“A woman with huge courage, calling her society to account.”
A phrase I heard in the news tonight, describing Hadijatou Mani and comparing her to Rosa Parks.
Sold into slavery aged 12 for the equivalent of £315, she was raped at age 13 and forced to bear her owners children, as well as doing domestic and agricultural work for the next 10 years. Now aged 24 Ms Mani has challenged the government of Niger and won.
Ms Mani says one of the reasons she has taken this court action is to secure her two children’s freedom and ensure they do not have to endure the same fate.
A single voice shouting in the dark, and sometimes, just sometimes that voice is heard.
“How could we have lived like this for so long? How could we have accepted this for so long?”
From Witchy’s Stairs, and before that it came from Amananta - Gratitude to you both, and do go and follow the links to the full story of women taking up arms and fighting for their freedom.
I’ve heard it said so many times that one person’s terrorist is another’s Freedom fighter. These women, the PKK and Ms Mani are fighting in their own way, and so are we, so am I. Running into the hills of England and becoming an outlaw in armed uprising is way off my personal agenda - unless you count words as weapons - but the passion is there, the anger is there and the enormity of the struggle we face is there. We can raise our voices and use our words as our weapons and we too can call our society to account.
