They seek solace for society’s tormented women

These and many more instances of women being tormented were shared on Friday by change makers from 13 states of India who took part in the 5th 'WE CAN' national assembly, which has been organised in the city for two days and titled 'Ru-ba-Ru - Barabari aur Behtari ke Khayalon sey'.

The aim is to create awareness on various aspects of domestic violence and social violence which are frequently linked, and how more people can be sensitised about the incidence on violence against women and the weaker sections at large.

The assembly was preceded by a performance by Mallika Sarabhai's troupe called 'A Bird in My Ceiling' a poem written by Deepti Naval and translated into Hindi by Sophia Khan, a Gujarat member of WE CAN. Commenting on the burning issue of violence, Sarabhai said, "We must first sublimate the violence within us before trying to stop others. And by sublimate, I don't mean suppress, as then there would be a volcano of violent activities which will come out at a later stage. What I mean is calm down our own self! For instance, when I am angry, I listen to loud music and dance till my anger or thought of violence is out of my system. I don't let these harm any other humans or animals."
Sarabhai insisted that unless this sublime nature is adopted, curbing violent activities in society would be difficult.

The assembly's day's proceedings was followed by more performances, wherein issues such as inter-religious marriages or forcing one's religious beliefs on others were also looked into.
Khan who represents Gujarat WE CAN change makers, opined, "Our prime focus is women's safety, followed by society at large. And this is mainly because when there's some disharmony in society, women are targeted first. While domestic violence continues to linger on, there is social violence too and this needs to be fully understood."