so then we celebrate!

By Dawn Cavanagh

August 16, 2007:

EDITOR
Your statement “There is a culture of equality and sensitivity that South Africa espoused which I think, is thriving in almost all spheres” demands a response…

So
Women’s day, women’s month. Many of us called for the recognition that there is no ‘cause for celebration’. Some brave and courageous activists asserted that we have much to celebrate and tried to inspire us, weary activists to list the many things we have to celebrate. There were a few ideas thrown into the discussion, all about the individual and collective achievements of women ourselves, rather than the government. And then we were silenced by the firing of the Deputy Minister of Health and our energies poured into action to resist the meaning, the motives and the intent of the action. We forgot the discussion….

If there is anything to celebrate, from where I sit, it can only be the way we as women are taking our own struggle forwards in all spheres. Yes, equality is espoused as the editor of BTM suggested. But this week as we reflected on the realities of women’s lives, the thought forced its way into our attempts to create a list of things to celebrate – the culture we have is not one of women’s rights, is not one of equality, dignity and autonomy, freedom. The culture is one of self service, of violation, lack of respect and subjugation of women. And within that, there are efforts to create a culture which is liberating, which enables and ensures, women’s rights, where the  state recognizes, respects and fulfils it’s obligations to women as humans having rights.

The policy explosion of the last so many years – I keep forgetting how many – has largely not translated to change in the way many, most women experience the day today practicalities of their lives. There is strong resistance to the autonomy of women whilst considerable effort, even by men, is directed at  assuring us that they will ‘allow’, recognize and respect women’s right to equality.

Even when we set aside the powerful “none of us are free until every one of us is free”, and try to focus on the gains made, we see that these gains are ours – women activists, women human rights defenders, women’s rights defenders and the daily struggles of ordinary women who are even unable to engage in that kind of public activism and resistance.

When we approach the servants of the people, those “service providers” – the ‘service’ chain - health care workers, police, welfare workers, court officials – we find that the chain is not there for service. We have to be humble. Very. We have to know what we ask for, we have to know what to ask for, we have to ask for it with clarity and confidence – or we get what they give, how they want to, are ready to give this.

And yes of course there are exceptions to this kind of service. How sad, that there are exceptions. And that we have to keep saying that there are exceptions. And find ways of recognizing these exceptions with awards for service. This is *not* a culture of service, a culture of rights, our world cannot be regarded as such, where exceptions must be sought and rewarded. We are pushing, pressuring those who are there to serve, to actually serve. And then we have to demonstrate gratefulness and humbleness in our further efforts to reinforce good practice. And the we is often the poor and the marginal – lesbian women, sex workers, unemployed women, women living with HIV and AIDS and so on… some of us have even to prove we are women.  We have to negotiate our needs and our identities, maybe closeting our identity to get our health needs met with quality and efficiency and to walk out of the health care centre with some level of dignity.

Every year when women’s day comes round – international or national, we plan our events, nationalistic and statist events, we stand outside formidable looking government buildings like the Union Buildings to celebrate the women in the struggle. And celebrate women’s struggles we must. And demonstrate state failure, we must too. And when do we get to the point where we stop awarding, affirming and rewarding with huge publicity, state actions where the state was fulfilling its obligations. And look at the last year, the year that was, and show how the struggles of women, both at home, in the community in places such as churches and through traditional “cultural” institutions, are not over and how women continue to experience deep discrimination and exclusion and the violation of their rights.
 
This year, whilst we still try daily to live with the shame of the judgment in the Zuma rape trial, while we watch the presidential “succession debate”, battle unfold, while we watch state failure in the service chain, the places, spaces of ‘justice’, we must put an end to the sham. Yes we have paper rights. And no, when my rights as a woman, as a lesbian woman, a lesbian activist, are disrespected, when we are raped, tortured, assaulted, attacked, murdered, because we are women and because men can do these things to us I will not, cannot celebrate. And when the religious institutions and traditional structures are allowed to contradict and violate the provisions of the constitution, fomenting hate and enabling the kid of misogyny that is so widespread, to be shaped, reinforced and justified, we are not free and I cannot celebrate. We are most unfree. And hence some activists are asking “ what is there to celebrate…..”
 
So, in the wake of the murders of Salome Masooa and Sizakele Sigasa, two young, lesbian women, HIV and AIDS and women’s rights activists in SOWETO six weeks ago, increasing numbers of activists, ordinary women are  asserting, there is no cause for celebration. Not this month. And where there is cause, it is us women who should be celebrated. And our resistance to false transformation and state failure.
And our struggle continues………..

Dawn is a lesbian woman, a feminist, a women’s rights activist.