Hapana anoramba

Belinda Zhawi

This struggle for liberation, when we're thinking about it from a Black woman's perspective, it's always been the same fight in different contexts, in different parts of the world. And when we talk about liberation struggles as well, there's always gallantry, sort of paradise, the men, like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, out there, strong men outside. No one really talks about the women in that way or brings them to the forefront except for specific projects that are also seen as fringe projects compared to the bigger narrative of the men in the bush. But it's like there were men and women fighting the struggle, and I'm thinking about oppression on that level. Okay, there's the oppressive white regime, but what was the oppression looking like? What do those interpersonal relations look like on the ground and how does that affect how the war was fought and also what happens after the war, how the country's run and who gets what and who is placed where. But again, it always comes back down to power and hierarchy and women's voices are just not ever listened to nor prioritised nor centred. So yeah, it was really important to me that I did something with Maggie Caroline Katsande's voice. For me, it had to be the focal point and that had to become the narrative.

Archival reference no: BAB TPA.43 19, 35, 46, 102, 116.