The last week of July brings together two important dates for the African and Afro-descendant community around the world, especially for their women. July 25 is the International Day of Women of African Descent, whose origin dates back to 1992, when more than 400 women from 32 Latin American countries gathered in the Dominican Republic with the aim of tackling racism from a gender perspective. Just a week later, on July 31, the International Day of African Women is celebrated, which was instituted at the African Women's Conference held in Tanzania in 1962.
On the occasion of these two celebrations, some Afro-feminist groups have launched a network campaign to make women visible who, for them, have been leaders. Through an email address, they have collected texts in which the participants mention other women who are also African and Afro-descendant. These groups have shared the information received throughout the week through the Instagram account of the Red Afrofeminista (Redafrofem).
From Verne we have asked three prominent activists about their references and asked them to explain the reasons for choosing them. Esther (Mayoko) Ortega, doctor of Philosophy of Science and university professor, thinks that Remei Sipi would be "the main reference in the Spanish State for several generations" because "she has been working in the black movement and also in the feminist movement with all its intersections and difficulties for more than 40 years "and" he has never stopped fighting, caring and caring for the people of the community. Not only empowering, but strengthening community ties and economic bases. "
Remei Sipi arrived in Catalonia from Equatorial Guinea approximately half a century ago. During this time, she has published numerous writings on gender issues and African migrant women, has been one of the founders of the E'waiso Ipola Association of African migrant women and has created the Mey publishing house, specialized in African texts. Often, Remei Sipi tells how, in the early days of the association, she had to rebel against the continued folklorization of her activities in the intercultural events to which they were invited.
Esther (Mayoko) discovered Remei 15 years ago through her texts, but began to think of her as a fundamental reference point less time ago. "Only by doing a repositioning exercise from where I am thinking have I been able to realize the importance it has for our community," says the university professor. She believes that having discovered her earlier would have helped her grow "with positive images that are not the usual" and would have felt "a little less orphan" as a girl and adolescent of African descent in a majority white society.
To Artemisa Semedo, a multidisciplinary artist, 8-M as Women's Day is "small" and is not reflected in it. This is why she believes it is important "to have a day in which our culture, our identity and our power are celebrated as black women, because we are very powerful and empowered women, although we are often not recognized." For her, her main reference came to Galicia from Cape Verde in the 70s and is her mother, Adelaida Martín.
"I realized that I had a reference at home, that I had not studied but that had taught me a lot of things. Sometimes we are looking for references abroad and we are not able to see what we have nearby. My mother I feel a fighter, what He has given everything for his family, he has made a great effort to be in a country of which he knew nothing and he had to start from scratch, with everything against him, in a small town where there were no other racialized people and in which he had than face so many racial prejudices and stereotypes. " Having become aware before her mother was a valid reference in the Afrofeminist struggle would have served to "value her work and effort more", and that the generational barrier that occurred between them in adolescence would have been less because it would have allowed them "understood in a different way".
Basha Changuerra, councilor for the CUP in a Catalan municipality and director for a time of Afroféminas -a digital community for Afro-descendant women- believes that the Day of the Afro-descendant woman "is a politically very powerful date, because it is born from the self-organization of their own Black women in the diaspora "with the aim of" making the collective struggle visible "and identifying themselves" not only as political subjects but also as a community ". Basha Changuerra is one of the few Afro-descendant political representatives in Spain. In the current Congress of Deputies, for example, there is no representative who is, after Rita Bosaho's pioneering step after the 2015 elections and until 2019.
Although she had always admired her, it was not until after she was a mother that Basha Changuerra recognized her aunt Sara Coffi, "the first woman to open an Afro hair salon in Barcelona." Hairdresser that became a meeting point for many black women at the time. He considers her an example of empowerment because "she met a need, but at the same time influenced a whole generation that saw how black women could also have their own businesses." To have recognized her before as one of her references would have meant for Basha "a change on an emotional level and a greater acceptance of myself, it would have empowered me sooner".
Beyond the references mentioned by the interviewees, some women have participated in the Redafrofem campaign for the past few days sharing theirs. One of the names that have arrived is that of Alejandra Ntutumu, creator of Potopoto, a project of children's stories that tell oral stories of the Fang ethnic group. In the Fang language, Potopoto means "getting dirty with mud" and that is what they highlight that she has achieved with her project, "that we get dirty with her and her stories".
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Let's fill the networks and the streets with the photos and stories of the women who inspired us and inspire us to be who we are today! Join the campaign # 25j31j2020 # afroreferenteskm0 and send your referent (photo + text) to tintanegrabcn@gmail.com #mujeresnegras #mujeresafricanas #mujeresafrodescendants #community #sororidad #mujeresreferentes
A shared post by Red Afrofeminista (@redafrofem) on Jul 23, 2020 at 2:28 PDT
Another of the women chosen by the participants is Fatou Faye Secka, president of the Equis-MGF association, which from Barcelona fights against female genital mutilation, violence that affects thousands of girls and women around the world. It is the same land where Aminata Soucko works, who has formed the Djo Aminata association (Red Aminata), which accompanies those women who want to undergo reconstruction.
The name of Katherine Reyes Paredes, a Dominican journalist living in Barcelona, has also come out, where she has made the photographic exhibition "Black women living in a parallel world", which deals with the stereotypes and prejudices that weigh on them.
Regarding the campaign itself, Esther (Mayoko) Ortega believes that, although "the struggle is daily", the visibility of the reality of African and Afro-descendant women is important, among other things because it is "a group that finds their positions invisible, even within black spaces. "
Among the groups that have promoted the campaign are Tinta negra, Afrofemkoop, Biznegra, the Black Feminisms working group of the CNAAE (Black African Community and Afro-descendants of Spain), Black Barcelona, Afrofeminist Space of Madrid, Afrofeminist Collective BCN and Afrogalegas. Some of its representatives met on the 20th with the Director General for Equal Treatment and Ethnic-Racial Discrimination, the former deputy Rita Bosaho, to explain what their demands, challenges and demands are.
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