Aazaadi For One and All: Mari’s Annual Women’s Month Cabaret
In the 90s, a librarian working at Marianopolis College noticed that the college had no events organised for Women’s Month in March.To remedy this, her and a group of staff organised the very first Women’s Month Breakfast. Eventually, people started to lose interest in the event, and so 16 years ago, in 2007, Professor Dolores Chew and Phillip Dann decided to organise the first Mari Women’s Month Cabaret. The event is dedicated to intersectional feminism, and acts as a variety show, open to any medium.. Anyone identifying as female is welcome to share and perform whatever they want, and someone who does not identify as female is asked to perform something related to women.
This year, Mari’s Women’s Cabaret contained many memorable performances including, but not limited to: a dance performed to Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”, a performance of Etta James’s “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, a reading of Britta Badour’s poem “Dear Young Women”, and even a kazoo rendition of “The Final Countdown”. The diversity of performances could not have been more perfect for the event, as it was a true testament to all that women are capable of. For an hour, the audience was bound together by the indescribable power of art. Together, the audience sat quietly to listen to words of poetry, laughed freely at an unexpected kazoo performance, and cheered loudly for all the spectacular musical acts.
The 2023 Women’s Cabaret was dedicated to Jina Amini, a young Iranian women who was murdered by the Islamic Republic. Her death sparked protests against the Islamic Republic’s regime and brought to light its atrocities, specifically against women. The Cabaret’s program book contained an article written by Kalliope Anvar McCall, a Marianopolis alumni, about Jina Amini and the situation in Iran. While the event was free, audience members were asked for donations, and the proceeds from the event will go to an Iranian women’s shelter. The atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic Republic are proof that intersectional feminism (feminism that acknowledges that patriarchal oppression can impact women differently due to race, class, ability, or sexuality) is still very much needed in our world. Education, that can come in the form of events like the Cabaret, and action are the steps towards change.
To conclude the event, the audience and performers were encouraged to participate in the Aazaadi chant. This chant was written in 1980 by Pakistani women and calls for the liberation (which is the English translation of the word Aazaadi) of all women from whatever may be holding them back. There can be no other appropriate conclusion to this article besides the chant itself. May this chant be a reminder that injustice and oppression cannot be erased in a single month. At the very least, hold this chant in your mind until the next Cabaret. Thank you so much to all the performers, organizers, and Professor Dolores Chew for all your hard work on this event.
AAZAADI – LIBERATION – FREEDOM
From patriarchy – Aazaadi
From all hierarchy – Aazaadi
From endless violence – Aazaadi
From helpless silence – Aazaadi
For walking freely – Aazaadi
For talking frelly – Aazaadi
For praying freely – Aazaadi
For protesting freely – Aazaadi
From fascism – Aazaadi
From colonialism – Aazaadi
From imperialism – Aazaadi
From border closures – Aazaadi
From racism – Aazaadi
From climate disaster – Aazaadi
From endless wars – Aazaadi
For dancing madly – Aazaadi
For singing loudly – Aazaaadi
For self expression – Aazaadi
For celebration – Aazaadi
We love it madly – Aazaadi
Come say it softly – Aazaadi
Now say it loudly – Aazaadi
On streets we shout – Aazaadi
It is our right – Aazaadi
We’ll snatch and take it – Aazaadi
You wait and watch it – Aazaadi
For one and all – Aazaadi
Our clarion call – Aazaadi
