By Laura Carlsen, "Our Power and Our Protection: Sharing Information and Knowledge on Extractivism," Antigua, Guatemala. May 21-23, 2018
By Laura Carlsen, "Our Power and Our Protection: Sharing Information and Knowledge on Extractivism," Antigua, Guatemala. May 21-23, 2018
Fungai Machirori, founder of Her Zimbabwe, sat down with fellow feminist journalist, Pat Made at the JASS Southern Africa Strategic Planning & Review to explore the ins and outs of communications for feminist movement building and the importance of getting people to talk differently so that they can think differently.
Niken Lestari relates the involvement of young Indonesian women of the JASS-inspired Forum Aktivis Perempuan Muda – Indonesia (FAMM-Indonesia) in the recent Indonesian legislative elections.
Where to start? … Over a week ago, I attended a dialogue—The Importance of Youth Leadership in Africa: A Discussion with Young African Leaders, hosted by Congresswoman Karen Bass. Catchy title, but I wish I could say the same about the discussion. I was excited and ready with my notebook and pen to write down juicy stuff but 15 minutes into the conversation, I had packed my notebook back in my bag while my right leg bounced up and down as l debated whether to stay for the rest of the discussion. If I was to summarize my reaction in one word, it would be: disappointment. “But why,” you ask? Aren’t you like an African youth?
For three days in Johannesburg, JASS has been asking the big questions for feminist movement building and activism in Southern Africa: where, what, who, why and how.
I read Ngugi wa Thiongo’s The Trial of Dedani Kimathi years back when I was still in lower secondary school. The character that sticks with me most since that time is the woman political activist who works to support the liberation movement. She smuggles a gun into the courtroom by storing it in a loaf of bread with its insides removed expertly for that purpose. She is an ordinary market woman but uses her agency as part of the formidable people’s liberation movement to unseat colonialism in Kenya. No one has taught the woman the skill, just as no one taught Gorky’s Mother how to organise the underground movement that supported the masses during the Russian Revolution.