Meeto Memorial Award

Meeto Memorial Awards Fellowships 2012

2012-10-16T07:31:00Z

The Meeto Memorial Awards were instituted to commemorate Meeto's (Kamaljit Bhasin-Malik) brief but brilliant life, Meeto's mother, Kamla Bhasin to honour young South Asians whose work demonstrates a commitment to communal harmony, peace, justice and human rights.

This year the Meeto Memorial Awards/ Mitwa Fellowhisps are being given to three women activists Germi Roy, Violet and Seeta Leen from a federation of fisherfolk on the Kerala coast. In the past the Meeto Memorial Awards have been given to exemplary South Asians who have worked on South Asian Solidarity, peace and social development. However, this year THE Awards Selection Committee has decided to give a Mitwa fellowship instead to three grassroots activists to support their grassroots activism so they are able to make a difference to society. These fellowships will be given alternatively to the Meeto Memorial Awards in order to support activists, in years.

Activists like Germi Roy, Violet and Seeta Leen have been working with community-based organisations, in the unorganised sector of fisheries. They have taken up dozens of rape cases, abuse of fisherwomen, struggles for retaining the spaces for fisher women in the fish market, struggles against the attacks of the goondas against fisher women as well as many other issues related to women's rights. The activists also intervene with the educational and health issues of the fishing community and arrive at appropriate solutions.

The above three women activists conduct classes for the children of the fishing community once a week. These Balawadi classes are being organized with an aim of inspiring children to be socially meaningful and responsible in future. The rights over land, water and forests are a common issue today and these three activists are involved with various activities related to these common issue affecting a large population which is dependent on such natural resources for their survival. They strengthen the activities of women who work as fish vendors who face a number of issues in the fish market and associate with groups who are active on issues related to sexual abuse of women.

We hope with the Meeto Memorial Awards their contribution to society is recognized and that they are able to take their work further in their communities.

Photos from 2012 Meeto Memorial Award Function in Nepal

2012-10-16T07:05:00Z

Sangat Core Group members with Meeto's photo in the back drop (23 September 2012)

Sangat Course participants singing a song at the Meeto Memorial Award ceremony in Nepal (23 September 2012)

Participants at the Meeto Memorial Award ceremony in Nepal (23 September 2012)

4th Meeto Memorial Award Function in Nepal held on 23 September 2012

2012-10-13T07:46:00Z

Excerpt from A Letter by Kamla Bhasin

October 2, 2012

Loving greetings!!

On 23rd September we had the 4th Meeto Memorial Award Function in Nepal. This time again we did it in Collaboration with Sangat and a large number of civil society organizations from Nepal. There were about 50 women from South Asian countries at the event, in addition to about 450 Nepali friends and comrades. This was the 4th country in which the Award ceremony took place in the last four years. I feel most grateful to every one who has been helping us make this event memorable.

Meeto is always there, like in this photo.

I am sharing this photo of the South Asian women who were at the MMA function. They were all attending the 17th month long course organized by Sangat every year for feminist capacity building.

This time Khushi Kabir from Bangladesh introduced the Award.

Meeto's and my friend Isabel introduced Meeto and Dhiviya, the young coordinator of Sangat introduced the three women who were given Fellowships.

Because we did not get any good nominee for the Award, we decided to give fellowships to three women working with fishing communities in Kerala, India.

[. . .]

Kamla

Call for Nominations for the 2012 Meeto Memorial Award

2012-05-02T23:10:55Z

ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) and Sangat, a South Asian feminist network, are now inviting nominations for the Meeto Memorial Award for the year 2012. Please read the following before you send nomination/s:

About Meeto

Meeto (Kamaljit Bhasin-Malik; 1978-2006) was a scholar, activist and dancer. She graduated with first class honours in History from Stephen's College. With the Radhakrishnan-British Chevening Scholarship, she studied History in Oxford University and graduated with a first class honours. Meeto's pre-doctoral research at Oxford was tragically interrupted by her passing away in 2006. Her work In the Making Identity Formation in South Asia is published by the Three Essays Collective.

Meeto researched and wrote on projects ranging from the refugee problem in post-Partition Punjab to the role of parliamentarians in Indian democracy and the role of the colonial census in creating monolithic identities in Sri Lanka.

Meeto also was the first primary coordinator of SAHR (South Asians for Human Rights) and helped organize the first general convention of SAHR in Rajasthan. Between 2003 and mid-2004, she worked as a programme associate at the Ford Foundation in Delhi working on human rights and development issues.

As a dancer, Meeto performed with Leela Samson's dance production Spanda across India and in Bangladesh.

Meeto's academic and professional interests were at one with the way she lived. She revelled in the aesthetic traditions of the multiple religious and cultural traditions to which she was an heir as a South Asian citizen.

The Award

In 2009, Kamla Bhasin, Meeto's mother, instituted an award in Meeto's memory to honour young South Asians whose work demonstrates a commitment to communal harmony, peace, justice and human rights.

Meeto memorial Awardees

2011

Azra Jafri (from Afghanistan), she is Afghanistan's first and only woman mayor. You may read more about her work at the following link http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/article30.html to view pictures of the event, click here http://sangatsouthasia.org/photogallery/meeto-memorial-award-2011

2010

Akeela Naz (from Pakistan) the persona behind the ‘Thapa force', an army of protesting women farmers, to read more about her work, click the following link http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/a... to view pictures of the event please click here http://sangatsouthasia.org/photogallery/meeto-memorial-award-2010

2009

Anusheh Anadil (from Bangladesh) and Laxmi Ben Vankar (from India). You can read about them and their work on http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/article10.html to view pictures of the event please click here http://sangatsouthasia.org/photogallery/meeto-memorial-award-2009

The Award comprises of Indian Rupees one lakh, a citation and a memento. If more than one person is selected, the money will be shared. The recipients will be invited to present their work at the award ceremony. The Award will be announced in October every year. The recipients of the Award will be chosen by a selection committee whose decision will be final.

To be eligible, nominees must be:

Under the age of 40

Citizens of a South Asian country (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)

Working on issues of communal harmony, peace, justice and/or human rights, broadly conceived; the nominee may be working anywhere in the world, but the focus of the work should be on South Asia as defined above

Working in any capacity in the field of activism, advocacy, academia, and journalism, and in any medium such as writing, art, dance, music, film, and theatre.

Individuals can nominate themselves or other eligible people.

Nominations must be sent in writing, and accompanied by a detailed CV of the nominated person, a note on reasons for nomination and a duly filled form [see attached document below]

Nominations must be received before 30 June 2012 and should be sent to:

Email : contact@meetomemorialaward.org

or be posted at

Meeto Memorial Award Secretariat

C/o ANHAD

23, Caning Lane, New Delhi 110001 (India)

The nominations will be judged by the Advisory Committee of the Meeto Memorial Award which comprises the following individuals:

Asma Jahangir, Pakistan Hameeda Hossain, Bangladesh Sithie Tiruchelvam, Sri Lanka Syeda Hameed, India Sadanand Menon, India Anusha Lall, India Rahul Rao, India/UK Kamla Bhasin, India


Nomination Form 2012 Meeto memorial Award for Young South Asians

Amhad Siddiqui speaking about Meeto at the 2011 Meeto Memorial Award ceremony in Islamabad

2011-10-04T18:02:07Z

The first time I met Meeto I was staying at her father's house in Delhi, when all of a sudden one morning there was an insistent banging at my door and a voice outside proclaiming that I had better open up, she had just stopped by, was in a rush and was not about to stick around while I was busy making myself presentable. Meeto and my elder brother, Bilal, were close, you see, and our mothers are closer still – Amma and Kammo khala have been friends for over 30 years - and so Meeto quite rightly felt entitled at our first encounter to meet me with all the familiarity and loving impatience with which one greets a long-lost younger brother.

The second time I met Meeto I realized that this confident ease and openness in meeting strangers was not limited to those she considered family. She was staying at our house then on a brief visit to Lahore. We were having a dinner party. It may have been my parent's anniversary, and Meeto who had been out during the day, returned with two boys and announced that she had brought home some entertainers for the festivities. I still remember her sitting there, a sort of languorous smile playing on her face, mischief in her eyes, as she explained how she had met them just out on the street.

The boys could not have been more than 15 or 16, and seemed quite taken with their sophisticated ‘madam', as they called her. With the open atrocity which many Pakistanis display on meeting an Indian for the first time, they had bombarded her with all kinds of personal questions. Meeto was as good as she got, and within a few minutes had not only got them to sing a song for her but also convinced them to come home and perform for the party. It was not very good singing but certainly made good entertainment for everyone, not least the boys.

That was the last time I met Meeto. I wish I had known her better. But I am left with these impressions of warmth and familiarity, of confidence, humor and openness which I think are not at odds with the life she lived.

Citation for Azra Jafari (Afghanistan)

2011-09-28T22:30:47Z

Azra Jafari

Born in the Ghoor province of Afghanistan in 1979 to a farmer father and a home maker mother, Azra Jafari came to know and face struggles early in her life.

Her birth coincided with Afghanistan's civil war and growing political unrest, circumstances that soon forced her family to flee the country and take asylum in Iran as refugees. While little Azra joined school in Iran, Afghanistan had come to be controlled by the Taliban where women were banned from school and the workplace.

As a young woman and a refugee growing up in Iran, Azra experienced first-hand endless personal trials and tribulations. Not one to pity herself, Azra was moved by the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees living in transit camps around her. She also realized the dire need of education for the children of refugees who were barred from admissions at local schools in Iran.

Young Azra was not just a woman with a noble heart; she set out to actualize her wish and was able to set up an organization to work for the rights of refugees as well as start a school for children from Afghanistan. Within six years of the establishment of the school, there were as many as ten thousand students enrolled there, and many of these students are university graduates today.

Azra's family returned to Afghanistan in the year 2001after the Taliban government was over thrown. Here too, Azra continued her service to people, especially advocating and fighting for women's rights through Equal Rights Association (ERA) an organisation where she worked as a Deputy Manager. By 2007, Azra had graduated in Midwifery from the Institute of Health and Sciences in Kabul.

In December 2008, at the young age of thirty, Azra's hard work, enterprise and zeal to social commitment was noticed far and wide. She was invited to be the first female Mayor in Afghanistan by the country's President Hamid Karzai. Her appointment as the Mayor of Nili, the capital city of the Dai Kundi province, reflected a striking and decisive change on part of the Afghan government's attitude towards women's political participation in Afghanistan. Her appointment was significant also because Azra had no affiliations with any political party.

Besides her devotion to women and social development, Azra has a flair for writing and her work has been published. She contributed a chapter to The Making of the New Constitution of Afghanistan, a book that examines political systems and processes in Afghanistan and was published in 2003. In 2008, Azra authored I am a Working Woman, a book on the rights of Afghan women in the labor market and the country's labor laws.

Despite a hectic public life, Azra managed to achieve yet another feather in her cap—a daughter named Indira who is seven years old. She is married to film maker Malek Shafi'i.

This young and brave leader of Afghanistan has been selected for the Meeto Memorial Award 2011 for her commitment to justice and courageous fight for rights of the marginalized.

Invitation to 2011 Meeto Memorial Award (Islamabad, 22 September 2011)

2011-09-28T22:24:13Z

Azra Jafari wins Meeto Memorial Award for Young South Asians 2011

2011-09-28T21:10:00Z

22 September, Islamabad: The Meeto Memorial Award Trust, Rozan and Sungi are pleased to honour Azra Jafari as the winner of the Meeto Memorial Award 2011. Azra is Afghanistan's first and only woman mayor whose work and commitment towards social development have made a crucial difference to local development.

The Award will be presented to Azra Jafari by Asma Jahangir, Pakistan's leading lawyer, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission and a tireless human rights activist and Hameeda Hossain, the eminent civil-rights and women's rights activist from Bangladesh, in a ceremony that will be held at the Pakistan National Council of Arts on 22nd September starting 7 P.M.

Among others attending the ceremony will be activists from different countries of South Asia, many of whom will also be attending the Rozan-orgainsed conference titled “Reclaiming Space: from victimhood to agency: state and civil-society response to violence against women”. A troupe of male dancers from India, led by Navtej Johar, a well-known and awarded dancer, will perform Fana'a, a revised version of the legendary tale of Heer. The Zarsanga group, performers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will regale the audience with folk songs.

The Award has been instituted in the memory of Meeto or Kamaljit Bhasin-Malik (1978-2006), a scholar, activist and dancer, by her mother, Kamla Bhasin. The award aims to honour young South Asians whose work demonstrates a commitment to communal harmony, peace, justice and human rights. The Award comprises of one lakh Indian Rupees, a citation and a memento.

It is a special privilege for the Award Trust that the ceremony for 2011 is being held in Pakistan, thanks to the collaboration of Rozan and Sungi, two eminent civil-society partners. Another reason that the venue of the Award gains significance is that last year's winner, Akeela Naz, is from Pakistan.

Press Release, 22 September 2011

2011-09-28T17:34:00Z

Call For Nominations 2011 Meeto Memorial Award

2011-04-14T04:20:17Z

ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) and Sangat, a South Asian feminist network, are now inviting nominations for the Meeto Memorial Award for the year 2011. Please read the following before you send nomination/s:

About Meeto

As a dancer, Meeto performed with Leela Samson's dance production Spanda across India and in Bangladesh.

The Award

In 2009, Kamla Bhasin, Meeto's mother, instituted an award in Meeto's memory to honour young South Asians whose work demonstrates a commitment to communal harmony, peace, justice and human rights.

The award was won by Anusheh Anadil (from Bangladesh) and Laxmi Ben Vankar (from India) in 2009. You can read about them and their work on http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/article10.html. The 2010 Meeto Memorial Award was given to Akeela Naz from Pakistan. (See: http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/article19.html )

To be eligible, nominees must be:

* Under the age of 40

* Citizens of a South Asian country (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)

* Working on issues of communal harmony, peace, justice and/or human rights, broadly conceived; the nominee may be working anywhere in the world, but the focus of the work should be on South Asia as defined above

* Working in any capacity in the field of activism, advocacy, academia, and journalism, and in any medium such as writing, art, dance, music, film, and theatre.

Individuals can nominate themselves or other eligible people.

Nominations must be sent in writing, and accompanied by a detailed CV of the nominated person, a note on reasons for nomination and a duly filled form (http://www.meetomemorialaward.org/I...) [also attached below]. Nominations must be received before 31 July 2011 and should be sent to:

The Meeto Memorial Award 2011 ceremony will be held in September / October 2011.

Email : contact@meetomemorialaward.org

or be posted to:

Meeto Memorial Award Secretariat

c/o ANHAD

23, Caning Lane, New Delhi 110001 (India)

The nominations will be judged by the Advisory Committee of the Meeto Memorial Award which comprises the following individuals:

Asma Jahangir, Pakistan

Hameeda Hossain, Bangladesh

Sithie Tiruchelvam, Sri Lanka

Syeda Hameed, India

Sadanand Menon, India

Anusha Lall, India

Rahul Rao, India/UK

Kamla Bhasin, India


Nomination Form 2011 Meeto Memorial Award