Let's Rise for the Fight

April 2026 President’s Note - Let’s Rise for the Fight

March was an incredibly busy month with MPV’s advocacy work focused primarily on fighting back against the increasingly racially and religiously diverse anti-rights movements. 

Our advocacy work began at the UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a platform and process that MPV engages with annually. This year, I hosted and chaired a virtual interfaith convening of faith and civil society organizations for the Multifaith Advisory Council’s (MFAC) Gender Working Group. The convening brought together a diverse group of over 150 participants to discuss key findings from a compendium of rights affirming faith language to be used to counter rights violating language, which has been normalized and weaponized to the detriment of women and girls’ wellbeing. 

While in New York I also participated in an in-person workshop (pictured above) in collaboration with Hindus, Buddhists, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith leaders and UNFPA, to ensure the Compendium is developed in an inclusive manner. Please check out the Compendium here. You and your networks can provide written feedback here. You can also sign on either as individuals or institutions to show your support.

In addition, I was invited to attend a conference (pictured right) in Lisbon, “Converging Futures: Where Gender Justice, Democracy, and Faith Meet”, organized by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, where in-depth discussions on countering Christian Nationalism were the main focus. 

And finally, in New York, in partnership with Hindus for Human Rights, EmgageUSA, and Equitas Forum USA, MPV co-organized a panel, “Islamophobia in New York City: A Policy Perspective”, which featured Mahmoud Khalil, Heba Khalil, Rana AbdelHamid, Baher Azmy, Asad Dandia and Badar Khan Suri as panelists.

Of course, like clockwork, the effort was mischaracterized on social media and by a few New York City Council members as ‘anti-Semitic’, and panelists were verbally harassed upon leaving the building while NYPD looked on. 

Onward and upward…

Ani Zonneveld, Founder and President