The Africa Volunteer Network has teamed up with the Liayouan Women’s Rights Group to empower the socio-economic position of women in the Silly Municipality, Burkina Faso. They want to do so by making land ownership accessible, in particular for girls and women from the rural town of Silly.
Women in Silly do not have the same access as men to the ownership of land rights. The action group calls for the implementation of a number of measures, the most important of which is to grant women the same right of access to land so that they can benefit from the reputable land titles for their housing and production of their agricultural land. In Africa in general and Burkina Faso in particular, owning one’s own parcel of land is one of the scarce means of production accessible to the inhabitants of rural areas. Ownership of property deeds will promote the socio-economic independence of poor social strata, to which women unfortunately often belong.
The activists start a campaign to reach the tens of thousands of women in the area. As a first step, advocacy sessions will take place in the 31 villages of the municipality of Silly with the aim of increasing the knowledge of women and girls about their human rights in order to better defend them in the future. In addition, these sessions serve to put pressure on local administrators to change their political choices to promote the equal rights of women.
Second, the consortium will continue to create activist women’s movements. These movements will be established in all 31 villages of the Silly Municipality and will be led only by women leaders. All action groups together develop a large-scale, common platform of demands that advocate for equal rights for women. They will voice their activism through marches, workshops and exerting political pressure.
Women’s rights are under a lot of pressure in Pakistan. When NGO’s and activist organisations were faced with a ban on their existence early 2019, the need for action became even more important. In a dangerous climate to operate in, Saidu Falahi Tanzeem (Society for Women’s Rights) mobilises and brings together women’s and human rights organisations.
In early 2019 the Pakistan government, informed by its intelligence agency, decided to deny 42 registrations of NGOs in the country. This official registration is necessary for NGOs to operate in the country and to receive foreign aids. Since the alleged cooperation of an international NGO with the American authorities to track down Osama Bin Laden, NGOs have been under pressure. For decades, NGOs have also been criticised by the right wing for promoting ‘Western values’ and it is this toxic mix of perceptions that is hurting the vital third sector in the country.
The question is why this is necessary in the first place for service providing NGOs. Through the official registration the Pakistanian government would have sufficient access to information to monitor their activities. The ban on NGOs oppresses citizen rights to organise and carry out public services, upholding a discours of anti-western imperialism.
Saidu Falahi Tanzeem (Society for Women’s Rights) aims to revive activism for women’s rights in a dangerous climate. They aim at building a movement, basically from scratch, through social media campaigning, organising small and peaceful protests, and by reaching out to existing women’s rights organisations to combine forces. Het Actiefonds supported Saidu Falahi Tanzeem in organising protests and printing flyers.
Getting the whole world to eat plant-based is the ultimate goal of action group Animal Rebellion. Through various actions, they address the major environmental and health problems of intensive animal agriculture.
Last month, Animal Rebellion reached a large audience through their actions. The worldwide action ‘Blood on your Hands’ has not gone unnoticed. In various cities they had the water of large fountains colored red by (biodegradable) paint. The red water symbolizes the blood on the hands of governments due to actively facilitating and promoting large-scale animal agriculture. The action was carried out in London, Toronto, Adelaide, Barcelona and Amsterdam, among others.
In addition, a protest was held last week on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The participants were equipped with large banners and colored smoke torches, and had fake blood smeared all over their hands and clothes to reinforce the message.
In addition to the cruel exploitation of animals and catastrophic environmental impacts, the organization emphasizes the urgency regarding our public health in a statement on COVID-19:
“It is time for the government to tell the truth about the cause of this public health crisis and the ecological emergency we are in. If we continue to exploit animals in the current way, the next pandemic is inevitable. We have to change course. We deserve a healthy planet. And we have the knowledge and capabilities to achieve that if we act now. “
Animal Rebellion continues to regularly organize actions for a sustainable, just and plant-based food system. Expect civil disobedience actions, but also speeches, lectures and workshops. Follow their facebook page to stay informed!
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the world, Black Queer and Trans Resistance NL organised a protest on the 25th of July 2020. With this protest, Black Queer and Trans Resistance inaugurates the first Black Pride NL.
The yearly worldwide Pride festivities have activist roots, as we remember the 1960s Stonewall Riots that marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement. And even though this movement has brought a lot of good to society, there’s still loads of liberation to do. In our current discourse it is queer and trans people of color that are left out in the predominantly white activism of the LGBTQIA+ community. Which is extra poignant, as that is precisely the group that has historically been on the front line in every human rights movement. Black Queer and Trans Resistance NL is committed to the black queer community, a group of people intersecting those two identities. As Naomi Pieter, one of the founders of Black Queer and Trans Resistance Netherlands, stated;
“You cannot fight for the rights of one group within the community and leave the others behind. When you do that, you are actively participating in the oppression of someone else – thereby denying that racism exists. All oppression systems are interconnected.”
Black Queer & Trans Resistance Netherlands is a community and activist group countering racism, transphobia and homophobia through marches, intergenerational meetups and archival work. In the midst of the worldwide protests against anti-Black racism and violence, the need to march for the fact that Black LGBTQIA+ persons are disproportionately often victims of racist, homophobic and transphobic violence feels more urgent than ever. The main goal of the Black Pride protest is liberation for Black queer and trans people in the Netherlands.
Saturday the 25th of July a crowd of hundreds of people gathered at Museumplein in Amsterdam to join the protest and raise their voices against the marginalisation, stigmatisation and criminalisation Black LGBTQIA+ people have to face on a daily basis. The organisation of Black Pride NL stated that the diversity in their communities makes their politics complex and multiple. As everything is intersectional, the protest can be noted as a resistance against the imperialist white supremacist capitalist ableist cis-heterosexist patriarchy.
Keep track of Black Queer and Trans Resistance Netherlands and Black Pride NL, as they plan to host a yearly recurring march in addition to the multiple other events organised throughout the year. For the coming Black Pride week (until August 6) there will be several events hosted in Amsterdam, follow this page for more information.
Under the guise of relieving the country of COVID-19 measures, the corruption of the Ugandian government increased and human rights were further violated. A group of female activists from activist organisation The Alternative Uganda organised a march to the parliamentary building.
In 2014 the social movement The Alternative Uganda was founded to fight corruption and human rights violations, demanding fair governance, freedom and equal opportunity for all. Since then, they have led peaceful demonstrations and organised trainings for young Ugandans on creative activism and non-violent social movement building.
During the coronacrisis, the Ugandian government has taken advantage of food distribution programs by appropriating their funds, thus deteriorating the quality and quantity of food aid in times of crisis. Moreover, social distancing, disinfection measures and curfews have been used by state agencies to justify measures and actions that violate human rights.
The activists from The Alternative Uganda organised a protest march to occupy the avenue in front of parliament, wearing overalls, carrying banners and megaphones, to draw attention to the government’s malpractices, demanding change. Following this, The Alternative Uganda aims for widespread social and mainstream media attention for the issues. Het Actiefonds supports the organisation in their actions.
Civil Defense Public Association was founded in 2013 by a group of human rights activists. The NGO promotes the protection and monitoring of labour and other socio-economic rights and freedoms of citizens in Kazakhstan. It does so through legal assistance, research, information provision, training of unions, organising conferences, and public campaigns. On November 9th, Civil Defence organised a rally in Almaty (the capital of Kazakhstan), leading to media coverage, the mobilisation and inclusion of many labour rights activists, and eventually parliament met some of the demands made.
Just after Civil Defence was founded, in 2014 a law passed that made it illegal for minor trade unions to exist independently. They were forced to be a part of larger Republican trade unions. As a result, many independent trade unions ceased to exist. This was followed by a new Labour Code in 2015 that restricted workers’ rights. In 2016, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions was officially shut down, followed by the imprisonment of three of its leaders. In 2018, another social rights activist was beaten up by unknown individuals.
On november 9th last year, Civil Defence organised a rally in the capital to tighten control measures in enforcing labour rights and democratising trade union legislation. Overwork and the non-payment of labour have become commonplace in the country as a result of the eroding position of the workforce. Demands were made, among other things to stop the criminalisation of independent trade unions, to expand the rights of workers in labour legislation and to expand the staff of labour inspectors.
Around 30 activists attended, after which the action gained a lot of national and international media attention. Among which was a conversation, in January, Civil Defense had with Dirk Wiese, a national politician of the German Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Commonwealth of Trade Unions in Kazakhstan. Social activist were again able to raise a number of issues. This eventually led to legislative changes made by the government. The obligatory membership of independent trade unions to larger Republican unions, and the minimum requirement of organising at least half of the workers in an industry in order to form a union, were abolished, among other things, leading to an increase of the freedom of association.
Over the last few years, Cambodia’s biggest coastal city of Sihanoukville has seen an explosion in so-called “development”. Attracted by the convenient infrastructure of the Sihanoukville port, investors from China built countless commercial venues like hotels, restaurants and casinos. The numerous new casinos painfully show the complete disregard for the Cambodian values, as gambling is illegal for Cambodian locals. The towering skyscrapers, littered streets and neon signs decorating every building have transformed Sihanoukville beyond recognition in less than four years.
As there continues to be an explosion of new buildings across the city, the resentment among locals grows. Besides the encroachment of their land, the construction work is also bringing about huge environmental problems. The citizens face problems like shortages of water, rubbish piled up in the streets and sewage being dumped openly in the sea.
Mother Nature Cambodia is one of the organisations using their platform to expose these destructive ‘developments’. A group of young environmental activists has turned to direct action to stop the illegal encroachment of their beaches and the massive garbage and sewage crisis. They have organised several protests like demonstrations, a community beach clean-up and an utterly peaceful bicycle ride that was nevertheless stopped by the police (read more about this here).
The environmental activists take quite a risk to protect their city and stand up for their rights. Under the Hun Sen dictatorship the repercussions against civil disobedience are grave, which is also one of the reasons they feel the necessity to speak out. Since the Hun Sen dictatorship had decided to abandon any pretense that Cambodia was a democracy (for instance by closing down the few independent media outlets and closing down the main opposition party) the only way to achieve change was through movements of people, demanding that the dictatorship makes way for a new truly democratic government. The only way to achieve this was to start by resuming peaceful protests and gathering people to unite for a better future. Cambodians in general have come to realize that uprising of the population is the only way that meaningful regime change will take place.
Het Actiefonds supports the environmental activists in Cambodia in their fight against the Hun Sen dictatorship and the destructive encroachment of Sihanoukville.
In Tanzania activists fight against the systematic oppression of human lives. Specifically focused on health and environmental problems, an organisation* aims at bringing about transformative change for a sustainable and just society where the abuse of power and exploitation do not longer exist. By forming coalitions with community leaders, citizens and human rights activists they campaign for equity and equality. Under the increased threat of Covid-19, actions have taken place to take seriously the international safety standards promoted by the WHO—The Tanzanian government has refused that so far, which brings to light how marginalised groups are threatened by Covid-19 the most.
The Tanzanian government has undertaken little action to curb the spread of Covid-19. At the regular livestock auctions in the town of Pugu disinfection measures are scarcely implemented, while the country’s president called for the continued attendance of places of worship. The lack of instructions and measurements will impact vulnerable and marginalised groups the most. People with a low income, living in informal neighbourhoods, have little to no access to medical care and testing kits, as of which the virus will be able to spread fast in places where social distancing is difficult.
The organisation called for action together with citizens and activist by demonstrating in Pugu. The local government was asked to take seriously the international standards for safety measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19, especially in places where social distancing is difficult. Het Actiefonds supported the organisation further with flyers and other materials for campaigning and starting a petition.
The action has been successful. The livestock auctions in Pugu were temporarily closed to take disinfection measurements. Moreover, the national government started to do more to tackle the spread of the virus, among other things through the regular availability of information to take preventive measures.
*For safety reasons the organisation remains anonymous.
In 2017, in the rural forest in Brazil, the collective Agentes Agroflorestais Quilombolas (AAQ) was born. As a unity of young quilombolas, they are following in the footsteps of their older leaders who preceded them in the fight for land and territory. They take actions to resist the human rights and environmental violations committed against them by the public authorities and governments.
The National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) of the Brazilian government has attempted to extend a highway passing through the lands of the quilombolas, a population of black men and women kidnapped in Guinea Bissau in the 18th and 19th centuries and enslaved in Maranhão by Irish invaders. This highway invaded their lands in 1940, and now the Brazilian government wants to extend it to increase the flow of soy and ore production to Europe, Japan and China. The construction work began without the quilombolas being consulted. Trees were felled, streams were silted, houses were damaged and people were threatened by government agents.
Through direct action, the AAQ stopped the machines in 2017, and through justice, they suspended building permits in 2018. Now, with the election of the fascist president Jair Bolsonaro, DNIT wants to complete the extension of the highway. If that happens, we will face the destruction of the quilombola culture. Over 2.000 people will be expelled from their lands, and their centennial way of life will be destroyed to feed transnational capital with their bodies and natural resources.
In order to stop this, the AAQ took direct political action by taking 200 young black quilombola to camp for three days at a public agency in the city of São Luís, capital of the state of Maranhão. The purpose of the camp was to draw national and international attention to the threat of environmental and institutional racism and to prevent extension of the highway through political pressure.
Het Actiefonds supports AAQ in their fight for their rights! Stay informed and follow their actions through their website and follow their Instagram page for updates and videos on the matter.
The LGBTQIA+ community in Kenya faces extreme violence. The government does not know how to handle the situation. Activists take to the streets to protect the community.
Homophobia
In June 2019, Nairobi police lifted a group of 76 LGBTQIA+ refugees from their beds in the middle of the night. The refugees were put on a bus and taken with a police escort to refugee camps miles away from the city. The police had failed to guarantee the safety of the refugees and had therefore decided to move them elsewhere. But the camps where the refugees were taken were the same ones they had fled a few months earlier. After a few extremely violent incidents, the organization had indicated once again that they could not guarantee their safety. However, the police did not care about that.
“Everywhere we have lived we have faced homophobia. We no longer know where we can flee, ”said one of the members of the group in an interview with the BBC.
Petition
Unfortunately, this powerlessness and violence are not unknown to the LGBTQIA+ community in Kenya. There doesn’t seem to be a safe place for them anywhere. The government responds to this as in the example above: by means of forced relocations to other camps. But as said, the LGBTQIA+ community is not safe there either.
The Community Support Initiative for Refugees (COSIR) takes action against this. They will hold a petition and have it signed by various social organizations. Through two different marches, they will offer the petition to the responsible government agencies in the hope that the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community will be better guaranteed. They do all this with the support of Het Actiefonds.
Photo: United Nations Photo at https://bit.ly/37NyrBZ from Flickr / CC BY-SA
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