Kavita Krishnan discusses India's anti-rape movement - experiences, reflections and strategies for the future

An open meeting and discussion with Kavita Krishnan
(Secretary of the All-India Progressive Women's Association)

On Thursday 3rd October Freedom Without Fear Platform are hosting an open meeting with Kavita Krishnan focusing on the following discussion points:

•What does the anti-rape movement which arose from the protests of December 2012 mean for struggles against sexual and gender violence across India?

•What are the implications of the rise of Narendra Modi and the activities of the Hindu Right for violence against women in India?

•How does the UK's current relationship with India affect gender violence?

•What are the possibilities of international solidarity against gender violence? 

Kavita Krishnan is a feminist and revolutionary left activist who has been centrally involved in the anti-rape movement in India which began in December 2012. She is the Secretary of the All-India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) which is active among women workers, agricultural labourers, and other sections of poor labouring women in rural and urban India and has a record of resisting feudal violence and state repression against women. Kavita is also editor of Liberation, the monthly publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). 

The meeting will take place at 7pm, 3rd Oct at DLT Lecture Theatre (Room G2) SOAS,University of London,Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Challenging neoliberal population control

Kalpana Wilson

Exactly a year ago, on the eve of the Olympics, David Cameron was playing host to a different kind of international event in London. On July 11, World Population Day, the British government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted the 2012 London Family Planning Summit, where along with USAID, UNFPA and other international organisations, they rolled out a 2.6 billion dollar family planning strategy.  Population growth has been a key concern of the Gates Foundation, and, reflecting the increasingly direct role of corporates in global development interventions, the Foundation has been instrumental in influencing Britain to take the lead on population issues. So it was no surprise when, ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day, British Development Secretary Justine Greening announced a package of measures by the British Department for International Development (DfID) aimed at ‘women and girls in the poorest countries’. Prominent in these measures was ‘determined UK action on family planning’: on top of existing drives to get 120m more girls and women to use ‘voluntary family planning’ by 2020, further initiatives would include the increased distribution of contraceptive implants.