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The Southern African Rural Women’s Assembly will host an international pan African virtual dialogue in honour of International Women’s Day.
 
The theme, NO to ALL forms of Violence, is meant to draw attention to how different types of patriarchal violence continues mostly unchallenged across the African continent and the rest of the world.
 
War and other forms of violent geopolitical conflicts over territory is not unlike the violence against women’s bodies daily. Women’s bodies are still experienced as disputed territories subject for conquest and domination by toxic masculinities. Ongoing violent conflicts and natural resource grabbing across Africa continues to displace countless families, with women and children bearing the brunt of this. Rural women are particularly hard hit by the violence of extractive industries, land grabs as well as the privatization of natural resources.
 
The recent invasion of Ukraine over territory, fueled by the arms industry, is another illustration that billions of US dollars is readily available for militarization. But political will to invest more resources for eradicating poverty and inequality, especially for women who were particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, remains weak. Inequality and poverty fuels Gender Based Violence as well as Femicide and governments across the world must devote the maximum resources at their disposal to more urgently address this.
 
While the media focus on the war in Ukraine is welcomed it is equally important that violence, confronting women on multiple fronts in the global South, benefits from a similar scrutiny if there is to be any hope of it being addressed. The poor, women and children are the main victims of this dangerously destructive patriarchal forms of violence, including the violence inflicted against the natural environment.
 
The Southern African Rural Women’s Assembly virtual dialogue will show the interconnected nature of the types of violence that women are currently confronted by. Speakers will bring awareness to and illustrate possibilities for continued activism and solidarity based on their local experiences and expertise.
 
  

Webinar Details
 
DATE: Thursday, 10 March 2022
 
TIME: 14h00 to 16h00
 
PLATFORM: ZOOM
 
To log into the Zoom meeting, please click this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83354878237?pwd=dHRtMkFCRG16Qm9yRS9HeExqWXp1dz09
 
 ZOOM Webinar ID: 833 5487 8237
 Passcode:  538262
 
Speakers: 
 
Repression and violence: The case of Swaziland
Bonsile Sizani Mamba
Chairperson of Rural Women’s Assembly Swaziland 
 
 
Violence on our bodies: GBV, femicide and sexuality
Lesley Ann Foster
Executive Director at Masimanyane Women's Support Centre
 
 
Violence of extractive and land grab industries
Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje
Program Manager at Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth, Nigeria 
  
 
Militarisation and the Arms Trade
Niamh Ni Bhriain
Programme Coordinator War and Pacification
 
 
War in Ukraine: Pathways to Peace
Oksana Chelysheva
Journalist and human rights defender
 
 
For media queries, please contact: land4food@gmail.com or 061 643 4249

Issued by The South African Rural Women's Assembly