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Media Statement

27 November 2019

Feminism is real and undoing patriarchy is achievable

Hundreds of women gathering in Johannesburg are celebrating the achievements of feminist-organisation and activism at the 10th Anniversary Conference of the Rural Women\’s Assembly (RWA).

Up to 500 women from 11 Southern African countries converged on Johannesburg since the weekend for this week\’s conference, with members of the RWA travelling in caravans from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Lesotho and South Africa. They were joined by sisters from Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and Madagascar.

At the opening of the conference yesterday, key note speakers reflected on a “Transformative feminist agenda for the countryside”, urging women to continue to dream to imagine another world beyond money, materialism and the capitalist mode of production.

In an opening video presentation, world renowned Indian activist and author Vandana Shiva, warned that rural lands were increasingly under attack by big capitalists. The attack comes in the form of land grabs, evictions, mining concessions, displacement of communities, rezoning and fencing off land.

“We know the seed and the food that comes from it belong to women, but how many of these corporations are led by women? We know that rural women hold the knowledge, but where are women\’s inputs into rural and agrarian policies and strategies?” said Shiva.

Another guest speaker, Moema Miranda, speaking via an Internet link-up from Brazil, congratulated the RWA on it\’s decade of feminist activisim and mobilizing.

“The capitalists are trying to tell us there are no alternatives. We\’re saying there is hope. What you\’re doing is crucial for all the world, not just for your families, countries, regions, but important for us too here in Latin America. We need to share and rebuild,” she said.

Other sessions on the first day of the conference examined issues such as patriarchy and violence, feminist agro-ecology, eco-sufficiency and eco-resource democracy as well as, rethinking notions of land and seed.

“We don\’t want to build a hierarchical organisation, but one that is feminist. This conference attempts to combine all parts of us. We don\’t only live in our heads. We live through our hands, our song, our bodies and culture,” said Mercia Andrews, co-director of the Trust for Community Outreach and Education, and one of the convening organisations of the RWA.

The conference involves plenary sessions in the morning, and then teach-in sessions focusing on the one hand on critical engagements on some key issues, and on the other hand, on practical skills building for women.

Some of the practical teach-in sessions over the next three days will involve making solar stoves, making own sanitary towels, bead making, medicinal herbs and preparing remedies and, charcoal making among others.

Delegates will on Thursday November 28, engage in a dialogue with various regional government representatives on the Climate Crisis. They will also hand over a memorandum of demands from the various country caravans.

DETAILS OF THE EVENT:
Date: 26 – 28 NOVEMBER 2019
Venue: Wits Sport Conference Centre, Raikes Rd, Johannesburg

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS PLEASE CONTACT:

Suzall Timm on 062 962 2797
saruralwomen@gmail.com

or

Nomonde Phindani on 083 426 8250