During this year's 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women and Children, Independent Media continues our #DontLookAway campaign by shining a spotlight on sexual harassment.
We asked three prominent spoken word artists to compose poems for this campaign.
Here is Siphokazi Jonas' poem.
THANKS for the hashtag, but
there's no time to tweet
between taxi rank, construction site, and street.
Only clutch your bag to your body
Your body to yourself
Yourself to this thought
please don't talk to me
please don't talk to me
please don't talk to me
please don't talk to me
Thanks for the hashtag, but
there's no time to tweet
in the boardroom or by the photocopy machine.
Power pinches the purse strings, and
Makes you puppet
Everybody knows
The puppet master's hands like to slip below the neck
Below the hem,
below the waist.
But the show must go on, so
The audience claps. And claps. And claps its way to a 13th cheque.
*Human Resources is currently out of office/offline*
Thanks for the hashtag, but
there's no time to tweet
in vestry or confession booth.
Scriptures are interpreted behind smoke-screens,
between a collar and a robe.
The pulpit is now a bookshelf of bodies, and
God was cast out a long time ago to make space:
"And the spirit of silence descended on them like tongues of fire.
"Their tongues were on fire, and no one said anything.
"They swallowed the ash."
Thanks for the hashtag, but
there is no time to tweet
in Parliament or court.
We're in the business of cooking laws
To serve justice to the vulnerable.
First, a few questions to prove your innocence:
Did you say NO?
Do your clothes say NO?
Your values, your virtues, your life?
How long have you lived as a NO?
We put it to the court, that when you said NO (or couldn't say it at all), you really meant
YES!
We submit, your Honour, that what matters is not what she says,
it is what he believes he heard.
Thanks for the hashtag, but
There's no time to tweet
There's no network here
Data is expensive here
How do you explain Twitter here? Or a hashtag for that matter?
My aunt, my cousin, my grandmother don't speak English here.
There's no time to tweet here
The police ask what I did to deserve it here
The docket is for sale here
They family wants to solve this as a family here
They pay damages to make things right here
The lecturer fails you here
The principal is king here
The prophet is father here
The breadwinner must not be questioned here
The bread must not be endangered here
The neighbours mind their own business here
They say I'll ruin the family here
They say bekezela here
They say "don’t try be clever" here
They say they'll teach me a lesson here
They say they want to "fix" me here
They say "smile" here.
The trend is #wearedyinghere.
