African Rising

The Kilimanjaro Declaration

The Kilimanjaro Declaration

The History

We, the citizens and descendants of Africa, as part of the Africans Rising Movement, are outraged by the centuries of oppression; we condemn the plunder of our natural and mineral resources and the suppression of our fundamental human rights.

We are determined to foster an Africa-wide solidarity and unity of purpose of the Peoples of Africa to build the Future we want – a right to peace, social inclusion and shared prosperity.

On 23-24 August 2016, two hundred and seventy two representatives from civil society, trade unions, women, young people, men, people living with disabilities, parliamentarians, media organisations and faith-based groups, from across Africa and the African diaspora gathered in Arusha, Tanzania and committed to build a pan-African movement that recognises these rights and freedoms of our People.

THE CONFERENCE DECLARED THAT:

1. Africa is a rich continent. That wealth belongs to all our People, not to a narrow political and economic elite. We need to fight for economic development that is just and embraces social inclusion and environmental care. We have a right to the ‘better life’ our governments have promised.
2. Africans have a diverse, rich and powerful heritage that is important to heal ourselves and repair the damage done by neoliberalism to our humanity and environment.  Being African, embracing the philosophy of Ubuntu should be a source of our pride.
3. African Youth are a critical foundation of building the success in our continent and must play a central role in building Africans Rising.
4. Africa’s Diaspora whether displaced through slavery and colonialism or part of modern day migration are part of Africa’s history and future. They are a reservoir of skills, resources and passion that must be harnessed and integrated into our movement.
5. We are committed to a decentralised, citizen-owned future that will build support and solidarity for local struggles, empower local leadership and immerse our activists in grassroots work of building social movements from below and beyond borders.
6. We are committed to building a citizens movement that is accountable to the constituencies we represent and enforcing the highest standards of ethical behaviour.

THEREFORE, WE RESOLVE THAT OUR WORK SHOULD BUILD A LOCAL, NATIONAL, CONTINENTAL AND GLOBAL CAMPAIGN THAT IS:

1. Expanding space for civic and political action.
2. Fighting for women’s rights and freedoms across society.
3. Focusing our struggles on the right to Equity and Dignity.
4. Demanding good governance as we fight corruption and impunity.
5. Demanding climate and environmental justice

CALL ON OUR PEOPLE AND ACTIVISTS TO:

Join this African Rising Movement and mobilise our people around this shared vision; organise and connect local struggles under this umbrella; galvanise solidarity with all African struggles. This movement is committed to peace and non-violent action. We assert our inherent rights as Africans and invite our governments, leaders, other stakeholders and institutions to join us in pursuing the Future We Want to leave our future generations.

To join the movement, go to:  www.africans-rising.org

ACTIVISTS IN RESIDENCE

Activists from ten African countries are meeting in Arusha in a pilot initiative of Africans Rising and the Training Centre for Development Cooperation (TCDC) with support from the Fund for Global Human Rights (FGHR) to create space for documentation by Activists, of their experiences and lessons learned. 

The one month programme will benefit the activists in residence (AiR) through their interaction, deepen the understanding of their local struggles using other Activists’ lenses as well as inspire them to identify ways of further strengthening their movements.

Activists will also have an opportunity for skills acquisition, be encouraged to transfer such skills in their countries – using social media platforms and other appropriate means and have a rare opportunity for rest and recuperation, especially for those who have faced repression or those who have given years of dedicated service and might be on the verge of burnout.  

Participants of the programme who come from Morocco, Liberia, Senegal, DRCongo, UK, Benin, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, will also benefit from discussions with well known African figures such as Jay Naidoo, former  General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and a Minister in President Mandela’s term of office and Mshai Mwangola, a Kenyan 'orator', actor, director and storyteller whose work draws on performance traditions.

Africans Rising is a nascent, rapidly growing, self-identifying collective of social movements, NGOs, peoples and popular social justice efforts, intellectuals, artists, sports people, cultural activists and others, across the continent and Diaspora.  People who have given input to the development of the movement agree that African unity reflected by greater social, political and economic integration is critical for Africa and its peoples, nations and nationalities – a united civil society should be the vanguard of such a movement for justice, peace and dignity.

 Activists with Jay Naidoo (3^rd from left) and holding signed copies of his new book Change.

African Women - Changing the Narrative "Our Story"

Valerie Msoka, a journalist and an advocate for gender equality, spoke to journalists from 15 African countries who gathered in Dar es Salaam for a training to promote the usage gender-sensitive language, lexicon and reporting in everyday stories about women and gender equality, with an aim to change how African women are portrayed in mainstream media, with a long-term objective of changing the narrative around women.

The case was such that women in the media houses were sidelined, if one happened to write a story that hit the front page, the byline would be by Staff Reporter, the case was such that when my sister Edda Sanga started reading the news, people rumbled that Radio Tanzania was not serious. But it was not only the case of women in the newsrooms it was the stories about women were out of order. First there were not there, when they were, they were in the middle pages and to compound it, they had to be negative ones such as a rape and the story would have a condemning tone, as if to say it was the woman’s fault. In fact according to the recent Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), overall, women remain more than twice as likely as men to be portrayed as victims as they were a decade ago, at 16 and eight percent respectively. 

It was this situation in the newsrooms and the portrayal of women in the media that brought us twelve women from print and broadcast to form the Tanzania Media Women’s Association in 1987. We wanted to change that scenario but through the process bring about social transformation towards a society that respects and practices gender equality in every sphere.

The case is such that in the news it is men who speak, and they are the majority in the news rooms and in senior management. This was then and is still the case. And this is why we are here – to change the narrative. And there is an urgent need to do so because women’s exclusion in any process makes it unrealistic. Creating a balance of the voices and stories not only helps build readership, listenership or viewers but also the overall impact. Creating that balance are you journalists as change agents.

And in this you need to start with understanding the whole concept of gender, international frameworks, declarations, protocols and actions relevant to human rights, women’s rights. When you understand this you will then understand that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men need to be taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men and that Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Through that understanding you will see why there is a need for journalists to have the ability to recognize gender issues, especially women’s different perceptions and interests arising from their unique social location and their gender roles.

Unfairness and inequality in the way you cover stories is very much a reflection of the inequalities and injustices in the societies we live in and of political, social and economic landscapes we work in.  It is thus up to you to understand and adopt Gender-Responsive Reporting Principles in print, broadcast, online media and photography, following international guidelines for ethical journalism.

For you to accurately mirror our societies, to produce coverage that is complete and diverse, it is critical that the news reflects the world as seen through the eyes of women as well as men. Gender-sensitive journalism is not only about things like sources and context.  It’s also about the language we use in writing our stories or making programmes. To be truly equal, women must be seen and heard to be equal.  This means eliminating language that misrepresents, excludes or offends women. 

No doubt you will say finding angles is an issue, but there is data to prove that just as in other stories, features, programmes, blogs and tweets you need to be creative. For example, data from TAMWA shows that for the period of September 2013 to December 2013, a total of 84 feature and stories on women issues in the constitution review process were published in various news papers to create awareness to and call for action from policy makers to change the outdated and discriminatory laws on women and children. Again in 2016 from from January to this November, there were 248 of stories on Child Marriage in the NEWSPAPERS only. Through these stories, features, blogs, tweets, Ending Child Marriage is now on the agenda. You need to understand that  gender sensitive journalists is not about covering ‘women’s issues’, it is about making sure that content, representation, context, is balanced and respects the diversity that represents nearly 50% of the world’s population.

The UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, says that to achieve gender equality we need to mobilize not just parliaments but populations, not only civil society but all society. I believe that at the heart of the whole mobilization process are the journalists. As journalists we are obliged to ensure that gender equality is achieved. This is because through your stories’ features, programmes, blogs and photographs you will help form our social values and be powerful advocates for the elimination of violence against women and in the promotion of gender equality.

Journalists are agents of change and are duty bound to change the narrative around women and girl’s issues in the media. Do it.