CALL FOR SOLIDARITY

GANG RAPE and TORTURE OF KASHMIRI WOMEN
by MILITARY and SECURITY FORCES in INDIA

We wish to draw your attention to the horrendous violation of human rights taking place in Indian Kashmiri today. Kashmiri women are being tortured and sexually assaulted by the supposed keepers of law and order. While villages in the interior have witnessed the highest number of gang rapes, city dwellers have also been victimized. Three unmarried sisters from a well-respected family in Lal Bazar, a downtown area of Srinagar, were carried off to the cantonment (area under military administration) and released after two nights of sexual assault.

We urge you to immediately write to the Indian embassy in your country and the Prime Minister of India asking them to urgently take steps to stop the wanton

CIKARD CALL FOR PAPERS

The Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development (CIKARD) has been compiling material that illustrates gender differences in indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge refers to traditional knowledge that is unique to a particular culture. Only recently have people begun to realize the importance of recording indigenous knowledge for development purposes. Unfortunately, the indigenous knowledge recorded most often is men's indigenous knowledge while women's contributions are overlooked.

Kristine K. Schwebach, CIKARD associate and graduate student in International Development Studies with an emphasis in Anthropology, Sociology, and Women's Studies, is compiling an annotated bibliography on how Gender Differences are reflected in:

1) indigenous knowledge systems
2) indigenous decision making
3) indigenous organizations, and
4) Indigenous development approaches

Please submit any references or published and unpublished papers to Schwebach, CIKARD, 324 Curtiss Hail, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 U.S.A. violence against women. They should also be urged to negotiate for a political solution to this problem, rather that solving it through military means. Please direct your letters to: The Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister's Secretariat, South Block, New Delhi 110001, India. Please send a copy of your letter to: Shirkatgah, 18-A Mian Mir Road, P.O. MughalpuraLahore-15, Pakistan.

SHORT FICTION BY WOMEN CALL FOR SUBMISSION

Submissions are now being accepted for Short Fiction by Women, a new magazine publishing the finest literature by women writers. The magazine needs short stories, novellas and novel excerpts. All women writers - published and unpublished - are invited to submit their work.

Payment will be based on length and funds available. The magazine will own first serial rights only. Writers should submit one typed double-spaced manuscript (in English) and include a SASE for return of manuscript. Send submissions to: Rachel Whalen, Editor, Short Fiction By Women, Box 1276, Stuyvesant Station, New York, New York, U.S.A. 10009.

The first issue will be published in the fall of 1991. Thereafter, publication will be three times a year. Subscriptions are available for U.S.$ 18 per year