SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CENTRE

Bulletin Mars 2015

Le Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques

Inside this issue:

La journée internatio- 1,3 nale des femmes Centre Update 2 International Women’s 3,7 Day Fête pour célébrer la 4 Solidarité et la lutte de Kader Belaouni

Feminism has been 5,6 Hijacked by White Mid- dle-Class Women Identity and Parent 7 Child Relationships

Calendar 8

A l’occasion du 8 Mars 2015, un appel du collectif Femmes de diverses origines

(le centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatique est un membre de ce collectif)

LIBERONS--‐NOUS DE CE MONDE ET CHANGEONS--‐LE !

Assemblée publique à 9h30, U Concordia Manifestation à 13h, métro Guy--‐Concordia --‐ Le monde dans lequel nous soulignerons cette année la Journée internationale des femmes, est un monde en guerre. Le collectif Femmes de diverses origines veut dénoncer l’hypocrisie actuelle du gouvernement canadien, des élites et des grands États impérialistes qui prétendent aujourd’hui se battre en notre nom pour la liberté et la démocratie.

En ce 8 mars, nous invitons les femmes de toutes origines, les travailleuses et les plus vulnérables d’entre nous qui sont aujourd’hui stigmatisées, méprisées et rejetées par les politiques économiques, sociales et anti--‐démocratiques défen- dues par les gouvernements à Québec et à Ottawa, à manifester dans les rues de Montréal. Pour dénoncer ceux qui de- puis des années, prétendent se battre en notre nom contre la pauvreté et l’oppression, alors qu’ils sont les grands respon- sables du chaos actuel. Notre combat n’est pas le leur: c’est leurs politiques que nous combattons! C’est leur monde qu’il faut changer!

Nous dénonçons les coupes des gouvernements, tant à Québec qu’à Ottawa dans les services en santé, en éducation, en garderie, les hausses des tarifs d’électricité, de transport, en assurance--‐emploi qui attaquent les droits les plus fonda- mentaux: le droit à une vie décente, le droit à la dignité et le droit au travail. Ces mesures sont prises au nom de la crise économique, désor- mais permanente, que le capitalisme mondial et les États qui le servent ont eux--‐mêmes provoquée. Page 2 Le Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques

CENTRE UPDATE

Centre Hours Monday & Thursday 9am—9pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday– 9am-5pm

The Centre is wheelchair accessible Le centre est accessible aux fauteuils roulants.

Volunteers If you are interested in helping out at the Centre, please contact Homa (Ext. 102 or [email protected]) to coordinate a meeting!

Annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women

Every year since 1991 Canada has held an annual memorial march in memory of the large and disproportionate number of native women who have been murdered in the country. The march, founded in Vancouver, saw its way to Montreal six years ago. This year the march was held in Cabot square in Westmount, where I had the chance to attend and speak on behalf of SAWCC. Close to 300 people marched against the forces of misogyny and colonization, and highlighted women’s resistance to these issues. As the people of Montreal began the march at 3pm and pro- ceeded onto Saint-Catherine street, the people of Vancouver proceeded on Hastings street. The parallel movement of people across the nation was a great attestation to the solidarity and power of Indigenous women leadership. It was an empowering atmosphere. The initial speech by the organizers resonated heavily with me and allowed me to deliver my own with confidence. The relationship between South Asian women and native women is a highly complex one, as we share and differ in cases of marginalization, integration in society and traditions. But these differences are what make the relationship be- tween us sisters so strong. And I am glad I had the opportunity to speak and stand with these women in their struggle for justice. By Adithi Sundarakrishnan

Picture taken from http://www.westmountexaminer.com/My-neighborhood-/2015-02-17/article-4046526/Nearly-300-gather-at-Cabot-Square-to-honour-missing-and-murdered-native-women/1 SAWCC endorses Israeli Apartheid Week taking place in Montreal Qu’,9en pensez- vous? from March 8-17, 2015 In opposition to apartheid and occupation What do you In solidarity with Palestinian resistance think? In support of social justice struggles everywhere  Let us know your For more info: http://www.iawmontreal.org/ thoughts about the bulle- tin. All out on 8th March for International Women’s Day

 Que pensez-vous de Celebrate! Organize! Resist! notre journal? to  We encourage you to Build the World We Want! send in your stories and articles for upcoming Sunday 8th March newsletters in any lan- th guage by the 25th of Forum 9:30am, 7 floor, Hall Building, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve ouest every month to: Demo 1pm, Norman Bethune Square, (corner Guy & de Maisonneouve oust- Metro Guy-Concordia)

 [email protected] (speakers on indigenous issues, racism, sexism, islamophobia, austerity)

Be there! Join other SAWCC members who will be there too!! Page 3

Nous dénonçons le patriarcat derrière l’hypocrisie qu’affichent les États face aux crimes contre les femmes, que ce soit en Afrique où des milliers d’entre elles sont victimes de Boko Haram, ou plus près de nous au Canada, alors que les femmes autochtones disparaissent ou sont assassinées dans l’indifférence.

Nous dénonçons les lois et politiques au Canada et au Québec, visant à attaquer les droits des femmes immigrantes ou réfugiées et de leurs familles, des travailleuses temporaires qui n’obtiendront jamais de statut permanent, créant ainsi une sous--‐citoyenneté. Ce véritable racisme d’État cautionne la discrimination, l’islamophobie – où les femmes musul- manes sont particulièrement visées – et la paranoïa à l’endroit des minorités.

Nous dénonçons le danger de militarisation de la société par la surveillance politique des individus, l’augmentation de la présence militaire et policière, les arrestations préventives et les extraditions.

Le monde est défiguré par les politiques impérialistes, patriarcales et colonialistes – notamment de la France en Afrique et des Etats--‐Unis au Moyen--‐Orient. En voulant pendant des années, jouer les apprentis sorciers, en finançant et armant des forces radicales et des États réactionnaires et fondamentalistes, ils ont déclenché le chaos en Syrie, en Libye, au Liban, dans les territoires palestiniens, en Afghanistan, en Irak, en Afrique.

En solidarité avec toutes les femmes à travers le monde qui comptent parmi ses centaines, voire ses millions de victimes, nous dénonçons le prétexte de la guerre «au terrorisme», seule réponse proposée par le Canada et ses alliés pour améliorer le monde… Cette guerre est la continuité militaire du «terrorisme» d’État qu’ils prati- quent via des politiques économiques d’étouffement, dévastatrices et colonialistes dans les pays pauvres et opprimés. Cette «guerre au terrorisme» n’apporte que ravages, destruction, répression, et victimes civiles…mais aucune solution. 2015 marque le 25e anniversaire des attaques contre Kanehsatà:ke par le Quebec et Canada. Cette violence d'État et la tentative de criminaliser le peuple Mohawk qui résistait à l'exploitation capitaliste de leur terre, est dans le sillon du colo- nialisme commencé il y a 500 ans.

Nous voulons un monde égalitaire et sans oppression, où le pouvoir sera entre les mains de la majorité et non concentré entre les mains de la minorité des plus riches! Nous voulons un monde où les échanges économiques seront d’abord fon- dés sur la nécessité de combler les besoins fondamentaux des populations, en logement, en garderie, en travail et en nourriture et en santé.

Nous résistons. Nous nous organisons. Et nous lutterons pour nous libérer de toutes les oppressions véhiculées par le racisme, les religions et le patriarcat. Nous continuerons à appuyer toutes les femmes qui s’organisent pour changer ce monde injuste, impérialiste et guerrier : Nous manifesterons aux côtés des femmes autochtones pour dénoncer les disparitions dont elles sont victimes; Nous participerons avec la Marche mondiale des femmes et en solidarité avec les travailleuses du Bengladesh, à la manifestation du 24 avril prochain, pour commémorer les centaines de victimesparmi elles lors de l’effondrement de leur usine; Nous réaffirmons notre solidarité avec les femmes en Palestine qui résistent avec leur peuple depuis des générations pour affirmer leurs droit d’exister et leur droit à la terre. Nous saluons les femmes qui organisent la résistance contre l’agression des minières canadiennes ici, en Équateur, au Congo, aux Philippines! ET NOUS SERONS DANS LA RUE LE 8 MARS POUR CHANGER LE MONDE! WE WILL BUILD THE WORLD WE WANT!

Public meeting at 9:30 Concordia University. Demonstration at 1:00 pm, métro Guy-Concordia

The world in which we mark this year's International Women's Day is a world at war propelled by imperialist nations and multina- tional corporations. The March 8 Collective of Women of Diverse Origins denounces the hypocrisy of the Canadian government, the elites and states that claim to fight on our behalf for freedom and democracy.

On March 8, we invite women of all origins and the most vulnerable among us who are stigmatized, despised and rejected by the economic, social and anti-democratic policies adopted by governments in Quebec, Ottawa and in many countries around the world, to demonstrate and take to the streets, to denounce them and to declare that we will build the world we want!

We denounce Quebec and Ottawa for their neoliberal policies -- cuts and attacks on health services, education, childcare, ener- gy rates, transportation, employment insurance and the most fundamental rights, to a decent life, to dignity and to work. The ex- cuse is the economic crisis that world capitalism and the states that serve it have themselves caused. Continued on page 7... Page 4

Fête pour célébrer la Solidarité et la lutte de Kader Belaouni samedi le 21 mars 2015 à 18h Pointe-Saint-Charles (lieu sera anoncé sous peu)

Le 5 février 2015, Abdelkader Belaouni a obtenu sa citoyenneté canadienne après 12 ans de lutte, dont presque quatre en sanctuaire dans une église à Montréal.

Le 3 janvier 2006, Abdelkader (Kader) Belaouni, avait déclaré : "Je ne me cache pas d'Immigration Canada, mais je veux leur dire clairement que je ne me présenterai pas pour ma déportation. J'ai été capable de trouver l'autonomie et la dignité ici à Montréal, et je ne veux pas perdre ça. Ma famille, c'est mes amis ici. Je suis ici pour me dé- fendre; je suis ici pour défendre la justice." Il faisait cette déclaration alors qu'il s'était réfugié en sanctuaire à l'église St- Gabriel trois jours plus tôt.

Kader a passé près de quatre ans de sa vie confiné en sanctuaire à l'église St-Gabriel dans son quartier de Pointe-St- Charles avant d'obtenur la résidence permanente en 2009. Il obtient sa citoyenneté neuf ans après être entré à l'église où il s'était réfugié, 12 ans après être arrivé au Canada et 18 ans après avoir quitté l'Algérie. La lutte a été longue et ardue pour trouver une forme de stabilité, d'équité, de justice et de dignité.

Comme demandeur d'asile originaire d'un quartier populaire en Algérie et comme personne aveugle, Kader a du se battre contre des barrières liées à la fois à son statut de migrant et de personne vivant dans la pauvreté et avec une inca- pacité. La discrimination des politiques d'Immigration Canada et de la société canadienne sur la base de l'incapacité a été révélée au grand jour à travers l'attitude des multiples fonctionnaires qui, refusant de considérer la réalité de son incapa- cité, ont rejeté sa demande de résidence permanente à plusieurs reprises. De plus, le discours d'Immigration Canada et le portrait dominant la couverture médiatique au début de la campagne pour l'obtention de son statut était celui d'une per- sonne qui représente un "poids pour la société".

Depuis l'obtention de sa résidence permanente, Kader travaille au Centre des Travailleurs et Travailleuses Immigrants dans le quartier de Côte-des-Neiges, où il apporte son expérience vécue et participe à la lutte pour la justice pour les tra- vailleurs migrants. Il est également bénévole au YMCA de son quartier à Pointe-St-Charles. Sa détermination et sa rési- lience malgré les multiples discriminations subies sont un pied de nez à la rhétorique qui a été utilisée contre lui et beau- coup d'autres.

Au moment où Kader et ses ami-e-s et supporteurs célèbrent cette victoire, le gouvernement canadien multiplie les dé- portations, les détentions, l'exploitation et la discrimination envers les personnes migrantes.

"En 2013, il y avait une moyenne de 52 déportations par jour, et nous assistons à une explosion du nombre de personnes sans statut forcées à vivre dans des situations d'extrême vulnérabilité", a dit Freda Guttman, une amie de Kader et membre du Comité de Soutien pour Abdelkader Belaouni.

La récente Loi visant à protéger le système d’immigration du Canada (plus justement appelée "Loi pour l'exclusion des réfugiés") a établi un système à deux vitesses fondamentalement discriminatoire, niant des droits et protections essentiels à certains réfugiés seulement sur la base de leur nationalité. Certains demandeurs d'asile sont maintenant mis sous la dé- signation "arrivées irrégulières" et sont soumis à l'arrestation et la détention obligatoires.

Au fil des années, la campagne de soutien à Kader a reçu de forts appuis de centaines d'individus et d'organisations, no- tamment des syndicats, des groupes religieux, des organismes pour la défense des personnes vivant avec une incapacité, des associations étudiantes, des collectifs féministes et pour la justice envers les migrants et des organismes communau- taires. Ce soutien s'est étendu de son quartier de Pointe-St-Charles au reste du pays et internationalement.

Obtenir sa citoyenneté canadienne marque une victoire importante pas seulement pour Kader et celles et ceux qui luttent pour un statut et contre le capacitisme, mais aussi pour le mouvement pour la justice envers les personnes migrantes, un mouvement qui s'attaque à des politiques migratoires et de contrôle des frontières violentes, et dont la vision est celle d'un monde sans frontières, où toutes et tous peuvent vivre librement et dans la dignité. le Comité de Soutien pour Abdelkader Belaouni https://www.facebook.com/events/377363445778949/

Pour plus d'info: [email protected] www.solidarityacrossborders.org Page 5

Feminism has been hijacked by white middle-class women

To paraphrase bell hooks: there is little point making women equal to men when not all men are equal. Published New Statesman 13 February, 2015 - 16:23

This is the transcript of a speech given by Myriam Francois-Cerrah in an Oxford Union debate on 12 Feburary. She was speak- ing in favour of the successful motion “This House believes that feminism has been hijacked by white middle class women”.

Ladies and Gentleman, it is a pleasure to be here with you this evening.

I know, I know – the apparent irony of my being a white middle class woman who believes feminism has been hijacked by white middle class women will, I’m certain, not be lost on you.

But – it is in many ways a vindication of my case.

After all, I am a minority within my own community – unrepresentative of Muslim women either here or in the global south, in terms of my either socio-economic profile or ethnicity, despite the frequency with which I am called upon to speak from within that subjectivity.

Before attending today, I thought long and hard about whether I should trade my place for one of my many personal hero- ines, women of colour whose voices are so often overridden not only by a white narrative, but white privilege, which how- ever mitigating my headscarf might be of aspects of it – I nevertheless embody.

I ultimately decided to partake for one central reason and that is to emphasise that critique of white feminism – or white culture more broadly – is not a discussion about race – but of a political category, implying an unequal balance of power between dominant white culture, and subaltern identities.

The term “white people” doesn’t refer to the colour of people’s skin as much as it refers to people’s identification with the dominant power relations which continue to subjugate people of colour to a second class status and relegates women of colour specifically to the bottom of the heap.

I can’t and refuse to speak for Muslim women – I speak only as a feminist Muslim woman whose solidarity lies first and foremost with the global south. And I speak as an intersectional feminist who believes race, class and gender are critical to feminist discussions. Arundhati Roy once said: “There’s no such thing as the voiceless, only the deliberately silenced and the preferably un- heard.” When it comes to alternative conceptions of feminism, the feminist movement has been doggedly resistant to in- cluding alternative voices. And by including, I don’t mean merely recognising that alternative voices exist on the margins, a benevolent nod to those who don’t quite conform to “our ways”.

Nor do I mean the superficial diversity of different faces – I’m taking about the substantive diversity of different concep- tions of female flourishing. I mean accepting that the white liberal secular framework is not the only acceptable lens through which women can articulate their struggles.

Rather than the predominant assumption that alternative feminist voices are playing “catch up” with western feminism, I mean realising that feminism isn’t about “saving” women from the global south, it’s actually about learning from them as true equals in a shared struggle.

Although this recognition is slowly trickling through, it is often too tokenistic and at times deeply patronising.

My PhD research is on Morocco where many of the women I interview identify as committed religious believers – in their society, they are the forefront of struggling for the reinterpretation of religious texts in an egalitarian light, they combat the notion of male supremacy or ultimate authority but they also – in many cases – reject the term “feminism” as a western concept which is ill fitting to their needs as Moroccan Muslim women, an import that one woman described as “another form of cultural imperialism design to alienate native women from the real source of their power” – their own culture.

While as a Muslim feminist, I am well aware of the struggles for equality within my faith, I also recognise that the problem of gender inequality cannot be laid at the feet of religion alone. In fact, poverty and authoritarianism – conditions not unique to the Islamic world, and produced out of global interconnections that implicate the west –are often more decisive.

The feminism I relate to, the feminism I draw on, is the feminism of women resisting imperialism, exploitation, war and patriarchy – it is the feminism of Indian women fighting back against rape culture, Palestinian women resisting Israeli Continued...

Page 6 occupation, Bengali women demanding basic safety conditions in sweat factories producing clothes for fake fashion femi- nistas – the innumerable women of the Arab uprisings and their ongoing resistance!

When I say feminism has been hijacked by white women, I mean white culture continues to dominate the narrative in all fields and renders alternative points of view as quaint contributions permitted to confirm the eternal truth of western su- premacy.

I mean the instrumentalisation of the Malala Yousafzais of this world, local heroines turned into political pawns to justify ongoing wars and occupations, which ultimately hit women hardest. Women’s education recast as a justifiable motive for western imperialism.

Malala’s example serves only to validate white feminism’s priorities and perceptions of otherised women, as in need of saving, as grateful recipients of foreign interventions.

For all the feminist justifications for the plunder of Afghanistan, its maternal death rate today stands among the highest in the world. A recent UN report blames decades of grinding conflict in addition to repressive attitudes towards women. The same pattern is replicated elsewhere – when 200 Nigerian schools girls get kidnapped by Boko haram, rather than focus on finding the girls, the story is used to justify the ongoing global war on terror. Which incidentally, still hasn’t ap- peared to have helped return the girls.

There is plenty of research on the impact of conflict on women, who are among its primary victims, not only in terms of actual casualties of war, but also in their struggle for autonomy because what conflicts actually do, is polarise gender roles: masculinity becomes more aggressive and women are idealised as “the bearers of a cultural identity” – women’s bodies become part of the battle field.

This is as true of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as of Afghanistan.

And this is where white feminism continues to fail the true test of feminist solidarity in taking on-board the critiques com- ing from the margins. There has been far too little introspection, far too much reticence to question white supremacy White women were active participants in, proponents of and key beneficiaries of the system of slavery in the US as well as in the colonial empires and arguably continue to be beneficiaries of imperialism and exploitation.

The cheap clothes we buy, the petrol we fill our cars with, the diamonds we covet – they are all tied into the feminist strug- gle because, to paraphrase bell hooks, if feminism seeks to make women equal to men, then it is impossible because western society does not view all men equally.

There can be no equality between men and women until there is a redress of the global inequities which posit whiteness at the top of human hierarchy and consequently posit white bourgeois women as the benchmark for female emancipation. And this is where groups like Femen are part of the problem – with statements such as “as a society, we haven’t been able to eradicate our Arab mentality towards women”, because we all know that ALL Arab men hate women right?

In response to a campaign by Muslim women to actively denounce Femen as racist and patronising, Inna Shevchenko – who graces us with her presence tonight, responded “They write on their posters that they don’t need liberation but in their eyes it’s written ‘help me’.” White saviour complex anyone?

This brand of pseudo feminism which confirms the idea of passive, voiceless women of colour who need saving from their men, if not from their own selves, is not one I recognise.

Do women in the global South struggle with issues of patriarchy?

Err – yeah – alongside all the other problems fostered by an unequal capitalist system, they also struggle with local varia- tions on the virtually universal problem of patriarchy.

Those who seek to proclaim a hyper-arching female solidarity need to start by tackling many white women’s ongoing complicity in the broader conditions of subjugation – military and economic – which keep their so-called “sisters” in the global south down.

A South African activist once said: “Come to my space”, “respect the people in that (…)Do not come and project.” If it takes my white privilege to amplify this message, at least it will have served one positive purpose in the broader struggle for human equality.

By Myriam Francois-Cerrah Taken from http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/feminism-has-been-hijacked-white-middle-class-women Page 7

Identity and parent-child relationships have been a focus of certain discussions at SAWCC recently. In our attempts to write out our thoughts for the bulletin on this complex reality, we realised that written word, especially within the inherent limitations of the conventional article was too limiting. So we asked each other, "If you were to visualise your thoughts about your personal identit(ies), at the intersection of your reflections on parent-child relationships, what could your mind look like in a given moment - beyond the sulci and gyri of your brain?"

Farha Najah Hussain and Naila Alidina are both part of South Asian Youth (SAY) and its program co-coordinators

We also denounce the laws and policies in Canada and Quebec, attacking the rights of immigrant and refugee women and their families, temporary workers who will never get permanent status, creating a permanent class of sub-citizens. This state racism endorses discrimination, Islamophobia - where Muslim women are particularly targeted - and paranoia against minorities.

We denounce the hypocrisy of states that loudly publicize their denunciation of crimes against women, for example the victims of Boko Haram, while they exhibit double standards, like Canada’s indifference when it comes to the missing and murdered native women here. We denounce the danger of militarization of society, increased state surveillance of individuals, increased military and police presence, preventive arrests and extraditions in Canada and elsewhere. The world is scarred by imperialist, patriar- chal and colonialist policies, such as those of the United States and its allies in the Middle East. By funding and arming reactionary forces and fundamentalist states they have triggered chaos in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq and stood by while Palestine was bru- tally attacked.

We denounce and reject the spurious “war on terror” and stand in solidarity with women around the world who are among its victims. This is all Canada and its allies offer to improve the world. This war is a continuation of economic suffocation, plunder and colonialist policies. This "war on terror" only wreaks havoc, destruction, repression and civilian casualties ... but no solution. 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks on Kanehsatà:ke by Quebec and Canada -- state violence that attempted to crimi- nalize the Mohawk people who were resisting capitalist exploitation of their land, in a continuum of colonialism that started over 500 years ago.

We resist. We organize and we will build a world free from the oppressions of patriarchy, racism, capitalism and class inequality, religion and imperialism! We will build a world where economics will be based on meeting peoples' basic needs of housing, childcare, work, food, health and human security. We will build a world without oppression, where power is in the hands of the majority, not concentrated in the hands of the minority of the most rich! • We will demonstrate at the side of native women to protest the murders and disappearance of their daughters, sisters, mothers; • We will participate with the World March of Women on April 24 in solidarity with the women workers of Bangladesh to com- memorate the hundreds of victims killed when their factory collapsed; • We reaffirm our solidarity with the women of Palestine who have resisted with their people for generations to assert their right to exist and their right to their land. • We salute the women who organize resistance against the aggression of Canadian mining companies from here to Ecuador, the Congo and the Philippines! • AND WE WILL BE IN THE STREET ON MARCH 8 - TO CHANGE THE WORLD! Page 8

Centre Communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques

3 Mars– La réunion du personnel South Asian Women’s Community Centre Mar 3– Staff meeting 1035, rue Rachel est, 3ième étage. Mar 8– International Women’s Day 8 Mars– La journée internationale Montréal, QC H2J 2J5 Mar 10– Declaration of Tax Returns des femmes (10:30am– 12:00 pm) 10 Mars— Session d`information Mar 17– Declaration of Tax Returns Phone: 514-528-8812 sur les déclarations de revenus Fax: 514-528-0896 (10:30am-12:00pm) (10h30—12h) E-mail: [email protected] Mar 26– Executive council meeting 17 Mars——Session d’information (6pm-) sur les déclarations de revenus Mar 31–Family Mediation (10h30—12h) (10:30am– 12:00 pm) 26 Mars- Réunion du conseil admi- 34 years of sisterhood, strength, struggle and success 1981-2015 nistratif (18h-)

31 Mars— Session d’information sur www.sawcc-ccfsa.ca la médiation familiale (10h30—12h)

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