Ishtar Lakhani

Ishtar has been working as a feminist, activist and trouble-maker in the field of social justice advocacy for over a decade. Having received a Masters degree in Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand, her career has ranged from coordinating a radical, feminist advocacy network for survivors of sexual violence (the 1 in 9 Campaign) to revolutionary sandwich making in her founding of Love and Revolution, an activist bookstore, sandwich shop and community space. Currently, Ishtar is the Advocacy and Human Rights Defence Manager at the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), a South African based organisation that fights for the human rights of sex workers and advocates for the full decriminalisation of sex work. She and her team works to create platforms and capacitate sex workers to advocate for their rights and ensure when rights are violated, there is recourse. Her passion is lies in creative activism and the experimental melding of fantasy and reality, of art and activism, in an attempt to imagine and enact what a more equal and just world might look like. Another side passion, is being a sustained thorn in the side of the South African Department of Justice.