Write Yuh MP: Student activists keep up call for justice against gender-based violence
The Write Yuh MP campaign is here for the long haul, and those who are spearheading the cause have already mapped out a plan for 2021 and how they will be expanding the programme.
The brainchild of students Jasmyn Sargeant and Tirelle Duncan, the idea was brought to life following the kidnapping and mrder of 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt in January. Both Duncan and Sargeant are members of the UWI-based Institute for Development and Gender Studies (IDGS) Ignite, an activism student group that was formed in 2016 and under which the Write Yuh MP campaign falls. It is being overseen by research assistant and project co-ordinator at IDGS Renuka Anandjit.
“The campaign encourages citizens to call on their respective members of Parliament (MP), by sending mass emails and letters concerning the inconsistencies in the justice system and the alarmingly high levels of violence against women in Trinidad and Tobago,” Sargeant, a first-year student at Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine told Sunday Newsday. She said it calls for collaboration between individuals, groups and MPs to hold all other relevant authorities accountable and responsible for addressing the escalating levels of violence against women and girls in TT.
“It acts as a reminder to citizens that their MPs are the voices of the constituency they represent. The campaign is intended to encourage citizens to exercise their ability to hold their respective MPs accountable for their duty to their community.” She said it is also a way to give a voice to the people who cannot physically go out to protest against injustices.
Duncan, a third-year psychology student at the UWI, St Augustine campus said they have created a user-friendly Google drive for the campaign.
“The drive has the names of all the MPs in all 41 constituencies, their email and mailing addresses and some phone numbers. There is a template that you can use to start your letter, some suggestions for gender-based violence (GBV)-related issues that need to be addressed, and a list of general solutions that you can use.” She said some of the suggestion can even go beyond GBV and can include things like flaws in the judiciary and transport system.
“Things that are there but not taken seriously. There are a range of issue to choose from. These resources can all be accessed via a Google drive folder.” And for people who do not have access to the internet, Duncan said the campaign has made arrangements to facilitate them. The group will arrange for their letters to be physically mailed to the MPs.
The outcome of Write Yuh MP, she said, should be visibility of issues and for the voices of the people to be heard and taken seriously.
“The purpose is to amplify our own voices. To act and get the people to know they can speak up and do something.”
This year the campaign will target schools to encourage students to exercise their rights for their voices to be heard.
“The perspectives of children and young people are important too. This is personal for them because it affects them too,” Sargeant said. As a result of the physical restrictions caused by the covid19 pandemic, the plan is to conduct workshops via Zoom or Google.
“There is a template for that too. In the same way, they will have options to write to their MPs,” Anandjit explained. But because of the bureaucracy involved in the process, for now the group will be starting with its own network – schools with which it has worked with before. “It’s not a rushed thing. We are taking time to structure and implement it well,” Anandjit said.
In addition to schools, the team would like to partner with different groups – community, sports, religious, non-governmental – to get its message across. “We would love to be invited into communities to work along with them…We are open to any group that wants to partner with us.”
The group had collaborated with advocacy groups Feminitt, Youth Humanitarian Foundation,Youth Advocacy Network and the UWI Guild of Students for a protest on February 8, in front of the Red House. The protesters had called for urgent action and accountability by the state, lawmakers, the police and other authorities to address the high levels of violence against women in TT. They had called for the enforcing of functional and efficient systems for police prosecutions; the appropriate amendment to the Bail Act that supports the protection of women and girls; engendered reform to the public transport service to ensure the safety of passengers; and an integrated, resourced and publicly-accountable plan for addressing male violence as it results in threat, fear and harm in the lives of women and girls.
Around Carnival time the Write Yuh MP campaign was featured on the Women in Carnival Committee platform, a group that was formed by activists Keisha Als, Sheena Tang Nian and four others to assist in the call for laws to protect women after the kidnapping and murder of Bharatt.
“Women in Carnival invited us to be a part of the Carnival Monday demonstration and provided a space for us to amplify our message,” Anandjit said.
Als told Sunday Newsday, “We wanted to build awareness of the initiative (Write Yuh MP) so that people would know it is available to them. We had a march around the savannah (Queen’s Park), and we provided protesters with QR code to scan, which took them to a direct link tree resource to the Write Your MP direct link.” She said as designers and workers in the Carnival network, the Women in Carnival members have access to large information platforms that can give citizens a voice and can assist in the propagation of information.
Sargeant said the Write Yuh MP campaign acts as a reminder that the democratic rights of citizens do not only exist around election time. “People in power become complacent after an election. The core principles on which the Parliament is built are important. It’s all about accountability and not just dipping your fingers in ink. Next five years participants in this campaign can say they were involved in the work of their constituency.”
Duncan highlighted the importance of the ownership component. “We need to think beyond waiting for people to do things for us. Gender-based violence affects us all and if we take action, at the end we will know that we have contributed to something good. We will certainly have a clearer idea of who we are voting for. Who our MPs really are.”
To participate in the Write Yuh MP campaign visit
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"Write Yuh MP: Student activists keep up call for justice against gender-based violence"