THE March
In the aftermath of the General Elections on February 8, 2024 we are experiencing a range of emotions regarding politics, how we
engage with one another, and the future of this country.
Politics remains steeped in patriarchal norms that shun emotion, deeming them irrational, indulgent and weak
Our emotions of disappointment, heartbreak, and grief are not mere footnotes in our political engagement; they are central to our experience and fuel our organising.
Today, days after the elections, we want to make space for emotions of alienation, anger, cynicism, disappointment, indifference, fear, frustration, guilt, despondency, resilience, uncertainty, but
also hope.
In the sky above Lahore, we raised kites carrying the words of the late Palestinian poet and teacher Refaat Alareer, who was martyred in Gaza in December 2023. This installation honours his poem “If I Must Die.”
Our activism seeks not only to dismantle unjust systems, but also to build a liberatory future grounded in our shared humanity. It is
defined not solely by what we oppose, but by the hope of what could be.
We march because we do not see space for ourselves in mainstream politics. We march to create our own politics–one that dismantles power structures rather than aspiring to exist within them.
Mainstream electoral politics, in its singular pursuit of power, has largely ignored our emotions and rendered them non-political. Our theme this
year,“Politics. Resistance. Freedom",
responds to what we’re feeling.
In 2024 we imagine, A politics that makes room for empathy and
love. A politics that accepts us for who we are instead of boxing us into narrow categories of representation.
A politics of resistance.
A politics of liberation.
A politics of feminism.