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Facilitating Safe Spaces for Womxn in Indonesia
By Theresia Siti, community organiser, IndonesiaĀ  I joined FAMM Indonesia (Young Indonesian Women Activistsā€™ Forum) during their intergenerational meeting and Movement Building Institute (MBI) in 2010. Initially, I received an invitation from the director of…
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Learning from the Indigenous Womxn of Lou Bawe
ByĀ Yuliana, community organiser,Ā East Kalimantan, Indonesia When I decided to migrate from Sulawesi to East Kalimantan, the people around me said ā€œbe careful of the Dayaks, they like to cut off peopleā€™s heads.ā€ Their message stuck…
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The Change is Here: From Words to Voices, From Present to Future
By Vevi Alfi Maghfiroh, young journalist, Indonesia   I was born in Indamayuā€™s coastal region, and for me, my birthplace decides the kind of path that I have to walk on every single day. Since…
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Everyday is women’s day
A conversation with Makoma Lekalakala, Earthlife AfricaĀ  What is the state of organising by women in your sector and context? I respect women, particularly South African women because they donā€™t ever wait for Womenā€™s Day…
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Guatemala Faces a Critical Juncture
* Photograph credit: Saul Martinez/ ReutersĀ  By Laura Carlsen, Edited by the JASS MesoamĆ©rica Team Guatemala is teetering on the brink following the surprising results of the first round of elections on June 25, where…
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International Womenā€™s Day in Mexico City: A mega-march against the patriarchy
By Laura Carlsen   The International Women’s Day march in Mexico City was one of the largest in the world in recent years. After receding during the pandemic, the traditional mobilisation returned in 2023 stronger…
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Every coup dā€™Ć©tat comes to an end
By Daysi Flores Every June 28 gets its November 28: that was the phrase that was popularly used to describe what happened in Honduras last November 28, when the Honduran people, full of a stubborn…
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Lutong Baybay (Seaside Recipes): Feeding our Resistance
In July 2021, the City Council of Dumaguete (Negros Oriental, Philippines) approved a motion that would pave the way for the construction of a 174-hectare reclamation project. Various groupsā€”scientists, environmentalists, fisherfolk, several youth and progressive…
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Why anti-racist struggles are critical for our liberation
An interview with Phumi Mtetwa,Ā Regional Director, JASSĀ Southern Africa To mark 21 March, The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (also observed as Human Rights Day in South Africa), JASS sat down with Phumi…
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What’s LIBERATION without play?
A riddle:Ā  What is more powerful than power?Ā Ā  As the oceans boil, and the hurricanes beat violently against our shores, and the air sweats with the heat of impending doom, and our fists protest the…
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Learning virtually: the Honduran Feminist Alquimia School in the time of pandemic
To MarĆ­a, Daysi, Laura, Brenda, Paty and Carme, alchemist sisters COVID-19 has disrupted all our lives to levels that we would never have imagined. We traded shared coffee and conversation in our organizationsā€™ safe spaces…
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One Day, One Voice 2020: PEOPLE ARE THE SOLUTION! CELEBRATING MOVEMENT BUILDING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
This year, we are proud to be celebrating the 10th year of JASSā€™ annual regional campaign One Day, One Voice (ODOV), which aims to unite the initiatives of women across Southeast Asia around the 16…
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Whatā€™s Next for Malawiā€™s New Dawn?
A few weeks ago, chief opposition leader, Lazarus Chakwera was appointed as the new president of Malawi, generating new expectations and renewed hope. Following the election, we asked our allies to reflect on the significance…
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Standing Up as a Feminist Activist in Cambodia is not Easy!
Like many women of my generation, when I was younger, I never asked myself why women and girls live under the control of men. Or why women have less value than men in all aspects…
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Our Bodies, Our Lives (and ICTs!)
ā€œI now know how to use a tablet which is not a norm in Malawi because [many believe] tablets cannot and should not be used by a local woman like me,ā€ says woman activist leader…
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Rebelling for the Right to Education
ā€œWhen youā€™re an ā€˜activistā€™ you are labelled all sorts of things, [you are seen as someone] who is ā€˜rebelliousā€™,ā€ says long-time Zimbabwean student rights activist, Evernice Munando.  Students across the globe are rising up and…
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Malawi: How far have women come?
A Look at Positive Womenā€™s Organising in Malawi, 2005 to 2014 It is hard to conceive the magnitude of what Malawian women activist leaders with whom JASS works and the hundreds of women they represent…
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Authentic Movements need Authentic Efforts
In recent weeks, much global activism has focused on action towards justice for the over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in April this year. Under the broad banner of ā€˜Bring Back Our Girlsā€™,…
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Searching for the ‘A-ha!’ Moments: A Chat with Pat Made
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…
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Building from the ā€˜Iā€™ to the ā€˜Weā€™
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. It couldnā€™t come at a more pressing time…
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On Women’s Agency & Feminist Alternatives in Southern Africa
I read Ngugi wa Thiongoā€™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…
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Not another Soldier on our Streets
Mahatma Gandhi used to say, ā€œWhat is obtained with violence can only be maintained with violenceā€. It is with violence that the power elite successfully kidnapped democracy in our country. As much as they have…
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Feminist Social Struggles in a Globalised World: What Malawiā€™s Women Have to Teach Us
Written by Dr Simukai Chigudu JASSā€™ work in Malawi has many lessons to teach about activating the energy women have and opening safe spaces for them to interrogate issues of power, organize collectively and demand…
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Fanning the Flames of Feminist Activism in Zambia
Sometimes you just donā€™t know where things will end up. In 2009, JASS held a series of movement building institutes (MBIs) in Southern Africa that were attended by feminist activists in the region. These institutes…
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Movement Buildersā€™ Blood, Sweat and Tears
The Philippines has a strong nationalist movement and I grew up in this context.  Movements and movement building are not novel concepts for me.  The Filipino counterpart of movement is kilusan; I learned this word…
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What’s in a Partnership?
“You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child. Well it takes many people to build a movement.” At least that’s what we re-discovered over the three days JASS Southern Africa…
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Step by Step: Honduran Feminists March for People’s Sovereignty
When life can only be half-lived, itā€™s hard to keep hope. When soldiers, churches, governments, death, crime and fear all conspire to choke off life like the heavy blow of the midday sun or a…
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Womenā€™s Peace in Liberia
Twenty-six women ā€“ Liberian and their visitors ā€“ several small children and a few men are pressed into the round, mud-walled hut. The Liberians wear matching bright yellow lapas (cloth wrap) and white T-shirts with…
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The Unshakeable Spirit
ā€œFor me, cancer is a rite of passage ā€“ from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy, from despair to hope, from confusion to enlightenment.  Above all, from clinging to self-pride to warming up to…
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Still a Long Way to Go for Malaysian Women?
There is no need for a womenā€™s rights movement in Malaysia. This recent pronouncement of Malaysiaā€™s Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has earned the ire of feminists and social activists in Malaysia.  Ironically, Prime Minister…
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Malawi: 10 things we would write about if we had the time
After a whirlwind of activity over roughly 14 days, we leave Malawi bone-tired but also excited about the depth and breadth of JASS’ work, our partnerships with MANERELA+ and women leaders from a wide spectrum…
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One Step Forward: Filipino Women Protest against the New Anti-Cybercrime Law
Young women activists are posting their comments on the “freedom wall” during  a protest action in Manila. The womenā€™s movement in the Philippines, along with social movements that have been actively campaigning to repeal the new anti-cybercrime…
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Moo-vement building in Malawi
The dusty roads twist and turn. The setting sun signals the end of another day. The roads are chock full of mini busses ferrying weary workers home, street side sellers with tomatoes, ground nuts, sweet…
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Where did all the “bad women” go?
Musasa-JASS Wellbeing Circle in Zimbabwe. What makes a ā€œbad womanā€? Does she laugh too loudly or speak out of turn, drink too hard or dance all the time, have too much sex or no sex…
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Our Love
                    I love you not for your skin or how your hair done I love you not for your face or how you dress yourself I…
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What is Theory of Change (TOC) thinking and its added value for social change movements?
Within the past five years ā€œtheory of changeā€ has been promoted and popularized by some of the worldā€™s largest charitable foundations as a way for social change organizations to describe and evaluate their work. Look…
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A Brief Virtual Discussion on “NGO-isationā€ and its discontents
Hope Chigudu said: NGO-isation? I am not sure that I know what this term means but what I know is that there is a way in which we do things as NGOs that makes some…
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Young Timorese Women Clear Up Confusion around LGBTI
How does a woman have sex with another woman? Can a transgender person change both their internal and external sexual organs? Why would a gay person marry someone of the opposite sex and have children…
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Taking the Power Within and Crossing the Line: Reflections from JASS in Malawi
Hope Chigudu shares reflections about building womenā€™s voice in Malawi and powerful stories of the ways in which grassroots women internalize the power framework and use it to challenge, resist and rebel against various forms…
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Wise Advice for Activists from Ugandan Sex Workers
In time for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, Hope Chigudu shares lessons learned from our sisters – activists, sex workers, feminists in Uganda…   They hate writing. They like music, dance and…
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JASS SEA: Strengthening Solidarity and Sisterhood
JASS SEA women from Cambodia, East Timor, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia are in Bandung, Indonesia for a regional political planning focused on strengthening and amplifying the alternative agendas produced by grassroots organizing and young feminist…
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Live Radio Broadcast from Guatemala: Indigenous Women Exercising Their Right to Communicate
Right now I am privileged to be in Guatemala, as part of a team hosting this fabulous gathering of Indigenous women from all over Mesoamerica. Members of JASS and Sinergia NĆ³j will be sharing our…
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Learning to Live Under Dictatorship Without Accepting It
JASS Mesoamerica Team + Feminist in Resistance, Tegucigalpa, Honduras Ever since I can remember, my country has had democratic governments. That is, until now. We have always been told that democracy is the way to…
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How Hondurasā€™s Military Coup Gave Birth to Feminist Resistance
Adelay Carias is a Honduran feminist, researcher and writer, member of Feminists in Resistance and Las Petateras, and a contributor to the Center for International Policy’s Americas Program. I remember the coup dā€™Ć©tat as if…
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Photos from the US Social Forum
Ā  JASS’ Maggie Mapondera in action – and some eye-catching images and slogans at the Social Forum. Thanks, Nani, for the photos!
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JASS at the US Social Forum
Weā€™re in Detroit where more than 8000 grassroots and union organizers and activists of all stripes are debating, performing, strategizing. Itā€™s an awesome multigenerational, multiracial, multi-everything mix with great vibes, smart politics and incredible T-shirts.…
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JASS is like jazz
When I think of JASS, the first thing that comes to mind is jazz music. Travis Jackson describes jazz music as ā€œswinging, improvising, group interaction, developing an ā€˜individual voiceā€™ and being ā€˜openā€™ to different musical…
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If this is not feminism, then what is?
Movement building in Rumphi, Tiwonge Gondweā€™s village (Tiwonge has been part of JASS movement building in Southern Africa from 2007) As Sindi and I drove to Tiwonge’s town in Rumphi, northern Malawi, the light was…
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So that you know – more from Malawi
At the 11th AWID International Forum on Womenā€™s Rights and Development (November 14, 2008, in Cape Town), Geeta Misra painted the landscape for ā€˜The Power of Movementsā€™ by suggesting five common elements amongst movements: a…
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The Springing Up of Herbs and Passions
This time we moved from the workshop rooms to the communities. We are humbly learning from the experience of the those who live on the margin, from their perspective, from their perseverance, from their assertiveness,…
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Give Them Wings to Fly: Crossing the Line in Zambia
A dozen young women have converged on the Protea Hotel Cairo Road in Lusaka, as JASS (Just Associates) Southern Africa continues with the process of movement-building in Zambia. This part of the process is Leadership…
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Age Matters: A JASS Discussion Paper
How can we truly engage all generations in our movements? We all have something valuable to offer, no matter what our age, and yet the ageism that often blocks us has not been explicitly addressed.…
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Reflections on the Asia-Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15
by Mikas Matsuzawa Recently, I attended the Beijing+15 Asia Pacific NGO Forum held at the Miriam College here in the Philippines. It was my first time to participate in such an event, and my first…
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Give me back my movement!
ā€œWe must involve the bosses. We can not move without them. The bosses are our partners. Many of them are just victims of the system too. Most of the employers mean well. All we need…
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I Am My Sisterā€™s Keeper!
Our lives are written on our bodies. Sisters! Women living with HIV who are leaders in the AIDS movement in their communities in Malawi came together for the start of a four-day workshop organized by…
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Our Feminist Ancestors
Last week during the Sea Change Feminist Leadership School, participants created a mural of their ā€œfeminist ancestors,ā€ women who have influences their lives as feminists and as women who cross the line. Many people brought…
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Mar de Cambios Panama
Here we are in Panama — 33 women from Mexico, Central America and the US sharing and deepening our understanding of power and patriarchy with all the passion and creativity that our collective energy and…
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Three Seasons in Nairobi
We are almost there, making shape out of the confusion, enduring the pain, but loving each other as sisters, as we build and undo and rebuild, and we start seeing the shape of our Southern…
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A View from Fairview
As the 8 women in the planning meeting go to their rooms to retire for the night , I reflect on the day’s proceedings. What have we achieved, what are we going to do, where…
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JASS Strategic Planning in Nairobi – Reflections
It has been a long and intense day, emotionally draining – but in the spirit of strategizing for Southern Africa Women’s Movement Building as JMBs, it was well worth it. The honesty that is not…
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Reflections from JASS Southern Africa Planning
As I end the day, I would like to share my thoughts on the process on Planning for the Southern African Region.It has been an interesting process to be involved in, its shaping and defining…
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Las Petateras at the Feminist Forum in Mexico City
  JASS and Las Petateras are participating actively in the 11th Feminist Forum in Mexico City. The 6th Feminist Transformation Watch began with Radio Petatera, a radio program broadcast on Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE).…
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Encuentro Feminista in Mexico City!
JASS and our Mesoamerican allies, Las Petateras, are attending the 11th Feminist Forum in Mexico City. Martha Sanchez, an indigenous leader from Mexico, carried the opening plenary with her outspoken and fiery commentary. The 6th…
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International Women’s Day: Still a long way to go!
Not yet Uhuru! March 8 was International Womenā€™s Day. This is a day marked to ā€˜celebrate women and recognize the great role they play in the worldā€™. Women are not just women they are mothers,…
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the voice of a grassroots woman
From AWID, I have learnt on how to strengthen women’s organisations and to bring solidality on womens movement in our regions and our countries and documentation is important. To make sure that we are  achieving…
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JASS Crossregional Dialogue 2008: Workshop
By Wala The meeting was explosive with different ideas from diverse women across the globe. It was an enriching and eye opening experience. It also challenged me as a woman and as an activist to…
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Crossing the line at the African Feminist Forum
Commonwealth Munyonyo, Kampala was this year graced with the presence of at least 150 African women feminists who got together to continue with the feminist revolution. Throughout the 4 days women from at least 29…
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From the Global Village and Opening Ceremony, AIDS 2008
 I’m sharing this space with my friend and sister activist, Sindi Blose, from Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa. She won’t mention the fact that she did an extraordinary job of rocking the Global Village this…
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