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Pastel notebooks5/30/2023 ![]() Women were (and are) uniformly oppressed but to varying degrees based on race and class. No discriminatory experience is homogenous even if it is sexist in nature. Fester confides, “that afforded them the opportunity…to see that violence against women and men wanting to control women were not individual matters, but rather a problem of a male-centred and patriarchal community.” No expert knowledge of feminist theory was required by these women to know that patriarchy was the common denominator in their lives. Women found the environment to be more supportive and empowering in their own institutions, without any of the hesitancy to challenge older men found in mixed-gender organisations. Her early politicisation in the United Woman’s Organisation affirmed her commitment to women-centred resistance movements, for the gender dynamics in mixed democratic organisations reflected the patriarchy and ageism in society at large. Fester’s young conscience was kindled by the inconsistent gendered expectations informing child behaviour: “he freedom that boys enjoyed bothered me…there was something ‘wrong’ or repressive…about being a girl …there were things you could not do and definitely many things that you had to do.” This awakening to the young girl’s first site of oppression – the home – prioritised the personal fight against patriarchy ahead of the liberation struggle playing out in broader society. In addition to a strong maternal figure stoking the fires of social justice, Prof. After the passing of the pater familias, the matriarch insisted that she would work her fingers to the bone to keep her daughters out of others’ kitchens. Her mother insisted that her daughters pursue professions even as circumstances tempted them to drop out of school and contribute to the family livelihood. Fester’s revolutionary politics are rooted in anything, it is the survival of the individual woman. But it’s later, when we’ve won, that the real difficulties will begin.” Fester quotes Giles Pontecorvo’s film The Battle of Algiers: “It’s difficult to start a revolution more difficult to sustain it. Fester, “despite inclement weather in some cases and a shortage of ballot papers, still fills me with awe.” We would soon discover that it is easier to draft a constitution than to implement it. “he miracle of those peaceful long lines queuing up to vote,” reminisces Prof. They may remember the hope that swirled in the air on 27 April 1994 despite the inevitable complications that accompanied the birth of democracy. Liberation stalwarts such as Professor Fester paid an indescribable personal cost for the present we inhabit, so perhaps it is the cadres and comrades of those who were tortured in detention, who should revisit the sacrifices that were made for the country currently under their stewardship. The youth is grateful that we do not have to carry passes but we are unemployed and living in darkness, with over 81 days of load-shedding this past year. So indelibly did it shape the socio-economic landscape of this country that there is barely a difference in wealth distribution between now and then. Apartheid ranks up there with Slavery and the Holocaust as one of the worst crimes committed against humanity.
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