Challenging Systems of Casteism and Racism
Channel: Regions Refocus
Date: 2015-11-06

This 11-minute video, the sixth in Regions Refocus's series of Virtual Teach-Ins, highlights an informal, strategic discussion on “Challenging Systems of Casteism and Racism” amongst Parliamentarians, academics, and social movement leaders from across South Asia and North America. In this historical moment in the US of protest and organizing around immigration and racial justice, including under the banner of Black Lives Matter, this exchange fostered awareness and solidarity around the parallels between structural racism in the US and endemic discrimination on the basis of caste. Activists, academics, and policy-makers share experiences and strategies in activism, and advancing policy in the struggles against racist and patriarchal violence and discrimination in the US, South Asia, and beyond.

This event, co-convened by Asia Dalit Rights Forum, Regions Refocus, Asian Parliamentarians' Forum, and Barnard Center for Research on Women, was held at Barnard College on 23 September 2015. It formed an integral piece of an unprecedented series of events with 42 Parliamentarians, activists, and civil society representatives from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka who attended the series of programming “Annihilate Caste and Structural Inequalities in Implementing the 2030 Agenda” in late September in New York.