themes at recon 2025

Ableism can be defined as a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities. But it is not a ‘minority problem’. We will:

• RETHINK why ableism remains invisible in social justice movements.
• REWORK spaces, dialogues and movements to be genuinely inclusive.
• RECLAIM the voices, histories, art and archives of people with disabilities.

This structure of graded inequality enforces hierarchies through birth-based discrimination, violence and exclusion. We will:

• RETHINK how anti-caste resistance speaks to parallel struggles against domination around the world.
• REWORK that thinking, to develop intersectional strategies to combat pernicious exclusion.
• RECLAIM the democratic promise of equality, liberty, justice by foregrounding Dalit histories, struggle and strength.

Punitive approaches to violence have been shown to not only not deter crime but also take the biggest toll on those most marginalized. We will:

• RETHINK approaches to the role of law and incarceration as the default pathway to address harms.
• REWORK our relationship with democracies that increasingly use criminal laws to curtail rights.
• RECLAIM the public discourse through cross-movement allyship as well as cultural and literary interventions.

Continuing the struggle to recognize GBV as a systematic violation of human rights, rather than individual, private suffering. We will:

• RETHINK approaches to addressing gender-based violence solely through criminal laws.
• REWORK the weaponizing of biology to exclude gender minorities.
• RECLAIM a framework that protects everyone from violence.

The right to bodily autonomy, to consent to sexual activity, to reproduce if and when we choose to should be core rights. We will:

• RETHINK the ways that laws, markets, family and society constrain sexuality and reproductive rights.
• REWORK a new vision of consent, mindful of the power that devalues non-normative bodies.
• RECLAIM a vision of bodily autonomy and pleasure as a goal for all.

The pleasures and uses of digital technology are many but so are the dangers. We will:

• RETHINK our relationship with Big Tech and how to hold it accountable.
• REWORK aspects of digital tech from feminist principles.
• RECLAIM a more just digital future.