Question 1 :- Could you introduce yourself ?
I AM GLENDA JOANNA WETHERBORN Minister of Human Rights* Guatemalan, Afro-descendant, journalist, social communicator, academic and popular educator attached to black feminism, specialized in Gender, Human Rights and Intersectionality approaches. I own a Master’s degree in equality and equity for development, a Postgraduate degree in leadership for social change, and a Postgraduate degree in Rights for Afro-descendant populations.
For more than 15 years I’ve been working with social organizations, public institutions, private sector and UN entities in Latin America and the Caribbean, leading and contributing to processes related to human rights, women’s rights, rights and identity of Afrodescendant and indigenous peoples, youth, LGBTIQ+ population, artivism, ludopedagogies and popular education. I am also part of international platforms which advocate for social justice, equality, intercontinental connections, data-based interventions and more balanced relations between countries from the Global South and the Global North.
Question 2 :- What is your vision of Pan-africanism ?
My vision of Pan-Africanism is a social and political movement that consolidates the empowerment of Afro-descendant and African populations and allows them to strengthen the struggle against the political and public exclusion that they have historically faced as a result of the different and simultaneous systems of oppression that reproduce racism, inequalities and the dynamics of social relations strongly influenced by colonialism.
Question 3 :- Who is your favourite character in Panafrican history, and why?
I have two favourite characters in Pan-African History:* Marcus Mosiah Garvey (August 17, 1887 – June 10, 1940) a Jamaican preacher, journalist and businessman, founder of the Universal Association for the Betterment of the Negro Man, whose motto was “One God, One Aim, One Destiny”, and Amy Ashwood Garvey (January 10, 1897 – May 3, 1969) a Jamaican Pan-Africanist activist who was director of the Black Star Line Steamship Corporation, and along with Marcus Garvey she founded the Negro World newspaper.
Question 4 :- With the onset of technology and investment in Africa, how do you see Africa in the 21st Century ?
With the onset of technology and investment I see Africa in the 21st Century as* an increasingly young and urban continent that is developing at different speeds to overcome the threshold of poverty, discrimination and inequality in the face of democratic regeneration, climate emergencies and significant population growth. I see in Africa the emergence of more and diverse social, political, cultural and economic leaderships aimed at achieving financial security, sustainable development and social justice.
Question 5 :- What are you planning to do in the future for the State of the African Diaspora?
What I plan to do in the future for the State of African Diaspora is* strengthen a comprehensive human rights and evidence-based approach to recognize and address systemic and structural racism against people of the African Diaspora to contribute to an improvement in their quality of life, dignity and participation.
