Aurat March is gearing up for it’s fifth march this year and has announced the theme to be Re-imagining Justice on it’s social media page. In a post on Twitter, the organization shared the purpose behind this theme which was to bring to attention the flaws within systems that fail to center around helping survivors and also how they can be healed.
“This Aurat March, we center our theme on what justice means-within the court and beyond it. We demand justice from the state, but also from those around us. We center healing as a non-negotiable part of justice, and invite you to imagine ways to achieve it.
Victim/survivors’ needs should center how we think of justice. Some questions we want to collectively think through are:
What is justice? Is it the simple awarding of punitive damages? If justice is truly to focus on victims’ needs, does harm really get repaired after a court decision in their favor? Why do our discussions end there?
Does the law have enough room for every type of victim to demand justice? What norms within and outside the court systems prevent accessibility to justice for everyone?
Should feminist justice concern itself with the perpetuators of violence? If we understand violence to be systematic and widespread, can we afford to just discard harm-doers?
However, we want to go beyond pointing out the many flaws in our systems. We demand rights from the state, but also from the people. How can our individual and collective attitudes change to facilitate justice and care-giving in our society?
We also want to address healing. In a country like Pakistan, many don’t get justice during the course of their lives. So imagining healing as a step after justice does nothing but exhaust us. We need to imagine and work towards alternatives.”
Aurat March takes place every year on International Womens Day
CALL FOR POSTERS
Deadline: Jan 31, 2022
Theme: Reimagining JusticeLike every year, we are humbled and inspired by posters submitted by people from all over Pakistan. The poster submissions can be on any theme related to reimagining justice. The theme is detailed in the post. pic.twitter.com/dqvUc8Yh23
— عورت مارچ لاہور – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) January 13, 2022
