African Feminist Reflection and Action Group

Progressive women and feminists have historically played an important and largely unappreciated role in many African liberation struggles. Still today, feminists are at the forefront in resisting democratic backlashes and in fighting the continued discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity and class.

Convinced of the transformative potential of feminist thinking and activism for broader progressive political projects, since 2016 FES Mozambique convened regular meetings of feminist academics, social activists and progressive women in trade unions and the political arena from different regions of the African continent. In so called “Feminist Idea Laboratories” a group of 40 women met regularly to discuss the political agendas in their contexts, share experiences and exchange political tactics in a participatory, intersectional, and solidary way. They formed the African Feminist Reflection and Action Group and engaged in the search for concrete socio-economic and political alternatives, that allow women (and citizens in general) to speak for themselves and to fight for their interests, rights and freedoms.

The discussions have been documented through a series of videos and the Feminist Reflection Series. The group also brought forward a joint agenda on extractivism and feminist resistance, which put the political ideas into practice: in form of "feminist schools" for women in mining areas, solidarity encounters and knowledge sharing between Africa, Asia and Latin America, research projects on the influence of genetically modified food crops on communities and women and activist tools (link) for the joint struggle against gender-based violence. Some reflections later also turned into contributions to the special issue on Extractivism (link) of the Feminist Africa Journal.