The Hindu Business Line : Holding up a `Nobel' example

In fighting for the rights of the disabled, the marginalised and the traumatised, the 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel peace prize have displayed exemplary moral courage and responsibility.

Dilafroze Qazi, of Jammu and Kashmir, faced various hurdles, including militant threats, when she started classes in cutting and tailoring for women. However, she managed to overcome the obstacles to eventually run an engineering college, primary schools and vocational training centres.

But Dilafroze didn't bargain on resistance from the people she was trying to help. So when she heard that some members of the community where she worked to educate children affected by militancy in Kashmir had questioned her motives, she was very disturbed.

Just then came the letter naming her as one of the 92 Indian women nominated as a part of the `1000 Women for Nobel Peace Prize 2005' project.

"It was like a lifeline. It gave me the strength to believe that what I was doing was right. Not only did it convince me that I needed to carry on my work, but it also reiterated my belief that education is the only way to fight violence," says an emotional Dilafroze.

It is this fighting spirit that the `1000 Women for Nobel Peace Prize 2005' project wants the world to recognise and celebrate. For long, women have worked silently for sustainable peace for their families and villages, their country and their culture. Yet, their role has never been acknowledged publicly.

Now, by nominating 1,000 women from all over the world, the project hopes to draw worldwide attention to the wealth of strategies, procedures for conflict resolution and methods of negotiation that women all over the world develop to deal with the various socio-political issues and problems in their respective regions, says Kamla Bhasin, the South-Asia project coordinator.

Tales of inspiration

"These are stories of peace, of selfless work for justice and democracy at a time when we are surrounded by economic, political and corporate wars. We also want to underline that the end of war does not imply that peace exists. Peace entails justice and sustainable development. As long as there is domestic violence, extreme poverty and lack of dignity for dalits, tribals, minorities and people living with HIV/AIDS, there can be no peace," says Kamla. One way of highlighting sustainable peace was to make the work of women peace activists internationally visible. Thus was born this project.

Initiated by Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, member of the Swiss National Council and minister of the European Council, it seeks to identify, document and honour women's peace-making efforts by nominating 1,000 women. The prize coincides with the centenary year of Bertha von Suttner, the first woman to receive the prize in 1905.

While the largest number of nominations comes from South Asia, it is no surprise to find that of the 158 nominees from this region, 92 are from India. Pakistan is next with 29, followed by 16 women from Bangladesh, 12 from Sri Lanka and nine from Nepal.

According to Kamla, they have been working for the past two years to identify candidates from all over the world with the help of 20 regional coordinators. They received such an overwhelming response — 2,000 nominations from 153 countries — that they had a difficult job choosing 1,000 from them.

"It was an extremely tough decision. But since it had already been decided that 1,000 women would be nominated, we had to choose. Being the South Asia coordinator, I tried to ensure that there was representation from all regions, cultures, and areas of work. The project team had identified stringent criteria to ensure that each nominee had made a crucial contribution to the cause of peace in her area and was, by virtue of her courage, dedication and compassion, worthy of the nomination," she explains.

So whether it is a woman from the North-East who has been on hunger strike for several years against draconian laws, or a peasant woman from Pakistan fighting for land rights, a Bangladeshi activist opposing destructive prawn cultivation, an activist from Sri Lanka working with war widows, or a disabled woman from Nepal fighting for marginalised people, they all had to fulfil certain eligibility criteria.

In order to be considered, the work of the nominee had to be exemplary and worthy of emulation. More importantly, the work should not have been for political or personal gain. Also, the work had to be transparent and based on tolerance, and the woman should have engaged with people of different backgrounds and across the conflict divide, leading by example and acting with moral courage and responsibility.

It was this grit that Indian nominee Shahjahan Apa showed. The 60-year-old could have fallen apart or become violent after the traumatic death of her young daughter. But the horrific burning of her daughter for dowry sparked a change in Shahjahan Apa. She was determined that no other woman should suffer the same fate. She began raising her voice against dowry and violence against women.

"I suffered greatly when my daughter was killed by her in-laws. Much as I tried, I could not get justice. But I did not give up because I had faith in Allah. So I began helping other women so that such horrors would never be repeated. This is why I started Shakti Shalini in Delhi to provide temporary shelter to affected women. It also assists them with legal information and counselling; and, most importantly, provides them with an objective viewpoint," she says.

Shahjahan Apa and her 91 fellow nominees may hail from different parts of India but their lives are motivated by the same goals. So whether it is 77-year-old academic and feminist Vina Mazumdar experimenting with grassroots initiatives to change women's lives or 33-year-old Irom Sharmila Chanu on a fast unto death against military excesses and atrocities in Manipur or Sukha Doctor who uses traditional medicine to save lives in rural Bihar or Biro Bala Rava fighting to save women condemned to death as witches in Assam or writer Ajeet Cour who builds bridges of peace in the sub-continent through art and literature, they are all partners of peace.

Although Kamla hopes they win the Nobel Peace Prize, (announcement due in October 2005) winning is not their only goal. They are in the process of documenting the work of all 1,000 nominees in a book and are discussing follow-up projects to empower women and their organisations. Academics are storing the data and passing the results of their research on to governments, civil societies and international organisations in order to develop new peace strategies.

This, they hope, will guarantee sustainable peace work even after the closure of the project.

Picture by S. Subramanium

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