The Power of Movements in Cape Town
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| Fikile Vilakazi, director of Coalition of African Lesbians leading the 1 in 9 March. Organized by the 1 in 9 Campaign (only one out of every nine rape survivors report the attack to the police), the march called for an end to gender-based violence. Several hundred strong, conference attendees joined local organizers to deliver a memorandum to end violence to the premier of the Western Cape. Marchers carried signs such as “stop the war on women’s bodies” and the names of human rights defenders who had been abused, imprisoned or assassinated. |
An Astraea grantee partner from Meem (Lebanon), stood at the podium at the opening plenary of the 11th AWID conference, The Power of Movements, held in Cape Town, South Africa. In a speech deftly weaving humor with gravity, she asserted to nearly 2,000 feminist activists from 144 countries that the feminist movement cannot call itself feminist without lesbians and transgender people. With over 160 sessions, she urged participants to engage with something they knew nothing about. The four days of plenary speeches, interactive sessions, workshops and debates that followed brought home the conference theme that “When people struggle together, what was once unimaginable suddenly becomes possible.”
This is exactly what Astraea’s work is about. Central to Astraea’s mission is the collaboration necessary to build movements, whether linking grantees and donors across regions or pooling donations large and small to make real impact. Thanks to Astraea colleagues, staff, and nearly 40 grantee partners from every continent, LGBTI people had more visibility at the forum than ever before. We were invigorated by the insight of colleagues and the breadth and depth of the global movement. Astraea grantee partners led provocative sessions on issues ranging from the politics of translation to the struggles of queer women in South Asia. Astraea collaborated with colleagues and donors on panels about women in conflict and social justice feminist funding that is at the core of Astraea’s work.
In between the formal discussions, personal connections built bridges. Over breakfast, Astraea staff began a casual conversation with staff from a women’s organization in Angola. Swiftly, questions about LGBTI lives were being discussed passionately in Portuguese. Later, these same women attended Astraea grantee partner Coalition of African Lesbians’ (CAL) intense and passionate session, Speaking Out Against Homophobic Hate in Africa. The session laid bare how crucial and desperately needed, even among feminists, is the daily work of Astraea grantee partners and colleagues around the globe. It became even clearer how fundamentalisms seek to divide us by concealing our connections.
After the session, in a demonstration of inter-regional movement building, CAL mobilized a large contingent to attend Towards Building an Arab LGBT movement. The session was so full that the doors were left open to accommodate those listening from the hallway. Astraea grantee partners Aswat—Palestinian Gay Women (Israel) and Meem (Lebanon) shared both personal accounts and sharp analysis of the isolation, violence, and little access to resources they faced.
As a snapshot of the global women’s movement, the AWID forum was a whirlwind four days that forged and deepened connections across region, race, gender, ability, sexuality and class—all of which are issues that drive Astraea’s work. The celebration of accomplishments and the recognition of all that still needs to be done only increased the resolve to keep working for the world we know is possible—if we continue in our commitment to make it together.
