India: Blatant violation of women's rights Tue, 8 Feb 2000 04:28:32 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Thu, 3 Feb 2000 23:52:48 -0600 (CST) Grassroots Media Network Blatant violation of women's rights Several women rights activists, including Radhika Coomaraswamy and Kumari Jayawardena, have condemned the arson on the house of actress Anoja Weerasinghe describing it as a politically motivated attack. In a statement issued to the media, they said: "Such assaults on cultural producers have been witnessed in the past under all governments and fit into a history of attempts to control the culture and the free expression of artistes. The recent burning of the contents of the house of Ms. Weerasinghe, is one example of a criminal act of vandalism and arson. The attack on Weerasinghe's house was a follow up to an assault on various women artistes at a political rally in Veyangoda in December last year in which actress Chandi Rasika was also injured. We condemn the recent politically motivated attack on award winning film and stage actress Mr. Anoja Weerasinghe. Anoja Weerasinghe, who has won several international awards for her performances was recently playing the role of Hecube, in the Sinhala anti-war play "The Trojan Women" In this context, the destruction of Mrs. Weerasinghe's house and 22 year cultural archive at her home in Moneragala is disturbing. Its destruction is a great public loss since we do not have a national film archive in this country. Some of the films burnt were the only copies in existence. There were other artistes both women and men who pledged their support openly and freely to different candidates and addressed to meetings and sang on the political platform during the Presidential Election in December 1999. We believe that Ms. Weerasinghe was targeted both for her politics and because she is a woman artiste. As such this attack constitutes a blatant violation of women's human rights. Given the implications for democratic rights, all concerned parties should unite to protest against such violence. We demand a full, fair and impartial inquiry into this attack. Signatories Women's Education and Research Centre Selvi Thiruchandran Women's Coalitionfor Peace Darini Rajasingham Women's NGO Forum Ksharma Rahavana International Center for Ethnic Studies- Radhika Coomaraswamy Gender Unit Women and Media Collective Kumudini Samuel Feminist Forum Kumari Jayawardena Social Scientists' Association-Gender Unit Mangalika de Silva Muslim Women's Research and ActionFront Faizun Zachariya Center foe Women's Research Swarna Jayaweera INFORM Sunila Abeysekera Kantha Shakthi Rohini Weerasinghe Women's wing-People's Coalition for Peace Chandirika Kumarasiri & democracy, Kandy Sama Liya Collective, Kandy Samanthi Ganegoda Centre for Development Alternatives-Gender Unit S. Rajeswary Kany Women's Development Center, Kurunegala Sumika Perara Sooriya Women's Development Center,Batticaloa Vasuki Jeyashankar. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytfem-02.08.00-04:28:32-12900