A viral call to action
Last year, Malaika – a sex worker activist who is a part of JASS’ feminist circles in Zimbabwe along with other sex worker activists raised concern and challenged police inaction when one of the sex workers was killed. She had joined JASS’ feminist circle – a gathering of women who collectively strategise around issues they face everyday – in 2014, after being hospitalised as a result of intimate partner violence. She was encouraged by another activist she came across who was a part of JASS’ feminist movement building support and strengthening work in Harare.
Being in a feminist circle with other activists and sex workers encouraged Malaika to talk about the injustice faced at the hands of the police. As a collective that had been working together for years, Malaika and four others from her circle recorded a video narrating the failures of the police, specifically, their failures to extend protection to sex workers against violence. The video went viral on social media. The police responded aggressively; they picked up the five women from their home and took them to the police station. Malaika shared –
As activists, we are now brave enough to speak out, and when we did, we suffered backlash from the police who came and picked us up from our homes and took us into the provincial office for questioning.
Reclaiming our power
Malaika and four other other women found themselves subjected to a gruelling day of interrogation with each woman being interviewed separately. Despite not having prepared in advance, they shared similar responses with the police officers and they found ways to reclaim their power:
We held on to our power by declining to sit on the chairs that the police offered us. We sat on the floor. It was our own way of retaining our power.
Later, Malaika was able to activate her safety network and get access to legal counsel through JASS’ support which led to their release. This was possible because the feminist circle – integrating both collective care and safety – had measures in place in the face of threats and had a safety network/ protocol established.
Through this experience, Malaika and the four women came to a powerful realisation – that collectively they possessed inherent power. They discovered – that the police, wary of negative publicity and exposure on social media, were receptive to their demands. The police even shared a direct contact number with Malaika for instances when their concerns were not addressed or cases were not handled well at the local police station.
Strength in Solidarity
Since then, there has been another demonstration of collective power from this circle, using their new negotiating power with the Provincial Police Office. Recently, a young child passed away. The women in the circle noticed the significant delay in the state’s removal of the body, exposing ongoing corruption in the state institutions. The circle convened and called the provincial police officer with their complaint. The police immediately organised the access to the burial rights and Malaika and her circle reflected on their power as activists.
We are now like a referral point of writing notes for other women who need to go to the police for services. When the police officer reads that it is Malaika or any of the other sisters, they take immediate action.
Since joining one of the JASS feminist circles in Zimbabwe, Malaika views herself differently and is able to to stand up, speak out and lead in her community, both as a sex worker and as an activist. She recalled how in the last few years, she has felt a shift in her dignity, self-esteem and wellness. Working with JASS has helped Malaika feel more confident in encouraging other women to stand up for their own rights, particularly as survivors of violence. Malaika continues to share the knowledge and power she has gained with other women in her community. Now her home is a refuge for other sex workers who she stands alongside when they report violence and if their case gets seen by the court.
I have also noted that in my community women are now engaged in several initiatives. We developed a habit of sharing whatever we heard in spaces created by JASS with other women in the community.
Malaika joined the JASS circle in Zimbabwe in 2014, where feminist popular education methodology was used to reflect on building individual and collective power, as women and sex workers. Malaika was also a recipient of the Mobilisation Fund, that helped her to build economic alternatives in the form of small business during COVID-19, when she could not leave home to conduct sex work.
