Brenda Odimba (also spelled as Brända Audimba) is a Belgian engineer and decolonial activist. Her focus is

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

activism in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. Odimba founded the association Mwasi asbl (NewSisterhood).

Early life

Odimba was born is Brussels in 1989. Her father is Belgian and her mother was born in Congo. Her mother lived in Belgium as an undocumented worker for a number of years. Odimba studied at

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

and

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

. She is a trained chemical engineer.

Decolonial activist

Odimba is a

decolonial Decoloniality () is a school of thought that aims to delink from Eurocentric knowledge hierarchies and ways of being in the world in order to enable other forms of existence on Earth. It critiques the perceived universality of Western knowl ...

activist. She helped organize the

George Floyd protests in Belgium Shortly after protests seeking justice for George Floyd, an African-American who was murdered during a police arrest, began in the United States, some people in Belgium protested to show solidarity with Americans protestors and to demonstrate ...

in 2020 and was part of an unofficial

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement. In April 2023, Odimba helped draw attention to a police shooting of a psychiatric patient in Brussels, at Fond’Roy Clinic. The clinic called the police on its patient after the patient became agitated. A collective of health professionals alleged that the skin colour of the patient was a deciding factor in the way the police handled the situation, resulting in the death of the patient, a black man, while Odimba highlighted the fact that this incident of police violence was a result of the intersocietality of racism and validism.

Protest at the Béguinage Church

Odimba was one of the activists supporting the spokespeople of the 2021 hunger strike of undocumented migrants in Belgium. Odimba acted in support of the 2021 hunger strike of undocumented migrants in Belgium, which took place at the Béguinage Church in Brussels. Odimba called on the Belgian government to align its legislation on undocumented migrants with the rules of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. After the hunger strike had been brought to an end, Odimba denounced the rhetoric of

Sammy Mahdi Sammy Mahdi (born 21 September 1988) is a Belgian Christian-Democrat politician, a member and the president of CD&V, who in March 2020 became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. On 1 October 2020, Mahdi became Secretary of Stat ...

, the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration at the time, as manipulative leading to a division in the undocumented population between those who took part in the strike and those who didn’t.

Climate justice activist

Odimba is also an environmental activist. In 2021, she was one of the thousands of plaintiffs who took the Belgian public authorities to court over their failing to take action to meet the international climate targets. Odimba also wrote and protested against EACOP, a mega project in Africa by Total Énergies (

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odimba, Brenda Living people Black Lives Matter people Belgian climate activists Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni People from Brussels Université libre de Bruxelles alumni 1989 births