Srinagar: Stung by controversies, ‘Kashmir Women’s Collective (KWC)’, a women group, has been disbanded after four of the five trustees resigned

Under fire for ‘selective activism’, ‘Kashmir Women’s Collective’ announce dissolution

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2020-07-02 13:30:50

Srinagar: Stung by controversies, ‘Kashmir Women’s Collective (KWC)’, a women group, has been disbanded after four of the five trustees resigned from it.

The immediate trigger was a recent collage of Kashmiri women influencers posted on the KWC Facebook page seeking online votes to choose the best achievers. It evoked a sharp reaction with some influencers objecting to using their name and pictures by the KWC.

“I refuse to be part of this campaign. This glossing over is unethical, unjust, and anti-liberation and is far from celebrating strong women’s voices. I have immense respect for some of the women on the list. I feel this balancing act is deeply problematic, reductionist, and erases years of our labour and struggle for liberation,” said Uzma Falak, a research scholar, poet, and filmmaker.

Formed in 2017, a Kashmir Women’s Collective (KWC) was modelled on Combahee River Collective, an organization of black feminists in the US from the 1970s and ’80s, which was critical of both white feminism’s exclusive focus on gender discrimination against white women, and the black community’s exclusive focus on racism against black men.