Sex workers Shanti Utsav in Kolkata.

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Subject: Fwd: Shanti Utsav

From: "Sujit Modak" dmsc@...>comite.side@...>, t.scherer@...>,   jrichens@...>Cc: tushai@...>Subject: Shanti UtsavDate: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 14:01:04 +0530X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300   

 

Santi Utsab (Peace Festival)

Organised by

DURBAR

(Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee)

Venue :  Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Salt Lake, Kolkata, India

From March 3rd to the 9th, 2002.Durbar, a forum of 60000 sex workers (male, female and trans gender) and their support groups and individuals has been involved in networking among sex workers in India and across the world, helping sex-workers to unite and to uphold the rights of sex-workers. Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee(DMSC), the sex workers collective, explicit about its political objectives of fighting for a more secure legal status for sex workers and their children and protection of their rights. DMSC strongly demands decriminalisation of adult prostitution and social recognition of sex work as a valid profession.KNP+(Kolkata Network of Positive, collective of PLWHA) is part of the umbrella organization of Durbar working together to express themselves to the general mass about the pros and cons of being positive. They want to stand by all people who are positive so that they or their families do not feel to be alien to the community. KNP+ provide Antiretroviral to PLWHA through the support of Durbar.The members of Durbar, would like to convey the message of peace and harmony across the world. To strengthen the peace movement in city and abroad we have planed to organise a festival named "Santi Utsab" in the second year of the new millennium. We wish everybody peace and happiness, breaking all the barriers of state, religion, gender and race. We hope to bring together more than 40 thousands participants during this meet. Hope we fulfill our aspiration of a peaceful and happy world for the coming future. Please feel free to forward this message to others who you think are committed to the cause of equality and peace. Who are we? Usha Multipurpose ative Society Limited, Usha for short, is a financial cooperative institution, constituted solely by sex workers. Usha is part of a larger loosely affiliated association of sex workers organisations based in West Bengal, India that has collectively come to be known as Durbar (durbar in Bengali meaning unstoppable or indomitable). The affiliated sex workers organisations in DURBAR

 

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee(DMSC)From 1992 sex workers involved in an internationally acclaimed HIV prevention intervention programme (STD/HIV Intervention Programme, widely known as the Sonagachi Project) operating in red light districts of Calcutta had started mobilising around demands for promotion and protection of sex workers rights. In 1993, they organised themselves into an informal association, which assumed an increasingly formal character and was later registered under the law as DMSC, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (Durbar Committee for Co-ordination of Women) in 1995. DMSC, an autonomous organisation of sex workers, functions an exclusive forum of women, men and transgender sex workers, both brothel-based and mobile populations, and their children, and has 66 branches and a membership of 50000 sex workers across West Bengal, India.  DMSC itself, along with Usha as one of the primary stakeholders, has been running the STD/HIV prevention intervention from 1999 (DFID), having taken over from the consortium of NGOs, CBOs and the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, which initially implemented the programme. Apart from mobilising sex workers in the districts of West Bengal DMSC has started STD/HIV intervention programme, replicating the Sonagachi model, in 19 red light areas. DMSC has also started HIV intervention among street-based sex workers and their clients, covering a population of over 12000, through drop in centres for counselling, referral STD care services and mobilisation among street-based sex workers Apart from its direct involvement in HIV prevention, DMSC and the other affiliated sex workers organisations under Durbar, has been active in addressing the other structural issues that frame the everyday reality of sex workers lives, be they related to their material deprivation, their social exclusion or the stigma attached be being a sex worker or her child. It is explicit about its political objective of fighting for a secure social existence of sex workers and their children. DMSC demands decriminalisation of adult prostitution it all its aspects; social recognition of sex work as a valid occupation; and establishment of sex workers right to self-determination. DMSC also seeks to abolish or reform all laws that restrict the human rights of sex workers and limits their enfranchisement as full citizens. To regulate the exploitation of sex workers within the sex industry DMSC has already set up a series of local Self-Regulatory Boards in selected red light areas in Calcutta. These Boards, like other professional associations like the Indian Medical Association or the Bar Council, act as the principal arbitrator in cases of violation of sex workers rights within the trade. The Boards also stipulate, once again like other occupational associations, some minimum standards for joining the sex industry of which consent and age are the two main principles. The members of DMSC contend that their own efforts at regulating the norms within the sex industry would act as much more efficient deterrent to exploitation within the industry, be it underage prostitution or trafficking, than state coercion or censure and control by the society at large. DMSC has been taking other steps to improve the immediate working and living conditions of sex workers too. The members of the DMSC have organised rallies and demonstrations against specific instances of trouble caused by local hooligans, against extortion and harassment by the local police, protested against forcible AIDS surveillance[1] and unauthorised vaccine trial[2] and have stopped eviction of individual or entire groups of sex workers from their homes or localities. 

Usha Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited(USHA)One of the most significant steps that sex workers united under DMSC had taken to increase their economic security is to register a consumer co-operative (Usha Co-operative and Multipurpose Stores Limited, Usha) in the name of sex workers, in August 1995. The sex workers were successful in persuading the State Government to remove the relevant clause from the ative law so that they could register the cooperative with their occupational status as sex workers rather than being passed off as ubiquitous housewives . The registration of the Co-operative also marks an important strategic advantage for DMSC in their struggle to re-frame the definitions and meanings of their occupation. Members of the Committee hope to use the fact that a state institution has formally recognised prostitution as the Co-operative member s profession, as leverage in their campaign for social recognition of sex work and sex workers' right to self-determination.  Through this Co-operative, they provide crèche facilities for children of sex workers during business hours, which also give employment to out-of-work sex workers. They run a thriving savings and credit schemes for Co-operative members. They undertake social marketing of condoms in 40 red light districts of West Bengal through a special team of members, the Basanti Sena and have started training for initiating a production unit.  Usha and DMSC members are very emphatic that the Co-operative is not meant for economic 'rehabilitation' of sex workers who are in the trade, but is designed to provide a financial resource for them to fall back on in moments of crises, and to minimise their economic desperation by creating a space for negotiation. Moreover, they hope that the Basanti Sena will not only travel around different parts of the country for social marketing of condoms, but will also help in acquainting more and more sex workers with the aims and objectives of the sex workers movement. In short, UMSCL provides soft loans and small savings opportunity to sex workers, creates alternative jobs for sex workers, does social marketing of condoms and other essentials and plans to start a large scale production unit for generating employment for retired sex workers and those who want to opt out of sex work.  Having developed the necessary technical expertise and infrastructure, Usha now also operates as the principle financial institution for the range of range of sex workers organisations affiliated loosely under Durbar, and handles grants from external agencies for them. KOMOL GANDHAROne important way in which the organised sex workers have been attempting to carve out a positive identity for themselves is through cultural self-expression. They formed Komol Gandhar, as a cultural wing constituted exclusively of sex workers and their children, to represent their thinking and lives through music, dance, plays, painting and writing. For a group of sex workers coming from diverse cultural backgrounds Komol Gandhar created an opportunity for them to explore their cultural heritage and preserve and expand their cultural expressions. Komol Gandhar has now emerged as a platform for exchanging various cultural traditions, across linguistic, religious and regional barriers and for forging a common identity as sex workers and has become a critical political tool in the sex workers movement. It has enabled a wide section of the sex workers community to participate in the sex workers movement through cultural activities in which many of them were already skilled.  

POSITIVE HOTLINEDMSC runs testing, counselling and care services for HIV/STD through its independent wing, Positive Hotline. Positive Hotline aims to promote positive attitudes towards care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. This initiative addresses the needs of serum positive people and their families to cope with the social and psychological traumas associated with being HIV positive and extend its services beyond sex workers communities into the general population. When a sero-positive person contacts the Positive Hotline, Positive Hotline teams visit them in their locality to extend moral and material support and to sensitise the local community. The thrust of this initiative is to challenge social constructions of AIDS patients in general and the misconceptions and apathy among the health professionals. Positive Hotline also provides specialised training to other groups, organises hospital care for people with AIDS and has recently started a city counselling centre for people afflicted with various sexual dysfunction. 

Sathi SangathanIn another dynamic development, the Babus or fixed clients of sex worker members of DMSC, have recently formed their own collective, Sathi Sangathan or the Companions' Collective, for fighting alongside with DMSC against all kinds of violence faced by sex workers, their children and their clients.  

Sramajeebi Mahila SanghaSramajeebi Mahila Sangha is one of the oldest surviving self-help groups of sex workers based in Sethbagan and has been an active partner of the Durbar family. 

Binodini Srameek UnionMembers of DMSC other Durbar affiliates share a common premise, that prostitution is not a moral condition but an occupation and as sex workers they are working women, and men, who like many other working women are engaged in a marginal, sexist, exploitative and low-status job. For most sex workers, working in the sex industry is not an irrational act of desperation, but a rational choice made from the very limited options available, particularly to poor, unskilled women, in a capitalist and patriarchal society. The rallying slogan of the National Conference, - sex work is legitimate work, we want workers rights , has now become the immediate strategic aim for securing basic needs as human beings. To this end sex workers have applied for registration of their own trade union, Binodini Srameek Union. >From 1998 Durbar has celebrated the International Labour Day every year by organising a midnight torchlight rallies foregrounding their demand for workers rights and through the formation of the trade union they want to take this struggle forward and join the larger international labour movement for the autonomy of workers.  The Millennium MelaAs part of Durbar s on-going effort to put sex workers rights on the global agenda in the new millennium, we at Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee organized a carnival, the Millennium Mela, as a meeting ground for all sex workers of the world, - of all class, creed or gender, as well as organisations and individuals committed to the rights of sex workers and their children, to gather together and meet face to face. At the Mela we celebrate our lives and our struggle and exchange our stories as part of our unrelenting movement to change histories.Around 25000 sex workers representing 16 countries and about 30000 peoples from different walks of life attended during 5 days of the Mela.  Why are we holding the Mela this year[shanti utsab]?From 1996, DMSC has regularly convened state and national level meetings of sex workers organisations in India, which have also been attended by policy makers, politicians and administrators. The most notable of these have been the First National Conference of Sex Workers if India in 1997, on the theme Gator khaatiye khaai, srameeker adhikar chaai (We labour for our living, we want workers rights) and its follow-up Strategy Summit in 1998, which initiated the formation of the National Network of Sex Workers in India, and took the sex workers movement to the national arena. We have also attended numerous national and international meetings, workshops, seminars and conferences to talk about our rights and ourselves. But this time we want to inscribe our identity on the public arena in our own inimitable style. No pre-imposed formats. No centralised control. No faceless formalities. But a celebration of life and of love through debates, discussions and dancing. Through songs and smiles we will build solidarity.  We want to get together with other sex workers from across the country and beyond to think through our lives and think beyond our everyday struggles towards building a collective future unfettered by deprivation, stigma and violence. Not just for us, the community of sex workers, but for the entire world.  What will happen at the Mela?The theme of this year is peace,we call it santi utsab.One of the central focuses of the  Mela will be an interactive installation on the history of sex work and sex workers movement in India. We will also hold a Health Fair, with facilities of counselling and testing for STDs. There will be a number of open and indoor stages, for continuous cultural performances by sex workers and other performing artists. For those of us wanting to get down to serious discussions, a number of symposiums, workshops and dialogues will be held on a whole range of subjects, from role of sex workers in combating trafficking to peace-building in an increasingly conflict-ridden world. Throughout the Millennium Mela we will also show panorama of Indian films with sex workers as the central characters. Moreover, there will be numerous stalls selling handicrafts and mementos, food and drinks, tricks and treats. And of course no Mela can ever be a success without the big old merry-go-round, and vendors selling candyfloss and balloons. Above all we promise a bundle of fun, a real carnival of colours. 

The Objectives of the Mela¦      The principal objective of the  Mela is to spread the messages of peace,love and soliderity across the class creed and nationality.We aspire for a free, safe and happy environment for the people of the universe as a whole..We the sex workers from across India and other countries will come together to express our views,will share and celebrate our lives, our histories and movements[present and past].  ¦      The Mela would also provide a platform for different sex workers groups to showcase their cultural skills through staging of plays, music soirees, and dances.¦      At the Mela skill building workshops would provide capacity building opportunities for sex workers in networking mobilisation, leadership, violence mitigation and communication skills. ¦      The Mela would also provide an opportunity for sex workers to sell handicrafts, food and other items produced by them. ¦      At the Mela sex workers community would have an opportunity to hold face-to-face dialogues with elected representative, political leaders, representatives of state and other civil society institutions like the police, media, performing artists, trade unionists, women activists, gay right activists and intellectuals. ¦      Foregrounding the rich cultural heritage of our country for the entertainment and intellectual stimulation of the sex worker delegates is another objective. This would be done through continuous performances by various folk artists from Bengal, a festival of films of Indian movies with sex worker protagonists and an Artists Camp where prominent painters would develop paintings on the themes of sex workers movement.¦      One principal objective of the Mela is to provide information on HIV/AIDS to the delegates. Towards this purpose a Health Fair will be held, with an exhibition and testing and counselling services for STDs.A central objective of the Mela would be to represent the history of sex workers participation in National freedom movement besides our historical contribution in ensuring peace and prosperity in different countries and in communities.Attempt would be made to track down   the process of development of the global sex workers movement . This will be done through staging an interactive installation (exhibition) at the Mela ground.Registration for Stall Booking atShanti Utsab[sex workers carnival or  Mela]

Calcutta 3rd to 9th March 2002

At Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Calcutta, India Please Print or Type.Please feel free to forward this to others who you think are committed to the promoting sex workers rights and would be interested to participate. Name of the organisation (in block letters)  Organisation Represented:Mr./Ms.(with address)      

Phone: (with STD/ISD code)  

Fax: (with STD/ISD code)  

e-mail: (if any)  Status of the organisation Sex Worker s organisation (please give a 5) Organisation working for sex workers    NGOs working on other issues   Commercial enterprise Personal address Phone No.  of the Representative :    I / We need accomodation: Yes/NoIf yes, Number of heads:    Note: accomodation and food(lunch dinner) is provided free of cost only for sex workers form 3rd March to 7th March 12 noon) those who are            Name                                       Male/Female1.2.not able to pay.3. 4. 5. Date of arrival at the Mela:  Date of departure from the Mela:   Size of the stall:10' x 10' = 100 Sq. FeetRegistration fees:a. NIL (for sex workers organisation) b. All other participants have to pay 1.       Rs. 5,000/- for the stall (without light fittings).2.       Charges of the light fitting Rs. 500/- per stall.3.       Charges of electricity free of cost.4.       Cost of Insurance will be born by the party at actual.5.       Cost for extra (as per requirement) furniture will be charged as per following details:i)                    Garden Chair @ Rs. 5/- eachii)                   Furniture (Rack /Self etc.) @ Rs. 20/- eachiii)                 Tube light Rs. 50/- eachiv)                 Extra Hallogen light Rs. 125/- each Terms Conditions:¦                   Applicant must declare the purpose for which the stall will be hired.¦                   Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) reserves all right to accept or reject applications for hiring of stalls.¦                   All the applications should be accompanied by Money Order / Demand Draft of Rs. 2,000/- in favour of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee A/c Millennium Mela payable at Calcutta . If the application for stall is cancelled by the DMSC authority, deposited amount will be refunded within 10 days of the completion of the Millennium Milan Mela in case the applicant wishes to withdraw application after registration for stall, Rs. 1,000/- will be deducted from their deposited amount. Balance amount will be paid by Cash or Demand Draft on 5th of March 2001 in between 12 noon to 4 pm. at Mela Office. ¦                   Last date of application for stall is 21.02.2002¦                   Last date of scruitiny and allotment is 23.02.2002¦                   Sex workers organisations will be alloted stall free of cost subject to certain conditions*. * Application from sex workers organisation will have to be accompanied by documents proving that the organisation is indeed constituted solely by sex workers. Please Note:Organisations who are working for sex workers have to bear full charge for hiring a stall. Mail to:

Santi Utsab

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee12/5 Nilmoni Mitra StreetCalcutta 700 006, IndiaPhone: +91 33 543-7451 / 7560Fax: +91 33 543-7451e-mail: ship@...            sonagachi@... Registration for Participants

At Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, India Please Print or Type.Please feel free to forward this to others who you think are committed to the promoting sex workers rights and would be interested to participate. Mail to:Shanti Utsab

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee12/5 Nilmoni Mitra StreetCalcutta 700 006, IndiaPhone: +91 33 543-7451 / 7560Fax: +91 33 543-7451e-mail: ship@...                sonagachi@... Name/s of participants  

Sex workers

Non-Sex workers(Block Letters):1.

 

 (if necessary please attach 2.

 

 separate sheet)3.

 

  4.

 

  Organisation Represented: Address:      

Phone: (with STD/ISD code)  

Fax: (with STD/ISD code)  

e-mail: (if any)  Status of the organisation Sex Worker s organisation (please give a 5) Sex Worker s support organisation   NGOs working on other issues I / We wish to participate as aDelegate  Speaker  (please giva a 5)Workshop or sub-event organiser Exhibitor   Performer Journalist  I / We need accommodation: Yes/NoIf yes, Number of heads:    Note: accommodation and food (lunch dinner) is provided free of cost only for sex workers form 3rd March to 7th March 12 noon) those who are not able to pay.            Name                                       Male/Female1.2.3. 4. 5. Date of arrival at the Mela:  Date of departure from the Mela:  Registration fees:a. NIL (for sex workers male, female, trans gender)  b. Other participants have to buy a ticket of Rs. 5/- to enter the Mela arena. Please submit your requirements with the following information: I / We like to use your Flexi Forum for (please give a 5)  Net Work Meeting  Seminar / Workshop  Cultural Programme  Debate session in the mela  Other, please specify Title of the Topic:  Theme of the cultural programme:  Duration:  Number of participants:  Approximate size of the space for the said programme:  Please note:Ü                  Venue and public address system would be provided free of cost to sex workers organisation only. (Sex workers organisation will have to provide evidence that they are indeed constituted solely by sex workers).Ü                  All the applications should be accompanied by Money Order / Demand Draft of Rs. 5,000/- in favour of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee payable at Calcutta for arranging the above-mentioned programme.Ü                  For special lighting and for other arrangements (like arrangements of light refreshments / lunch, dinner etc. special logistical support for Seminar etc.) Mela authority has to be informed before 25th of February 2001. The costs of these will have to be met by the applicant/s.Ü                  A service centrer will available at Mela arena to provide tools for presentation against service charges (Slide projector / Overhead projector / Laptop / Multimedia etc.).Ü                  We can also arrange special events if intimated in advance.    [1]In September 1993, a group of doctors, working under a state institution, in collaboration with a NGO, entered  Sonagachi red light area, with police protection and forcibly drew blood sample from 50 sex workers in the name of HIV/AIDS surveillance.[2]In 1995, an HIV vaccine was tested on sex workers in Boubajar red light district, Calcutta, without informing them or without their consent and even without any clearance from WHO or FDA, USA.

SHANTI  UTSAB-2002 

Tentative Programme Schedule 

Date

First Session

Second Session3 rd Marchseminar on: Promotion And Protection of The Rights of Sexworkers (12.00 Noon)State's AttitudeTowards The Role of Sexworkers In Social Movement-A panel discussion (02.30 P.M)4th MarchThe twin brothers-The Terrosism and the War - A dialogue  ( 10.00 A.M)Antiretroviral Treatment fot The Positive(+ve) People In The Third Countries - A Dillema or A Dogma ?-a Debate (12.30 P.M)5th MarchReligion Vs State : Where Are We ? - A Symposium  (10.00 P.M)Restructuring Health Service - Through People Participation - A Panel Discussion (12.30 P.M)6th MarchSelf-Regulatory Board of Sex-workers - A Viable Answer To The De-criminalisation of Sex Trade - A Debate (10.00 P.M)Workshop on - Sexual Repression-One of the Root Causes of Social Violence  (12.30 P.M)7th MarchPanel discussion on:"The Rights of Women Workers' In The Context of Globalization" (10.00 A.M)Panel Discussion on: "Significance of Sex workers' Empowerment In Controlling HIV/AIDS" (12.30 P.M)8th MarchWorkshop on : (10.00 A.M)Seminar on : Relious Violence Women's Sub-ordination(12.30P.M)9th MarchQuestion Answers - Rights of Minority [ of Religion, Sexuality,And Economic] - In The New Millennium(10.00 P.M)"The Role of Sex workers' in Combating Trafficking" (12.30P.M)  Media session -Role of Media in Sexworkers Movement (03.00 P.M)