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A BOOK ABOUT A WOMAN, AN AFRICAN AND A GAMBIAN RENOWNED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST PERSONALITIES OF OUR TIME

                                                 Synopsis

Bella Abzug, the First Jewish Congresswoman in the United States once said; “Women have been trained to speak softly and carry a lipstick. Those days are over.” Truly, those days are over. LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD establishes this view, and brings to real life, the idea and wisdom of Laurie Sue Brockway, who stated thus; “Women who live the life of their dreams don't get there by being dainty and darling. They demand what they want and they do what it takes to make it happen. That could mean breaking a few rules, a few hearts, and a few habits along the way, especially the habit of apologizing for who you are.” Following this, the book illuminates the great courage and bravery of Fatou Bensouda who walked and excelled with a noble dream and ambition, through the spiteful face of an adverse patriarchy that bizarrely afflicted women in her early life and made the great saying of Elvis Presley that; “Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine,”  a true statement.

During the early life of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, women were at birth initiated into the world through a baptism of heartache and adversity. For women in those days, patriarchal tyranny was monstrous, terrifying, overwhelming and incredibly diabolical. One may rightly ask that society, as Susan B. Anthony, a 19^th century feminist asked a United States court; “Are women persons?”

 Fatou Bensouda as a teenager thus knew the woman in her then society with dreams in her hearts, clamoring to be heard, ravenous to tell her stories and narrate her ordeals. But she needed one who could help her realize those dreams in her heart, so that she will find happiness and meaning for her life. Fatou’s dream as a teenager thus became focused on answering her society; yes, women are persons! What a promising heroine! According to Maya Angelou, a renowned African-American Poet; “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou further stated; “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our … heroes (she-roes).” Thus, in this book, the author celebrates this heroine (she-roe)!

Living A Dream To Change The World is the first published book (literary work of non-fiction) about this promising teenager who later became the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and a woman who is a source of myths and legends. It is loaded with useful messages as it projects the valuable significance of her childhood dream-inspired mission and heroism. Following its laudable salient plot, it is an essential literature, especially for women who would want to live their dreams in life; it guides and exemplifies! In the main, it is a priceless effort by the author which can be found very useful as a reference material by all involved in diverse forms of gender development activities; from students and teachers of women studies, researchers, writers, policy-makers, to civil society organizations, gender activists, etc.

‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ can be grouped in the literary type or genre of non-fiction. Though it can rightly be describe as a biography, it is not burdened with much of history and its chronological narrations, as it is chiefly meant to educate, moralize and inspire the reader through its illumination of the inspirational life path of Fatou Bensouda. It thus seeks to shape the character of a reader in the process of defining her heroic character. ‘Ipso facto’, it is a didactic biography. It deliberately strives to use Fatou’s feats to build an inspirational base for women, especially those women who feel constrained by obnoxious societal norms and values. From this perspective, the book can be rightly viewed as vehicles for transformation ignition in the world of women, with even men inclusive! The book also points out her toils, perseverance and endurance of near impossible odds in order to live her dream, and thus celebrates her heroic determination, the hope she brings to women everywhere and the pace she sets for them.

Therefore, armed with facts based on research findings, varying conversational views and biographical essays, among others, the author focuses on the childhood society of Fatou Bensouda, and how it predisposed her into cultivating the noble dream of relieving women from the harsh norms and values embedded in the society’s obnoxious traditional structures, and hence offers a constructive reasoning with the aim of creating and providing a beneficial literature for our present generation, and those of the future who may be prone to the destructive society’s antisocial ‘religion’ of inequality and its attendant recklessness, ineptitudes and inhibitions to the vulnerable victims.

In this light, the book thus points to the heroic Fatou Bensouda who as a young girl refused to conform to the dictates and inhibitive manipulations of the patriarchal system prevalent in her society, rather, she conceived the pursuit of a life career in the legal profession with the sole aim of shielding her fellow women against the inherent dehumanization and abusive tendencies of patriarchy. Consequently, her diligent strives to realize this childhood ambition catapulted her to an epic stardom marked by an array of legendary achievements.

Therefore in the book, the author spotlights Fatou Bensouda as a great African woman, a trail-blazer, a role-model, and one of the strong leaders of that industry that tells women that they can be a diva with just some effort; and a woman who is living her dream to create a change in the society, to make it a better place. Her story as contained in this book sums up a heroine who climbed through the mountains to realize her ambition in order to follow her passion to live in the career she conceived out of a determination to set her fellow women free from the captivity of a system and social order that has held them spell-bound for millennia. The book thus underscores and celebrates her accomplishment and her realization of her noble determination with a high degree of exactitude.

Furthermore, the book lights up how Fatou Bensouda is living her dream today by her evident leading role and unyielding crusade against gender-based violence and the various dimensions of man’s inhumanity-to-man existent in our midst today. In this regard, it notes that on assumption of office as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, her first policy records clearly expressed her poise to rid the world of gender-based crimes by classifying them as crimes against humanity; and thus she criminalizes any crime of this magnitude. Today, the court convicts war criminals found guilty of rape and allied gender-based offences. The book further spells out her ‘effect’ and how it is reinventing the woman and her rights, as well as restoring hope to the voiceless people in our society. Further to this, the author traces all these marks to her early life; her experiences and her then society characterized by a systemic patriarchy and her resolve as a young girl to bring about a change in society. She once stated, as noted in the book; “During My teenage years I worked for some time as a court clerk at a local court. I saw many women appear before court being the victims of rape, sexual and domestic violence…. From that moment I knew I wanted to study law, to be able to assist women victims…. …. I have come to actually believe that this is my calling.”  True to this, today, with the aid of her strong and undying courage and resilience, she is living in line with this calling with a precision synonymous to that of a professional marksman. Herein lays the rationale of the title of this book! ‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’.

 ‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ also highlights the struggles women face on a daily basis. Hence, in this book, the author presents the social perception of the woman in the global society and within the context of the erstwhile Gambian society. Thus, the book explores deeply into the society in which Fatou conceived and pursued her noble childhood dream to be a source of change and a cause of joy for women in the world.

‘LIVING A DREAM TO CHANGE THE WORLD’ further brings to a clear light, how she is using her hard-earned success and the resultant access to privilege and authority to provide opportunities for women and all other vulnerable people to live with dignity and guaranteeing their basic human rights which they all deserve, in a manner very much in line with her early life ambition. The book also illuminates the vivid dividends of her early life valiant vision for today’s humanity. In the light of this, the author points to women’s achievements for mankind. It also spotlights further how the achievements of women can energize other women, as well as how appreciative women can be in regards to the great efforts and accomplishments of their fellow women.

The book in the main, teaches some lessons on how women can get themselves empowered using the Fatou’s model, as it affects the importance of mentoring, among others. In this aspect of the book, the author drew attention to Amie Bensouda, one of Fatou’s acclaimed mentors.

Also, using a realistic intellectual framework in his analysis of the ‘African Question’, the author strives to debunk the erroneous view held by some self-serving African politicians that the International Criminal Court is against Africa. In his perspective, the author views the Criminal Court as dutifully serving Africans, and directly expresses that the Court amounts to a saving grace for Africans who have for ages been subjected to the merciless, counter-productive, violent and selfish ambitions of a few ‘strong’ ones. In this section of the book, the author poses the question; is the African leadership institution characterized by the dominance of men also patriarchal? Hence, the author brings to bear his perception that the leaders seem not to be comfortable with a woman’s leadership of such a powerful institution meant to bring order and sanity to a misguided and debased humanity of which some of them are culprits. At this juncture, the author dwells a little on the doctrine of gender diversity as a smart solution to the critical issue of gender imbalance as evident in the African leadership structure.

On a general note, in the book, one fact remains very prominent, and that is the author’s primary goal to describe trends in women’s achievements and how women can use personal efforts to tear off the barriers often times posed by gender differences, socialization and stereotypes in order to live their dreams!                                     

                           

LIBERIA'S ICONIC WOMAN, LEYMAH ROBERTA GBOWEE 'S LEGENDARY CONFLICT RESOLUTION & PEACE-BUILDING MODEL

Thoughts On The Conflict Resolution & Peace-Building Model Of The Woman Behind The Liberian Peace Miracle

Global institutions like the World Bank and all women and men with sound reasoning have for long been calling on all and sundry to make crisis response programs a work for women. It is good economics to do so, it is good politics to do so, it is good religion to do so, it is social justice, it is smart to do so; and it is the smartest solution to many teething issues of global concern!

Emily Murphy, the Judge who initiated the Persons Case, once said; "I think women can save civilization." The Liberian peace restoration process amounts to an amazing model and a highly valuable case-study. It is a pointer to the power inherent in women and a manifestation of the great wonders of the Feminine Mystique which has for millennia been relegated to the background!

The history of peace in Liberia after more than a decade of bloodbath will remain incomplete without a reference to one woman whose ‘mystagogic’ initiative ignited the astonishing shift from a reign of Terror to the reign of Peace in the country.

Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's peace movement that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf  Johnson won and became the first African woman to become her country’s leader. Gbowee, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." According to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; "Leymah bore witness to the worst of humanity and helped bring Liberia out of the dark. Her memoir is a captivating narrative that will stand in history as testament to the power of women, faith and the spirit of our great country."

Being moved beyond resistance point by the sufferings of her fellow women and children due to the long period of strife in Liberia, Leymah Gbowee conceptualized, organized, mobilized and spearheaded the Women’s Mass Action for Peace; a coalition of women from across religious divides (Christian and Muslim women) who sat in public places in protest, fearlessly confronting Charles Taylor, former Liberia's merciless, blood-thirsty, red-eyed, violent and ruthless tyrant and the rebel warlords. More still, they courageously embarked on a sex strike; the most deadly form of protest universally known to have inexplicable spiritual connotations and consequences. The women protest worked wonders; it chased the tyrant out of power and sent him on an involuntary exile with even a curse of perpetual calamities already afflicting him.

The potency of Gbowee’s model is remarkable! Today, Liberians bask in peace and progress with the wounds of war healing fast. Her peace concept and its formula is now turning Liberia’s tragedy into triumphs and the long nights of darkness miraculously turned into daylight, and Liberia knew peace after almost a decade and half of bloody and violent fighting induced by the selfish quest for power and wealth by some pathological self-seeking villains.

Gbowee harnessed the power within the woman, the mystagogic genius in the Feminine Mystique and the amazing wonder of women solidarity. All over the world, when women mean real business, they easily change situations; crisis turns to peace; sufferings are ameliorated; hopelessness becomes hope and tragedy is turned into triumph. This is the power of the women which the society has been neglecting for millennia!

 With the supernatural powers that always accompany the force of their group pressure, women can cause the earth to quake. It was women with the style of Gbowee that dramatically initiated the change in the course of the French history for eternity and for the better. It is worthy to recollect that the women's march of 1789 was a potent event that predisposed the masses of France to the events of the French Revolution.  The march stands as an inspirational example, emblematic of the power of women’s movements such as that of Leymah Gbowee. Furthermore, the Igbo Women’s demostration of 1929 played a major role in the colonial governance of Nigeria, and the Identity of the Igbo tribe, as well as setting in a new era of good governance in Nigeria’s political history.

The Liberian Peace Miracle portends that, when women rise, the world convulses; because Mother Nature endowed them immensely with a rare mystagogic powers. Some analysts have expressed that Mother Eve with her smartness taught them and embedded in them a lot of smart skills. This could be possibly true, because, even nature fears women and that is why most times it changes events to their favor. It is no wonder then that this power in women worked successfully for Gbowee, aiding her in realizing her peace ambition for her country. Today, she emerges a heroine and an international leader who changed history, marking the vanguard of a new wave of women taking control of their political destiny around the world. To immortalize her ideals, values and ideas for the future generations, Gbowee has authored a book in this regard;”Mighty Be Our Powers”; a full story in her own words. It picks up before ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’ and brings the reader up to date with Gbowee's now-multinational efforts to empower women to bring peace to their countries. Gbowee is characteristically led by the following ideals in her pursuits for the rights of women:

“We must continue to unite in sisterhood to turn our tears into triumph. There is no time to rest until our world achieves wholeness and balance, where all men and women are considered equal and free.”

“You can tell people of the need to struggle, but when the powerless start to see that they really can make a difference, nothing can quench the fire.”

Ever-focused on sustaining peace, Leymah continued working on behalf of grassroots efforts in leadership positions. She served as a member of both the African Feminist Forum and the African Women’s Leadership Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and as a commissioner-designate for the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Through these positions, Leymah addressed the particular vulnerability of women and children in war-torn societies. In her current position as Executive Director of WIPSEN-Africa, Leymah pushes for greater inclusion of women as leaders and agents of change in Africa.

Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Leymah travels internationally to speak about the pernicious and devastating effects of war and gender-based violence. She has been featured on a number of international television programmes and has been a panelist at several regional and international conferences, including UNIFEM’s “Women and the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation (DDRR) Process,” the Women in the World Summit, and the United Nations Security Council’s Arria Formula Meeting on women, peace and security.

In the words of a former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, he said, Gbowee; "should be a lesson to all of us". The landmarks of Gbowee make it clear that Women are vital forces and effective agents in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peace-building. But for long, they have remained under-represented in decision-making in regards to the issues of violence and conflict. Their work is rarely acknowledged, nor recognized in most cases. When it comes to peace deals and high level negotiations, women's voices and their experiences are excluded and marginalized.

Naturally, women are experts in identifying what is needed to rebuild peace, yet, they are neglected by their own governments and even the international community.  But the simple fact is that, so long as women do not have the support they need to play their role in society, there is every likelihood that the present-day malaise will continue to put the entire the human family at risk. Thus, that, no woman, no peace is a tenable truism!

We must thus acknowledge that if women are to play their traditional roles in security and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically, and represented adequately at all levels of decision- making. This is why the world must open its arms in support for women like Gbowee Leymah who have consented to face the tedious task of bringing sanity to the human society being rocked by the human-agents of destruction, and perpetrators of violence against the voiceless of the humanity with impunity. We can count on their insight, experience, indeed expertise, courage and determination to rid the world of the prevailing evils.

The French history-changing Paris women’s March of 1789; the Igbo Women’s Riot of 1929 in Eastern Nigeria; the Gbowee-Leymah led Liberian Women’s protest; and The Women’s Peace Parade by our fore-mothers, repeatedly demonstrate that a durable peace and lasting reconciliation can only be built on a solid foundation of justice and truth, where women are allowed and encouraged to play a pivotal role in world peace process. By doing so, the world would gain their active support and develop a global federation for Peace. The courageous women of the fore-days challenged oppression, and our women of today have continued in that stead. However, although it is hard for many people today to conceive of such broad female authority, but they emanate from the truth of history. Women’s inclusion in the global suppression of violent crimes with impunity means that, the particular forms of violence they face during conflict, such as brutal sexual violence can be addressed by them. The solution of societal problems that fails to recognize the different experiences of women threatens to erode women’s rights and put them and the entire society at increased risk. At this crucial time for women in the world, they are they ones with the needed ingredients and capability to shape peace and to contribute to rebuilding their and men’s societies.

There is now growing consensus that women’s access to opportunities are inexorably linked to peace, prosperity, human development and democracy. Therefore, how a country taps the talents and capacity of its women will, in large measure, determine its economic, social and political progress. In fact, social scientists are beginning to rightly believe that women’s more equitable role in global issues will not only ensure that the concerns of women and other marginalized people are represented, because, when women are represented in governmental organs such as the legislature in significant numbers for example, they can bring their priorities forward to influence the legislative agenda.

In today's wars, the strategies adopted by armed groups seek to bring the battle more immediately, more systematically, and more massively to the core of the civilian population; these conflicts are characterized by a total breakdown of law, security and community structures, with gross human rights violations perpetrated against civilian populations, and the most vulnerable are women and children.

Moreover, while armed conflicts involving non-state actors may yield fewer military battle deaths, they exact a high human cost; unarmed civilians are victimized, basic services deteriorate, societal divisions deepen and local economies decline. It is thus imperative to realize that securing durable peace depends on an inclusive approach to peace-building and security, particularly with the full participation of the phenomenal ultimate victims, the women, in all decision-making to bring peace and prevent future violent conflicts.

Many issues are yet to be addressed if women are to play a key role in building peace and security mechanisms and processes. The neglect of an inclusive, participatory strategy of peace-building stems from a lack of a realization of the gendered dimensions of both conflict and its aftermath. Over the years, diplomatic efforts to end the violence between the conflicting parties, moving them towards nonviolent dialogue that focuses mainly on negotiation, mediation, and arbitration have been known to fail without the direct involvement of women. And if it has any success, those successes have always been short-lived.

While post-conflict reconstruction of political, economic, and social structures and institutions should adopt a gendered rights-based approach to the protection of all citizens’ rights, and development of necessary human resources, the longer term process of social reintegration and rehabilitation also needs to be inclusive and gender sensitive. In the post-conflict phase, community and individual healing is possible if ending impunity and the promotion of justice are a crucial part of the reconciliation process. Support has to be given to direct involvement of women’s groups and organizations to develop community sensitization and appropriately responsive interventions for reintegration and rehabilitation programs for women and girls who have been victims of sexual abuse. The involvement of women in the Liberian reconciliation process provides a striking validity and testimony to the efficacy of this prescription.

In the main, the most effective gender equality outputs and outcomes can be achieved by applying a gendered analytical framework to the entire cycle of conflict and recovery and prevention. The failure to incorporate such an analysis into the initial impact assessments of the situation and develop gendered indicators to monitor and evaluate progress has resulted in women being marginalized in decision-making for conflict resolution and their specific needs and priorities not incorporated into reconstruction. So, a clear understanding of the differential conflict experiences of women and men, authenticated with sex- disaggregated facts is essential to ensure that analysis recognizes that their distinct needs and roles are accorded special consideration.

Yet, despite recent progress toward being more gender sensitive, all stages of peace-building continue to give inadequate attention to the equal role of women. The transition from conflict to post-conflict peace-building provides a vital window of opportunity for the inclusion of women in decision-making structures and reconstruction processes and if a more equitable, just and sustainable peace is to be achieved, adequate machinery has to be provided to ensure that women are key players.

Though the Beijing Platform for Action has increased attention to women’s participation in peace processes and women’s organizations to contribute to the prevention of conflict and to participate in conflict resolution, peace-building and peace negotiations, there was still much to be achieved. Women continue to be excluded from formal peace processes and post-conflict implementation mechanisms. While the high levels of gender based violence was recognized in most international institutions which acknowledge that sexual violence in conflict has become in some contexts a tactic of war designed to achieve military and political objectives, there are still too few efforts to get women involved in domestic or international prosecutions of war crimes against women and reparations programs, as well as programs that recognize their role in preventing conflict and building peace, and programmes focused on promoting effective ways to prevent sexual violence and help them go about their daily activities safely in conflict- affected environments.

The Liberian ‘Miracle’ proves beyond reasonable doubts the inherent ability of women to negotiate peace in periods of crisis. Global efforts should hence be allocated to building capacity of women’s organizations to be key  players in establishing and participating in mechanisms for national dialogue, such as truth commissions. These must not only involve women and women’s organizations, as was the case in Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc, but should also entail legal redress by acknowledging gendered war crimes such as rape at both the local and international levels.

Therefore, attention has to be given to the lack of women’s participation in peace negotiations across the conflict-ridden zones of the globe. The present imbalance needs to be redressed by the adoption of affirmative action measures to ensure a higher inclusion of women, with international and regional organizations, as well as national governments advocating strongly for such measures. Women have to have a prominent role in the formal negotiations, as well as in their own governments

In most societies, women are accorded negligible attention when it comes to building their capacity to be effective change agents and advocates of social justice. Supporting them to compete in national and local elections is lacking in these countries dominated by the ‘big man’ culture of leadership, and without adequate resources women will remain marginalized.

Furthermore, creating enabling mechanisms and processes for gender equality and providing equitable resources can empower women to become protagonists in rebuilding their war-torn countries and creating a more just, secure and equitable society, and to bring about positive, sustainable outcomes for development at the local, community, national and global levels.

Therefore, the international community must promote women as active protagonists because the peace table is a forum not only for negotiating the end to war, but also ... a platform for transforming institutions and structures, and opening the door to greater social justice. This transition from conflict to post-conflict peace-building is a crucial opportunity for the inclusion of women in domestic decision-making structures and processes.

We may recall that this was vividly engraved in The Beijing Platform for Action which emphasized that: “The equal access and full participation of women in power structures and their full involvement in all efforts for the prevention and resolution of conflicts are essential for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security... If women are to play an equal part in securing and maintaining peace, they must be empowered politically and economically and represented adequately at all levels of decision-making”. The view of Kofi. A. Annan, former UN Secretary-General reinforces this, in his view that peace is inextricably linked to equality between women and men...maintaining and promoting peace and security requires equal participation in decision-making. This applies to all decision-making from peace negotiations and peace accords, implementation of mandates of peacekeeping missions, reconstructing or constructing systems of governance, security, rule of law, electoral and constitutional reform and development. Since women are usually vulnerable to societal crisis, they can thus be the most powerful agents of change if given the opportunity; hence, enabling their social, economic and political participations can help speed up recovery and hope for the human race. This is why the World Bank is calling on all to join in making crisis response programs a work for women. It is good economics to do so, it is good politics to do so, it is good religion to do so, it is social justice, it is smart to do so; and it is the smartest solution! But, with the sluggish global approach to the issue of women, Leymah Gbowee’s model reveals one readily available missile for women to take the bull by the horn; the power of solidarity. At this juncture, it may be ripe to visit "Solidarity Forever", written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915; with the verses added by modern women activists to reflect their concerns:

We're the women of the union and we sure know how to fight.

We'll fight for women's issues and we'll fight for women's rights.

A woman's work is never done from morning until night.

Women make the union strong!

It is we who wash dishes, scrub the floors and clean the dirt,

Feed the kids and send them off to school - and then we go to work,

Where we work for half men's wages for a boss who likes to flirt. But the union makes us strong!