When your political activism freaks out your family | Us & Them | DW Documentary

When your political activism freaks out your family | Us & Them | DW Documentary

[Applause] is there violence in Mexico against women and girls they kill us just for being women that’s femicide she’s risking a lot I really worry about her can’t imagine losing a child yes it drives me crazy I tell Maria don’t be so stubborn something could happen to you but she doesn’t

Understand support just to land your voice out just to speak up that they want that change there needs to be a revolution a strong Revolution that will change everything that will wash and Purge the system I’m afraid because people in Nigeria are dangerous I don’t want to lose him and I

Don’t want anything to happen to him they forget the fact that I could end up being that person who Chang everything do you ever fight with your parents about political issues do you want to change the world and your mom and dad disagree or are worried sign familiar

Young and old our realities and dreams can be so different seriously it seems like there’s a huge gap between the generations sometimes we just don’t get each other the question is can we fix it Every day in Mexico 10 or 11 women are killed that’s all because of the machismo that exists here Mexico is a dangerous place it’s fear fear and powerlessness I’m afraid the violence will come for Maria too it gets closer each time you hear about something happening to someone you Know I do graffiti I try to do things peacefully though some people see graffiti is too radical is that way of calling attention to the situation better than nothing I’m making this one because Iana balasos was killed she was last seen in this apartment building where she was killed by her ex

Partner I don’t think she’s mature enough yet to know what the consequences of her actions are at the end of the day I’m an adult a young adult who’s aware of her decisions and actions yes it’s fear in Mexico women as well as their families live in a kind of paranoia a horrible

Parano Mexican women are in danger more than 10 Mexican women are murdered every day and tens of thousands are missing for women one of the most dangerous countries in the world in 2022 seven out of 10 women here experiened violence and the numbers keep increasing a quarter of all Mexican

Women have been victims of sexual violence but only 1% of cases end in convictions I was born and raised in Lagos it’s an angry City you know Nigerian is at this verge of collapsing totally there’s poverty in the land there’s illiteracy corruption we need a to form there needs to be a revolution and revolution is what Nigeria needs at this point I’m afraid

Because people in Nigeria are dangerous you understand they are wicked the power is in us the power is actually in our hands we should rewrite the Constitution cuz there’s no transparency there should be laws in place laws that that no one has the power to you know manipulate or change

How can he achieve that how can so achieve that I am politically active and always advocating for better government and democracy what I do when we’re on the street is educating we inform we encourage we advise we evangelize we spread the gospel we are calling on people to be aware or to be

Politically active not just for the sake but for them to know that you as a person you have the strength tell me I’m not don’t don’t tell me that everybody cor my brother you said we not all corrupt right everybody’s not corrup I’m answering your question now

Corrupt cor all we do is complain okay okay the government is corrupt what do you want to do about it until a right political system is put in place until transparency fair play is being enacted then it’s like building a castle without a foundation I don’t really put my mind

Much into politics because of it’s not really it doesn’t look important to me all why doesn’t it look why doesn’t it look important to me how I put it now there is typical Nigerian ideology or mentality that is still found in young people of today which is the I don’t

Care attitude towards stuffs like this people always tend to focus on themselves and their family alone so if it’s like if it’s not something that is going to give them money or something that they’re going to benefit from at the moment they’re not really interested in it people hadly

Know who to vote for of course what are the qualities to check this time you have to vote in someone that respects the rule of law not because it’s popular not because it’s from your tribe and these are the issues that this past generation have been having the tribal

Sentiment The Fear Factor this government is very Wicked and they are very Wicked if you come out you collect that it has always been like that who wants to change is EU you what is the political situation in Nigeria while presidential and parliamentary elections are held every four years they’re not usually very

Democratic voters are often bribed or threatened to vote for particular candidates many of whom belong to established networks of rich and Powerful Nigerians in the oil rich country corruption is widespread in both politics and the economy and often a politician’s ethnicity plays a role in elections Nigeria does have the largest

Economy in Africa but almost half of its population has to live on less than2 EUR a day unemployment is high especially among young people half of Nigerians are under 19 years old it happened with my ex-boyfriend he raped me not just once but several times he emotionally manipulated

Me he told me that if I didn’t want to have sex with him it was because I was with someone else or because I didn’t love him anymore or because I was a whn he manipulated me in different ways so that he have sex with

Me but most of the time it was without my Consent I had no idea I was shocked it was like a blow that I never saw coming I felt powerless I was really angry at this person I wanted to go and beat him up let out all of my anger but I could have gotten into serious trouble legal

Trouble we never give 100% even if we want to never for me as a mother my low point was when my mother died I was so down it was like I saw everything through a foggy so for the last 3 years since my mother left us I wasn’t really there for Maria

The truth is I don’t think we ever give 100% now I see Maria going out onto the streets and every time it makes me very Afraid the shooting at the Ley toe gate on the 20th of October 2020 it was it was a very terrible experience I literally felt powerless the only reason why I wasn’t there was because the whole area was blocked on October 20th 2020 the Ley togate Massacre shocked Nigeria the

Nigerian Army fired on a group of young peaceful unarmed demonstrators on a tall Road leading to the Ley District in Lagos they are shooting at us they are shooting at least 12 people were killed in the shooting and dozens more were injured the protest had been directed primarily against an especially violent

Unit of the police after the shooting further protests erupted across the country the protest was everywhere so in my area we had our own encounter I think it was a day after the killings at Ley angry youths were coming out and attacking some police stations and all we approaching the police station there

And all of the police the police officers were all out with their guns he was trying to video the the what is happening the incident and they were shooting gun shooting gun and he was so I started shouting that should come inside they would shoot you they will shoot you don’t

No and me I had to report I had to you know get things on record cuz that was a very sensitive period in Nigeria we had to retain or capture every single information so you know you have my mom trying to prevent me I know we we had a

Struggle you understand there was a struggle at that point her fears are valid but she didn’t just understand what it was for me I had to do what I had to Do the protest on March 8th 2019 affected me a lot that was the moment when my eyes were opened and I realized how much women are suffering I started seeing videos of women who had been raped by their partners or by strangers or maybe a father raping his

Daughters or killing them or men killing their wives the big problem is that they’re killing us and the government is doing nothing to stop it the state doesn’t do anything When I go to protests do graffiti or share information on social media I feel strong but it’s a rage that won’t stop until they stop killing us Spee the relationship between Mexican society and Mexican women is terrible the problem is that we here in Mexico are always raised the way I was raised and the way my mother was raised often with beatings and it gets passed on from generation to generation My mom was born in the 1920s she had to be a tough woman in those days the men they married were quite Macho my father was a very cultured person but unfortunately a violent one extremely violent we had to get away my mother my brother and I left that house I was 3 years old when we left him my mother sent both of us to boarding school it was a military boarding

School we learned to live with the beatings that’s not great it can really twist your mindset don’t you think I tried to change things to give everything I didn’t get as a child now I try to give everything really everything My father left so it was just our mother and me and my younger once that was 2005 so was I think six years when the father left us it was a bad experience cuz we were literally abandoned seen my mother always crying love the father he love his daddy

And the father loved him we were surprised when he left my father used to be like that superhero that that person that God I see I love my father very much when there’s no balance me being my mother it’s always all about be careful I’ve always lived my life In Fear And

You know I never had that confidence that yes there’s someone behind me because he’s the first one has a responsibility because the father is not there he’s like father now help me help the siblings I know he’s a small boy but you have to try now all this while I’ve been the one

Doing everything so that is why I I want him to walk and help me because I need help and I’m getting Old my dad at some point was active in politics he ran for office he ran for House of Assembly back in my hometown at some point the father contested election 2007 but he fell my father’s political engagement influenced me and you know it was just all around me the talks and stuffs about

Both politics and whatnot was always around the corner I think he want to achieve more than his father father you want to show his father that that is what I think he want to show that that he cannot do that he can do [Applause] it so it’s going to be a carnival it’s

Going to be a grandmother of all rallies so Happ and okay so um the question I have to ask is what he’s surely going to be proud of this but I don’t know if he sees it or if he knows about it and I don’t I don’t really care though I’m

Just focused on myself and getting results and so I know they stress myself or person they cry me for or person care stand this young Nigerian man we are blessed to have him [Applause] now the father will be proud of him I think there are a lot more activists in my generation than in previous generations we’re the ones who are speaking out who are fighting against what could happen who are making noise I think social networks are a great tool that helps us with our activism when I was Maria’s age I didn’t fight against machismo or gender inequality because I saw it as something normal it didn’t seem like a bad thing maybe I was annoyed sometimes by the way

Things were done like the way my father treated my mother but I thought it was normal that’s the way things work okay generally all religions strive for good and I believe Maria is trying to do good and that reassures me I feel that she’s a woman with values

And with a good way of thinking of course I’d like her to be Catholic like I am I don’t believe in the existence of a God I believe more in nature all religions are patriarchal men have the power and women have none I see my generation and the

Generations that will come after me as strong we’re not going to let them treat us badly in the workplace like for example my parents generation might be used to bad treatment from a boss they’re sensitive right I mean they get offended very easily not me for something to offend me it has to

Be something terrible very but nowadays if you say something to a young person it’s no joke you can’t call them idiots it’s like a punch in the face We complain because things are unjust we demand our rights I get the feeling that artistic means peaceful means are

Ineffective we have to break things use our claws we have to sh outout we have to do graffiti to be listened to that’s why I’d like to join the block negro am I afraid Maria will join the BL negro and get radical of course what scares Myra about the block

Negro or the Black Block it’s a movement of radical feminists that’s widespread throughout Latin America in Mexico its masked members protect demonstrators from police attacks occupy homes and government offices and spray Graffiti On Building and monuments they’re active on social media and offer courses and self-defense the BL negro sees its kind

Of protest as the only way out of Mexico’s patriarchal society and as a legitimate response to the state’s paity soia from what you tell me it’s dangerous to fight for our rights politically dangerous the way I do it is dangerous direct action is a way of making the state and Society

Uncomfortable and that’s exactly what’s not allowed it’s taboo I’d love to be part of The Blocking negro but my parents won’t let me yes absolutely I’m afraid what I want is for Maria study to graduate that’s something I didn’t have I want her to do things using her

Intelligence and her Inner Strength not with Brute Force Lyricist it’s past 2020 but we still fa same each same struggles our father’s face for ages from 1960 check our history BR we went from too music is life for me something which is like life to me must reflect everything all this I don’t like

It I need help so I want him to stay and be helping me I want him to do a better I want him to do a good work I wanted him to be an engineer a hard in Nigeria the system keeps making a hard for us to prosper here a country

Where the enemies of progress are the government Ste frustrating the masses with the policies and now 2023 for the generation of my mother or my father’s uh with their experience with the military regime they had no say Obviously it was going to affect their ideology or mentality and we understand that fact

But we are coming out to speak because we know that there could be a change if we all collectively come out to speak with one voice the elders are believed to be wise there are kind of Gods on Earth who we see who should direct us who should

Guide us but unfortunately the reverse is the case in Nigeria cuz these Elders are shamed less people they do not care they’ve ruined things for us My Generation kind of more Fearless that is why they see this generation as rude as long as your father or your

Mother have told you don’t do this thing you have to obey you will not do it now is a new generation so they will not like to listen to you so what your father and I were talking about about the last March you went to you went with friends want some

Sauce I think that much much more needs to be done so that women have the right to make decisions about their own bodies like whether or not they want to have an abortion this is exactly what your mother and I have been discussing I also

Said at this table that you have to be very careful because you can put yourself in danger and that can put the stability of the family at risk if something happened to you that would endanger the family stability but at the end of the day no social problem has ever been solved

Peacefully so unfortunately it has to be aggressive not careful how sad it’s very sad but that’s why I’m saying this the problems aren’t being fixed but please it’s also really important that you look after yourself things do have to change but it’s so dangerous so many women have been

Murdered and with all these complaints the police do nothing so women have organized and they March and they make noise and the aggressors hear that noise well sometimes they don’t but it still helps because the government is doing nothing we have to make noise so that they’ll hear

Us if we don’t they won’t listen if we don’t make noise they won’t act I understand that but not the aggression like rating The Monuments I saying that I’m not okay with that nor am I no but what if I had a loved one who was missing or killed

What then maybe then I would be okay with it and if they killed me what would you do no no no knock on wood if they killed me wouldn’t you set things on fire vandalize and Destroy things is a vandalized Monument worse than a life cut

Short even if you don’t like it next year at the next march I want to be with a blocking neighbor that’s the only way they’ll listen to us I standing where they I don’t have anybody please it’s not just to help people nobody nobody like

Politics did I go and do politics we are just activ activist that are com killing people the more we sit back and do nothing the more he continues to you know gets banned the more the damage is going to continue we all have to come

Out I beg we all have to come out everybody will come out and participate if you don’t participate this keep will keep on taking advantage of all these things we keep on taking advantage of the fact that we don’t come out to participate the only thing they have now

Is to buy vote with money and on what we are doing what we are doing now is to go out and educate the people that this we’re not going to tell them who to vote for force them to vote anybody who they don’t want but what we are doing is to

Tell them to come out and vote because your vote count and do not sell your vote some people just believe that when they come and give them that small money who tell they will not s you we are there to open their eyes okay you you okay you they will you will

You sell I don’t to sell talk less of self we are not going to insult anybody or going to fight against anybody or going to talk we are just going this is this is we intelligence we are doing it brilliantly carefully that’s why I’m letting letting

You know we’re not we’re not going to fight anybody or insult anybody or do anything NOA will comea will come and if the people do anything we have legal backings are you the one that will go are you the one are you it’s all of us together all of us

Together that will come out and make that change all of us together Jesus Christ go and die for Nigeria want die for Nigeria I know they die for Nigeria but since I don’t come up for the Nigeria I will do what I have to do don’t want when they know that we are

That we’ve all woken up and we are aware especially they will do better so they will do better we’re just saying vote for the right people not just because it’s from your tribe I cannot just stay and sit down while I know that there are things I can Do my mother what I do not like the constant worries or fear I wouldn’t dismiss her fears I care for myself and I trust me I wouldn’t want to die for Nothing I make sure I don’t go too extreme or go too far I want him to achieve his dream I want a dream to come to reality that’s what I want him what I like about my mother mostly is or the fact that she’s kind-hearted and understanding She Believes In

Me When I remember that love is there I love him nothing will separate us I’d like the conflict with my parents to be resolved more with my mom than with my dad I want her to open her eyes and see that we’re fighting for our rights the truth is that that you want

Your child to fly I want her to be happy and free to be able to do what she Wants I believe love and affection can solve anything and is the Solution all my generation is doing is simply demanding its rights we are doing this because we love our society we are doing this because we love ourselves because we love you All

María in Mexico wants an end to violence against women; Somkele is fighting for democracy in Nigeria. But their parents have mixed feelings about their children’s activism. After all, political engagement can be dangerous.

22-year-old María attends protest rallies, sprays walls with feminist graffiti and is active on social media attacking machismo and challenging the threat to young women posed by men in her country. Her parents are afraid for their daughter and concerned that she will become radicalized. Her mother Maira is a devout Catholic and her father Carlos is a civil servant. While they understand María’s anger, they’re afraid for her life. That’s because around 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico. Simply because of their gender.

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