Filed under: Gender, Health, Pakistan-India, Southasia, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: aurat azadi march, Aurat March, CAA, coronavirus, mera jism meri marzi | 1 Comment »
Last Thursday, I attended a talk by journalist Maria Ressa at Harvard. She talked about the “pounding” journalists get on social media and “trends” set by fake accounts. Women are attacked online at least 10 times more than men, and research shows online violence leads to actual violence on the ground. It reminded me not only of the challenges journalists face in Pakistan but also what organisers of the forthcoming Aurat March commemorating International Women’s Day are up against. Here’s what I wrote, published in The News International, Pakistan and The Wire, India.
Continue readingFiled under: Gender, Media | Tagged: aurat azadi march, Maria Ressa, nieman | 1 Comment »
Something I wrote about sexual harassment and abuse, published in The News on Sunday. It was a difficult piece to write, took a lot of thought, time, and research, and forced me to introspect on uncomfortable ideas. I went through a learning process that I’ve have tried to share. One idea links to the concept of restorative justice. Another is that, regardless of whether or not guilt is proven, such cases are forcing society to re-evaluate acceptable behaviour. This, in fact, may be the #MeToo movement’s most enduring contribution.
Filed under: Art and activism, Freedom of expression, Gender, Human rights, Pakistan, Southasia, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: #metoo, ali zafar, aurat azadi march, child abuse, dialogue, forgiveness, jami, meesha shafi, Mukhtiar Mai, rape, restorative justice, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, shazia khalid, veena hayat | 1 Comment »
A poetic dialogue between two neighbours separated by an insurmountable wall goes viral. Pictured here: Asma Abbas and Bushra Ansari, performing their sister Neelum Bashir’s poem.
There’s been so much going on that I haven’t shared any updates here for a while. On Tuesday 11 Feb., Bilawal Bhutto Zardari gave a talk on Pakistan and the Welfare State at Harvard that I reported on: “We can’t say we’re too poor to look after our people”, published in The News on Sunday, 17 Feb. I was going to post it with an important paragraph that got left out of my report when I cut it down, but the Pulwama attack of 14 Feb overshadowed everything. I’ll share it at some point. Continue reading
Filed under: Art and activism, Freedom of expression, Human rights, Music, Pakistan-India, Peace, Progressive politics | Tagged: aurat azadi march, Bilawal Bhutto, Bushra Ansari, India Pakistan, music video, Neelum Bashir, Pakistan, poetry, Pulwama attack, punjab, Punjabi, women's march, women's rights | Leave a comment »
Journeys to democracy 