Kolkata, Feb 1, 2020: It’s not enough to talk about violence against women only. Voices have to be raised against atrocities on minorities and the marginalized as well, and anyone who is feeling insecure in the current circumstances, when even something as basic as citizenship is coming up for questioning.

This was the rhetoric at the three-hour One Billion Rising program organized by the Loreto nuns at Allen Park on January 31.

Hundreds of students at Loreto schools in the city gathered to sing, dance and add voice to the “Rising,” the sixth celebration in the city of the global movement started in the US by writer-women’s rights activist Eve Ensler in 2012. The concept is based on the fact that one out of every three women worldwide is subjected to violence at least once in lifetime.

The OBR organizer in Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre, is a unit of the Loreto order and this year, it collaborated with Loreto Elliot Road to bring the Rising to life. Every year, one Loreto school, along with the Mary Ward, carries the baton.

The slogan, ‘Rise, Resist, Unite,’ also included voices against CAA and NRC, following a resolution to this effect taken at the OBR Delhi headquarters.

“At OBR, people are taught to respect women, but as things stand now, there is an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in the entire civil society. OBR is a natural platform of protest and hence, we are using it as an umbrella to include minorities and their fears. Let OBR be the platform, where we can preach respect for the Constitution,” said Nandini Bhattacharjee, a teacher at Loreto Elliot Road who coordinated the programme.

The chief of the city’s OBR, Sister Monica Suchiang, a Loreto nun, also the director of Mary Ward, felt women worldwide have been rising, pledging to stand by one another. “The conviction is uncanny… you have finally met your tormentor eye-to-eye and that is the magic moment when you know you have conquered him,” Sister Suchiang said. The Superior of Loreto order, Sister Sabrina, was also present at the event.

The high point of the program was the discussion, Addressing Inequality Challenges, where ‘inequality’ transcended ‘gender issues’ and encompassed discrimination meted out to religious minorities and communities. The speakers included Nandita Pal Choudhury, Anchita Ghatak, Deep Purakayastha, Saira Halim, Madiha Ahmed and Nick Rampal.

The talk was moderated by Anglo Indian MLA Shane Calvert. The speakers likened the current political situation to fascism. “Even a few years ago, the challenges of being a woman was there but I was not made to feel like a minority,” said Halim, a social activist and writer. Calvert pointed out that mankind progressed only when there was tolerance and congratulated the organizers for extending the scope of OBR this time.

Source: The Times of India