Indonesia Human Rights Committee,
Box 68419,
Auckland.

25 April, 2012

Media Release

Visit To Auckland Of Kalyanamitra Women’s Rights Leaders: 2-7 May, 2012

Pathfinder Books and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee are delighted to host prominent women’s rights advocates, Hegel Terome and Rena Herdiyani from Kalyanamitra, Women’s Communication and Information Centre, Jakarta. (details for Hegel and Rena below). They will be accompanied by Mary-Alice Waters, the president of Pathfinder Press from New York.

Kalyanamitra was formed in the time of the Suharto dictatorship, at a time when many women were subject to violence at the hands of the police. The organisation took a leading role in the Volunteer Team for Rape Victims after the 1998 riots in Jakarta, and is now regarded as a beacon in the anti-violence against women movement. The organisation is also widely respected for its research and ongoing principled work against laws and structures that discriminate against women and on behalf for those who suffer state or domestic violence.

Breaking new ground, Kalyanamitra has now decided to publish in Indonesian two classic books on women's rights that were previously banned. Working with Pathfinder Press, Kalyanamitra has produced “Woman's Evolution”, by Evelyn Reed, and “Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State”, by Frederick Engels. “Woman's Evolution” has also been recently translated into Farsi in Iran.

It takes passion and commitment to work for women’s empowerment and courage to publish politically challenging texts such as the books by Evelyn Reed and Frederick Engels that could still be considered ‘subversive’ by Indonesian authorities.

Hegel and Rena will participate in a seminar, ‘Changes facing women in Indonesia and Iran’ organised by the NZ Asia Institute: Room 325, Level 3, Owen G Glenn Building, 12 Grafton Road, Auckland, Thursday, 3 May 2012 4 pm (www.nzai.auckland.ac.nz ).
They will also be speaking at the Manukau Campus of AUT at 5-30 on Friday 4 May, and will attend a lunch meeting hosted by IHRC on Saturday 5 May at 12-30 at the Peace Place, 22 Emily Pl, Auckland City. On Sunday they will attend the launch of another new Pathfinder Book “Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution”.

###

Rena Herdiyani is the executive director of Kalyanamitra. She is the coordinator of the CEDAW Working Group Initiative in Jakarta, a coalition of NGOs that monitors government policies on discrimination against women. Hegel Terome is the organisation deputy of Kalyanamitra. He is a graduate of Gadjah Mada University and has translated and edited a number of books on women's rights. Mary-Alice Waters is Evelyn Reed's literary executor and authored the prefaces to the recent Farsi and Indonesian editions of Woman's Evolution.

ENDS

© Scoop Media