Our Values

We center survivors’ needs and realities in our movement.

We center survivors of all forms of harm, including gender and power-based violence. Survivors’ experiences are the starting point and guiding force for advocacy, services, and justice. Survivors’ voices lead practical, cultural, and systemic change that ultimately restores their inherent power.

We approach our work from an intersectional perspective.

There is no one image of a survivor, and no one path to healing. We approach our work through an intersectional lens that considers class, race, caste, age, sexuality, gender, region, ethnicity, religion, physical or mental abilities, language and socioeconomic status, and more. Survivors are impacted by all movements, and our voice is critical in engaging in systemic change, be it reproductive justice, immigration, criminal justice, or housing. 

We uplift each other through compassionate collaboration and accountability.

Our collective power is built upon a foundation of safety, trust, mutual respect, and compassionate accountability. We uplift and nurture one another by exchanging knowledge and resources, cultivating leadership, and supporting each others’ successes. We recognize that living under systems of oppression with inherent power imbalances, harm and conflict are inevitable; we strive to move through these with the end goal of accountability and healing.

We create space for honesty and move forward with solidarity.

We actively create space to question ourselves, our power, our privilege, and our role in the movement. Our solidarity cascades across our movement into our personal lives. While our approaches may vary with our communities’ contexts, we are unified in our commitment to anti-racist, anti-oppressive frameworks in pursuit of a violence-free world.

We act and communicate with love and respect.

Our inspiration is a world that honors and upholds love, compassion, respect, and vulnerability. We draw from the transformative power of love for resistance, justice, action, and change.

We embrace imagination and innovation.

Our movement thrives from empathy in disagreement, collaborative thinking, connection, and experimentation. We approach our work with an abundance mindset, whilst simultaneously recognizing the conditions of scarcity that are ingrained in our industry, particularly for BIPOC-led organizations. We seek transparent, transformative funder relationships that break down the nonprofit industrial complex. Through collective processes, we use our past and survivor realities to radically imagine a new future.

We center South Asian voices while fostering belonging for all.

We aspire to create belonging, dignity, and justice for all those, regardless of origin, who join us in the movement to end gender-based violence and create healing and safety for all survivors. SOAR is a space that uplifts the histories and realities of the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean diasporas — including those who trace their origin to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Guyana, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and beyond. However, we recognize both that folks originating from these countries may not identify as "South Asian," and that folks who do not originate from these countries may identify as "South Asian." For folks in SOAR spaces who do not consider themselves “South Asian” but still consider themselves in solidarity, we welcome you and we simultaneously ask you to be thoughtful of how you show up in this space, as one of the few South Asian-centered spaces.

Our Movement Commitments

We are committed to Survivor Justice.

We aspire to a future of joy, healing, safety, and liberation for South Asian survivors. We believe in dismantling the systems of oppression and cultures of power that enable violence and prevent healing, especially for marginalized survivors. And, we are resolutely committed to building new possibilities that amplify survivor voices, provide abundant resources and pathways to healing, and strive toward our collective liberation.

Our commitment to liberation and justice is grounded in intersectionality, and deeply connected to our commitments to…

Gender Justice.

Survivors with marginalized gender identities experience heightened gender & power-based  violence. We firmly believe that eradicating violence necessitates dismantling the cis-hetero brahmanical, patriarchal practices and institutions that fuel it. Our commitment is centered on forging a world where individuals are free from gender norms and violence, enabling them to live freely, safely, and joyfully.

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Reproductive Justice.

Through the Reproductive Justice framework, we uphold bodily autonomy as a human right and recognize reproductive oppression as a form of both state-sponsored and interpersonal gender-based violence. We are committed to advocating for reproductive agency, shifting culture, and resourcing our community. We hope to foster a world free from reproductive abuse where survivors can heal and find joy through self-determination.

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Racial Justice.

As South Asians, our dedication to racial justice is paramount, rejecting the model minority myth and recognizing that our liberation is intricately linked to ending all forms of oppression. Racism and gender-based violence are intertwined, sharing common roots in structural oppression and global white supremacy, which fuel gender & power-based violence and increase barriers to survivor support. We are committed to eliminating these barriers by amplifying and centering marginalized communities in our diaspora while dismantling all forms of racism, including colorism, texturism, xenophobia, and anti-blackness within our own communities.

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Disability Justice.

Through the Disability Justice framework, we recognize that individuals with disabilities face increased rates of gender & power-based violence, a distressing reality fueled by the prevalence of ableism and eugenics. We are dedicated to fighting for a world without ableism, where every body and mind are valued, and where the voices and experiences of survivors with disabilities are centered in the pursuit of justice and healing.

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Climate Justice.

The climate crisis disproportionately impacts people of marginalized genders, children, and migrant, displaced, and working-class communities, exacerbating rates of gender-based violence. We stand against systems that rely on power inequities and resource exploitation, and we are dedicated to a just transition, ensuring that survivors and marginalized groups have access to sustainable resources, safety, and and support with preventing and recovering from the impacts of climate change.

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Economic Justice & Anti-Capitalism.

Capitalism depends on and perpetuates gender oppression, both at individual and systemic levels, particularly impacting immigrant, working-class, and marginalized communities. We envision thriving communities where basic necessities such as housing, water, and healthcare, are fundamental human rights afforded to all, and where survivors attain financial freedom, free from abusive situations. We are dedicated to growing a movement that prioritizes the financial well-being of both survivors and those working in the movement, through dismantling capitalism and resourcing our communities.

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Immigrant Justice.

Immigrant survivors face elevated risks of immigration-related abuse and encounter barriers to seeking help, stemming from violent imperialist, colonial systems that continue to impact South Asian and other immigrant communities. Our vision is one where these intertwined systems of imperialism, colonialism, and militarism are defunded and dismantled, ending cycles of generational trauma and abuse. We are committed to building a world where survivors can access resources across borders—where their dignity is upheld without fear of displacement, discrimination, and oppression.

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Caste Abolition.

We firmly stand against caste systems and oppression, which perpetuates gender-based violence not only in our countries of origin but also within our diaspora, disproportionately impacting Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi communities. We are committed to centering their voices and experiences, working towards a society where the interwoven systems of casteism, Hindutva, and gender-based violence are eradicated.

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Transformative Justice & Abolition.

Existing solutions for survivors primarily rely on criminal and carceral interventions, frequently leading to more harm and continued cycles of violence. We strive to abolish these systems and build solutions and practices grounded in transformative justice, to support healing and accountability for those who experience and cause harm, while rejecting the abuser-victim binary. Our vision is one where these practices prevent and end generational, gender, & power-based violence.

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LGBTQ+ Liberation.

South Asian LGBTQ+ survivors encounter compounded intersectional oppressions, including but not limited to familial abandonment, increased rates of violence, rising anti-trans legislation, exclusion within and outside of queer communities, and discrimination when seeking help. Informed by queer liberation theory, our vision is a world free from homophobia, transphobia, and violence, where every individual can celebrate their own sexuality and gender expression without fear. We are committed to centering the voices of LGBTQ+ survivors, increasing knowledge and resources to support them, and challenging the cultural stigmas that perpetuate harm. 

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