Connecting South Africa and Colombia:
My generation was born, during the last painful breaths of apartheid in South Africa. Nelson Mandela had been released from prison, the anti-apartheid movement has been unbanned, and peace was slowly rising. However, this peace was tense, it was optimistic, maybe too optimistic. “Freedom” in South Africa continues to be etched with racism, poverty, gender-based violence, and disenfranchisement. I have always been drawn to the question: Who was left behind in our negotiations of peace? Who is truly free in South Africa when the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality still erupts in violence?
I fell in love during the last breaths of the conflict in Colombia. In love with a beautiful Colombian man whom I met one summer night on the beat-filled streets of Johannesburg. The love opened up my activism to Colombia –a sister country in the Global South. The social and economic inequalities in Colombia echo the geographies of inequality in South Africa. Other than differences such the sound of the language, the climate, and the steep Andes Mountains: Comuna 13 could be the township of Soweto – and the Chocó province, could be the forgotten Eastern Cape of South Africa. While Colombia’s conflict and peace process are different in many ways to the fall of apartheid, there are many similarities. And the same questions still echo for me: Who is left behind in negotiations of peace? Who is truly free in Chocó, Medellín, and Cali when the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality can erupt in violence?
Peace is a question, and the answer may lie in learning – critically and creatively – across contexts in the global south. Gabriel has been selected to join the Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia to witness community peacebuilding in Colombia from a feminist perspective.
Purpose of Trip:
El pueblo no se rinde, ¡carajo! In May and June of 2017, residents of Buenaventura, Colombia held a three week-long civic strike to protest a continued history of government neglect. The strike ended when government officials and strike leaders agreed to continue negotiations on a variety of issues including health, human rights, and economic opportunities. Many strike leaders and participants have been women defending their rights and the rights of their communities.
This delegation aims to highlight the voices and stories of women involved in activist work in Buenaventura and surrounding areas. Throughout this delegation, we will meet with women and women-led organizations, asking questions about how state abandonment, foreign policies (US), and their activist work has impacted their lives.
Where will your money go:
– Travel costs related to participating in the Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia
– Workshop with local art-activist to foster solidarity/learning on using art for social change
About Gabriel:
Gabriel Hoosain Khan is an art facilitator and human rights activist from South Africa. Gabriel has experience developing creative interventions (using art, drama and creative writing) to conduct participatory research, build leadership, empower communities and develop strategic responses to violence.
Gabriel currently works as a gender advisory for an international humanitarian organisation. Gabriel works with the organisations country offices in southern Africa to ensure that humanitarian and development action responding to conflict and crisis are gender sensitive. Prior to this, Gabriel managed the People’s Power project at Hivos South Africa, a project developing leadership and building strategies to strengthen the rights of rural communities in South Africa.
In 2016, John Marnell and Gabriel Hoosain Khan published, “Creative Resistance” a toolkit for using visual art, drama and creative writing to empower youth in southern Africa. His interests include understanding the role of youth in transitional justice, using art for activism, and researching practices of gender and sexual diversity in Africa.