by Shelby Lewis, editor
In 1985 the International Resource Network of Women of African Descent (IRNWAD) held its General Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in conjunction with the UN Decade for Women NGO Forum.
At that meeting the newly elected International Coordinator and Regional Coordinators were charged with establishing an organizational journal as a forum for the exchange of resources, ideas, information, research, strategies, methodologies and skills among women of African descent. Network: A Pan-African Women's Forum results from the Nairobi directive.
Network is a scholarly journal based in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is published semi-annually. Thematic and non-thematic issues of the journal are published alternately. The premier issue of NETWORK is thematic. Its focus is Women in Southern Africa: Struggle Within Struggle.
Three major factors influenced the decision to focus the first issue of the journal on women in Southern Africa. Firstly, the editors felt that any contemporary publication by and about women of African descent must of necessity highlight the struggles of women in Southern Africa who play key roles in the armed, economic, social and political struggles against the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, western imperialism, continued underdevelopment, class bias, patriarchy and other forms of exploitation and oppression in a region of the world where physical, economic and political violence escalates daily. By focusing on the many aspects of the struggle of Southern African women, we sharpen the contours of the struggles of women of African descent elsewhere in the world and by doing so contribute in some small way to a just resolution of those struggles.
Secondly, focusing the premier issue of the journal on women in Southern Africa is a means of showing support and solidarity with the Winnie Mandela's of South Africa and Namibia, who are fighting for land and freedom, with the nameless victims of destabilization and famine in Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe and elsewhere who seek development, equality and peace, and with the long suffering victims of exploitive patriarchal laws and customs throughout the region who demand justice, transformation and a role in determining their destiny.
Thirdly, since the journal is based in Southern Africa, the launching of a forum on women of African descent with an examination and analysis of the conditions and concerns of the women most closely involved with its publication seemed eminently fitting. Moreover, it was felt that their first hand knowledge, experiences, interests and involvement in the region would enrich and enhance the premier issue of the journal.
So, this issue of Network delves into the lives of women in Southern Africa, their relatives, friends and neighbors, their problems and concerns, their enemies from within and without, and their thoughts and perspectives on the personal, regional and global conflict that shapes their struggle.
All of the major articles in this issue were originally presented at a Conference On Women In Southern Africa: Struggle Within Struggle which was held in Zimbabwe on November 13-14, 1987. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Pan-African Women's Forum of the International Resource Network of Women of African Descent and the Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe.
Conference participants included representatives from Angola, Lesotho, the U.S A., Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania, Europe and Caribbean. The major aims of the conference were fourfold: to gain a better understanding of the conditions, concerns, ideas and activities of women in Southern Africa, to seek ways of informing and improving support for the struggles of women in the region, to improve resources, information, methodological and strategic communication and exchanges between and among women of African descent globally, and to generate papers for the premier issue of Network.
During the course of the conference, participants forged new links which will undoubtedly assist IRNWAD in meeting its networking aims and objectives; in building mighty bridges of cooperation between women of African descent.
The five articles in this issue of Network provide a powerful and moving commentary on the problems, concerns, obstacles, hopes, fears, successes, failures, thoughts and activities of women in Southern Africa. They paint an ugly picture of man's inhumanity to man, especially to women. However, they also paint a picture of new ways of thinking, new visions, determination, courage, confidence and informed and well planned action aimed at transforming the fabric of society in Southern Africa.
To the unsung heroines of Southern African who are often poor, uneducated and abused simply because they are underclass women of African descent we dedicate the premier issue of Network: A Pan-African Women's Forum.
Source: NETWORK P.O. Box 648 Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe