Jenni Williams (born 1962) is a
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
an
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
activist and a founder of
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza). A prominent critic of President
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...
's government, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described her in 2009 as "one of the most troublesome thorns in Mugabe's side".
Early life
Williams was born in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. Raised mainly by her mother Margaret Mary née McConville who is the daughter of an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
man who emigrated to what was then Rhodesia from
County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...
.
[ He became a gold prospector and married Bahlezi Moyo from the Matabele tribe.][ Her Irish father was from Listowell, County Kerry.
At the age of 16, Williams dropped out of high school to work in order that her mother could afford her siblings schoolling.][ In 1994, her eldest brother died of ]AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
Activism
From 1994 to 2002, the public relations firm owned and headed by Williams represented the Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe. This soon brought Williams' company into conflict with the Mugabe due to his policy of seizing white-owned farms as a land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
measure.[ After Mugabe encouraged veterans to forcibly take over white-owned farms, Williams began to protest what she described as human rights abuses. She also alleged that the best farms were given to Mugabe's political allies.] In the resulting police harassment, Williams was forced to close her company.[
In 2002, Williams became one of the founders of Woza, a grassroots opposition movement created in response to a perceived lack of action by Zimbabwe's men against the Mugabe government.] The organization focused on public mass protests against Mugabe, and grew to 70,000 members in the following years.[ Williams and other Woza leaders set as a "cardinal rule" that the leadership must participate in sometimes-dangerous protests along with rank-and-file membership: "We will not tell someone to do what we are not willing to do ourselves".]
By 2008, Williams had been arrested 33 times by the Mugabe government for her actions with the group. Following one of her 2003 arrests, Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
designated her a prisoner of conscience. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
also denounced the repeated arrests of Williams and Woza co-leader Magodonga Mahlangu, stating that the Zimbabwean government should release the women and "allow civil society the right to demonstrate peacefully". After another arrest in mid-2008, U.S. ambassador James D. McGee called for her release, describing Williams as "a prominent person whose voice should be heard" and the charges against her as a "sham". She was granted bail the following day. In 2012, she was arrested for the 40th time at Woza's annual Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
march, which commemorated the group's tenth anniversary.
Recognition
Williams was given the US government's International Women of Courage Award
The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...
in 2007 for "providing an example of courage and leadership by working for change through peaceful and nonviolent means". The award was presented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
. Two years later, Williams and Woza co-leader Magodonga Mahlangu were awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, was created by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial in 1984, now known as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to honour individuals around the world who have shown great courage and have made a significant contr ...
, which was presented by US President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. At the ceremony, Obama said that the pair had "shown the women of Woza and the people of Zimbabwe that they can undermine their oppressors' power with their own power – that they can sap a dictator's strength with their own", and in presenting the award, gave each woman a kiss.
On International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
2012, Williams was awarded Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
's Ginetta Sagan Fund prize, which recognizes women "who are working to protect the liberty and lives of women and children in areas where human rights violations are widespread". The award was given in recognition of her work "to inspire and educate women to embrace and demand their human and civil rights in Zimbabwe". Under the umbrella of the German parliaments’ godparenthood program for human rights activists, Marina Schuster has been raising awareness for Williams' work.
Family
Williams is married to an electrician, with whom she has three adult children. Williams' two sons followed their sister to the United Kingdom in mid-2000s following threats to take the sons to youth militia. After several retrenchments her husband followed the children out of Zimbabwe. Williams remains in Zimbabwe fighting for social justice despite increasing government crackdowns. In her spare time Williams is researching her family tree covering her Irish and Matabele ancestry.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jenni
Living people
1962 births
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Zimbabwe
People from Matabeleland North Province
Zimbabwean people of Irish descent
Zimbabwean democracy activists
Zimbabwean human rights activists
Zimbabwean emigrants to the United States
Zimbabwean feminists
American people of Irish descent
American democracy activists
American human rights activists
Women human rights activists
African-American feminists
Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women
20th-century African-American people