Celebrating the idea of freedom & peace

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 2

Inaugurating its Sanjha Punjab festival that will feature a series of literary exchange events from across the border, Majha House hosted women writers, journalists and scholars to speak on the peace process between India and Pakistan on Saturday. 

Arvinder Chamak, member, Majha House, said to usher in peace and harmony, we need to talk about art and culture and literature, for these bring us together. “And today, we are going to start the Sanjha Punjab Festival. It is a month-long festival, wherein distinguished artists, writers and academicians will join us from here and from across the border,” said Arvinder Chamak. 

The inaugural session, titled Women Talk Peace, was dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and his doctrine of non-violence. In this session, Riitu Menon, Beena Sarwar, Munizae Jahangir and Ayesha Kidwai were in conversation with Mandira Nayar, senior special correspondent, The Week. 

During the introduction, Preeti Gill, founder, Majha House, remembered Kamla Bhasin, the fearless activist. “She was with me when I was at Kali and Zubaan and I remember how, in spite of her easy humour, she was a fearless advocate of equal rights and never hesitated to question patriarchy. We would like to dedicate this festival to her, as she was a beacon of love and peace, which is the theme of our festival.” 

Beginning the session, Ritu Menon said women are defying tags and transcending borders to spread peace by holding hands. “We are all actively engaged in this process which isn’t easy at all,” she said. Ayesha Kidwai, Professor, JNU, retraced early history of women’s movement. “My grandmother, Anees Kidwai, a peace activist and author of ‘Azaadi Ki Chhaon Mein’ sowed seeds of rebellion in me even from my childhood. Through her, I learnt to identify oppression in commonplace incidents and conversation. If I know that women are champions of peace it is through her,” she said.

Munizae Jahangir, documentary filmmaker and journalist from Pakistan spoke about peace across borders and the role of women in establishing a peace order. “My mother was a strong advocate of democracy and she believed that women’s rights could happen only in a strong and free democracy and not in a weak one. And this is exactly what is happening even today in Afghanistan. We have to recognise and understand that women’s rights have been corporatised today and we have to be creative to fight the state,” Munizae said. Talking about Kamla Bhasin’s idea of freedom and peace, Beena Sarwar, freelance journalist and filmmaker from Pakistan, said although Kamla claimed to be a feminist, she insisted that she did not hate men.

“Choodis and dupattas are seen as symbols of oppression, but Kamla welcomed these openly and they even exchanged dupattas with women from across the border to express solidarity. She also came up with innovative and catchy slogans and songs against oppression. Her idea of freedom was from poverty, oppression, gender bias.”