Yes, I too find their approach as problematic. This is what we usually consider as activism! She says like this , ( or she is made to talk like this , by the NGO or some other powers who are funding) 'It is time for us to celebrate and protect our daughters who are each goddesses in their own right'- trying to create gods again. ! And draw some Gandhian concepts etc! Wonderful thing is that, in the internet if we search activism we get this kind of news! So what is activism itself is a question, i think.
On 11/3/08, Bobby Kunhu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Apne Aap is a really "nice" initiative. But I find their approach > problematic. Despite their assertion on the top-down format, the morality > within which they work is, imposed on the "constituency". In other words, > professional social workers (of course mostly women) as part of their career > impose their value system for instance on sex workers (which is a major apne > aap constituency). I am seriously worried that they are working on the link > between caste and "prostitution" for the NCW, while they continously engage > with systems that facilitate trafficking in very much the same caste terms > I hope someone could respond a bit more on this confusion of mine > > > 2008/11/3 Maya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> *Indian activist bemoans modern-day slavery at US conference* >> >> >> >> *Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC * >> >> October 30, 2008 22:21 IST >> >> Noted anti-trafficking activist Ruchira Gupta, the founder president of >> Apne Aap Women Worldwide--a grassroots Indian organization--of women and >> children involved in the flesh trade, told a White House conference on >> October 28 that thousands of young girls continue to languish as slaves and >> prostitutes in India but that her organization offers hope for these >> children through a model that can serve as a template for other cultures as >> well. >> >> Gupta speaking at the conference titled 'Success against Slavery: >> Strategies for the Future and Promising Practices in International >> Programming', said, "Today is Diwali, the festival that celebrates the >> goddess of wealth and prosperity Laxmi, while one goddess is being >> celebrated, there are hundreds of thousands of young girls in our country >> who are in situations of captivity as bonded workers and child >> prostitutes.It is time for us to celebrate and protect our daughters who are >> each goddesses in their own right," she said, while conveying to the more >> than 100 delegates at the conference which also included senior >> Congressional aides, Administration officials and representatives of leading >> nongovernmental organizations Diwali greetings and urging them "to take a >> pledge in your hearts to think of each girl at risk as a goddess to be >> celebrated not violated." >> >> Gupta won an Emmy for her documentary on human trafficking *The Selling >> of Innocents*, and has worked with several United Nations agencies in >> various capacities to develop international standards to combat trafficking >> and assist countries to develop national action plans against trafficking. >> >> Gupta argued that Gandhian community based initiatives were the most >> promising and sustainable strategy to protect survivors, victims and those >> at risk to human trafficking and slavery, combined with a concerted effort >> to curb the demand for sex trafficking by increased convictions of >> profiteers from human trafficking. >> >> She noted that the Indian government had an amendment to the Indian >> anti-trafficking law pending in Parliament, which if passed would penalize >> buyers and severely punish traffickers, and predicted "This would make a big >> dent in the sex-trafficking trade." >> >> She acknowledged that "we understand that change does not happen from the >> top down in the lives of nations or women. We help women organize and >> imagine the change that they thought could not be achieved. Apne Aap Women >> worldwide has been organizing these women and girls into small cooperatives >> known as self help groups all over India and these are linked simultaneously >> with livelihood, learning and legal protection by our team members." >> >> Gupta said that "the options that we create for trafficked women and girls >> are more sustainable because the livelihood options are based in the local >> economies and are braced with legal protection and the small group structure >> that allows women to support and rescue each other.As with every example of >> profound transformation from Gandhi's experiments in living to the civil >> rights movement in the United States and Alcoholics Anonymous >> internationally, we help prostituted women to create their own small and >> continuing groups, and do the same for their children." >> >> Gupta asserted that "our groups seek not to mitigate the circumstances of >> sex-trafficking but to end sex-trafficking�we seek complete transformation, >> not simply reform." >> >> "We have been able to bring out the link between caste and prostitution >> and are currently working on recommendations to reduce the same for the >> National Commission for Women," she noted. >> >> >> -- >> Maya S. >> School of Social Sciences >> Mahatma Gandhi University >> Kottayam-41 >> Kerala, India >> >> > > > -- > Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ > > > > -- Maya S. School of Social Sciences Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam-41 Kerala, India --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
