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Description
My feminist salaams to you and to all our FOREMOTHERS, who struggled for hundreds of years to get us where we are today.
I was here in 1985 for the international women's conference, an amazingly energising experience! I was also here two years ago, in a meeting of a women's group in a working class area of Mombasa. We all had to introduce ourselves, and every time a woman started speaking, she said, "Wakina Mama Hai!" The whole group answered with energy, "Hai!" I asked what they were saying. I was told that every time a woman spoke, she asked, "Are you women with me?" "Are you listening?" And they said, "Yes, we are with you!"
That was a preparation for a genuine dialogue--based on listening, deep communication, and communion where we open our hearts and speak with honesty.
So I ask you friends, "Wakina Mama Hai?" Are you listening with your hearts? Are you open enough to make this Feminist Dialogue a genuine dialogue?
Let me share another story. A leader of an indigenous group was asked, "Tell us, wise one, what are the three most important things in life?" She thought for a long while, then said that the first important thing in life is PEOPLE. Again, she pondered and said, the second important thing is PEOPLE, and the third important thing is also PEOPLE.
Democracy or the rule of people is a system that also believed in people, but from the very beginning the notion of people excluded some categories, e.g., slaves and women. Only propertied men were considered people. Even today, propertied men control most democracies.
Liberal democracy turned the rule of people into rule by representatives of people. In societies with deep class, caste, race, and gender inequalities, leaders have seldom represented the majority of people or worked for their well-being. Indeed, the elites have ruled to safeguard their own interests and have excluded the majority social classes.
Exclusion has been the NORM, the exclusion of all dominated, exploited, and hated groups. Today, women and dalits, indigenous people in many societies, people of colour, and sexual minorities are still struggling to be recognised as persons with human rights.
You remember that old feminist postcard which said, "Feminism is the Radical Notion that Women Are People." Unfortunately, we still have to repeat this ridiculous notion.
Today, legally, women are considered people in most societies but they are severely under-represented in all decision-making bodies. This under-representation and exclusion, women share with other subordinate groups.
Today, our liberal democracies are not only controlled by local elites, male or female. They are hijacked by global elites from a handful of money-rich countries and corporations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation (WTO),... |
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