All India Conference of Entertainment Workers
Organized By: Binodini Sramik Union
Supported By : Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, Amra Padatik,
Sathi Sangathan and Komol Gandhar
Rabindra Kanan (Company Bagan), Kolkata, India
=25 February – 3 March, 2007
Highlight of Day 1 (25.02.07)
EC 2007 inaugurated by Mr. Rathindranath Dutta, Sehrif, Kolkata, Ms. Bharati Dey, Program Director, DURBAR
February 25 Rabindrakanan: All India Entertainment workers Conference's opening ceremony was held at Rabindrakanan in presence of distinguished dignitaries from all strata of the society.
We had Mr. Rathindranath Dutta; Honorable Sheriff of Kolkata, Dr. Dennis Broun; Country coordinator UNAIDS, Mr.Ananda Grover; Lawyers Collective, Dr. S.Jana; Chief Advisor to the DMSC, Mr. C.H. Rangasbhat; Deputy Director-Information & Public relation, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Ms Bharati De;Programme Director Durbar, Ms. Gouri Das; President DMSC.
Our special guest Mr. Rathindranath Dutta lit the candle/lamp and hoisted the flag to inaugurate the programme officially.
The inaugural speech was given by Ms Bishaka Laskar; the Joint Convener of the All India Entertainment Worker's Conference followed by the speech of the Programme Director of Durbar Ms. Bharanti Dey, The focal theme of her speech was on the "Right to entertainment" and she concluded that like other different forms of entertainment, sexual pleasure is also a form of entertainment, which cannot be denied.
Dr. Dennis Broun expressed his pleasure for being here with DMSC. He congratulated Durbar for its contribution towards HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme and promised that UNAIDS will continue its support to DMSC in times to come.
Mr Anand Grover from Lawyers' Collective's said that DMSC must be appreciated for the fact that they have taught the sex workers to live a life with dignity.
Mr. Rathindranath Dutta appreciated Durbar's initiative to unite the sex workers to fight for their rights. He added that in the previous days the sex workers and their children were unable to secure their status in the fear of humiliation but now they can raise their voice for rights on their own.
The inaugural session was followed by a symposium on "Right to Pleasure as a fundamental Right" which was chaired by Dr. Dennis Broun. The speakers were Mr. Anand Grover,
C.S. Rangasbhat, Ms. Arati Sen, Mr. K. Sarkar, Ms. S. Sarkar, Dr. Smarajit Jana, and Ms. Bharati Dey.
On day-I almost 1200 representatives from Maharastra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh participated in the conference and we also had Mr. Dallas Swendeman, University of Callifornia, USA and Ms. Julie Ham from GAATW with us.
The post-lunch sessions started around 2.30 p.m. with an open discussion were participants shared their experiences on the topic titled "Human desire and sexual pleasure". The coordinators of this session were Ms. Sadhana Mukherjee and Swapna Gayen. As a special guest we had the presence of Mr. Sudhansu Sil; MP, Mr. Hannal Mollah; MP, Mr. R. Chowdhury from Indian Institute of Human Rights.
Special guest Hannal Mollah; MP, expressed his views on fundamental rights of citizen guaranteed by the Indian constitution but often marginalized community deprived to get this due to their socio economic condition. He welcomed sex workers' effort to repeal IT(P)A.
The parallel session held simultaneously at the open forum where representatives from lawyers collective Ms. Arti, Ms. Tripti, Ms. Dipta, Mr. Raman & Mr. Anand Gover participated. The focal point of discussion was on IT(P)A and the views of Parliament's standing committee on it.
Mr. Grover opined about whether buying sex could be stated as a democratic right or not and he said that public interest litigation could be moved before the court on this issue. It was decided that before the monsoon session of the parliament the lawyers collective and DMSC would lunch a massive campaign to repeal this undemocratic and draconian IT(P) A. The lawyer's collective has proposed to arrange a meeting on 31 March, 2007at Delhi with all other concerned organization.
Cultural Program
·
A spectacular Folklore - "Allah-Udal" was presented by Sri Janadin Mondal and his troop from
Bihar.
·
The traditional "Sambolpuri Dance" was performed by the representatives from the State of
Orissa.
·
A typical "Kawali" song was presented by Sri Suryananda and his group from
Bihar.
Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of
India.
Highlight of Day 2 (26.02.07)
The second day (26.02.07) of All India Entertainment Workers Conference was attended by 1500 entertainment workers belong to nine States and they came to conclusion that sex workers are part of entertainment industry and unanimously decided to support sex workers' struggle to get social recognition as entertainment worker.
The representative of all entertainment groups through discussions formed an ad-hoc committee of 45 members and decided to constitute a national forum for entertainment workers to raise their voices both at National and State level. Today we had Dr. Rajendra Sukla; Project Director, WBSAP&CS, Prof. Moni Nag;
Colombia University, USA
, Dr. Sundaraman, Dr. Sushma Mehrotra, Ms. Versha Kale, President, Bar Girls Association Mumbai; Ms. Manabi Banerjee; Jhargram
College etc
as our distinguished speakers.
The forum formulated the following demands:
- To ensure right to please "as a fundamental rights" to be included in the constituent;
- To repel the laws and policies that criminalize and discriminate entertainment workers;
- Provision of a special social security scheme to ensure social and economic support system for all type of entertainment workers;
- To establish self-regulatory mechanism in entertainment sector to be constituted representative of all entertainment groups.
The members of the ad-hoc committee decided to hold a follow up meeting in early June in
Delhi to draw strategies and formulate work plan.
Cultural Program
A dance drama was staged by the "Birbhum Adibasi Sanskriti Samanwaya Committee"
A drama was staged by "Komol Gandhar"- the cultural wing of Durbar.
"Aikatan" from Gana Natya Sangha, from Birbhum district mesmerized the audience with their Baul programme.
A dance troop from the state of Chhatrisgarh was highly applauded for their Pandowani dance & songs.
Maa Mangala dance troop
from Orissa performed Odissi Nritya Lekha.
Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of
India.
Some of the performing Artists & the players were appreciated for their contributions with felicitations.
Highlight of Day 3 (27.02.07)
The 3rd day of All India Entertainment workers Conference was started with the debate title "Sex workers are a part of entertainment sector" where the speaker Mr. Dallas Swendeman; University of California, Los Angels, spoke about the necessity to organize entertainment workers and said that he would endeavor to carry out a research on sex workers who work as belly dancers and bar dancers and link up the study with Sonagachi.
Hon'ble Mr. Partha Dey, Minister in Charge, School Education, Govt. of West Bengal in the session " Sex Education should be included in the School Curriculum" as Chair Person
The motion of debate: Sex education should be included in the school curriculum was chaired by Mr. Partha Dey; Minister In Charge, School Education, Govt. of West Bengal and he said that sex education ought to be included in the school curriculum but at what level should be decided upon by consultation with concerned academicians. The panel consisted of Dr. Khanindra B Bhuyan, UNICEF, Kolkata, Prof. Miratun Nahar; Victoria College, Mr. Kalikrishna Guho, Poet, Mr. Anis Roy Chowdhury, Amitie unanimously came to the conclusion that sex education ought to be included in the school curriculum but there was a difference of opinions in terms of level.
Cultural Program
- "Lok Sanskriti-O-Bhadu Sanstha", from Birbhum district presented the traditional Bhadu gan-O-Nach.
Folk dancers of Maharashtra
performing
- The dance troop from the state of Maharashtra staged an illuminating performance.
- Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of India.
Highlight of Day 4(28.02.07)
The 4th Day of All India Entertainment Workers Conference was attended by more than 1200 workers from various entertainment sectors of different states including
Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Maharastra, Karnataka who joined their hands with sex workers in their fight for social recognition as well as to comprise them as entertainment workers.
In the session titled "Addressing trafficking through the engagement of entertainment workers" Ms. Jullie Ham (GAATW) stated that to combat trafficking there is a need to mobilize and involve community as Durbar has already shown through their innovative concept of Self Regulatory Board and its mechanism. She is also of the opinion that there is a need to replicate this model in South East Asia Region and GAATW would endorse this approach to get in translated in other countries also.
Prof. Moni Nag (Colombia University
, USA) who also chaired the session said about the significance of right based approach to address the issue of trafficking. He stressed that a proper mapping is needed to understand the nature and dimension of trafficking including the quantum of trafficking, in the South East Asia Region.
Ms. Mona Mishra (Project Manager, UNDP-TAHA) emphasized on institutionalizing the SRB mechanism both in district and state level to combat trafficking, effectively.
The panelists of the seminar on "Protecting women or protecting Rights of women" unequivocally concluded that without addressing sex worker's rights, human rights in general, cannot be established.
Cultural Program
Mr. Raja Sen, the renowed film director, along with the other dignitaries like Ms. Indrani Bhattacharya, the fashion designer, Mr. Riddhi Bondhoypadhyay, the eminent singer and the Director of Durbar Ms. Bharati Dey, presided over a memorable fashion show of female and male sex workers.
Kuda Narayan Sabor Smriti staged "Chhow" dance and "Nachni" dance performed by the Manbhum Lok Sanskriti & Nachni Unnayan Samity; a brilliant performance altogether.
Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of
India
Highlight of Day 5(01.03.07)
The All India Entertainment Workers Conference entered its 5
th day as more than 1800 entertainment workers attended today's conference. They came not only from all over West Bengal
, other state representatives from different entertainment sectors also gathered here.
"Repression of Sexual Pleasure across different communities and culture" was the theme of the first session chaired by Prof. Shibnarayan Roy and he summed up by mentioning the need to establish sexual right as a fundamental right.
Today representatives from different trade unions, local MLA and councilor took part in the symposium titled "Entertainment Workers in Trade Union movement" and gave their presentation. All the participants unanimously supported sex workers right to form trade union. Mr. Soumen Roy (NCL) said that he would extend his support to get Binodini Sramik Union (
B.S.U.) recognized by the state as well as an attempt would be made from his part to incorporate B.S.U. in the existing trade union conglomerate of India.
Mr. Ashoke Rudra (G.S.N.W. Kolkata District, BJP) vouched that they will raise this issue in assembly and will try to mobilize opinions in favor of sex workers initiative to form their union.
The last session was on "Sexual rights are human right" – chaired by Ms. Maitreyi Chatterjee (renowned writer and social activist) and in her speech she stressed on the necessity of sexual pleasure in human life.
Cultural Program
Sanskirti forum of Kolkata presented the Human Doll Dance.
Gambhira- a cultural unit from the districts of Maldah staged a drama.
Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of
India
Highlight of Day 6(02.03.07)
As the All India Entertainment Worker's Conference stepped on its 6
th day, more than 1000 participants from entertainment sector across the country attended the conference. The first session started with the panel discussion on 'Alternative Sexual Practices', which was chaired by Ms. Bharati Dey, Program Director, DMSC and we had speakers from the LGBT Community.
The speakers stressed on the fact that, still members belong to this community face social stigma and discrimination. Unless and until police atrocities stop, intervention of any kind among this community will not be effective.
Then we had a seminar titled "Redefining women's movement through the lens of sex workers movement", chaired by Prof. Jashodhara Bagchi (Chairperson, Women Commission). Ms. Anchita Ghatak (Action Aid) opined that Durbar led movement has raised certain issues, which are beyond sex workers movement and addressed various socio-economic issues relevant for women in general. She also stressed on the point that time has come for all of us to respond the queries.
The post lunch session began with the topic of discussion titled "Role of Media in promoting Rights to Pleasure". Mr. Jossimuddin (Reporter, Ajker Khabar, Bangladesh) applauded Durbar's effort to organize this conference and criticize the NGO's who in the name of development, ignore and deny the 'sex worker's right 'issue. We also had with us Mr. Biswambhar Mewa (Taza Khabar), Mr. Dhiren Dutta (veteran journilst) and Mr. Paresh Bagchi (representative from Little Magazine). The panelists marked this conference as a great achievement and they promised to highlight the outcomes of the conference both in national and international level.
Cultural Program
The Uttarpara Narayan team members presented a mesmerizing Dance Drama.
Sex workers from Sheorafully rendered color to the programme by their remarkable Bhojpuri Dance.
Felicitation was given to various personalities of the Entertainment sector, coming from different parts of India
Highlight of Day 7(03.03.07)
The last day of the conference was a special day as the 3rd of March is observed as International Day of Sex Workers' Rights. We commemorate the day by holding a candle light rally around the conference ground. The day ended with celebration of Holi; the festival of pleasure.