An Appeal to All Women on 8 March 2002
Organise for Peace and a Just Society
(to oppose the war and the anti-people offensive on all fronts)

An uneasy uncertainty prevails over the sub-continent - an atmosphere leaden with hostility, loose talk of war, and massive troop mobilisation along the Pakistan border. The tension is real and palpable. It has already hit thousands of villagers along the border who have been forced to flee their homes. Commitment to defence spending increases by the day.

Purogami Mahila Sangathan appeals to all women to strive to collectively express our concern over the prevailing situation. March 8, International Women’s Day, is just a few days away. Let us mark the day by resolving to organise for peace and security in our lives.

During the war against Afghanistan, women were in the forefront of demonstrations opposing it. While the US and its allies labelled it a war against terrorism, women recognised it for what it was, a war against the innocent.
In Berkeley, Havana, Delhi, Dublin, Glasgow, Halifax, Djakarta, London, New York, Lagos, Sydney, and innumerable other places, women campaigned openly and stridently against such mindless violence perpetrated in the name of peace and freedom. As the bombings increased, so did the number of women protestors.

The present situation is not in the interest of the people

The ongoing tension vis-à-vis Pakistan is part of the strategy of the “big powers”, with the United States in the lead, to establish their hegemony over Asia, particularly our sub-continent. Clearly, it is this drive for domination over the sub-continent in the economic, political and military spheres that are behind the so-called "war against terrorism" and the "peace-making" moves of the global powers.

The oil resources of Central Asia, the necessity to transport this oil under secure conditions, and the need for newer markets and sources of capital, all lie at the heart of such violence.

What is of concern is that the people of the countries thus affected have no say in the matter. For us in India, the situation is even more worrisome. We are being made to stand by and watch while games of one-upmanship are played out between the Indian and Pakistani governments, and the Blairs and Powells of the world "drop in to share their ideas."

The British Empire has a long tradition of orchestrating fissures and partitions in its former colonies and territories. Ireland, Yemen and Palestine/Israel stand testimony to this assertion. In the same vein, the Indian sub-continent was brutally divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. Tens and hundreds of thousands died in the consequent carnage, families were forcibly wrenched apart, millions were rendered homeless and penniless. Notwithstanding all this, the peoples of the two countries have kept alive their social and cultural ties against all odds. Hundreds of women on either side have actively taken part in the initiative of reaching out across the border.


Today, the Indian government, under the pretext of national security, is engaged in sealing all doors that the people strove to keep open. Such a development will inevitably result in enormous tragedy for the people of not only India and Pakistan, but the entire Asian region as a whole. The government is also actively engaged in systematically orchestrating a campaign of persecuting and victimising Muslims and Christians, and other minorities. At the same time, it is taking undue advantage of the international situation and the events of December 13 to stifle all dissent to its economic and political objectives. The Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance that it has promulgated in such an underhand manner behind the backs of the Indian people runs contrary to all democratic values.

Can war between India and Pakistan solve the Kashmir issue or end terrorism? Can it bring lasting peace to the sub-continent? Can it alleviate in the slightest degree the economic problems that are weighing so heavily on people? Can such mindless bloodshed of the type perpetrated in Afghanistan after September 11 bring about peace and security in the region? We must not for a moment forget the situation in the Middle East, where succeeding heads of state have had innumerable peace parleys presided over by so many American Presidents, but even now, each day so many Palestinian and Israeli mothers watch their sons and daughters blown to smithereens.

Do the people count in this economy?

On the economic front, we are victims of the reform process, just as we were the victims of Nehruvian socialism in the first four decades. Contrary to all the rhetoric about the "free market", it is evident that the economy does not serve the interest of the majority. The reforms being implemented today do not pay even lip service to addressing the problems faced by the masses. Necessary and basic services like transport, health and education are being increasingly privatised, putting them out of reach of the people. How many people can afford school and college fees in the range of tens of thousands of Rupees, or essential medical treatment and medicines running into lakhs in a year?

India has about 40 million unemployed today, and a large part of them are women. While the government is claiming that the treasury is in deficit, it continues to spend lakhs each day on military mobilisation.

Today, even after decades of struggle, the fate of the majority of Indians continues to lie in the hands of an elite minority. Our experience in all these years has taught us that those who comprise this elite, those who wield economic and political power both within and outside the country, are completely oblivious and indifferent to the interests of the people.

We have also gained the experience that the reservation of constituencies for women at the panchayat level has not served the demands of women for political empowerment; on the contrary, it sowed illusion in the movement that women can be empowered by such accommodation, within the prevailing political system wherein people are powerless. Even the legislation for such accommodation at the level of Parliament has not materialised. Every time the issue of reservation of seats has been put up for debate it has been sabotaged. This debate overwhelmed the movement for a whole decade and to a large extent, has contributed to the impasse it is in today.

Women must unite against oppression

To our sisters, mothers and daughters, we address this missive. It may sound trite, but it is a fact that we women count for nearly half the people of the country. We are among the millions of workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, small entrepreneurs, professionals, domestic workers, unorganised labour, self-employed and unemployed. What is it that we want for our people, for ourselves - women who toil all day and yearn for true emancipation from oppression of all hues?

Fellow-women, we have raised our voices in struggle many times over across the country. Along with the workers and trade unions of fishermen, contract workers, peasants, teachers and other working people, thousands of women marched the streets against privatisation and liberalisation when the government sought to impose these on the people as a cure for the dire economic crisis of 1991. Many demonstrated against the organised massacre of Muslims and the rape of Muslim women in 1993, as they had in Delhi against the massacre of Sikhs in 1984. Again, in the wake of the imposition of TADA, women in thousands protested the unjust and draconian measure that allowed the police a free hand in imprisoning labourers protesting against their working conditions. Women in Kashmir, Manipur and Andhra Pradesh have courageously demonstrated against the brutal encounter killings by police and the paramilitary.

Women are a potent force for peace and social progress, and against wars of conquest and the curtailment of rights. History has shown that women have been among the worst sufferers of fascism and war. They can and must become their most determined opponents today. Come, let us champion the cause of peace and the affirmation of the rights of all. We must build on our vision of a society that is secure from militarisation, from terrorism, from fascism, from deprivation, from oppression.

If we want to resist this war, if we want to break this economic impasse, if we want to ensure that POTO is not enforced, if we want people's and women's empowerment, then we must organise. We must understand and analyse the events as they unfold, we must collectively set our own agenda that is in favour of the majority of the people, and we must intervene in the political process. But first and immediately, we must stand up together and say that we do not want war, we are against such “reforms” and we want an economy oriented in favour of people's well being. We want our rights and our human dignity. United, we can become a force that cannot be silenced or ignored.

Towards 8 March 2002

We women of the Purogami Mahila Sangathan have placed these issues on-line in order to facilitate a discussion on these concerns that touch us so closely wherever we live and work. Please e-mail your response to us at  purogamis@yahoo.com. Forward this to your friends and involve them in this discussion. Share your plans for March 8 in your city. Let us make it a truly international day.