In support of the struggle of Mumbai's bar girls for survival

We call upon all organisations/individuals who believe that the government should not presume to exclude any sections of people from the city of Mumbai . The last year has seen a relentless pushing out of people who eke out a livelihood on the edge of survival in the city- slum dwellers, mill workers, industrial workers, fisher people, hawkers. It is clearly a larger vision determined by the interests of only the elites, the government of the city and the State of Maharashtra to turn Mumbai into a mega city which is friendly to multinational and expatriates but excluding towards ordinary people of India.

The latest group to face this sort of 'cleansing' are bar girls on the basis of moral purity.

The issue of bar girls is not one of morality. It is a matter of survival. It is a joke when corrupt and immoral Ministers, who think nothing of selling out the interest of their country and their people, should preach morality to the bar girls, accusing the bars of being dens of immorality, and the girls of selling their bodies. Besides, everyone can see that they target beer bars but not five star hotels.

The girls who work in the beer bars are trying to survive, and support their families. Contrary to the notion that they make oodles of cash each night, most live in slums and tenements, like millions others in a time when jobs are simply not available for children of poorer families. The bar girls have a right to survival and a right to work. They have a right to dignity. They are the children of out- of- work workers, and they provide support to their families.

Can a government which cannot provide employment, security and space for its people afford to dictate their choices?

The government is guilty of gross injustice and complete failure when they throw one-lakh women out of jobs. Their claims that they will 'rehabilitate' them have no substance and no sincerity and slum dwellers with demolished homes or mill workers with vanished jobs can testify that they have received little or no rehabilitation from the government.

We call for a meeting on Saturday is to place these issues on the table, and to support the bargirls' struggle and their union. We will draft a petition to be signed by people's organisations and individuals, to be presented to the government.

Organisers of the meeting/ speakers: Flavia Agnes (Majlis), Datta Iswalkar (Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti), Meena Menon (Focus India), Varsha Kale (Bharatiya Bar Girls Union)

Unterstützt den Widerstand der Barfrauen

Der Aufruf der Barfrauengewerkschaft zur Unterstützung des Kampfes wendet sich vor allen Dingen gegen die konkrete Taktik des Stadtrates und der Landesregierung: Denen gehe es dieses mal um die Moral. Dagegen unterstreicht die Gewerkschaft a) die generelle Säuberung der Bombayer Innenstadt im Zuge der Stadtplanung zur Globalcity; b) die durchsichtige Moral-Lüge, da daselbe vorgehen "natürlich" nicht für 5 Sterne-Hotels gelte; c) die Lage der Frauen, von denen die meisten Töchter erwerbsloser Eltern seien; und d) die Verlogenheit des "Resozialisierungsprogramms" den unmoralisch seien Politiker, die auf Kosten der Bevölkerung gegen sie agierten.

Dementsprechend sollte am 16.April 2005 eine Versammlung stattfinden, während der soziale und demokratische Organisationen eine Petition gegen die Vertreibung der Barfrauen unterzeichnen konnten.

(Zsfsg hrw)