Social movements, people's organisations, NGOs, and other civil society organisations are often faced with a dilemma on who can participate in events and gatherings given the language barriers encountered by many of their members and participants. For example, India is the third most linguistically diverse country in the world, yet meetings tend to default to English or Hindi, marginalising regional language speakers – particularly women, youth, and local leaders – and inhibiting meaningful exchange between communities and movement spaces.
We, members and friends of the SASI Collective, believe that all people, no matter which languages they speak, should have the ability to speak and be heard in social movement spaces. Social justice, whether it be for women, Dalits, Adivasis, LGBTQ+ people, farmers, or other marginalized groups, also requires linguistic justice--equal rights and accommodation for minority language speakers. Without a concerted effort to produce inclusive spaces for minority language speakers, their views and political demands are often unheard in our social justice movements.
SASI co-founders launched an official collaboration in February, 2019, after informally experimenting in supportive social movement spaces for several years. We are grateful to all of those who supported our early efforts!
What do we provide?
Information and support for social movements working to strengthen language justice in their multilingual spaces, including event planning and equipment referrals.
Introductory interpreting training to multilingual activists
Advanced training for experienced interpreters, including training of the trainers
Access to curriculum and training tools for training solidarity interpreters
Note: While we are aware there it is an urgent need for interpreters, SASI is predominantly a collective of trainers and provides training and event planning support. At this time, we can support you to expand capacity within your own network.