After sitting through eight hours of listening to radical, angry intellectuals talk, I felt defeated and uninspired.
After sitting through eight hours of listening to radical, angry intellectuals talk, I felt defeated and uninspired.
The occasion was the Women’s Academic Solidarity Association (Wasa) Roundtable held on Women’s Day, where strident gender activist Nomboniso Gasa was the keynote speaker. The aim of the event was to provide an in-depth perspectives on current gender issues.
The academics who attended are all well versed in gender inequality. So why spend a day discussing problems with a group of like-minded people, when you could be spending that time creating awareness among those who are unaware? Why address the educated when you have the resources to educate? Yes, the preaching to the converted syndrome.
For me, the most useful thing Gasa said was: “the conversation that is taking place here is one that the whole country ought to be having”. Absolutely. But instead of seeking to initiate such a conversation and make it effective, they focused only on the fact that this conversation is not taking place elsewhere.
The Roundtable was a gathering of some of the greatest South African academics. It was an opportunity to brainstorm and devise solutions. Surely with all that intellect in one room, some truly innovative ideas could – no, should – have spawned?
We spent valuable time discussing how things haven’t changed, when we could be asking why this is and what is preventing it.
It reminded me of the annual Rhodes University Silent Protest where staff and students demonstrate against sexual violence. Yes, the statement such a protest makes is huge. It creates awareness and condemns rape culture.
But it is just one day. Just one day of activism.
And this was just one annual Roundtable event. This is not enough. Protesting patriarchy should be an everyday event. “We must fight patriarchy not only when it is convenient for us,” said Dr Sally Matthews of the Rhodes University Political and International Studies Department.
Fighting for a cause is more than just participating in intellectual debates and loud protests. It is about encouraging consciousness by learning from past experiences and fighting discrimination at a pragmatic level, each and every day. “That consciousness is in the taxi, when the guy who takes the cash says ‘hey pretty girl’,”said Lwando Scott, a sociology PhD student from the University of Cape Town. “Those of us sitting in the taxi should be able to say ‘hey that’s not right.’”
That’s what I mean by everyday activism.
