The
conference outputs exceeded my expectations. Linking with women
activists from different countries, dialoguing on peace processes in
different parts of the world and engaging in exchanges of information
(and food recipes) created new sources of inspirations, and left me
oozing with renewed enthusiasm and energies.
Every
morning I woke up early, and hungrily drank the beauty of the
country, I so much wanted to gulp as much as my body could carry,
because I wanted to take parts of this beautiful country back home.
In the evening, I walked with women from different parts of the
world, women I had never met, we bonded and created trust, and we
shared knowledge and allowed ourselves to just be. Sisterhood became
global. During the sessions, we took stock of what today’s
peace implies and what feminist peace activism is. We lamented the
rise of militarism combined with fundamentalisms – cultural,
Jewish, Muslim and Christian - neo liberalism, social and political
violence, violence against women, rise in poverty, LBTI phobia and
growing violence and racism towards migrant workers, asylum seekers
and refugees. We cried, we sang, we danced, ate, drank and in
between committed to continue the struggle, raise our voices and
develop our movements more than ever. It was a magic.
I was on a panel whose topic was ‘Women’s movements
and democratic participation’. In my contribution, I
highlighted the many multiple conflicts scourging the African region,
how in Africa women are fighting over the masculinisation of the
political environment, but also how women on the continent are
rejecting military governments, coup d’états and
scores of violent conflicts. I shared the work we have been doing on
the continent right from women participating in peace building in
Somalia, Tanzania
Gender Networking Projects’ inclusive movement
building initiative, to women redefining governance and citizenship
through the African
Feminist Forum. During the discussion, it was clear
that women all over the world constantly live the balancing act of
being victims and agents for change; instrumentalized and dissident,
survivors and activists. The discussion was revealing in terms of the
work we do in Africa through EASSI
as we are always confronted with the challenges of victims turned
activists, returning to their community and being shunned by the men
and leaders as prostitutes as happened in Rwanda, Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
The
session generated a lot of information which proved to be of great
value to me in my work and to other feminist activists in Africa.
Guatemala provided new openings for me and for other sisters on the
continent. A concrete outcome from Guatemala is that last year, 2012,
a group of women from the Middle East visited Africa and there was
rich dialogue. There was an in depth exchange of knowledge, deep
listening and exposure to women's realities. We created bonds of
trust, mutual understanding and a longterm commitment to share
workable solutions and to develop information-gathering tools to enable us
to understand how to politicize women’s call for peace that
looks like peace, that feels like peace and that works for all. More
important, we realized that our own African experience of war and
other violent conflicts on the continent certainly parallels that of
the Middle East women’s experiences.
The
meeting in Guatemala had a nourishing and healing effect. The
exchange of knowledge and strategies fostered mutual
understanding of each other’s realities; it enriched
and triggered novel ideas. I returned home with new skills which I
needed to cope with today’s peace processes in my country and
the continent. I came with fresh energy and worked with other
activists to re-think our strategies for local action based on some
of the knowledge I acquired.
NB:
I forgot to tell you that I made sure that I shook hands with each of
the Nobel Laureates. After shaking hands, I spent a day
without washing my hands!
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