Women’s Day in Black:

Women Activists Call for Women’s Day Boycott 

-Urge women nationwide to wear black cloths to mourn the dead and stand up against repression by the Yaounde regime

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Yaounde

Political and Women’s Rights Activists, Kah Walla, Alice Nkom, NdockiMichelle have called for 

boycott of Women’s Day activities on 8 March

Edith Kah Walla, leader of ‘Stand Up for Cameroon Movement’,  Barristers Alice Nkom, Michele Ndoki, Charlotte Tchakounte and a group of other women have under the banner of a group call “Mothers of the Nation” called on women nationwide to boycott the upcoming women’s day celebration on March 8.

                They urged women nationwide to distance themselves from buying, wearing the women’s day fabric and put on black cloths in honor of the fallen civilians in the two crisis-hit Anglophone and the Northern regions. The decision was made at the end of a meeting in Douala Friday 21 February 2020.  

                The women seized the opportunity to remind themselves of the role played by other women groups in fighting oppressors during conflicts situations in other parts of the world and urged all and sundry to federate forces and stand for their rights as mothers from the Yaoundé regime.

                “…Our mothers of Anlu fought the British colonizer, while our sisters of UDEFEC (Union Démocratique des Femmes Camerounaises) fought the French colonizer. Our mothers used Mevengu, Ko’o and Takumbeng to right the wrongs of society. We cannot sit today and do nothing as the society falls apart,” partly read a statement they issued at the end of the meeting, which, equally condemned deaths of their children across the conflict-hit regions.

                “…4,000 or more in the Extreme North, 3000 and more in the North West and South West regions. Our children are out of school. 600 000 in the Anglophone regions, but surely over one million if we add in the parts of the country where there are no schools, where there are no teachers or where parents can simply not afford to pay fees,” they revealed, stating, that they as women are paying the ultimate price for the decisions of a regime that has absolutely no regard for them. 

                “We are burying the dead…we are being raped and violated…we are using every possible means and yet we still cannot make enough money to feed our children…we are raising children only for this regime, who cannot create jobs for them, to transform them into soldiers, armed groups, bandits…people who kill and who are killed,” they denounced, noting, that the time to sit down, cry and complain is over and it is time for them to stand up for action.

                “This 8th of March, we must come out as Cameroonian women to say No to the death and destruction in our country and to say Yes to life - Our lives and the lives of our children. We must come out to say we deserve safety, security and well-being in this country which belongs to us. We must stand and make our voices heard,” they insisted.

                The women took a firm commitment which they urged others nationwide to emulate by not to buy or wear the official Women’s Day cloth, to stand in mourning for the thousands who have died, demand life and restoration of the nation, not participate in any official ceremonies, parties and parades when they are being killed and their children denied jobs, food, water, electricity, healthcare and education.