With continuing women's abuses and a high incident of sexual assault and domestic abuse taking place, Karachi’s feminists organize a women’s march, facing down threats from Pakistan’s state, media and radical religious right.
This Stained Dawn is not just about one protest, but about the often times revolutionary act of political organizing in itself.
Karachi’s feminists organise a woman’s march, coming up against Pakistan’s state, media and radical religious right. Filmmaker Anam Abbas follows the march’s organizers as they negotiate a deeply surveilled, paranoia-inducing, and often physically violent space in the hopes of spurring a revolution for women's rights. A philosophical work, This Stained Dawn is not just about the "Aurat March", but about the act of political organizing itself.
"Women and girls in Pakistan face abuses including impunity for so-called “honor violence” against them, danger on the way to school, abuses in prison, denial of care in hospitals, and sexual harassment in the workplace. Worse yet, police themselves have been implicated in rape in Pakistan. Women and girls will not have the freedom they are entitled to – to study, work, or live – until the government does more to protect their rights." - Saroop Ijaz, Senior Counsel, Asia Division
