announces the 6 am radio presenter
from her Johannesburg studio.
The presenter, a woman, should know,
no, not about the weather,
but that it is December 10,
International Human Rights Day,
the end of our 16 days of activism campaign.
Perhaps it is not the end,
perhaps it has been extended
to the whole year round
as it should be, these 16 days,
which happens just for 16 days,
for some reason or the other,
allowing us to go back
to our usual behaviour
every day for the rest of the year.
The weather is miserable.
How has the weather been
for the women and children
of our country these past 16 days?
Our country broken, traumatised,
by violences of all types,
spare the rod, spoil the child.
Why am I fussing so? After all,
the sun is shining here in Cape Town.
The matriarch over the road,
protector of image and morals
didn’t seem to know of the campaign
when she chased her niece
down the road, nasty stick in hand,
somewhat nastier thoughts in mind,
neighbours a-watching, as they tend to
(a break from their busy schedules);
what anger is there, toward another?
The weather is miserable.
Spare the rod, spoil the child,
even though the child-niece is 30 almost,
unemployed, now a little bit inebriated.
How did the 16 days of activism help
her, and others like her, never mind
her imperial aunt and the neighbours,
a-watching, as they tend to, in between
other similarly stimulating activities.
And they still go on,
about the weather, on the radio.
They don’t even ask,
How it has been for you?
Has anything changed for you?
What anger is there, still?
Have you changed, anything
or anyone or yourself,
at the end of our 16 days?
--The morning of December 10, 2005, International Human Rights Day, at the end of the 16 Days of Activism campaign.
It's over
It's over, the wearing of the ribbons,
16 days of activism on violence
against women and children.
How far have we come, from
the violence of the past?
the violence of yesterday?
the violence of tomorrow?
What aggression is locked up,
still, in our minds,
ready to spill over?
What anger lurks,
still, in our homes,
ready to spill over?
What resentment boils,
still, in our kitchens,
ready to spill over?
What grudges do we bear, still,
against the old?
about the new?
How long is the road you
have traveled, these 16 days?
What have you left behind?
Ignorance? Bad blood?
Stereotypes? Male chauvinism?
Who did you leave, behind?
(or) did you get left, behind?
How long, still, is the road you
have to travel?
What about the other days in
the year?
How much further to go?
How much more official fanfare,
ribbons and road shows,
banners and (good men's) marches?
When will it be over?
--Friday evening, December 10, 2004, International Human Rights Day, at the end of the 16 days of activism campaign.
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