Zimbabwe

"I've never engaged in this kind of writing before. I've given my testimonies to other people. But I have never tried to put it on paper for myself so that others can learn from my experiences," says Malawian activist Mirriam Munthali at the first JASS Southern Africa Regional Writeshop.

“In Zimbabwe we are anticipating elections and a referendum in 2013, and previously our experience has been that women face rape and sexual violence in these circumstances,” says Tariro Tandi of the Musasa Project, a JASS partner that focuses on violence against women in Zimbabwe.

JASS’ widely-recognizable symbol speaks right to the heart of women across the region. From rural activists in Northern Malawi to young women in Lusaka, the call to “cross the lines” of inequality and oppression rings true. See JASS SNA in action.

Last month, a young woman stepped out of a Harare club for air, and was arrested by a plainclothes policeman on a charge of loitering and soliciting. She spent the night in a cell at the police station. A week later, writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga, was interrogated by police while waiting for friends at a restaurant. In Zimbabwe, women across the spectrum are apprehended nightly by the police under the auspices of the Criminal Law Act (2004), a far reaching tool of government repression covering everything from national security to ‘public morals’. “It’s about policing women’s bodies,” says Winnet Shamuyarira, an activist organizer.