PRESS RELEASE: AT A CANDLELIGHT VIGIL THOUSANDS PETITION UAE GOVERNMENT TO FREE JENNIFER DALQUEZ 25th April 2017

No death penalty for resisting rape!

No devastating 'Blood Money' for Self Defence!

Free Jennifer Dalquez!

A petition from thousands of people to the ruler of the  United Arab Emirates urging him to pardon Jennifer Dalquez and repatriate her to her family in the Philippines will be handed in to the UAE Embassy on Tuesday 25th April at 6.30pm at a candlelight vigil. 

The petitioners include not only Jennifer's parents but representatives of  Justice 4 Domestic Workers a campaigning group calling for justice and rights for sixteen thousand foreign domestic workers in UK, Freedom Without Fear Platform a feminist organisation for women of colour based in the UK and Justice Upheld an independent campaign team of lawyers and activists, working for the protection and furtherance of Human Rights. 

Other signatories to the petition are major women's organisations from across the world including the London Black Women's Project and Southall Black Sisters from UK and the All India Progressive Women's Association. Fiona Mactaggart MP has tabled a question about this gross violation of Human Rights in the UK Parliament and Lord Indarjit Singh has intervened with the UAE government urging that the charges are dropped and Jennifer repatriated. 

Jennifer's case is also being taken up at the UN as a violation of Human Rights and violence against women.

The facts of Jennifer Dalquez's case 

On 7th December 2014, a few weeks before she was due to return to the Philippines, Jennifer Dalquez's employer in Abu Dhabi, UAE, tried to rape her at knife point. She fought back and in the struggle which ensued her assailant was killed. 

Leading up to this incident her employer had subjected her to daily sexual harassment, psychological intimidation, molestation and physical violence. Her arms had signs of abuse, including bruises and cigarette burns. His attempt to rape her was clearly premeditated. He was aware that she was going to back to the Philippines in January 2015.
Jennifer had been given the death penalty for resisting rape despite her plea of self-defence. 

Abu Dhabi Court adjourns the case twice!

According to Abu Dhabi law, the children of the man Dalquez is said to have murdered are  asked to swear 50 times to Allah, before the court, that this is the person who killed their father. If they do, Dalquez will be given a death sentence and then executed not long afterward. If they refuse to swear in this way, or do not come to Court at all, she will be asked to pay blood money, or diya, (essentially an out of court settlement) of 200,000 dirhams (approximately $50,000). Clearly $50,000 is well beyond the reach of Jennifer and her parents, Rajima Dalquez and Abdulhamid Dalquez who are from a poor area of General Santos City in the Philippines. Jennifer had, after all, been working as a domestic worker in Abu Dhabi since 2011 to support them and her two young sons.  The case first came to Court on 27th March but one of the two children of the man Jennifer is said to have killed did not appear, it was then adjourned to 12th April when neither child appeared. It is now due to come up again on 26th April. 

Justice for Domestic Workers have also urged President Duterte of the Phillipines to ask for clemency for Jennifer – but so far he has not responded, despite the fact that migrant domestic workers remittances are an important factor in shoring up the Philippines economy. There is also an online petition to President Duterte, urging him to ask for Jennifer to be pardoned and repatriated to the Philippines. 

Marissa Begonia a key organiser at Justice for Domestic Workers spoke out about the horrors of domestic work in the UAE: "As a migrant domestic worker, I experienced the same sexual harassment as Jennifer. That was the horror of my life I could never forget. I thought of screaming for help but no one could hear me, I thought of jumping out the window but the building was too high for sure I would die. I was left with no option but to protect and defend myself. We work in a very isolated work place in a foreign land where most employers treat us like they own us, and do anything they want to do to us. But we are mothers who dreamed for a better life and future for our children. It is sad that in our modern world, migrant domestic workers are still the most abused and exploited group of workers because of the absence of labour rights and human rights in many countries like the UAE". 

In the UAE most of the manual and blue collar work is done by migrant workers. There are about 146,000 female migrant domestic workers, many of whom are from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia. The Human Rights Watch report “‘I Already Bought You’: Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates,” documents how the UAE’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, and the lack of labour law protections leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse. The UAE, which has two seats on the International Labour Organisation board of directors, has reformed some aspects of the kafala system in recent years, but not for domestic workers.

Details from: Freedom Without Fear Platform freedomwithoutfearplatform@gmail.com, Justice for Domestic Workers: https://www.j4dw.com, Justice Upheld http://www.justiceupheld.org.uk email: jas@justiceupheld.org.uk Telephone number: 020 8090 4001 WhatsApp: +44 7742 577854

Justice for Jennifer Dalquez! No death penalty for resisting rape!

PROTEST

 SUNDAY 1st MAY

(10.15am)

outside the United Arab Emirates Embassy!

30 Prince’s Gate, London SW7 1PT

On 7th December 2014 Jennifer Dalquez, a Filipina migrant domestic worker in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), fought back when her employer attempted to rape her at knifepoint. She was subsequently given the death sentence by a UAE court for killing her employer. According to the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs which is representing Jennifer Dalquez, while her employer was attempting to rape her at knifepoint, she managed to turn the knife on him. Jennifer’s arms had signs of abuse, including bruises and cigarette burns.

Rajima Dalquez, Jennifer’s mother, is appealing for support for her daughter. Born in a poor area of General Santos City in the Philippines, Jennifer Dalquez had been working as a domestic worker in Abu Dhabi since 2011 to support her family. 

In the UAE most of the manual and blue collar work is done by migrant workers. There are about 146 000 female migrant domestic workers, many of whom are from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia.The Human Rights Watch report, “‘I Already Bought You’: Abuse and Exploitation of 

Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates,” documents how the UAE’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, and the lack of labour law protections leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse. The UAE, which has two seats on the International Labour Organisation board of directors, has reformed some aspects of the kafala system in recent years, but not for domestic workers. “The UAE’s sponsorship system chains domestic workers to their employers and then leaves them isolated and at risk of abuse behind the closed doors of private homes,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East women’s rights researcher at HRW.

We Demand:

Immediate release and reprieve of Jennifer Dalquez 

End the violence and rape of Domestic workers

Protection not Execution of Domestic workers fighting sexual violence

Equal Workers Rights for Domestic workers - No to Slave labour

Philippines government act now and protect your citizen, Jennifer Dalquez

This protest is part of an international campaign demanding justice for Jennifer Dalquez and an immediate reprieve from the death penalty. In the UK it is being organised jointly by Justice for Domestic Workers and Freedom Without Fear Platform. 

Protesting Narendra Modi's visit to the UK

#MODINOTWELCOME

Modi with the RSS

This November, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India is visiting the UK. Narendra Modi is a lifelong cadre of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu supremacist paramilitary organisation modeled on the Nazi and Italian Fascist parties.

In 2002, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi presided over the genocidal attacks in which over 2,000 people from Gujarat’s Muslim minority community were systematically killed, and 200,000 displaced. Women and children were specifically targeted for horrific violence in the pogrom.

What happened in Gujarat in 2002 has been amply documented and there is clear evidence that the violence was orchestrated and sponsored by the Modi’s state government (‘India: Justice — the victim in Gujarat’). 

Since 2002, Modi has never expressed any regret for what happened in Gujarat, stating, when asked about his feelings, that he felt as sad as an occupant of a car that runs over a puppy. Since Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014, incidents of violence against minorities, incited by the hate-speech of his party members and ministers, has become a daily occurrence.

Who is welcoming Modi to Britain?

The Hindu Right has a network of organizations in the UK, including the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS – the British wing of the RSS)the National Hindu Students Federation, Hindu Forum of Britain, and others. The HSS UK is currently being investigated by the British Charity Commission after it was exposed in an ITV documentary ‘Charities Behaving Badly’ broadcast in February 2015. The film showed an HSS UK youth camp where young people were systematically indoctrinated in anti- Muslim and anti-Christian ideology.

Take Action!

Reclaim Diwali! 

We, along with South Asia Solidarity Group, Dalit Solidarity Network, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective have announced a special Diwali celebration on 6th November. Join our event here and share amongst friends!

With incendiary performances from:

Singer/Songwriters - SAMIA MALIK, TABITHA BENJAMIN
Dancer and choreographer KALI CHANDRASEGARAM
DJ ANARKALI ELECTRA
Spoken word artist SHAREEFA ENERGY
Tamil political poetry choreographed for Bharatnatyam from OVIA, ANAMIHA AND NIRMALA
Bengali songs by Lalon and Nazrul presented by Mukul and Ghetto Tigers with DELWAR HOSSAIN DILU, TANUSREE GUHA, TONNI KHAN, SAIDA TANIA and PORAG HASAN

And much more!

Plus delicious food (non-vegetarian and vegetarian) including the Beef dishes the Hindu right want to ban!

Sign our petition!

We urge the four Labour MPs - Keith Vaz (Leicester East), Virendra Sharma (Ealing and Southall), Steve Pound (Ealing North) and Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) to reconsider their decision to donate their pay rises for November to the cost of the 'Olympics style' cultural extravaganza in Wembley welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Instead, they should donate the money to the families of the victims of the 2002 Gujarat genocide that occurred under Modi's watch and in which 2,000 Muslims lost their lives and to the survivors of more recent attacks by members of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and allied organisations; alternatively, closer to home they could donate the money to food banks in the UK.

Sign the petition here!

Modi Not Welcome in London - A Day of Protest

Thursday 12 NOVEMBER 2015 FROM 12 NOON ONWARDS
Meeting Point:
10 Downing Street moving to Parliament Square
3.30pm: Meeting at House of Commons

For more information find out here

The day of protest is organised under the Avaaz network with support from Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance, Dalit Solidarity Network (UK), Indian Muslim Federation (UK), Indian Workers Association (GB), Muslim Parliament, Oxford South Asia Forum, South Asia Solidarity Group, Southall Black Sisters,Southall Monitoring Group, The Sikh Federation (UK), Voice of Dalit International

For regular updates on campaigns against Modi visit www.modinotwelcome.wordpress.com

Film screening of the award-winning 'Candles in the Wind'

(India 2014 52 min)

South Asia Solidarity Group and the Decolonising our Minds society invite you to a film screening of 'Candles in the Wind' followed by Q&A with the directors Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl

Thursday 28th May at 18:30–21:00

Room V111, SOAS, Vernon Square, Penton Rise, WC1X

Punjab is known globally as the success-story of India's Green Revolution. Popular cinema from Bollywood keeps this carefully cultivated image alive. This image is a mirage.

Behind the smokescreen of an idyllic Punjab, there is real smoke, from the smouldering pyres of the farmers who are driven to suicide by the debt burden due to high costs of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides set by the almighty corporations in collusion with the State.

With suicides of men spiralling, women are left to bear the burden of their debt, and the responsibilities of taking care of children, ageing parents and the carcinogenic chemically damaged fields.

'Candles in the Wind' witnesses the silent determination of these women to survive and struggle against the politics of domination. The film provides a unique insight into the effects of neoliberal globalisation on rural India and the socioeconomic flux which has accompanied it.

Awards: Special Mention, 61st National Film Awards / India; John Abraham National Film Award for Best Documentary / SiGNS Film Festival / Kerala / 2014; Special Mention / IDSFFK / Trivandrum / 2014; Official Selection: Indian Panorama-2014, IFFI-Goa.

Watch the trailer for Candles in the Wind:



Nandan Saxena & Kavita Bahl are independent filmmakers and media trainers.
They received the National Award for Best Investigative Film at the National Film Awards (2011), for the film ‘Cotton for my shroud’. It was screened as ‘Headline Film’ at the World Investigative Film Week at London in 2013.

Almost two decades into filmmaking, they work in the genres of documentary and poetry films. Their oeuvre spans the domains of ecology, livelihoods, development and human rights.

Their most recent film ‘I cannot give you my Forest’ has been awarded the ‘Rajat Kamal’ for the Best Film in Environment, including Agriculture at the National Film Awards (For 2014).

Scrap the trivialising and racist posters on Child Sexual Exploitation

We the undersigned would like to express our concern and dismay about a poster on the crucially important subject of child sexual exploitation which has been produced and is being circulated by the police-led National Working Group on Child Sexual Exploitation
The poster uses the face of a white child with a black/brown hand over her mouth and by doing so trivialises and diverts attention from the reality of child sexual exploitation and at the same time plays into racist stereotypes.

• It suggests that perpetrators are Black or Asian and victims are white. In fact, as numerous cases (like those of powerful politicians like Cyril Smith, media personalities like Jimmy Savile, or of white men acting in gangs to exploit large numbers of young girls and women) have shown, perpetrators come from all racial groups. The majority are family members of the child or friends of her/his family.

• Racial stereotyping which suggests that perpetrators of child exploitation are most likely to be Black or Asian people is extremely irresponsible, particularly at a time when hate crime is on the increase.

• Like the perpetrators, the children facing Child Sexual Exploitation are also from all racial backgrounds and as agencies working with young Asian women have pointed out, often the sexual exploitation of Black and Asian children is ignored because of lack services and other reasons.

The people responsible for the posters

There have been a number of complaints about the poster from different parts of the country but it has not been withdrawn. Instead, the response from the National Working Group for Child Sexual Exploitation has been to justify it. A Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that the images were taken from the library of the National Working Group (NWG) on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) (the leading UK network of more than 2500 practitioners who disseminate information to professionals working on the issue of CSE and trafficking) and shockingly that the same images have been used on other similar campaigns nationally.

As Chair of the partnership Child Sexual Exploitation group, Assistant Chief Constable of Northamptonshire, Ivan Balhatchet takes full responsibility for the posters and  Northamptonshire Police and the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (NSCB), 'do not regard them as discriminating against any group in society'.

Bina Parmar, a Child Sexual Exploitation Specialist Team Member at NWG, who works closely with the Children’s Minister’s team and national organisations such as the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Barnardos and the Children's Society and was involved in the selection of the images for the NWG claims that "The hand in the image is in fact a white man’s hand, caught in a shadow, and in the print process it does look darker on some visuals.” This argument is dangerous and misleading, because if a hand looks dark in a poster it is seen as the hand of a Black or Asian person. No one walking past such a poster would stop and think: "Is this really a white hand looking Asian or Black..?", and this makes the poster blatantly racist.

In fact, the white supremacist English Defence League (EDL) have, since the Child Sexual Exploitation poster campaign was launched, developed very similar images specifically designed to inflame racial tension.


The poster must be withdrawn! 

This petition has been endorsed by the following representatives of local and national organisations which combat violence against women and girls:
Amrit Wilson (Freedom Without Fear Platform)
Zlakha Ahmed (Apna Haq, Rotherham)
Anjona Roy (Dostiyo, Northampton)
Sarah Green (End Violence Against Women Coalition)
Sumanta Roy (Imkaan)
Baljit Banga (Newham Asian Women's Project)
Katie Russell (Rape Crisis England and Wales)
Hilary Fisher (Women's Aid)
Vivienne Hayes (Women's Resource Centre)

Please endorse it too by signing the petition
http://s.coop/fear

'Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai' or 'Muzaffarnagar Eventually'

(Hindi with English subtitles)

Film Screening and discussion

Tuesday 24^th February, 7.00pm

Room V211, SOAS Vernon Square Building,

Vernon Square, Penton Rise
London WC1X 9EW

On the thirteenth anniversary of the Gujarat genocide, with the survivors still waiting for justice, we invite you to the UK premiere of this powerful film about a horrific new ‘laboratory of Hindu Rashtra’ and how it is being resisted.

In September 2013, an anti-Muslim pogrom took place in the Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of Western Uttar Pradesh in which more than 100 men, women and children were killed and some 80,000  displaced.  In the past, these two districts had seen relative harmony between Muslims and Hindus. What happened this time? ‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai…’ (Muzaffarnagar eventually...) explores this question examining the many facets of the massacre- the question of  women’s ‘honour’, which was used by organisations of the Hindu right, including BJP-RSS, to orchestrate communal violence,  the merging of caste identity politics within the larger Hindutva fold, the breakdown of the once powerful farmers’ union, the Bharatiya Kisan Union, whose survival hinged on the unity of Hindu and Muslim peasants,  the various aspects of Dalit politics in the districts, the dubious role of the Samajwadi Party, the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh and the feeling of complete alienation and marginalisation of the Muslim community. The film looks at how the massacre found its resonance in the 2014 Indian General election campaign. Finally, it tells of the continued and growing resistance in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts against the corporate-communal nexus. 

Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai  Nakul Singh Sawhney/2014/135 mins/Hindi with English subtitles

Nakul Singh Sawhney's earlier films include the award winning With a little help from my friends (2005),  Agaurav and Undecided, both in 2006,  Once upon a time in Chheharta and the acclaimed Izzatnagari Ki Asabhya Betiyaan (2012) on “honour” crimes in Haryana

Colonial Misogyny and Women's Activism in Palestine - Possibilities for Transnational Solidarity

How do the Israeli state's colonial strategies specifically target women?

What are the various forms of resistance in which women in Palestine are engaged?

How can we extend and strengthen initiatives for transnational solidarity

Dr Rania Masri

 Associate Director Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, American University of Beirut

Monday 2nd March 2015, 7-9pm

Rm B111 Brunei Building, SOAS Thornhaugh Street, Russell Sq

 London WC1H OXG

Rania Masri is a social-justice and anti-war activist.  Her writings and activism have centred on the occupation of Palestine, and the struggle against apartheid and racism.  She has also written and organized extensively on the sanctions on Iraq, and civil and environmental rights.  A partial listing of her writings and talks can be found on her personal website: http://greenresistance.wordpress.com/my-writings/

Organised by Freedom Without Fear Platform, Decolonising the Mind SOAS, SOAS Students' Union and SOAS Pal Soc