10 February 2021 – at UBC website

LDC chair professor Radha D’Souza spoke at UBC’s Interdisciplinary Histories Research cluster about state violence against women in India. India is widely perceived to be the most populous democracy in the world. Its progressive constitution puts classical liberal rights including equality, non-discrimination, right to life and access to justice at the heart of the constitution as fundamental rights. At the same time India is also seen as the most dangerous country to be a woman in. Within and outside academia, the endemic and routinised violence against women is widely attributed to familial and societal causes. If the law fails to bring perpetrators of violence against women to justice, corruption within police and dysfunctional criminal justice system is seen as the problem. Going beyond these frames of analysis, Professor D’Souza examines statutes like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that exempt army personnel form prosecution in occupied territories, state organised pogroms against religious and caste groups, and the endemic everyday police violence against poor, Dalit (marginalised castes) and Adivasi (indigenous) women. Her address calls into question the assumptions about normative and procedural standards, including human rights standards, in Legal Studies and the theoretical and methodological strategies in Gender Studies that are typically used to analyse violence against women in India. State violence against women unravels assumptions about gender-based violence and rights based legal remedies. You can watch Radha’s talk via Vimeo.

13 February 2021 – Westminster Repository

LDC member Angelica de Freitas e Silva had her PhD thesis published at the University of Westminster Repository. The thesis Decolonial Epistemologies for Energy Planning in Brazil brings novel analysis of energy planning from the colonial difference, challenging the modern-colonial world-system’s ethics of exhaustion. Angelica concluded her PhD in September 2019 and is now working on a book in Brazilian Portuguese inspired by her thesis. You can have full access to the publication here.

11 September – London Webinar

Throughout September 2020, The World Transformed Festival hosts a number of webinars with speakers from all over the world to discuss this year’s theme – Imagine, Demand and Build.

Radha D’Souza will speak on Friday between 2:30 and 4:30 pm (UK time) on the web panel Colonialism(s) and the Global Policing of Dissent. The panel, composed by six speakers will be discussing  how state surveillance, anti-terror laws and the rhetoric of ‘national security’ are being used to criminalise progressive activists and marginalised communities across the world. Speakers will discuss the colonial roots of policing and how histories of ‘anti-terrorism’ in the UK and ex-colonies, such as South Africa and India, continue to be linked before and after 9/11. The panel will also explore other colonialisms, such as China in Hong Kong. As states share and internationalise their repressive methods, we ask how we can build international coalitions of resistance.

The panel supports unlimited number of attendees, but registration is required. You can follow The World Transformed Festival on Twitter at @TWT_NOW and on Instagram at @theworldtransformed. The panels will be transmitted live at the TWT Festival’s YouTube channel.

24 June – London

The Centre for Critical Realism Network is promoting the Critical Realism Matters series. Radha D’Souza joined the panel to discuss the new edited book Critical Realism, Feminism and Gender: A Reader. The book discussion was originally broadcast on Wednesday 24th June 2020. Please see the video below for an extract of Radha’s contribution to the debate.

25 June – London – 6:30 to 8:30pm

Exploiting a Pandemic: Will more surveillance save us from the coronavirus? Join CAGE, alongside the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities(CAMPACC) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) for an interactive panel. More information in the events page.

May 2020 – London

“Wars Beyond the Armed Forces: Colonialism and Militarisation of Ethno-national Conflicts in Contemporary South Asia.” In Resistance to Empire and Militarization: Reclaiming the Sacred, edited by Jude Lal Fernando, 25-44. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing, 2020.

May 2020 – London

Radha D’Souza’s introduction “Reading Öcalan as a South Asian Woman” to Abdullah  Öcalan’s book Capitalism: The Age of Unmasked Gods and Naked Kings, (New Compass Press, 2017) was translated in German and Turkish as:

• D’Souza, R. 2019. Als Frau aus Südasien Öcalan Lesen. in: Das freie Leben aufbauen: Dialoge mit Abdullah Öcalan UNRAST.
• D’Souza, Radha. 2019. “Reading Öcalan as a South Asian Woman.” In Özgür Yaşamı İnşa Diyalogları, edited by Havin Gunesar and Reimar Heider, 129-149. Diyarbakir, Turkey: Aram Basim Reklam ve Yayincilik.

May 2020 – London

Angelica was awarded a doctoral degree on successful completion of her PhD studies at the Westminster Law School. Her thesis “Decolonial Epistemologies for Energy Planning in Brazil” is now being revised for publication and translation to Portuguese and Spanish.

15-16 of February 2020 – Munich, Germany

Radha D’Souza presented at the Shadow Munich Security Conference: The truth emerges from the shadow. Every year in February, Munich transforms into a stage for world politics during the Munich Security Conference (MSC). A stage is given to political leaders to share their visions on security, safety and global order, 800 meters away from the Münchner Kammerspiele. The MSC, a supposedly “neutral” platform, is a forum for debate for some of the most powerful people in the world. Over 4,000 police officers, hundreds of police cars and countless barriers dominate public space for a few days in order for this to happen. Deals are made behind closed doors and hardly any space for public debate or exchange is accommodated.This spectacle of power demands a counter-proposal. Check for more details of this powerful event.

February 2020 – London

Professor of International Law, Development and Conflict Studies at the University of Westminster Radha D’Souza interviewed by Journalist Alaeddin Sinayiç. D’Souza, as a member of Imrali delegation underlined that “Fighting for justice can not be wrong” as Kurdish leader Mr. Öcalan’s isolation. D’Souza also talked about India democratic con-federalism ideology history.

In December 2019 – At INAH Mexico

Radha D’Souza will participate in a dialogue on strategic uses of rights-based litigation and the pitfall in using the language of human rights with social movements, communities and social, indigenous and peasant organisations in Mexico at a gathering organised by the Dirección de Etnografía y Antropología Social (DEAS) of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) where those present will report on their struggles and discuss future strategies.