From the river deltas of Nigeria to the forests of Abya Yala, from the Indian plains to the favelas of Brazil, the women of the South have long been rewriting what freedom means. Not freedom as something given, but as something reclaimed — from the bones of empires, the margins of history, and the silenced tongues of our mothers.
Lélia Gonzalez, in Brazil, called us Amefricanas: the daughters of Africa and Abya Yala, living proof that the so-called “Latin America” was never only Latin. Her vision of Amefricanidade invited us to rebuild identity through the wisdom of the peoples who survived — those who dreamed the world anew.
Lilla Watson, an indigenous Murri elder in the Sahul Continent (known in western spaces as Australia), reminds us that solidarity is not charity — it’s kinship. Her words are a compass for all movements that seek repair rather than pity, mutual liberation rather than applause.
In Egypt, feminist writer and physician Nawal El Saadawi taught us that the repression of women’s sexuality and bodies is the first mechanism of political and economic control. Her relentless courage helps us unmask the intertwined forces of patriarchy, religion, and capitalism that restrict freedom in the Global South and beyond.
In Nigeria, feminist thinker Amina Mama invites us to see how militarism and colonial power still shape women’s lives today, and how resistance grows not only in parliaments but in community kitchens, art collectives, and borderless sisterhoods.
In Indonesia, writer and intellectual Julia Suryakusuma critiques how the state uses the concept of ‘Ibuisme’ (State Motherhood) to enforce political and patriarchal control over women’s bodies and agency. Her work exposes the authoritarian legacy that continues to shape modern Southeast Asian societies, challenging us to find freedom outside of militarized political structures.
In India, poet and educator Kamla Bhasin taught us that feminism is not a Western import, but an ancestral song of freedom. Her laughter and rage, her simplicity and power, remind us that feminism can also be joyful — an act of reclaiming our right to dance while dismantling the system.
And from Argentina, Rita Segato warns us that gender violence is not a private problem, but a colonial war waged upon bodies that refuse to obey. She helps us name patriarchy as a structure of conquest — and tenderness as an act of resistance.
Together, these women form a constellation — not around the North Star, but around the South, where liberation is not a destination but a direction. Their work asks us to unlearn what we think we know about freedom, to decentralize the gaze, and to listen to the South as teacher, not as student.
At OGA Voices, we amplify these stories because they remind us that knowledge is not neutral and that history can be healed. Their words call us to re-imagine activism as regeneration: collective care, ancestral memory, ecological wisdom, and radical empathy.
Learn, Share, Amplify
Learn more about these voices:
- Lélia Gonzalez – The Revolution of Thought and Anti-Colonial Healing
- Lilla Watson – Your Liberation is Bound Up with Mine—The Wisdom of Anti-Paternalism
- Nawal El Saadawi – The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World
- Amina Mama – Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender and Subjectivity
- Julia Suryakusuma – Sex, Power, and Society: State Motherhood in Indonesia
- Kamla Bhasin – What Is Patriarchy?
- Rita Segato – La guerra contra las mujeres
Keep exploring on OGA Voices
Call to Action
- Read and share these women’s work in your own communities — let their words travel further than borders.
- Listen to local movements led by women, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities in your region.
- Reflect on how colonial patterns still shape our daily choices — and how you can unlearn them.
- Amplify the South: cite, translate, collaborate, and credit. Liberation is not a solo project — it’s a chorus.
At OGA, we believe that to challenge the status quo, we must first learn to hear the world again — through many tongues, many histories, and one shared heartbeat. 🌿
