The Women in Black, India in a quiet, sustained way has sought to make public the many forms of ‘personal’ violence against women – wife battering, dowry deaths, female foeticide female circumcision, pornography, sexual assault, rape. Everywhere, women, are unmasking the many horrific faces of more public ‘legitimate’ violences – state repression, communalism, ethnic cleansing, nationalism, nuclearisation, wars ….. violence in the name of development, in the name of reproductive technologies, genetic engineering, and the feminisation of poverty.
The issues have been many. The forms in which protests have been expressed have also been varied. Silence, posters, placards, pamphlets and some times lighting lamps, have been an expression of this collective rebellion and resistance.
While the above mentioned issues are some of the vigils that the WIB India have focused on, we have also stood in solidarity for peoples living in war and conflict zones – with people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine to mention a few.
On March 8, 2002, International Women’s Day we stood on the streets of Bangalore where over 1,000 men and women from all walks of life joined our voices in solidarity against the forces of Hindutva.
In 2002 the Women in Black in Bangalore stood in silence every week for almost three months protesting the declaration of America’s War of terror on Afghanistan.
On February 15, 2003 a day on which human rights organisations across the globe came together in their towns and cities to protest the war on Iraq the Asian Women’s Human Rights Council India and Vimochana organised a Women in Black vigil.

We have also used this form of protest at many of our programmes in different parts of the world to highlight and make public the issues that have never been recognised as human rights violations.
For example, in the Philippines, with the Lila Pilipina, the organisation of the former comfort women, we have stood protesting the silence on this war crime of the Second World War demanding justice and reparation from the Japanese government.
In Nepal, we have stood in support of women who have been trafficked and women in prostitution.
We have stood in solidarity with other groups all over the world seeking justice for Sarah Balabagan, a Filipino migrant worker who was convicted for murdering her employer who raped her; and for thousands like her who are working in the most dehumanised and exploitative conditions in alien lands where they have no support.
We have stood in support of the brave women of Bosnia who inspite of the genocide, do not seek revenge but say “that this violence that has happened to us will never happen again to anybody in any part of the world”.
Through our protest and silence we continue to reach out gently to touch and embrace, to heal the scars and erase the immeasurable pain caused by all forms of violence against women and in the hope that a time will come when we will be able to look into each other’s faces, unafraid.

Yet another gathering which has been infused with the spirit of Women in Black is the World Social Forum.
The World Social Forum which was created in 2001 is a space for social movements and individuals resisting and in search of alternatives to the process of globalisation and neoliberalism to gather, to share ideas and experiences, to debate and to articulate another vision of a world. Visions that is more rooted in the lifeworlds of those who are at the margins; visions that are more wholistic.
The social movements that gather at the forum come from the global south and north and believe in the dream that another world is possible.
El Taller International, the AWHRC and Vimochana have been part of the WSF and together with other partner organisations have organised several Courts of Women and Women in Black Vigils at the World Social and Polycentric Forums, Africa and the Asia Social Forum.
• At the WSF 2003 held in Porto Allegre, Brazil we held with our partner organisations in Cuba and Latin America the World Court of Women against the Economic Blockade in Cuba.
• At the WSF 2004 held in Mumbai, India we held with our partner organisations the World Court of Women on War as Crime (focussing on US war crimes).
• At the WSF 2005 held again in Brazil we offered with the Africa Social Forum, the Africa Court of Women on Poverty: Lives, Livelihoods, Lifeworlds.
• At the WSF polycentric 2006, we have held the World Court of Women on Resistance to Wars: Wars of Globalisation, Wars against Women in Bamako, Mali, in Caracas, Venezuela and in Karachi, Pakistan.
• In January 2003 the Asian Women’s human Rights Council with Vimochana organised Women in Black Against War for Peace at the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad.
• In preparation to the World Social Forum 2004 to be held in Mumbai, there were many country specific forums that were held. India too held the India Social Forum in Delhi subsequent to the Asia Social Forum in Hyderabad.
• World Court of Women on Resistance to Wars, Wars of Globalization, Wars against Women, World Social Forum Polycentric, January, 2006 Bamako Mali
• World Court of Women on Resistance to Wars: Wars of Globalisation, Wars against Women, Karachi, Pakistan, 2006. World Social Forum Polycentric, January, 2006
For more information on the vision and perspectives on the Courts of Women and the Courts held so far, WIB vigils held at the Courts of Women and the WSF see www.womeninblack.in

Through the voices of women who will share their testimonies of pain and resistance and also women and men who will offer their analyses and wisdoms, the India Court of Women on Dowry and other Related Forms of Violence against Women will attempt to recover this lost language of justice. Specifically this Court will seek to:

– bring back to the centre of public consciousness and conscience the phenomena of dowry violence that has become invisible, normal and routine
– initiate a rethink on our analyses of what constitutes dowry in the present context and understand its links not only to other forms of violence against women but also to the larger culture of violence and marginalisation inherent in the contemporary processes of development and globalisation.
– reflect on and review the methodologies of redress including the law and revision a mass movement that is multi layered thereby taking deeper root in people’s collective consciousness and in public polity.

27 July – Women in Black vigil
An action of women and men dressed in black and standing in a public place in the city on the evening before the Court and focusing on the issues of the Court through placards, banners, pamphlets and lamps.
Secretariat:

Vimochana
Forum for Women’s Rights
33/1-9, Thyagraj Layout
Jaibharath Nagar
MS Nagar PO
Bangalore 560033
India
Telefax: 080-25492782
Tel: 080-25496934/ 25492781/25492783
Email: vimochana79@gmail.com
eltaller.international@gmail.com
Website: http://www. vimochana.org

See here for further information