Eve-olution

What is an 'Eve-olution'?

Well, an 'Eve-olution' is lead by women, and brings peaceful, gradual change, while a revolution is usually lead by men and brings rapid, violent change. Jenni Williams says that what usually happens in a country when there is a revolution, is that one group of power hungry people get replaced by another - and that the fundamental issues of equality, freedom and civil rights tend to get side lined, even when they were the main drive behind the revolution. This is because adrenaline runs high in these tense political battles and the original inspiration for the revolution can be left behind and a power struggle ensues. Men tend to lead revolutions, and women are sidelined, and also tend to suffer the most when there is a heavily contested political space, as there is in Zimbabwe. In a revolution, change is rapid, and events can spin out of control, and outcomes are unpredictable. In an 'Eve-olution', the change sought is gradual; it is lead by women and aims at changing hearts and minds through peaceful protest, education and re-training in core values - love, equality, respect, dignity. In a country where so much brutality and repression continues to take place, it is quite easy to lose sight of those core values in the struggle for survival and in a climate of fear. These core values become eroded, and people begin to act in self-interest, and demand respect from others by instilling fear - rather than earning respect and offering it to others. True respect has nothing to do with fear and subjagation, but somehow in difficult circumstances people can lose sight of the real meanings of  what really matters to us all. As Williams says, we then find a love of power, and not the power of love. So a return to core values is vital in setting priorities, and as women are the mothers of the nation, women's values are for love and co-operation, and so women stay in touch with what values should be promoted...but this campaign is in no way devisive - it's simply true that women are equal to men and they have not been given the platform to express themselves, and so WOZA aims to redress this imbalance. To be sure, women's rights are not always evident or unassailable even in apparently developed countries like the UK. Love and justice, freedom and equality...these values are at the centre of WOZA, and this is a very exciting and hopeful movement/development for Zimbabwe.

What are WOZA's stated aims?

WOZA is an acronym for 'Women Of Zimbabwe Arise', but also means 'come forward' in the Ndebele language of Southern Zimbabwe.
It is a civic movement that aims to:
*Provide women, from all walks of life, with a united voice to speak out on issues affecting their day to day lives.
*To empower female leadership that will lead community involvement in pressing for solutions to the current crisis.
*Educate women to stand up for their rights and freedom.

What support do WOZA have in the international community?

WOZA is supported by Amnesty International (AI), please google AI to see their valuable work.
In 2008 WOZA won the Amnesty International Human Rights Award from the German branch of AI.
In 2009 WOZA leader Jenni Williams and prominent member Magodonga Mahlungu won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.
In 2011 WOZA were awarded the French National Order Of Merit by President Sarkozy for their human rights work.