledge and wisdom in our worlds. Obama staffers talk about how they made sure women were heard: “Female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called “amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.”

I will not die a victim, I want to live as a leader

The incredible Dalit leader, Manisha Mashaal: “When I look at my life I know that as a Valmiki woman there are hardly any places where I can find another of my sisters. Even after my education, my travels, and leadership, I still find myself discriminated against, underestimated, and shoved aside. Discriminated by both upper caste and also other Dalits who do not address their English and caste privileges which act against the members of castes below them, and those whose English fluency is not on par with them. If I struggle like this, then I can only imagine what other rural Dalit women must struggle with?”

At the AWID Forum I just returned from, Dalit feminists had moved from being participants in the past to being presenters of sessions in the present. While I celebrated with them, I also questioned with them when and how the 260M + Dalits of the world would find their place in ‘plenary’, when their struggle and power would be acknowledged widely and visibly. And before we turn to the world stage, let’s acknowledge our own biases and invisibilities in India, in South Asia. Manisha, hum aapke saath hain, lekin bolne aur karne mein bahuth pharakh hai. Keep us honest, my friend. #DalitWomenFight

(and in Hindi.)

Standing with Standing Rock

Even as we celebrate resistance and indigenous histories here at the#AWIDForum, this is what is happening back in the US: on Saturday the Dakota Access pipeline company unleashed dogs and pepper spray on Native Americans seeking to protect a sacred tribal burial site from destruction.

This is what the feminist movement looks like

When women of colour inspire the world. This is what the feminist movement looks like. (tweeting from the AWID Forum as @WhoseKnowledge)

Defending our Dreams: revisited

As I start packing for the #AWIDForum, excited and grateful I’m going to see so many old friends who have sustained me through the years (and make new ones to inspire me now), I realise that the last AWID Forum I was at was Bangkok 2005. Where we launched Defending Our Dreams (AWID and Zed Press), afaik the first ever international anthology of young feminist analyses.

DoD was a labour of love and passion for Shamillah Wilson, Kristy Turest-Swartz and me, with the faith and incredible inspiration of Peggy Antrobus, and with the amazing contributions and collaborations of a bunch of fabulous feministas. It’s been ten years, sistahs!

As I look back, this excerpt from the introduction (pulled together with Shams’ thoughts and my crazed writing at 5 in the morning one long ago day in Bangalore), still seems relevant. What do you think?

“We are straddling many complex identities and locations; we are both insider and outsider, rooted in our origins and yet diasporic in our natures. Very often the only way we survive is by using spaces in-between: spaces where we create our own families and communities. Feminist communities have been one such space, where we have flourished and grown. We are a generation of feminists who dream and imagine – like those before us, and no doubt, like those after us – many other worlds. We defend those dreams in our engagement as advocates, organizers, spokespersons, protesters, researchers, and strategists in social movements across the globe. We believe that our energies, friendship, love, creativity, and passionate advocacy for equality and justice can spark holistic visions, fresh analyses, and new strategies for change. We hope that we will embody our own visions of leadership – of being both follower and leader, of being inspired, and becoming inspiration.”