Minutes of Meeting Held on 14.7.07

[Posted on behalf of Shuktara Lal]

Dear All,

Apart from sending this email to all those who attended our last two meetings, I'm also sending it to Trina Nileena Banerjee and Ranjabati Das, since both have expressed interest in BN, but have been unable to attend the meetings thus far. Trina, Ranja -- Welcome to Blank Noise!

Minutes for Blank Noise Meeting on 14 July 2007 at T3

Meeting attendees were:

1. Anupam

2. Anuj

3. Tomojoy

4. Monideepa

5. Smriti

6. Priyanka

7. Aakriti

8. Sunayana

9. Shuktara

10. Shouvik

11. Dipali

Meeting began with attendees introducing themselves. Some of the attendees proceeded to discuss problems they had encountered/ continue to encounter in their neighborhoods:

Smriti: Lives in Jagu Bazaar and has faced instances of harassment there.

Monideepa: Lives near Kudghat, near the Tollygunge Studios and has been harassed by studio workers.

Following this we discussed possible interventions:

1. In the past, BN conceptualized an intervention where a large group of women, wearing whatever they felt comfortable in, congregated in a public space and openly stared at men. I (Shuktara) suggested we try doing something similar in areas like Jagu Bazaar, Esplanade, Park Circus. We decided that this would be more effective later, when we have more members (particularly female members).

2. Monideepa talked about how she has met with hostility from her neighbors. Often, she returns home late at night and, therefore, her neighbors assume she is a woman with "loose morals". We discussed what interventions we could use to make residents in our neighborhoods (the middle class in general?) more sensitive to sexual harassment in the city. We didn't come up with any definite mode of action to tackle this problem, but Sunayana suggested that we could perform interventions in areas where BN members live, and where they face harassment. To ensure the safety of the woman who lives in the area where the skit would be performed, she would not have to be a part of the intervention, unless she chose to be. In other words, if we were performing in Monideepa's neighborhood, M wouldn't have to be present with us.

3. We continued developing Anuj's idea of bus skits (See minutes for the 7/7 meeting). The following routes were suggested:

240 -- Along College St, Vivekananda Road
45 -- The length of Jadavpur? (Sunayana said that too many people would be getting off there, so we could consider doing something after 8B)
234 -- Beyond Padatik (Anupam said the best time to perform a skit on the Padatik-Sealdah route would be between 12 and 4 p.m.).
C8, C14/1 -- Whole trip. Between 5 and 7 p.m.

We need to start traveling these routes, this week preferably.

Stories for skits need to be worked on. One story idea was suggested by Sunayana. She described a personal experience where she and a friend gave a lift to three men around midnight in Sector 5 and they were drunk, which led to them harassing her . Other attendees suggested doing this skit later, since it could be misinterpreted and might work against what we want to say (Why did you give a lift to strangers?). Attendees agreed that the first skits we enact should have few gray areas and we should avoid (as much as possible) being implicated in acts of harassment. However, we were unable to come up with anything definite, story-wise.

4. Tomojoy suggested car stickers to carry on the BN message "What are you looking at?" This was decided after discussing the staring, honking, tailing and 'accidental' bumping that women drivers in this city face. We decided even strips of paper ("What are you looking at?") cellotaped to the inside of the driver's window may do the trick.

5. He also suggested that we use the SMS to conduct polls, pass the word etc. Please contact him for clarification. His email id is tomojoy.sengupta@gmail.com.

NB

Priyanka emailed Sunayana after the meeting and said we could incorporate the Jagannath Dey incident in our skits, since it is fresh in public memory. It would work as a crowd-puller, and we could use it as a jumping board to address issues like a) Why no one does anything when a girl is being assaulted, b) Why no one helps the stray people who try to protest when they witness a woman being assaulted and c) Has eve teasing become such an accepted practice that people ignore it.

Sue also adds, d) Why do the women consistently refuse to come forward? How can we sensitise them?

Next Meeting

Next meeting was scheduled for Sunday 22nd at Selimpur, but because Sue is sick, she won't be able to attend, and, therefore, the location of the meeting will have to be changed. Additionally, I (Shuktara) cannot attend any meeting this week, because I am swamped in work assignments. Dana, Anuj -- would you like to coordinate a meeting this week to work on the skits and develop stories? Both of you could work out the logistics over email.

Best,
Shuktara

My response to the Kolkata meet

Hello

I play the role of a facilitator.

Photographing the molesters who are found in public transport, especially the Metro (I have personally found that photographing works best on the Metro, whereas whipping out a camera phone in public buses tends to alienate public sympathy rather than otherwise). We thought about asking the Metro authorities if we may put up a notice board with the photographs we take, next to some key ticket counters.

Do you think it alienates public sympathy due to the economic difference? who owns a cell phone with a camera and who doesnt? can you elaborate?

your objective here being to: 'catch' the perpetrator?

My questions: who is the 'perpetrator?' yes we all have experienced anger and been violated by a stranger, but it is important to understand- really to understand where he is coming from. However it is good to carry a 'weapon' of defense.

So many of the 'eve teasers' are/ could also be harmless wooers- who dont , really really dont know any other way to approach a woman.
( i did some audio interviews in delhi with men on the streets)

Many of them are sexual bullies/ thrusting power, searching the vulnerable- we need to hear from them as well.

the challenge is- how do we approach them? is there a them? how many kinds 'them' are there?
The reason why I have put the photos of people who have molested me , on the blog is because it really is a range of events/ the nature of street harassment differs from time to time, the kind of 'perpetrator' shifts again.

There is no one kind of perpetrator, just like there is no one kind of terrorist. :)

Forming one (perhaps more) all male addas. Women may attend but not participate, and will attend only on that condition. The idea is to question the male attendees on what they have experienced when they have tried to stop molestation; on how they feel and act when they are walking with a female friend who is molested in their company. We thought of having Anuj working as an agent provacateur (he says his appearance will be of help) and stirring things up by taking the viewpoint of the molesters. We are considering Coffee Pai as an avenue perhaps (suggestions welcome). How about aiming for this by the end of July?

Adda discussions sound like a great idea. What's Anuj's appearance like? Please send me photos of everyone- so that it can be uploaded on the flickr blog. I think the adda idea can be stretched- we can just document discussions that men are having about 'eve teasing'/ street sexual harassment.

I believe that the power of our project lies in the testimonials we build. Testimonials of men and women about their experiences ont he street. Somewhere the idea is to build the testmimonials and to appropriately communicate them.

I dont see Blank Noise as an aggressive project, however sometimes we may use guerilla tactics.. The focus is on transferring, healing, building, sharing and understanding. Whether it is through the clothes we collect, or the street actions we do. etc



Bus skits. After identifying routes and times when the bus is full but still offers some space for performance, Anuj suggested having two, perhaps three 'performers' (that is us) discussing an issue pertaining to street sexual harrassment loudly, and throwing open the discussion to our fellow travellers. Also possible on the local trains, but will need much more work.

This is an idea that has come up a couple of times. At Blank Noise we may collaborate with people involved with street theater, but we havent taken that up as a form as yet.

Here's what we did in the mumbai trains and the buses in bangalore. We hopped on and read out a letter to the captive audience.
The letter was a testimonial of street harassment. As one person read it out the other members of blank noise handed out pamphlets. This was done at the bus stand. in two mins we would jump out of the bus. It took only 4 people to do this action.

I could also see us sitting next to strangers in the bus and reading out a letter. 7-10 people sitting standing between different groups of strangers and reading a testimonial over and over again until the next bus stop. The testimonials were from the blogathon- translated from english into the local language concerned.


I would request everyone to look at the form of intervnetion that Blank Noise has adapted int he past.
They are up on the blog. Please discuss it in todays meeting. PLease read the blog- the past.

We are addressing street sexual harassment but HOW is the question. At Blank Noise the process is constantly evolving, its slow too, but we are deliberate about the form we chose- so dont hold onto a form just yet- think about and write about what you want to ask- what are the questions? What are your questions about street sexual harassment?

Good luck with today's meeting!
Congratulations! We are in Kolkata!

Am ccing this email to Hemangini Annie Sujata and Abby. All four have been strongly associated with Blank Noise.

About the costs for the meeting: when people meet they are requested to pay for their own tea/ coffee/ anything

when we have pamphlets to be made/ etc please do the following
1. keep the bill- I will settle the overdues- incase...

2. ideal scenario-
split costs amongst willing group members- the hyd group contributed Rs. 50 each and pamphlets were done. however this is an ideal scenario and we need to think of how each city can make some money.

3. strategize - this will evolve over time- accepting donations/ ideas for this are welcome.As I see it, there will be a group of people that will play the role of fund raising- this on another email.

4. We are not an ngo yet- and in process of re structuring ourelves. We have come so far on people's energy. committment and enthusiasm. We start with that and eventually move towards structure and sustainibilty/?

Minutes of Meeting held on 7.7.2007

Blank Noise Kolkata held a meeting at 3 p.m. in Selimpur on 7th July 2007 (Saturday).


Attendees were:
1. Dana Roy
2. Shuktara Lal
3. Anuj Dasgupta
4. Anupam Kenji Himora Das Adhikari
5. Saptarshi Chakraborty
6. Sunayana Roy (it was at her place)


After introductions were performed, the group sat down with the questionnaire circulated last week (for the 30th June meeting). Eventually we discussed all the ideas that we had, and how we could work them out. These were:

a) Photographing the molesters who are found in public transport, especially the Metro (I have personally found that photographing works best on the Metro, whereas whipping out a camera phone in public buses tends to alienate public sympathy rather than otherwise). We thought about asking the Metro authorities if we may put up a notice board with the photographs we take, next to some key ticket counters.

b) Forming one (perhaps more) all male addas. Women may attend but not participate, and will attend only on that condition. The idea is to question the male attendees on what they have experienced when they have tried to stop molestation; on how they feel and act when they are walking with a female friend who is molested in their company. We thought of having Anuj working as an agent provacateur (he says his appearance will be of help) and stirring things up by taking the viewpoint of the molesters. We are considering Coffee Pai as an avenue perhaps (suggestions welcome). How about aiming for this by the end of July?

Our aim is to understand why more men don't step in, and hopefully sensitise them on the role they can play if they are bold enough.

c) Bus skits. After identifying routes and times when the bus is full but still offers some space for performance, Anuj suggested having two, perhaps three 'performers' (that is us) discussing an issue pertaining to street sexual harrassment loudly, and throwing open the discussion to our fellow travellers. Also possible on the local trains, but will need much more work.

d) We also discussed the option of taking such semi-skits to schools but decided that can only be done at a later stage.


The next meeting has been fixed for Saturday, 14th July 2007, at T3 (Park Street) from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please don't be late because it is not easy to get any work done there once the crowds start coming in.


Points for the next meeting:
i) Fixing logistics for a, b and c.
ii) Enrolling new members
iii) Collecting information about who can help us out


Bring anybody you think would be interested. Since it is already Tuesday, please contact them at your earliest convenience so that they can adjust their schedules accordingly.

This blog is about Blank Noise Calcutta chapter. Events/ ideas/ coming soon!