Hier ter lande was daar nie veel daarvan gemaak nie, maar eergister is Internasionale Vrouedag wêreldwyd gevier. Wat vanjaar se viering spesiaal gemaak het, is die feit dat dit die honderste herdenking hiervan was. Volgens hul amptelike webblad was die eerste saamtrek deur meer as ‘n miljoen mense op 19 Maart 1911: “Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic ‘Triangle Fire’ in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women’s Day events. 1911 also saw women’s ‘Bread and Roses‘ campaign.”
In vele lande word dié historiese gebeurtenis by wyse van ‘n Openbare Vakansiedag gevier; met ‘n Nasionale Vrouedag hier by ons in Augustus.
Die rede vir hierdie Nuuswekker is egter die besonderse manier waarop Poetry International Web hierdie geleentheid herdenk het. Hulle het naamlik ‘n kuberreis deur hul argiewe saamgestel met tien gedigte deur vrouedigters wat oor die kwessie van vrou en die vrou se dinge saamgestel het; inderdaad ‘n leeservaring sonder weerga. Digters wie se gedigte te lese is, is Vera Pavlova (Rusland), Dunya Mikhal (Arabië), Chris Makadza (Malawië), Halyna Krouk (Rusland), Dorothy Porter (Australië), Kazuko Shiraishi (Japan), Ronelda S. Kamfer (Suid-Afrika, met haar bekende gedig “Goeie meisies“!), David Avidan (Israel), Mallika Sengupta (Indonesië) en Ciaran O’Driscoll (Ierland). Weereens, in aansluiting by my Nuuswekker van gister: watter vreugde is dit nie om ‘n Afrikaanse digter in dié uitgelese geselskap te vind nie …
Vir jou leesplesier plaas ek egter Dunya Mikhal se gedig, wat as “Pronouns” vertaal is, onder aan vanoggend se Nuuswekker. (In hoofsaak omrede dit my so sterk herinner aan die digkuns van die Joegoslaafse digter Vasko Popa; een van my gróót gunstelinge.)
Maar kom ons sluit die Nuuswekker met nog ‘n aanhaling wat ek by wyse van kopknik vanaf die International Women’s Day se webblad neem: “The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.”
Sela.
***
Gister is die persvrystelling oor DigSange, wat die komende naweek in Pretoria plaasvind, geplaas. En ai, watter feestelike geleentheid beloof dít nie om te wees nie. Maak dus seker dat jy dit bywoon indien jy jou in die omstreke van Pretoria bevind.
Mooi bly.
LE
Pronouns
He plays a train.
She plays a whistle.
They move away.
He plays a rope.
She plays a tree.
They swing.
He plays a dream.
She plays a feather.
They fly.
He plays a general.
She plays army.
They declare war.
© Dunya Mikhal (Uit: The war works hard, 2000)
Vertaal deur: Elizabeth Winslow