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Dear Chairperson Rutsuko Shoji and board members for the Women's Fund for Peace and Human Rights, friends, beloved, technicians, editors, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, commentators, nominators, referees, the twelve nominees, the selection committee for the Yayori Award and the secretariat of the committee AJWRC. I shouldnﾕt forget to express my gratitude for Shakti Samuha / Shakti Milan Kendra, an organization formed by people living with HIV+/AIDS (PLWHA), victims of domestic violence, trafficking and sexual slavery and former sex worker who return from Mumbai (Bombay), India in 1996 in Kathmandu. I also take this opportunity to convey my respect to those who contributed to this recognition and responsibility of receiving this award. I am humbled and honored by nomination and finally to have received prestigious Yayori Award. Yoyori, a person who always fought for the rights of the women not only in Japan but all over Asia. She was pioneer on doing womenﾕs court (public hearing) to raise awareness on trafficking and bring perpetrators of sexual slavery of World Ward II in Asia in justice. A national public hearing of Nepali trafficked women in Kathmandu, 1995 was one of the events Yoyori was involved along with other Asian feminists. At the same time I feel the need to critically reflect upon how I portray myself and other women. By the constitution Nepal is a Hindu country. We have caste-based patriarchic discrimination. Children receive their caste names from fathers, and a mother is not allowed (officially) to give her surname to children. Around 2002, I officially stopped using ﾔTiwariﾕ which indicates the highest Brahman caste of Nepal Since then, I use ﾔtitikshu (titikchhu)ﾕ which means people working patiently without boundaries, although my father was not very happy with my decision. It suits to my life style more than my original family name. I want to better understand how my relationships ﾐ with my friends, partner, official/unofficial parents and other communities ﾐ can fit into the public goal. In a field that is often so challenging and all-consuming, it is so important for us to take the time to sit together and learn from each otherﾕs stories, and how weﾕve each faced the obstacles in our work and personal lives. Over the years, I have come to understand how important it is to understand the interrelationship of the personal and the political, and how one can impact the other. I bought a yashica automatic camera from my salary (NRs.1800) when I was sixteen years old. In the beginning I was distributing photos among my friends. At that time one of the friends Mangala commented that I look like a press photographer. I have carried camera for the past sixteen years, and I have recognized that it is a very powerful tool. When used in the correct way, it can be a method for breaking the silence. Being a photojournalist, human rights and peace activist I would like to understand better the ethical responsibilities carried with this honor. I feel more responsible and strengthened to contribute more and more to protect and guard the values and principles represented by this award. I have a responsibility to break the silence and create space where we can talk/think about peaceful political solutions to the conflict with justice and democracy by the people for the people. Being a citizen, photojournalist, archivist, activist, a woman and honorary lesbian I am trying to be present with the struggling individuals, communities and people. I am trying to understand ourselves. I have always been very assertive. That is in large part due to my official parentsﾕ influence, which went against the prevalent culture and did not treat me differently for being a girl. As a teenager, I was very active and involved in both sports and social work through the girl scouts and Nepal Red Cross society. In 1990, when I was an 11th grade student in the Western district of Salyan, which is twenty-two hours away from Kathmandu by bus. I heard the news about a studentﾕs movement in Kathmandu and Pokhara. I organized to proceed the students rally, although I did not know exactly what the issues were. A week later, multi-party democracy was established in Nepal in 1990. The next year, I joined student politics when I was chosen to be district coordinator of one of the student organization All Nepal National Free Student Union (5th). I got the chance to meet with many political leaders as well as civil servants working within the government. I also started organizing civil servants for their rights to form unions, to earn better wages, and to improve the relations between employers and their staff. I joined the Law Campus in Kathmandu, although I later decided to stop my formal studies. I began to take photos of political rallies. In 1993-94, I photographed a dispute between two student organizations: All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU) and Nepal Student Union (NSU). The picture was published and I became known for that. But a camera I borrowed from a friend, along with some negatives, money, a bag and a headlamp given by a Japanese friend, was grabbed by students of NSU. I was hiding for twelve days. I began to document the social movements (studentsﾕ, political partiesﾕ, civil servantsﾕﾉ) active at the time. I also began to observe social contradictions, and tried to portray these in the same frame. That is when I realized that my work should be in journalism and not in party politics. I therefore left the political party I had been involved in, and have been working independently since. Through my travels, observations, and conversations with a broad range of people ﾐ both inside and outside of Nepal - I began to understand better issues of injustice, civil liberties, and social movements. I realized there is a need for a dialogue both within and between the different communities to address our inequality and all types of problems. From the beginning of my career, therefore, my photo-stories and reports focused on social problems. I have slowly come to see the dominance of the Hindu upper caste in the womenﾕs movement, to the detriment of other ethnic and religious communitiesﾕ customs. For example, it focused on the issue of citizenship rights women are not allowed to give mothers to her child. Photography makes reminiscence of pain and happiness, turns information into proof, records or her/history. Sometimes I need to sit/observe and feel the importance of the event. Other times, I need to intervene. I try to find the right way to do my work. I try to be a student and learn from my observations and people I work with, and not just take their photographs. The camera doesnﾕt speak for itself ﾐ the cameraperson has to really understand the situation, and make camera a bridge between the people who do not want to or do not have opportunities to sit together. My main work is therefore to hear and share peopleﾕs stories and opinions with the focus of social justice. The armed conflict in Nepal which started because of prevailing inequality and injustice has resulted in enormous number of innocent civilian causalities, disappearances and extra judicial killings. The Royal Nepalese Army is deceptively acquiring ours and your money (foreign aid) to kill us in the name of fight against ﾒterrorismﾓ. Rule of law and administration of justice has collapsed. Freedom of expression is controlled and censored through draconian laws of this arbitrary regime. Non Governmental Organizations are not allowed to do advocacy and human rights related work. Political Parties canﾕt have their meetings without fearing attacks by the administration. Thatﾕs why journalist, lawyers, teachers, professors, doctors, professionals, students, political parties, activists and other peoples are trying to unify for strong protest against the kingﾕs military rule to transform our country into Democratic Republican of Nepal. It seems to me that Nepalﾕs global identity has been circumscribed by the idea that it is fighting ﾒterrorismﾓ. We are in a transitional stage, so there is need to have a dialogue about Nepal outside of Nepal and to understand what people are wanting for the future of modern Nepal. Let the people of Nepal decide without supporting a power hungry king. Now the people of Nepal need to make a decision in one of two ways: either for a Democratic Republic of Nepal or an Autocratic Royal Nepal. Between Nepal and Japan we have several kinds of relationships: as tourists, as mountaineers, as development workers, as activists, as researchers, and through religion, marriage and diplomacy. So I implore you, please raise a critical question to your government about the utilization of your tax money in the name of development aid to Nepal. Also I have a request to Nepalis who are in Japan for study or work, please show your solidarity to the struggle of social justice at home. The award money I have received goes as a starting fund for the production of Pictorial Book on Womenﾕs Movements who are active against societal, communal and systematic violence. One day I believe that women in Nepal, south Asia, and all of Asia and the world will be considered as leaders with social authority. The material produced through the research for this book will be made available to the public as an archive of raw materials which can be useful for individuals, communities, students, researchers and academics. After facing the hard realities of our lives, in the future, we can experience the beauty and importance of life, and what gives us the power and strength to continue this work, which is very personal and emotional. This is the way I learnt on the streets and from the communities; they are my university: like an Open University where you can feel liberated. Thank you and Best Wishes to all of you. usha titikshu Independent photojournalist 11th December 2005 (26 Mangsir 2062 v.s.), Sunday |
Sharing about
myself on the occasion of the YAYORI AWARD