Masi, Jamu and I
wave our hands to the President.
The windows of his limo
are tinted
and are always closed.
The motorcade travels fast
but Masi and Jamu say
the President waves back.

We wave our hands
every time the motorcade passes
in the hope it will stop
to drop a coin.

But we hear
the chauffeur does not know
the ‘Give-way’ sign
nor the ‘Stop’ sign.

~ Julius Chingono, Zimbabwean poet, 1996

I received an email about an interactive discussion under the theme Feminist Currents. I quite like the concept of currents. That individuals tap into ideas, debate, and formulate expressions around various issues. In these spaces individual and collective thought processes foster intellectual growth and abilities to envision and act on long-term strategies for the redress of injustices. In Zimbabwe there are currents which desire political change – and in my mind, they are feminist currents.

The interactive discussion proposed to examine feminist currents through posing questions, including: Was Elizabeth Edwards right when she claimed her husband (democratic candidate John Edwards) was more of a feminist than Hillary Clinton? Who should Black women support: Obama or Clinton? These two questions got me thinking about what feminism is all about and why it’s often a taboo word in Zimbabwe. Seems to me the taboo-ness is a result of narrowly equating feminism to a singular (Western) line of thought only concerning (white) women. More accurately, feminisms concern men, women, and children regardless of the colour of their skin. They seek to represent a range of voices which outline affinities and differences while also attending to the sundry mixture of divergences and paradoxes to build more pliable understandings of and solutions to complex issues within the human condition. Simply put, feminisms are lines of thinking. They are expansive, inclusive, attentive to diversity, and vibrant currents aiming to advance positive change. A poem by Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network serves as a useful reminder of what is meant by feminist currents and the ways they are visionary. The poem was published by Pambazuka and is entitled Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Women. The opening stanza is as follows:

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark ! in one
Women lives full of thus
Patriarchy domineering , feminism under backlash
Women have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this men’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Women lives punctuated, back and forth

Yes, Makoni’s poem focuses on women. However, the stanza above and the piece overall articulates feminist currents which are about change as well as the ideas, hopes, dreams, and intellect pertaining to peace and equality. I made a few word changes in the poem to further emphasis the relevance feminist currents hold in Zimbabwe and the world over.

Promises, Choices, Spaces: Voices for Zimbabweans

Ever seen a four every word punctuated title?
Question mark? comma, full stop. exclamation mark! in one
Zimbabwean lives full of thus
Patronage domineering, equality under backlash
Citizens have negotiated, still negotiate, will ever negotiate
Promises promised, never premised
Spaces shrunk, voices thwarted
Seems this government’s world, makes and breaks laws
Makes and breaks promises
Too many lives punctuated, back and forth

A local NGO based in Harare is taking on the subject of Sex. Here’s some information, and a call for participation in their new project.

Have you ever felt so awkward asking your doctor about sex that you found yourself using all sorts of euphemisms and left the poor practitioner confused? Does the mention of the word “sex” make you want to run for cover or sizzle in anticipation? International Video Fair (IVF) will be exploring these and other questions in its Sex In the City documentary and is calling for men and women aged between 22 and 60 years to be participants. Whether you are worldly wise, old, young, religious, non-religious, an activist, not an activist, well known or “ordinary”, come and help unearth what the city of Harare really thinks about sex.

IVF, a non-profit regional organisation that uses mobile cinema and video as tools for social transformation, invites you to take part in stimulating discussions on what people think and do when it comes to sex and sexuality. These hot topics will be explored and recorded in an exciting, innovative way over 3-5 days in a great location in/around Harare. Transport to and from the location will be provided and participants will have to commit to the full 3-5 filming days, inclusive of nights. All meals and accommodation will be provided and a participants’ fee is included. Participants will be required to sign release forms for the documentary film, which will be screened locally and regionally.

IVF operates in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The organisation’s vision is a Southern Africa where communities are able to access and impart to others, information and knowledge that can enhance social transformation. Sex In the City is an IVF project and conducted as part of the Zimbabwe Film Practitioners Joint Programme funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Harare. For more details, telephone IVF on 04-790515 / 797285 or click here for an email address. All applications must be received by Monday 30 June 2008.

Watching TV the other night I was horrified to see groups of South African men marching through townships in South Africa brandishing weapons of all descriptions from hammers through to axes, baying for the blood of foreigners living in South Africa. Equally horrifying were the images of members of the South African police force standing back nonchalantly watching victims writhe on the ground in pain from their assault.

These xenophobic attacks are appalling and unacceptable as are the daily high levels of violence that South African women experience in “the rainbow nation”.

Amnesty International, in their 2008 report on the state of the world’s human rights stated the following on South Africa:

High levels of sexual and other forms of violence against women continued to be reported.

According to police statistics, reported incidents of rape had decreased by 4.2 per cent over the previous six years. However, between April 2006 and March 2007, 52,617 rapes were reported. There were also 9,327 reported cases of “indecent assault” – including anal rape and other types of sexual assault which did not then fall within the definition of rape. In December new crime statistics for the period April to September 2007 included 22,887 reported rapes.

Police officials reported to Parliament that between July 2006 and June 2007, police recorded 88,784 incidents of “domestic violence” in terms of the 1998 Domestic Violence Act (DVA). The Department of Justice reported that over 63,000 protection orders were issued by the courts between April 2006 and March 2007. However, the ICD reported in November that of 245 police stations audited in 2006, only 23 per cent were compliant with their obligations under the DVA, ranging from none in Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces to all of those audited in the Western Cape.

Women experiencing violence and service-providing organizations told Amnesty International that while some police facilitated women’s access to protection orders, others referred complainants back to their families, or failed to seize dangerous weapons, or refused to take any steps unless the complainant laid criminal charges first.

When it comes to financial resources for HIV and AIDS the challenges are many. This is true all over the world and perhaps more profoundly in Zimbabwe. For example, the World Bank recently released a report entitled The World Bank’s Commitment to HIV and AIDS in Africa: Our Agenda for Action, 2007-2011

If you look in Appendix 8 entitled HIV Prevalence and Global Financing (for 44 African countries), you see that Zimbabwe has the fourth highest adult HIV prevalence rate (20.1%). However, when you look at total funds received from the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and the World Bank, Zimbabwe ranks 26th. Dating back to 2001, Zimbabwe has received US$50 Million from the Global Fund and no funding from either PEPFAR or the World Bank. Ethiopia has received the most funding from these three donors (US$1.1 billion), followed by Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Namibia is 10th with US$429 million.

One can surmise that there is politics behind Zimbabwe’s significantly lower funding; particularly when it comes to PEPFAR. Launched by George Bush in 2003, PEPFAR funds only 12 of the 44 countries listed in Appendix 8. In order of most money received these 12 countries are: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Namibia, Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire (the range is US$857 million to US$200 million). Despite these funding limitations, adult HIV prevalence rates in Zimbabwe have declined in the last few years.

As often is the case, it’s difficult to understand why prevalence declines. Behaviour change is usually the answer, but which behaviours? How do you document and measure behaviour change? More condoms? Less sex? Increased monogamy? Are self-reported changes accurate? Or do they capture intentions perhaps not actually fulfilled? All solid questions for investigation, yet, in my view, one of the most important questions involves reactions to death; that watching loved ones die potentially prompts behaviour change. Deaths also go beyond pinpointing reasons for behaviour change. I wonder how many dollars go to helping Zimbabweans cope with deaths? And I mean cope emotionally. Even if a figure were available, larger questions resonate: It is socially and culturally acceptable to speak about death? To discuss loss and pain? To express and share the complex process of grieving? The saying goes that everyone grieves in different ways; I get a sense more often than not, Zimbabweans grieve in silence. Only time will reveal the longer-term impacts of HIV and AIDS-related deaths (as well those related to political violence). Again, I mean emotional impacts.

When there are hesitancies to speak openly about death, I wonder too if there are hesitancies to speak openly about life. Natasha’s recent blog Desocialising the self touches on a discussion forum organised by the Musasa Project where people spoke about life’s challenges, largely in relation to lobola, patriarchy, and marriage/relationships in general. I attended the forum as well and a particular comment has been on my mind, one which seems to highlight hesitancies among Zimbabweans to delve into potentially emotionally-charged topics of why, specifically: Why something in life is the way it is?

A woman asked one of the men in attendance: If you had a car that didn’t work, what would you do? Without batting an eye, the man answered: Buy a new one. The woman followed up with: Really, you wouldn’t investigate why the car didn’t work? And then continued with an analogy. Seems then perhaps if your wife didn’t want to have sex you might be inclined to get a new one (wife) and not think to ask your wife why she didn’t want to have sex. The man didn’t disagree. Perhaps he felt on the spot, but still, true to the poignancy of the analogy, the man said nothing. After some laughter that the analogy (unintentionally) equated women to non-functioning cars, the discussion continued following a line of thinking about both desocialising you self away from harmful practices and the importance of resocialising your self to better confront the many why questions life entails, including the complex and emotionally-charged ones.

The Musasa Project as a follow up to a previous discussion on why educated and economically empowered women stay in abusive marriages last week hosted a discussion on how men manipulate women into blaming themselves for their failed marriages. The dominant themes revolved around issues of lobola (bride-price), socialisation and the question of patriarchy.

Lobola that in principle is supposed to be a token that’s paid to the woman’s parents is now practically viewed as a return on investment. Bride-price is now so exorbitant it often feels like the woman is being sold to the highest bidder. The discussion raised the point that this creates resentment in the marrying husband that may manifest later on in the marriage. For instance the husband may use that against the wife with the excuse that since he paid for her, she has no right to refuse him anything, especially conjugal rights.

Women also largely blamed the way they were and continue to be socialised by society and especially, other womenfolk in the form of aunts and mothers. They are told from early childhood the male is the head, is always rights and that everything they do should be to please the husband. It emerges that women are the primary socialisers as well the gatekeepers of patriarchy. In essence this means women are the main oppressors of other women.

The former is a dimension that goes largely goes unexplored because in a way it is deemed inconceivable, that women themselves are the major culprits. For starters, the word manipulate itself is quite vague and rather broad. I mean, it is hard to imagine how men sit down to plan and strategise how to subordinate their women to such an extent that they end up blaming themselves and not finding any fault with their husbands.

I believe that no one can do to you what you haven’t already done to yourself. It becomes a question of the concept of self, self- esteem and choice. Most women do not want to realise the fact that they have a choice. Most are addicted to approval and will not fulminate against societal expectations that oppress them. Some feel they just have to be married in order to have a sense of self and social standing.

On the issue of lobola, admittedly it has really gone out of hand. These days, anyone who plans to marry starts saving up for the occasion, in US dollars so that by the time they have enough, it will not have been eroded by inflation. If at some point in history a goat or one cow was sufficient to take in a wife, surely parents of today are distorting culture for personal financial gain. This is only counterproductive in the sense that it is their daughter who ends up taking the heat. In this one instance, I think the NIPC becomes a valid entity. If lobola issues are what cause disharmony later on in some marriages, then I think price regulations in this regard are well worth exploring, maybe under the domestic violence act.

At the end of it all, if we really cared about our women, it becomes important to desocialise ourselves of a whole lot of norms and societal expectations that play a subtle yet crucial role in later oppressing them in their married lives. There is need to instil new family values among which boy and girl children are seen and treated as equals, even if it starts with having boys also scrubbing floors and dishes. I believe this goes a long way in inculcating a sense of appreciation and respect of what women stand for on the part of men. I believe that a young man who grows up seeing his sister being the cook and the cleaner while he sits will at a later stage view his wife in the same way. He will not be moved to help or at least appreciate the tiring work she does simply because he was socialised to believe that’s the way its supposed to be, and this is one of the major problems faced in marriage.

I believe it is crucial to desocialise the husband-wife relationship from being a master- servant one to that one of friendship. Friends respect and treat each other as equals.

It is also crucial for society to recognise and respect women who have left failed marriages to stand on their own, not to treat them as outcasts while pinning various derogatory epithets on them for making such bold moves. They have already paid the price to be different.

Above all, it is important for women themselves to learn to feel for each other, instead of encouraging each other to hold on where things are obviously not working. They need to realise that their happiness is important too and that they have a right, as well as a choice to enjoy bodily integrity. Instead of blaming the men for manipulating them, it may do some good to do a little self-criticism because it is they that allow them to get away with it. If at all it is the case that men do somehow manipulate women, the fact that the women themselves realise this should spur them into action that will stop any further manipulation.