RESISTers Dialogue statement for International Women’s Month 2021
We are RESISTers from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. We are sisters in our resistance against all forms of violence against women.
Today, we raise our clenched fists for our sisters in Burma who come from different ethnic nationalities. We raise our fists for those who have been killed fighting for freedom; for those who, despite fear, remain at the forefront of protests and civil disobedience; for those who tend to the injured, the families of the victims, and those who continue to care for the protesters. We salute you.
We call on our RESISTers from all over – let us stand in solidarity with our RESISTers in Burma. Let us join them in the urgent call for justice for those who have been killed by the military junta. Let us call for the end of violence against the protesters and the crackdown on protest groups; and the release of activists, journalists, and politicians who have been arrested and detained.
Let us demand from our own governments to condemn the military dictatorship and the violence that is happening now in Burma. Let us demand that they side with the women and men from the different ethnic nationalities calling for genuine freedom and democracy for all.
Let us echo the voices of our RESISTers in Burma as they call for the end of all forms of dictatorship - military or civilian; abolition of the 2008 constitution, which enshrines military control over the government; and push for federal democracy.
Let us make them feel our solidarity; that they are not alone in this fight. We are all in this together.
We are RESISTers.
We resist discrimination, which to this day we suffer from as women, especially those of us who are from urban poor, rural and indigenous communities.
We resist sexual violence which persists with misogyny and sexism in our communities and is emboldened by the lack of accountability for perpetrators.
We resist corporate exploitations, land grabbing and destruction of our food sources – farms, vegetable gardens, traditional lands, and ancestral domains – that leave us hungry and our children malnourished.
We resist the destruction of our natural resources, which we rely on for our cultural, economic, and, spiritual life – resources that are exploited by the greedy connivance of corporations and our own governments.
We resist the exploitative and extractive “development” projects which only aim to gain profit for transnational corporations, leaving us homeless and our communities divided.
We resist the investments, public debt and policy interference by international financial institutions which have led to the current crisis of land grabs, resource destruction and aggravated the violence against women in our countries today.
We resist state violence that tries to silence our voices, our protests, and our dissent. We resist acts of violence done with utmost impunity.
We resist fascist and misogynist leaders, dictators who try to gain power by declaring us powerless, and dominance by forcing us to be silent.
We are neither powerless nor can we be silenced.
We are RESISTers.
We are RESISTers, and together, we will forge ahead. Let the lives, and deaths of other RESISters keep the flame in our hearts burning. Arms linked, we will continue to struggle for a world without violence, fear, and dictators; and a world free from patriarchy and militarism.
3.11.2021
ReSisters Dialogue
Cambodia – Focus on the Global South
Social Action for Community and Development (SACD)
Women Network for Unity (WNU)
India – Dhaatri Resource Centre for Adivasi Women and Children
Indonesia – JATAM and Tim Kerja Perempuan dan Tambang (TKPT)
Philippines – LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights)
ReSisters from Burma and Thailand
Contact point:
LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights)
judy a. pasimio / judy104@lilak.net
facebook page: Resisters Dialogue