Kurdish MP: ‘The history of women has been a history of resistance’

Gultan Kisanak speaking to audience members during the panel discussion (28 June 2012). Credit: MRG

On the 28 June, Roj Women’s Association, a London-based organisation championing Kurdish and Turkish women’s rights, organised a panel discussion as part of their three-day women’s festival in London. The main panellist was Gultan Kisanak, a Kurdish Member of Parliament from Turkey and joint-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Turkey. An MRG intern reports back from the panel discussion.

Women’s rights

Kisanak, like her party the BDP, is an adamant supporter of women’s rights, particularly that of Kurdish women, due to the high rates of unemployment, illiteracy and poverty that exist among them compared to their Turkish counterparts.

Women’s rights is an important issue for the BDP and the main reason why they practise joint male and female party leadership. The BDP claim to strive for a democratic Turkey where Kurds can live in freedom and aspire to a future where the different peoples of the region can peacefully live together. In other words, they advocate a future of internal self-determination for Kurds.

Kurds participating in the Million Women Rise march in London to protest male violence against women. Credit: Tamara Craiu

Speaking in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, Kisanak emphasised the extremely important and special role Kurdish women have played in shaping the Kurdish political struggle, as well as how the political philosophy forming the backbone of the Kurdish struggle in Turkey has in turn enabled women’s political participation. According to Kisanak, women have always been at the forefront of the struggle, but she stressed that further steps need to be taken to ensure their full participation.

Kisanak also spoke of women’s role in Kurdish society, saying that generally Kurdish people are women-friendly but that “women have been oppressed among Kurds as with other peoples of the world”. She notably stated that around the world “the history of women has been a history of resistance”.

She called on women to unite, men to respect women, and urged the audience not to allow anyone marry against their will, and women not to let any man abuse them. A calling met with great applause and standing ovations.

Current affairs in Turkey 

After her speech on women’s rights, there was a Q&A where Kisanak received several questions on other important issues, such as the current political situation in Turkey. Kisanak spoke  of the government party AKP and the main opposition party CHP.

Kisanak stated that during the AKP’s reign democratization has not deepened but actually reverted and been perverted.  For instance, she said, there are currently an estimated 600 female political prisoners in Turkey, and a staggering 8000 political prisoners in total and that these figures have increased thanks to AKP policies. Another example she gave was Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent anti-abortion statements. Stressing that women have the right to decide over their own bodies, BDP and others feel the abortion issue is a prime example of Erdogan’s authoritative and dominant personality; trying to decide how many children women should bear, how they should give birth (suggesting caesarean should be banned), etc.

Reflecting on the CHP, she claimed that their political behaviour and policies was and still is undemocratic, stressing that they need to deal with their nationalistic and discriminatory politics. Until the CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu can publicly announce that he is a Kurd, that he is Alevi, and that he is from Dersim (presently referred to as Tunceli in Turkish), there wasn’t much to be expected from him or CHP, Kisanak said. According to her, the government party AKP only appears as “democratic” because the main opposition party, CHP, is in comparison no better than the AKP.

Responding to a question about Turkish media, Gultan Kisanak, with her extensive experience in journalism, held that the majority of Turkish media was controlled by the state and blamed them for turning the Turkish people against the Kurds, and twisting the reality of the Kurdish Question by hiding the truth from them. 

Uprisings in the Middle East

An audience member asked Kisanak about the conflict in Syria and the role of the Kurds.

Kurdish boys displaying the Kurdish and Syrian flag during an anti-government protest (18 April 2012). Credit: FreedomHouse

According to Kisanak, the conflict in Syria has shown that the Kurdish people are now a force to be reckoned with in the Middle East, that they no longer can be ignored as this have proven to lead to failure.  Kisanak stated that the Syrian National Council (SNC) had ignored the Syrian Kurds demands and consequently in an effort to “improve their image” made a Kurdish man SNC leader. Whilst welcoming this decision, she argued that this move alone did not mean the demands of Syrian Kurds and the Syrian people’s freedom struggle were being addressed properly. But according to Kisanak they had at least understood that the Kurdish people are not a peripheral actor.

To succeed, Kurds must avoid the mistakes done by their forefathers at the time of the First World War when the Middle East was a region in immense upheaval. “Frankly”, she said, “we don’t have the luxury to make any mistakes”.

All dressed up in India

MRG’s Gender Programme Coordinator, Kathryn Ramsay, is in Madhya Pradesh at a training with inspiring Dalit women leaders from north India

 

I’m standing in a hotel room surrounded by nine laughing Dalit women who are wrapping a sari around me. I feel like I’m a doll being dressed up! As they tuck and pin the 5 meters of material around me, I wonder how long it takes sari-wearing women to get dressed every morning. Apparently not as long as it’s taking them to dress me – maybe because they’re taking photos of every step of the process!

I’m in India (in Pachmarhi, a small hill station in Madhya Pradesh) for a four-day training programme for Dalit women leaders. The last time I came to India, I met most of the 24 women from 8 different Indian States at a regional conference held by MRG’s partner Navsarjan, where we discussed their training needs and planned a programme to equip them with leadership skills and opportunities to put those skills into practice to benefit other Dalit women. Navsarjan has begun that programme and is running a series of training events for the group over the next 10 months.

They are an inspiring group of women. Many have experienced domestic violence; one is taking a case of attempted murder against her husband. All have been put under pressure to stop their work as activists, either by the dominant castes in the community or by their own families. But all of them are determined to continue their work, and, through the trainings, improve their skills to become more effective in helping other Dalit women.

Today was the last day of the training. Over four days we have focused on human rights and gender equality, the Indian Constitution, Penal Code and the Prevention of Atrocities Act (an act which specifically outlaws caste based discrimination and violence and provides increased punishment for crimes committed because of caste). Most of the women are already supporting others in taking up cases of violence against Dalit women and they were totally absorbed in the topics. One of them commented, ‘We’ve had other trainings, why didn’t anyone tell us this information before?’

The intricacies of how to register a criminal case with the police and the investigation process which should then be followed (but is frequently not) were presented by one of Navsarjan’s most experienced lawyers. The material was explained using a case invented by the participants – a fight between four of them in the hotel dining room resulting in a death, with plates, sandals, handbags and a water bottle as the weapons used! I don’t think any class of university law students either studied so hard or laughed so much while learning the same material.

Finally the sari is pleated, tucked and pinned to their satisfaction. One gives me her necklace to wear, another sticks a bindi on my forehead and I’m ready to be taken downstairs and showed off to the others!

After many more photos, several participants want me to go dancing in the tiny hotel disco which is pumping out Indian pop music at a decibel level I think would probably be illegal in a London nightclub. We all had a great time dancing there on the night we arrived (something they would never do at home) but this time I have to say no since I think if I try to dance in a sari, I may break my ankle, or at least fall in a very ungraceful heap in the middle of the dance floor!

Tomorrow there are a few hours free for visiting the area around Pachmarhi (a first visit for all of us) and then everyone leaves for long train rides back to their home states. I feel privileged to have shared this time with these women. I’m humbled by the challenges they face and determined to raise the money we need for the rest of the programme. I’ll also be taking away some of the ideas gained from the women’s experience which might transfer to some of the other communities MRG works with. I now have a few days off and I’m heading back down to the sweltering heat of the plains (around 43 degrees Centigrade) to a national park in the hope of seeing one of India’s rarest animals, the tiger.

We are enemies of ourselves

MRG’s Head of Law, Lucy Claridge, is in Kenya to gather evidence for two crucial international land rights cases

Don’t tell my family, but I’m coming to think of Kenya as my second home.  This isn’t just because it’s already my second trip this year (as the immigration official helpfully points out whilst flicking through my passport “You come here a lot!  You’re wearing the same coat as last time!”), but because it’s very hard not to feel welcome and inspired by all the people I meet and work with during my visits.  And this is in spite of the challenging situation which many of them face on a daily basis.

As MRG’s Head of Law, I’m visiting Kenya to work on two international land rights cases before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the first for the Ogiek, an indigenous hunter-gather community who live in the Mau Forest and around Mount Elgon, and the second for the Endorois, a pastoralist community who last year successfully challenged their eviction from ancestral land around Lake Bogoria. My trip coincides with the first appearance of the “Ocampo Six” at the International Criminal Court in the Hague: six key Kenyan figures face an international criminal trial for their involvement in the ethnic violence following the December 2007 elections , which resulted in the death of over 1,000 Kenyans and thousands more displaced.  Unsurprisingly, it’s hot news; it features on the front page of every paper throughout my visit, and televisions blast out live reports in each restaurant that I enter.  It makes a stark contrast to my last visit to Nakuru, when the only thing showing was the World Cup!

I spend my first day with the Ogiek of Mount Elgon, who come from Western Kenya and, in common with many Ogiek of the Mau Forest, face eviction from their ancestral homes.  I’m gathering evidence and information for the upcoming session of the African Commission, during which their case will hopefully be considered.  We discuss the challenges they have faced over the past 60 years, and the progress of their case.  During our discussion, I ask them what they feel about the ICC process – and they respond positively, saying that they feel it will send a message to the Government that there must be accountability for its actions, and that human rights and the rule of law must be respected.  I admire their optimism.  And given the thousands of people that flock to Uhuru stadium in Nairobi to welcome back the Ocampo Six a few days later – which feels like impunity – I can only hope that they’re right.

My remaining days in Nakuru are spent at a workshop focusing on women’s rights.  Nearly 30 women from throughout the Mau and Mount Elgon attend the two day workshop, during which they learn the basics of minority and indigenous peoples’ rights, how the new Kenyan constitution protects women’s rights, the aim of the case before the African Commission, and what we hope it will achieve for them.  The lack of Ogiek land rights has had a particularly striking effect on women, which becomes ever clearer to me as the training progresses.

“There is no respect if we don’t have land…. once we have lost our land, we have lost our identity”, they explain.  One woman, Sarah (who speaks excellent English and very kindly translates from Swahili for me at points), has her arm in a sling following a violent attack several weeks before as a direct result of her activism around the Ogiek land rights issue.  Yet the majority of Ogiek women still have quite traditional roles, as one speaker identifies when he asks them to tell him what would happen if they didn’t work for a day.  “My family would go hungry”; “My family would be naked”; “My family would be dirty”; “My family would be lost”, the participants respond.

But by the end of the seminar, the women are inspired and motivated to try and step out of those roles, to seek education for their daughters, to participate more in politics, to empower themselves, and to seek their land rights. “We are enemies of ourselves!” one woman cries, as we discuss the way forward.

I leave Nakuru hoping that she is right, that these women will feel empowered to act on what they have learnt, that their husbands and families will allow them to do so, and also that they have learned as much as I have in the space of just 2 days.

Part 2 – Maasai women speak up of abuse and violence

MRG’s media officer Farah Mihlar shares her stories from the sidelines of a media training for community activists in Nairobi, Kenya. Read part 1 here.

Part 2

Yes, they did make it on time, but Stella overslept. The poor thing was completely embarrassed as she came down to a few grumpy stares, though just 30 minutes late. Our trip was to Mara to visit Maasai communities. Joining us was Jedrzej, a journalist working for Polish political weekly magazine, Polityka. His visit is part of an MRG project to increase awareness of issues on minority and indigenous communities in the EU new member states.

Despite coming in earlier than the two party animals, I was knocked out and fell asleep through the early part of the journey, only to be woken to Jedrzej clicking his camera to some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. We were driving on a road nestled in between towering mountains. Narok town is a little less than 3 hours from Nairobi.

Our master guide Kedoki and the ever entertaining Eunice, both colleagues of Esmael and Stella, join us as we make our way to Mara. We are stocked with peanuts, water bottles and Esmael’s great idea of Kenyan ice cream. The drive to Mara is arduous and long, the road is in a terrible condition but the company is excellent. We talk about life, kids, romance. When we finally get to Mara, we are stopped at the gate to the wildlife reserve, and asked to buy tickets. While we are swamped by women selling beaded chains and wooden carvings, only Kedoki’s masterful negotiations and contacts within the community get us in. At the entrance to the village we visit, young Maasai men, in colourful robes, welcome us. They sing and dance to a traditional welcome song, whilst Esmael and Jedrzej have to join in.

We are later taken on a tour of the village. We meet women making beaded ornaments, and they show us their hunting tools and how to start a fire. Much of the tour is touristic and it is clear that the villages in Mara have had to adapt themselves to the increasing numbers of tourists visiting the game reserve. I try to avoid the tour guide, and speak to the elders and women about the difficulties they face. The elders explain that they have very limited access to health facilities and schools. They have to walk miles to get to the main road and hope a passing vehicle stops to take a sick person to hospital. ‘We get nothing from the government. You saw the road you came on, they can’t even build the road,’ they say. The Kenyan government earns millions of dollars from tourism, Maasai Mara being one of the most visited places.  It is getting dark and we have to leave to get out of the reserve before it is too late.

I crash into bed, in the guest house room, and watch the Kenyan version of X Factor. The talent was amazing, several Whitney Houston’s and Mariah Carey’s in the making. Just as I was beginning to warm up to the Simon Cowell equivalent on the judging panel  there was a power cut!

I am woken on Sunday morning by the call to prayer from the Narok mosque, and again a few hours later by an array of different church sessions. There are several evangelical groups that practice in Narok. All have their own choirs and sermons that are played out on loudspeakers.

On Sunday, we visit another village closer to Narok. Miriam has helped organise this. Pauline Kinyarkoo, who works with Miriam and is a local councilor, takes us around.  Pauline is a larger-than-life character; she is full of life and energy, kindness and love. We first stop to pick up Mary, a peer advisor to the village we are visiting. It is Sunday so she is at a service in the makeshift little church by her house. Little kids sing and dance the praises of Jesus.

Pauline Kinyarkoo, a woman Maasai activist and councilor, addresses elders in the community

As we enter the village, Pauline first introduces us to the elders. In African tribal culture elders have a very important role to play, respecting them and seeking their approval is a must. After interviewing the elders, Pauline gathers the women in the village so I can speak to them about gender issues in the community. We go and sit under a tree outside the village fence, surrounded by the vast, beautiful terrain of dusty land stretching miles before reaching the mountains.

The women take time, but slowly start talking about the difficulties in their lives. Maasai women, like most pastoralist women, are discriminated against and ill treated on all fronts. They suffer discrimination by people from other communities, those who live in the towns, who look at them as backward, ignorant and dirty. They have no place in their own community, and are oppressed through various cultural practices, including child marriage, polygamy and female genital mutilation. They open up, with their stories, their pain, both physical and emotional. I am touched by their willingness to share these intimate, painful experiences. I ask if I can write about them – they tell me to take their stories to the world.

Maasai women in Kenya

On our return we stop at Mary’s home for a cup of tea. She has six lovely children, I ask if I can take her smallest.  The little fellow cringes behind her as she teases to send him with me. We have to leave as it is getting late and I need to return to Nairobi.

I leave Kenya with many wonderful memories, the beautiful landscape, the music and rhythm, the spicy food and the diversity and different stories from each community. But what I will never forget is the tremendous courage and strength of all of the women I met, in Nairobi, Narok, and Mara, who fight tirelessly everyday to give their young girls a better life.

• View a gallery with additional images from Farah’s trip to Mara – part of the Minority Voices Newsroom

Empowerment through sweet eating

Kathryn Ramsay, MRG’s Gender Programme Coordinator, is asked to perform a rather unorthodox task whilst visiting partners in India.

The job of a programme coordinator at MRG is varied, but I never thought it would include being asked to judge a sweet eating competition! I’m in India to visit MRG’s Gender Programme partners. Navsarjan Trust, based 45km outside Ahmedabad in Gujarat, is working with MRG on research on violence against Dalit women and promoting Dalit womens’ leadership. They also run a vocational training centre – Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK) – and it is young women from the training centre (aged 15-22) who are taking part in the sweet eating competition. Entering the hall, 11 are sitting on a stage with empty plates in front of them, watched by another 20 girls chattering excitedly.

But why would sweet eating be part of a vocational training course? All the girls belong to the Dalit community, the lowest rank in India’s caste system. Dalits are ‘outcasts’ and although illegal, many ‘untouchability’ practices continue, especially in rural areas. The training the girls receive at DSK equips them with skills to do jobs outside their traditional ‘caste occupations’ (demeaning jobs forced on them because of their caste). It also teaches them about equality and empowers them to challenge the discrimination they face. Navsarjan’s Director, Manjula Pradeep, tells me that the sweets they will be eating, known as laddoos, are traditionally only eaten by upper castes members and are forbidden to Dalits.

Dalit girls taking part in the sweet eating competition

I’m asked to hand out sweets to each girl then a DSK staff member starts the competition. The noise and excitement in the hall increases dramatically. Laddoos are balls of about 3cm in diameter made of chickpea flour. I taste one; it’s very sweet and extremely heavy. After each round girls drop out and those continuing are given more sweets. At the end of four rounds the joint winners are obviously delighted (the prize is 1000 Rupees or about £14) although they both look like they’re about to be sick!

The following day is very special for DSK. All of the 2138 women and girls who have received training have been invited back for a celebration of their achievements. Girls from the Valmiki community – the lowest sub-caste of Dalits whose traditional caste occupation is cleaning out human excrement by hand from dry toilets – have been invited as an encouragement to them to join training programmes like DSK. In total around 800 Dalit women and girls are present along with some Muslim and indigenous women who have also received training at DSK. A testament to the value these women place on DSK is that so many travelled from all over Gujarat (some for over 7 hours) and at their own expense, to attend the event.

There is an awards ceremony for current students (including the prize for the sweet eating competition) and then former students tell their stories of coming to DSK and how their lives have been changed. Some are running their own tailoring businesses having been taught to sew and helped to buy sewing machines, others now have jobs in companies after receiving computer training, one has her own mobile phone repairing business and a number have gone on to become staff at Navsarjan.

Also in the audience are 30 Dalit women from 5 other states in India. They are all leaders (or potential leaders) who have come to see the work of Navsarjan and to discuss what they can do to strengthen their leadership and what type of training and support they will need to do it. Sweet eating aside, this is the reason for my visit, and we will spend the next two days devising a plan of action.

Part 1 – Terra nullius

Carl Soderbergh, MRG’s Director of Policy and Communications, posts a 2-part blog on the issues confronting Maasai communities in the Serengeti and Ngorogoro regions of Tanzania. In the first part, he considers the fact that Maasai have faced repeated evictions over the past several decades.

Terra nullius is a Latin expression used in ancient Roman law meaning “empty land” or “land belonging to no one”. The doctrine permitted title to be claimed to land through occupation. It was repeatedly applied by European empires to justify the seizing of land in the Americas, in Oceania and in Africa. Essentially, European governments turned a blind eye to indigenous land ownership when applying the doctrine. In part, this was because the often communal land use of indigenous peoples do not follow the same patterns of land ownership as in Europe. Mostly, the doctrine was a convenient excuse for the colonisation of whole continents.

I reflected often on the doctrine of Terra nullius during a recent trip to Tanzania. I was travelling with my colleague, MRG’s head of law, Lucy Claridge. We went there in order to study the situation of Maasai in Loliondo district, a hilly area abutting the Serengeti National Park to the west and the Kenyan border to the north. To the south and east rise the airy highlands around the Ngorogoro Crater. We travelled with friends from the Pastoralist Women’s Council (PWC), an MRG partner organisation which works to support Maasai women in several villages in the area.

In principle, Terra nullius has been repudiated in international law through a series of decisions by national courts and regional tribunals recognising indigenous land claims. The African Union’s decision in the Endorois case concerning Kenya is one of the most recent. Sadly, though, Terra nullius has not been buried with the passing of the European empires but rather lives on in new ways, not least in the blindness outsiders have to traditional patterns of relating to the land.

Lucy and I participated in several large village gatherings in the area. Every speaker was given the time to speak for as long as he or she chose. At each meeting, we asked those gathered what their major concerns were – an open question, since we were there to hear how best MRG could support the communities via PWC. The participants would first discuss among themselves what topics they as a group should prioritise. The meetings could take over five hours, but the gatherings seemed to be as much about the conversations as the results achieved.

In every single meeting, the participants agreed about what was foremost on their minds – land. Access to land is a vital issue for Maasai, given the very central place reserved in their culture for their livestock and the inherent vulnerability of pastoralism to periods of drought when access to secure water sources is quite literally a matter of life or death.

The Maasai of northern Tanzania have a particularly sad history when it comes to land rights.  In 1959, ten thousand Maasai were displaced from the Serengeti by the British colonial administration in order to create a vast wildlife sanctuary. In exchange, the British established the neighbouring Ngorogoro Conservation Area centred on the crater of the same name; Maasai were permitted to graze their livestock alongside the wild animals there. Sixteen years later, the Maasai who had settled in Ngorogoro were told by the Tanzanian government that they had to leave the crater floor for the sake of the wildlife. Over time and to become more resilient during droughts, Maasai families took to cultivating small plots of land on its slopes. And now, the government is telling those who farm on the rim of the crater and in the highlands around it that they must stop doing so or risk arrest. The government has started to relocate thousands of Maasai out of the Conservation Area.

Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania

In all our conversations with Maasai communities, I got a strong sense of how helpless Maasai feel in the face of these relocations as well as foreign investors coming in and encroaching on their traditional pastorage. Soitsambu Ward women’s chair Mairetwai Nguya expressed this movingly: “We are living like in a house with no doors. Like people without air to breathe… There is no serious action [on our behalf].” Nguya had even participated in a Maasai delegation that visited the Tanzanian parliament. Commenting on their attempts to seek support from the government, she added, “We must be wrong in their eyes. Why don’t they answer?”

Mairetwai Nguya

One can see a new form of Terra nullius in the general lack of respect towards Maasai land use. According to Alais Ole Morindat, Coordinator of Kimange DSC and an adviser to PWC, the combination of modern land tenure legislation plus repeated evictions are “breaking up specific principles of being and belonging”, namely as represented by centuries-old Maasai communal land use.

The belief appears to be that if Maasai do not establish a clear title to the land, through building permanent homes and other amenities, they do not have the right to remain. This happened when the British established Serengeti National Park. However, as Carol Sorensen, a respected expert at the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum, explained to us, the Serengeti is “not a wild but a cultural landscape”. Pastoralist Maasai have been there a very long time, and according to her, the open landscape is at least in part a result of the grazing of their livestock. Another natural resources expert, Fred Nelson, told Lucy and me when we got back to Arusha that the Maasai are not really nomadic. Their movement across the land is “rubber-banding”, whereby “claims to resources become vested and overlapping at certain times of the year.” A problem now, Fred added, is that Maasai have to range such long distances as “acts of desperation, since the land is so fragmented”.

In Loliondo, one of the Maasai women whom we met said, “We are not even equal to wildlife. The government values wildlife more than human beings.” Given what is going on, who can blame her for saying so?

• Read Part 2 of Carl’s blog post on the Maasai in Tanzania…

Debating freedom of expression, religion and secularism

Joe Gonzales, MRG’s Media Intern in London, reports back from a recent MRG council seminar debating the increasing discord between freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and the notion of a secular state.

The 32^nd floor of the Broadgate Tower in the City of London, the site of MRG’s recent Council Seminar on MRG Policy Issues, offers a sweeping panorama of London’s impressive skyline.  From it, one can see all the way from Canary Wharf’s sky-scraping banks in the east, past Victorian icon Tower Bridge and Sir Norman Foster’s famous “gherkin” building, and westwards towards the colossal London Eye ferris wheel and beyond.

Closer to the building’s base, indeed only a few minutes’ walk away, is the East End’s Brick Lane. The heart of London’s mostly-Muslim Bengali population, Brick Lane and the surrounding Bethnal Green area represent a commendable example of successful coexistence between secular European tradition and the growing presence of Muslim cultural values.  A walk through the area reveals fashionable nightclubs around the corner from a mosque, and Londoners and tourists from all backgrounds convening on a row of restaurants to negotiate the best prices for a Halal-certified curry meal.

Thus, the area acted as an appropriate setting for the MRG Council Seminar, entitled “Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion, and the Separation of Religion and State.”  While a successful balance between these principles seems to have been found around the corner in Brick Lane, it is obvious that elsewhere the intersection of these concepts is often met with public controversy and uproar. A variety of issues seem capable of instigating such upheaval:  the Swiss ban on minarets, the French ban on face-covering veils, the Danish cartoons portraying the prophet Mohamed, etc. The sensitive nature of religious belief, and the diversity of circumstances it affects, clearly has made it difficult for policy makers worldwide to reach a consensus on the appropriate method for handling such conflicts of interest.

The MRG Council, a group consisting of accomplished individuals from a wide range of professional and national backgrounds, was presented with the task of analysing and discussing a number of topics in order to identify the positions which would be most logical and appropriate for MRG to take on such nuanced issues.

Two topics of debate were specifically put forward.  One considered the possible limitation of freedom of expression in order to protect against hate and discriminatory speech.  The other debate examined the relationship between the freedom of religion and the secular notion of separating religion from state. These specific enquiries, however, acted less like limitations as to what could be discussed and more as the centrelines on which to base a wider avenue of debate that included the very nature of the rights to free expression and religion.

The discussion concerning the relationship of religion and state created a noticeably tense atmosphere and unsurprisingly quickly focused on the French Senate’s September approval of a ban on full-face veils in public.  Azar Majedi, an Iranian activist and chairperson of the Organization for Women’s Liberation, passionately defended the French ban, making a variety of points that induced widespread, head-nodding acknowledgement from other participants (an impressive feat given the near-unanimous anti-ban position that the majority of the room seemed to take).

Drawing upon her personal memories of growing up in Iran, Majedi claimed that Islamic traditions that require women to cover themselves are both the symbols and the tools with which women are marginalised. She feels that the burka and the niqab are misogynistic and disadvantage women to such an extent that they represent “gender apartheid.”   She quickly admonishes claims that veils and burkas are simply misunderstood symbols of Iranian culture by wondering aloud, “Just because I’m born in Iran, my culture is misogynist?  No. Cultural relativism is racism.”

Representatives from MRG presented the issue’s other side, stating that the veil ban denies personal autonomy, particularly in cases in which an individual has genuinely chosen to cover their face of their own volition.  Secularism, it was claimed, requires the government to be free from religion, not society as a whole.   If this is true, then if it is possible to manifest one’s religion without harming society, it should be done.

Majedi responded that permitting the veil’s use is not in the interest of the common good.  She interestingly compared the veil ban to the more commonplace ban on smoking in public places.  This is not done because the government has decided that individuals are unable to make decisions concerning the negative effects that smoking may have on their own health, but instead because second-hand smoke poses a serious health risk to others.  According to Majedi, the existence of essentially “identity-less” individuals within a community is not only degrading to those individuals, but also negatively affects public wellbeing, trust and security.

The other debate, concerning the notion of protecting against hate speech, saw most participants cite the controversy surrounding a series of Danish cartoons. The 2006 publication of a series of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked waves of protest from the worldwide Muslim community. MRG’s representatives quickly identified one of the key tasks at hand as acknowledging that neither of these human rights automatically takes precedence over the other.

Guest speakers Sejal Parmar and Jonathon Heawood, representing the NGOs Article XIX and English PEN respectively, predictably took a more hardnosed defence of freedom to expression, claiming it to be a necessary component of any human rights-based society. Many participants noted the seemingly baseless distinction often made between offending others on religious grounds and doing so on a political or personal basis. Such a distinction is unfounded, it was argued, and as such individuals should be able to criticise religion to the same degree as they can criticise political beliefs, art and everything else in society.

Majedi, also a fervent defender of unlimited freedom of expression, stated that it would be foolish to believe that the outcry caused by the Danish cartoons was caused simply by their offensive nature, hinting that such protests were more organised than they appeared.  Referencing the widespread burning of Danish flags that occurred after the cartoons’ publication, she humorously remarked on the strange fortune it was that so many average Middle Eastern families happened to have Danish flags at hand ready to burn en masse.

MRG purposefully added a non-European perspective to both debates, indirectly mentioning the significant effects that the elasticity of language has on human rights concerns.  The European secular state often identifies secularism as the absence of religion.  Secularism as defined in India’s constitution, however, is defined as a tolerance of all religions.  When viewed through the lens of the latter definition, the French veil ban seems to be in fact anti-secular, as it abandons religious tolerance.  Similarly, in the debate concerning freedom of expression, it was noted that often such discussions focus on a free press more than other sorts of expression.  As such, monitoring mechanisms often neglect other forms of expression more prevalent in the developing world, such as printed pamphlets and village meetings. Monitoring mechanisms, it was argued, also often ignore the less visible barriers to free expression caused by one-sided societal power structures that intimidate certain groups from criticising others.  The effects such structures can have on the freedom of expression of minorities are self-evident.

By the end of the seminar, MRG’s position on both issues still remained to be determined by further discussion among members of the Council and MRG’s staff.  It is amusing to note both the near religious fervour often displayed by those praising and defending secularism, as well as the fact that criticising unlimited freedom of expression is only possible if the freedom of expression is present.

A lesson on justice in Burundi

lucy claridge

Lucy Claridge, MRG’s Head of Law, visits a Batwa community in Burundi and learns that access to justice can seem like a far-flung dream for families struggling to meet their most basic needs. A small group of children peer nervously out at me from behind a clump of trees.  Their parents eventually extend their hands, smile shyly and greet me. “Amahoro!” they say – which means hello or, literally, “Peace”, in Kirundi.

I am visiting a Batwa community who live in Mutaho region, central Burundi.  Originally forest-dwellers, the Batwa are an indigenous group of hunter-gatherers mainly inhabiting Burundi, Uganda, DRC and Rwanda. Routinely marginalised and discriminated against, the Batwa have been forced to change their way of living due removal of their traditional lands and increased deforestation. Like many Batwa, this particular community has been caught up in a land dispute spanning nearly 40 years.

I arrive in the centre of the village, which consists of a group of around 15 very basic, single room, thatched huts.  Our partner organization in Burundi explains that I am here because MRG’s Legal Cases Programme is supporting the community in their attempts to gain back their lands. The women immediately gather round and sing a melodic welcome song and afterwards we discuss their land dispute.

Unlike many Batwa, this particular community has actually had some success. In the 1970s, the local court decided that the disputed area of land belonged, and should be returned, to them.  However, the land was never actually given back, and when one of the community elders went back to the court to try and resolve the issue, she was imprisoned for ten years.

Batwa women in Mutaho

In addition to returning the Batwa property, which would rightfully seem to be theirs, the disputed parcel of land could greatly assist the community in providing further means to cultivate crops.  Four years ago, MRG’s partner in Burundi, UNIPROBA, decided to take on the issue themselves, lodging a further case in the courts.  Yet the case remains stuck in a slow and dysfunctional court system. When I ask if anyone from the community has tried to push forward the issue, I am told that, “Daily life has more pressing issues.” Immediately I understand. With the most basic living conditions, scarce food, ill health, disease, and little or no chance of an education, access to justice rates well below access to food.

Part 2 of 2: Apparently all Africans originate from Ethiopia – new discovery at MRG media training

Read Part 1: Team blogging – part of the media training in sunny Kampala

Farah Mihlar

We are championing on. I am still typing away as the 18 participants attending MRG’s Kampala media training add their comments to a blog we are attempting to write jointly. All of the activists represented at this training work with minority communities in some of the harshest political and socio-economic climates. They are almost always excluded and often discriminated against.

‘The Batwa are the first people in the Congo but the last in getting resources from the government,’ says Tuteene, who works with Batwa ‘pygmies’ in north Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tuteene wears the most colourful suits (today he is in orange) and has helped brighten up each of our sessions. The activists working with Batwa, in DRC and Uganda, have explained through the course of the training, how this community is marginalized and discriminated against. They face high levels of poverty and illiteracy and are stigmatized in society because of their specific physical characteristics, Peninah, explains. Peninah like Timothy also works with Batwa in Uganda.

‘The drought is so alarming and exceptional, it is having adverse effects on the livelihood of people and is causing starvation,’ Albert says. Many of the pastoralist activists have referred to the manner in which these groups of cow herders are struggling because of the prolonged drought and also due to the effects of climate change.

Mitiku, who works with pastoralists in Ethiopia highlights some of the challenges the participants may face in advocating their problems. ‘Even though we got this technical knowledge, it will be very hard and challenging to do advocacy and lobbying on the issues affecting our community,’ he says.

Whilst the training was specifically on how to use the media to promote issues affecting different communities, the bringing together of various different people, from different communities, helped to sensitise all of us, allowing the group to understand problems faced by minorities all across Africa. Many of the participants, mainly through the cultural evening, made new discoveries.

Apparently all Africans originate from Ethiopia. ‘How come no one knew this?’ I ask. ‘Some of us learnt it for the first time,’ says Joanna. I must clarify: this did not transpire based on any proper research. It just became apparent, as each activist referred to their origins that almost all of the communities represented at the training had originated from Ethiopia.

‘I didn’t know that Iteso are sons of the Karamojong,’ says Timothy. This is in reference to Albert’s historical portrayal of how the people of Karamoja and Teso came into being. The Teso, according to Albert, are a break-away group of the same set of pastoralists who moved to Karamoja. Both communities are in conflict over land and other resources in the region. ‘I think we just became stubborn and went away with the cows and never went back,’ laughs Ben, who is from Teso.

Samuel presents at a mock press conference

Samuel, who works with a Ugandan pastoralist community, says he was surprised to learn the different types of pet-names Banyoro people give each other. Drake, who is from Uganda’s Banyoro tribe, revealed to us how each person in the community has a pet-name, in addition to their real name. He has kindly named me Amooti, meaning flower (I really am not one). All of us picked up a few different ways to greet each other, the most popular was how the Karamojong do it.

‘Maata Angaatuk’ (I greet you in the name of cows, goats and all livestock), shouts Albert.

‘Maata’ we reply, in unison.

The participants also learnt about their own and others hidden talents. Samuel, for instance, discovered he is an exceptional cameraman, while Drake can easily start a career as a narrator (we hope he doesn’t give up his work with pastoralists).

Michael, the newfound reporter who apparently works for MRG TV (we don’t really have one, it was just a part of the video activity), says, team-building was good in the way we tapped into people’s professional skills. All of us had different skills. Penninah was very confident in responding to questions in the interviews and Albert was good in creating captions.

One of the most unique aspects of this training was that, whilst the entire team worked intensely for long hours throughout the day, no one was short of energy to party through the night. As we shift our focus to how much fun the group had, Sandra is unanimously asked to comment. Sandra is a local and took on a leadership role in pointing the rest of the participants to the ‘must visit’ night venues in Kampala. ‘This was not enough fun for me,’ she says laughingly… ‘Especially when we went out to my favourite hangout and the guys slept,’ she adds. This did happen. On the second evening, when we went out to a fancy bar (Sandra’s favourite), the girls all ganged up and chatted and the men looked bored to death. Some did go off to sleep. ‘It is not a human rights violation to sleep,’ quips Tuteene (no giving away who fell asleep!).

According to Albert on most nights they had so much fun they had to take a vote to decide the time to leave. I have to confess that I didn’t have enough energy to keep up with the continuous partying so wasn’t a part of these exceptionally fun nights. Faith, our Zimbabwean participant, who has unlimited energy to party, says the training was always ‘happening,’ but she insists the term has to be pronounced with a Nigerian accent (hapnin) to give it added kick.

Despite the fun, the participants re-emphasise how important the training has been for them. Drake sums up for us, ‘We have been having a barrier on how we can get our issues through to the international community, we buried our head in trying to find an answer. But this training has helped us to get an idea of how we can do this.’

Contributors

• Agnes Ingwu, Abanbeke Development Association, Obudu City – Nigeria.
• Albert Lokoru, Karamoja Agro-Pastoral Development Programme (KADP), Karamoja – Uganda.
• Drake Nyamugabwa, Masindi Pastoralist Group, Masindi – Uganda.
• Faith Nzilani Musinga, Centre of Minority Rights and Development, Harare – Zimbabwe.
• Mohamed Matovu, MRG Regional Information Officer, Kampala – Uganda.
• Mohamed Mukhtar, Media and Rights Somaliland, Hargeisa – Somaliland.
• Mitiku Tiksa, SOS Sahel Ethiopia, Addis Ababa – Ethiopia.
• Mugabe Herbat Joram, Pastoralist Women to Break Cultural Chains, Kiboga District – Uganda.
• Niwagaba Joan, Mbarara Development Agency, Mbarara – Uganda.
• Omunga Benjamin, Katakwi Urafiki Foundation, Katakwi District – Uganda.
• Peninah Zaninka, United Organisation for Batwa Development, Kampala – Uganda. Rahel Negussie, Pastoralist Forum Ethiopia, Addis Ababa – Ethiopia.
• Sandra Nassali, UgaBYTES Initiatives, Kabalagala – Uganda. Samuel Kaweesi, Nakasongora Pastoralists Association, Nakasongora – Uganda.
• Tuteene Kusimweray, Action pour la Promotion des Droits de Minorites Autochtones en Afrique Centrale, Bukavu – D.R.C. Thomas Kiptiony Chepsoi, Endorois Welfare Council, Nakuru Town – Kenya.
• Mpalanyi Michael, Uganda Land Alliance, Kampala District – Uganda.

Discovering Kathmandu and a vision for the future of Nepal

Cecile Clerc, MRG’s Head of Fundraising, is in Nepal for a meeting with MRG partner organisations to design a new programme to fight discrimination against Dalit women.

Asia seems to be a popular destination with MRG staff lately. A few weeks ago, my colleague Emma was in India and this time, Kathryn, our Gender and Advocacy Coordinator and I have landed in Nepal.

We are in Kathmandu for a couple of days to meet with MRG’s main in-country partners (FEDO and DNF) and discuss the possibility of designing a new programme focussing on fighting against the discrimination experienced by Dalit women and girls.

While waiting to go through immigration and medical checks (yes the spectrum of swine flu has reached Asia too) I look through the windows of the airport and see a clear blue sky, tall mountains in the horizon… My first impression of the country is of quietness and tranquility.

And then we leave the airport… and everything changes!

No more peace… motorbikes, human beings, cars, buses…even cows share the road. Clearly there is no space for everyone. I close my eyes for most of the trip and decide that I’ll admire the surroundings on my way back to the airport when I’m a little more familiar with the traffic.

At the hotel, we meet with Durgha, Director of FEDO. She wants to make sure that everything is fine and that we will be ready for the meeting which starts the following day. We are.

Patan Durbar Square

Before nightfall we go for a walk up to Patan Durbar Square, a monumental area well known for its architectural heritage (particularly Buddhist temples), recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

We also experience a few electricity cuts, which are very usual apparently. I go to bed looking forward to meeting our partners tomorrow.

The reason for the powercuts

This morning 17 Dalit activists (15 women and 2 men) from all across Nepal have joined us for the meeting.

The first session is about discussing the issues faced by Dalit women and girls in the country in order for us to get a better grasp of the situation.

To our question, “What do you consider to be the main challenges faced by Dalit women in Nepal?” the immediate shouted answer is “Lack of political participation!” To be honest, I didn’t expect it. I was thinking maybe poverty, illiteracy, violence… But then, discussing with partners during the meeting, I realise that this is a true reflection of how Nepali society is – very politically aware and engaged. The work of the Constituent Assembly is seen by many and especially by Dalits, who are the most economically, socially and politically excluded, as a major opportunity to for the protection and recognition of their rights.

Unsurprisingly, they want to work with MRG on encouraging Dalit womens’ political participation from local to national level. They feel that once Dalit women are able to participate in the decision–making processes that influence their lives, they will be able to advocate for an improvement of their situation. Clearly, much needs to be done.

Our partners talk about the discrimination faced by Dalit women, both within and outside their community. Their extreme poverty; their lack of access to education; the physical violence they experience; the increasing trafficking of Dalit women and girls across the region for prostitution and/or illegal employment.

The list of abuses and denial of rights is long.

Nepali Dalit women at MRG meeting

But the activists are clearly not afraid by the task ahead. Ideas are exchanged on how best to work on the specific issue of political participation. Quickly, we have a strategy in place (which MRG’s Fundraising Team will then have to sell to donors in order to get the necessary funding in place to implement the work). Sometimes I wish some of the potential donors could have joined us. There was so much hope, motivation and dedication in the activists’ voices and eyes that it was truly inspirational.

I thought I’d end this blog by sharing with you two visions of the future of the Dalit movement in Nepal…

At the end of our event, one of the women who actively participated in the meeting introduced us to her daughter. She had travelled with her to attend the event and we had arranged childcare. This is a practice we welcome at MRG and always try to facilitate: women should never be prevented from participating in meetings because of childcare obligations. The little girl is funny and smiling. I joke with her mum asking if her daughter is already learning the ropes of activism. She smiled and answered quietly, “I hope that by the time she is my age, she won’t have to campaign to ensure that Dalit women are not discriminated against. I hope by that time we will be treated equally to the rest of the Nepali citizens.”

One evening during our stay, we were invited for dinner at Durgha’s house. Durgha is the Director of FEDO, a very active and professional Dalit organization which campaigns for an improvement of the situation of Dalits in Nepal. Durgha is well known in the country but also internationally and you could almost say she is famous! During dinner she tells us that not long ago her daughter was asked at school to write about what she would do when she grew up. A classic question. Her answer was not quite so typical… “To be a Dalit, because there is no shame to be a Dalit”. And she gave the example of her Mum, of her great work and engagement with the community.

I wonder if this could be the future of Nepal? A country where Dalit men and women are not discriminated against anymore because of their community? A country where they are proud to be Dalit?