Résonances Africaines - April 2008

Editorial

Viviane [this month’s portrait] and Lucie, two African women, describe their daily battle to obtain respect for human rights. One of them lives in a war-torn country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the other in a country under reconstruction, Burundi. They describe the same scene: violence as a weapon of war or of terror, and in all cases, daily violence towards women and children. They describe their experience with words, and sometimes with silence. Eloquent silence when words do not suffice to describe injustice, bitterness and feelings of deprivation. But silence itself becomes guilty when it prevents justice and respect for the dignity of thousands of women whose most basic rights are ignored.

Their method of resistance? Non-violence. These women, who deal in the law, like the young community mediators [this month’s Testimony], are all agreed about the necessity for peace. Their fights for justice employ the same method: non-violence.

As we have witnessed, these acts of peaceful resistance extend across the entire African continent, from the civic disobedience of women living in war zones to projects aiming to restore a true social link and a respected place for woman in society. L’Association pour la promotion de l’entreprenariat féminin (Association for the promotion of woman entrepreneurship), in South-Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo), aspires to establish women as fully-fledged players in economic and social development, most particularly by giving them access to training and micro-credit. In Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda, this is a time of reconstruction, giving women the opportunity to reaffirm their role as pillars of society and to command respect for this role.

This resistance to violence, as shown by Lucie, Viviane and many other African women, often at risk to their own lives, is exemplary and brings hope to all those who are engaged throughout the world in the defense of the oppressed.

Elise Reslinger,
Frères des Hommes

CONTRIBUTIONS

Togo : Elorm Kokou Amegadze, Elise Esso - Afrique du Sud: Silumko Radebe, Teboho Nkhensy - Cameroun : Pascal Nkwe Makongo - Burundi : Gilbert Mussumba, Lucie Nizigama - Mali : Alhassane Dicko, Ousmane Diarra, Sidi Mohamed Simpara - RDC : Viviane Kitété - Bénin : Constance Facia, Laurence Sossa, Ghislain Agboton - France : Anne-Marie Diény, Christine Voissière, Elise Reslinger, Lisa Quaas, Maia Levasseur, Raúl Montero, Roukayatou Adamou Souna, Valentine Solignac, Yves Altazin
English translation : Frédérique L’Huiller, Juliet Tyson, Priscilla Kwatia, Sandrine Gouallier, Rosine Vignal

PARTICIPATING / SOUTH AFRICA

Is it a crime to wear a miniskirt?
“We like our minis”, “there are no shortcuts in women’s rights”. These were the messages written on banners by hundreds of men and women, who demonstrated hand in hand in March 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa. This demonstration took place after an attack on a young woman by a taxi driver, simply because she was wearing a miniskirt. Remmoho Women’s Forum and People Opposing Women’s Abuse, organised two demonstrations of support, in order to raise awareness of women’s’ rights, still fragile in this country. Thousands of women use cabs every day, a lot of them have to face drivers’ insults, sexist stickers, sexual abuse and sometimes even rape because their clothes are considered indecent. These acts, more and more frequent over the past 10 years, are rarely the subject of police investigations, nor are they denounced by the media.