NO ROYAL FEAST HERE - Swaziland

 

NO ROYAL FEAST HERE

 

On the last weekend of April, costly celebrations in Swaziland marked the 58^th birthday of King Mswati III.

 

Most Swazi though refused to participate. They have been ruled over since 1973 by Africa’s last absolute monarchy. Political parties are banned. Five years ago pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down. Trade unionists have been forced into exile. This has allowed the King to amass extraordinary levels of personal wealth while the country is one of the world’s most unequal with 63% of people living in poverty.

 

Patriarchal structures are intertwined with climate vulnerability. Yet brave women are cultivating a grassroots revolution aimed at reclaiming knowledge, land and power.

 

Across Southern Africa climate change has disrupted livelihoods, causing crop failure, livestock loss and turning ancestral fields to dust. It all adds to food insecurity, forcing women to travel longer distances to fetch water/firewood and care for climate-affected family members. Adding to the issues women are treated as second class citizens and gender-based violence is widespread.

 

The Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly (SWRA)  spearheads the Feminists for Alternatives on Climate and Environment, a spokeswoman for whom said “the Sandlalesikhutsele Women Group (SWG)  are building a community seed bank by collecting, preserving and exchanging indigenous, drought-and flood-resistant seed varieties.” The women have learned from their Zimbabwe and South Sudan sisters.

 

This delights Unite’s Charlie Clutterbuck. “In their protected skins, seeds can withstand drought and colds for decades. Creating seed banks is an act of defiance.

 

“Soviet scientist Nikolia Vavilov created the first seed bank in Leningrad. A dozen of his staff died when they refused to eat the seeds during a siege in WWII and thus prevented Hitler getting his hands on them.”

 

According to a SWG spokeswoman, “Seedbanks are lifelines during crises, allowing communities to replant after devastating losses using locally adapted varieties. Selling seeds communally also generates vital income. This work preserves biodiversity and traditional knowledge, safeguarding the genetic heritage that multinational seed corporations seek to erase.”

 

The SWRA’s political demands include that Swaziland adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas that recognizes peasants’ rights to land, water, seeds, biodiversity and food sovereignty.

 

This would ensure a legal and policy framework to protect rural communities and women’s rights.

By challenging the colliding crises of patriarchy, capitalism, and climate chaos, the SWRA’s impressive optimism, grounded in action and solidarity, offers radical hope. Follow them at https://www.facebook.com/RuralWomen3

 

Unite has long played a positive role for agriculture and rural workers worldwide. This is needed more than ever. Branches can today show international solidarity by affiliating to Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), the successor to the Anti-Apartheid Movement that played a key role in ending Apartheid in South Africa.

 

ACTSA, which is working with partners to release a Swaziland report later this year, backs trade unions and other Southern African groups who support workers and human rights.

 

https://actsa.org and specifically on Swaziland https://actsa.org/human-rights-in-swaziland/