On the death of the German-South African journalist, writer and human rights activist
Born in 1924 to Orthodox Jewish parents in Fürth near Nuremberg, Ruth Weiss had to flee from the Nazis to South Africa as a young girl. There she experienced the apartheid regime. This made her a lifelong fighter for human rights. More here.
German Green Party co-founder Eva Quistorp turns 80.
In 1979, she co-founded the German Green Party. In the 1980s, she organized the large peace marches in the then capital, Bonn. She also fights for women’s rights. Today, Eva Quistorp turns 80. More here.
August 9: International Day of Indigenous Peoples
The phenomenon of missing and murdered indigenous people exists not only in the United States, but also in Canada. In Prince George, British Columbia, I had the opportunity to attend a vigil in memory of a missing family. A unique case. More here.
Women power: Lysistrata and her modern daughters
Sex is the elixir of life, the basis for procreation, but also a means of brutal subjugation. Women on almost all continents have therefore used sex strikes as a weapon of peaceful resistance. More here.
Raped women and their children in eastern Congo
While the world looks to Ukraine and the Middle East, to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and, most recently, to Germany, the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is once again sinking into a nightmare. The M23 “rebels” are marauding again. They murder, loot and rape – and have been doing so for three decades. More here.
One year ago today, the young Lakota Esther Wolfe fell victim to a “public execution”.
Esther was one of the many missing indigenous women – for nine long days and nights. That was how long her former partner held her captive and brutally abused her. After that, Esther called herself a “survivor”. She made her journey to the Spirit World in Rapid City, South Dakota, on February 21, 2024 at the age of 25. I interviewed her there in December 2022. You can find the text and interview that I posted after her murder here.
Two female writers, a bank robbery and an adopted fox
The best thing about traveling is the people I meet along the way. At Flathead Lake in Montana, I met two remarkable women. Both are rooted in their Christian faith, write under a pen name and self-publish their books. Get to know Hannah and Sarah and their powerful stories – in real life as well as in their books. More here.
Afghanistan: women’s rights continue to be restricted.
The systematic eradication of women from public life continues with a new Taliban decree. Nevertheless, the USA and Germany, for example, continue to finance humanitarian aid projects. What do Afghan women’s rights activists say about this? More here.
Twenty years ago, Ghofrane Haddaoui was cruelly murdered in Marseille.
Stoning to death: an archaic punishment only in Iran and Afghanistan? It is the year 2004: a 23-year-old woman is beaten and pelted with stones in the middle of Europe, in France, so that she dies in agony. How could this happen? More here.
A book review about a taboo subject. Guest post by Volker Seitz
The film “The Abused Servants of God” (2019) and Pope Francis’ admission that the abuse of nuns exists have sensitized societies in Europe. In Africa there was silence. In her pioneering work, nun Mary Lembo describes the exploitation of young nuns by Catholic priests. More here.
