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I don't often come out on a political rant but there are things roiling about in my head that I have to write down to alleviate.
Much has been made of the current case in Malawi of two gay men who are being imprisoned for the crime of love. It's right to be offended by this; what kind of backward society becomes punitive over the simple act of loving another human being? One whose principles are rooted in the ignorance of many centuries past. But I think you'll find that these principles are causal from the politics of religion, like most of the evils of this world visited upon the masses. As Christopher Hitchens says, God is NOT Great, and he understandably devotes an entire book eloquently arguing why religion is the single largest reason for the hell (literally, right here on earth) that millions of ordinary people find themselves embroiled in.
African countries are often mired in devout belief and superstitions and Malawi is no exception. 75% of the population is Christian, 20% Muslim. Slavish adherence to either of these sects has helped to contribute to a high incidence of AIDS related disease (veto of condom use, condemnation of any sexual practices outside of marriage thereby driving these practices underground) for a whopping 15% of the country. They are heavily reliant on monetary contributions from the Global Fund to alleviate the effects on their economy this brings but more importantly, 40% of the National Budget also comes from the GF. Simply put, the rest of the world is propping up Malawi's economy. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this might entitle some of us to demand they raise the standard of their human rights record.
But why stop there? Today I saw someone describe the imprisonment of these two unfortunate gentlemen as an 'extreme abuse of human rights'.
Extreme? Compared to what? To Idi Amin cutting off genitals and making people parade down the streets with them in their mouths? Others have haranged their social networks for not doing enough for a cause and trivializing the Malawians plight by means of carrying on a life undevoted to their fate.
Perhaps some of you are fortunate enough to have had a life that is robust and full enough to have somewhat overlooked the abuse of human rights that has been pervasive in 90% of the planet's cultures, plentifully covered in news items from time immemorial. Anywhere there are human beings, there will be found oppression, war, domination, cruelty. It has always been thus.
I'm not dismissing the heinous act of imprisoning someone for 14 years as lighthearted. But in the same name of fervor, many nations in the year of 2010 summarily execute people for the same or lesser leanings. Homosexuality is illegal in plenty of other countries, with far more serious consequences. Neither am I saying that one shouldn't care passionately about the fate of two men who are being mercilessly persecuted.
Does anyone care about those other issues? Did they before last week? I fucking did.
The President of Malawi has been quoted as saying that there was a "need to engage traditional and religious leaders and others on the laws that criminalize same-sex liaisons in Malawi." This seems a lot more hopeful to me than, for instance, the Wahabism default of 100 lashes preceding execution with zero chance of any repeal of obsessively medieval practices, mostly uncondemned by a world community that shuts its eyes to barbaric practices for fear of reprisal, whether it be economic, terroristic or military.
I see no widespread outcry amongst Western social networks for taking an eleven year old girl from her family, selling her off to a man in his seventies to be used as a sexual punchbag, to have her body invaded to bear his sexual assaults and his children, being locked in a house for her entire life, under a black sheet, with a metal mouthpiece over her face, with the threat of severe beating or death if she is ever caught talking to an unrelated man, let alone having a relationship with one, yet this goes on right now.
Or how about a child being held down and having all their outward genitals cut off, without anesthetic, with a rusty knife, in case they should commit the sin of wanton lust or desire in their life, even within the bounds of a marriage? This is happening right now.
I've been in countries where one can be arrested and imprisoned for whistling, eating or dancing at the wrong time, let alone holding someone's hand in public, or expressing chaste heterosexual affection. Westerners (much less native populations) who don't even subscribe to the religious practices of other cultures are right now in jail for much less than sleeping with someone. I myself am lucky not to be in one right now for giving someone the finger as they were screaming at me in a psychotic rage, two inches from my face, for not getting out of their way fast enough in a parking lot when the way was blocked by maneuvering cars. They had just driven into the side of my car in their temper. My middle finger could have had me jailed for just as long as two men in a Malawi prison.
In Saudi, sexting can get you jailed. Listening to the wrong radio station. Sitting in a car with someone. Getting gang raped can get you a stiffer sentence than 14 years with a few hundred lashes thrown in for good measure. Adultery, in many Middle Eastern and African countries can get you stoned to death up to your neck in sand.
There's an English woman in jail right now in Dubai who had a relationship with a man after her husband left her for another woman. Three years later he reported her for adultery and took her children away from her for life.
Is any of it right? Fuck, no. But just because something strikes a chord because it is close to one's life circumstance doesn't isolate it as the single most important social cause either, to be used as a weapon to make others feel guilt that they are not sharing your level of outrage.
I was outraged when I saw the video of the brother of the ruler of Dubai; he had not received satisfaction from a business deal. What he did was round up a police convoy and capture the man who had made money off him. He then joined the police for a drive out to the desert whereby the Egyptian in question was beaten into the dirt by several senior police officers. When the man was rendered nearly unconscious, the sheik took to the wheel of the four wheel drive himself, and ran the man over, backwards and forwards, three times with his vehicle. The video they took was for their own enjoyment. When it leaked, naturally the local media was suppressed from any reportage, as it always is in relation to anything negative to the ruling class.
I didn't see any protest registered in Western circles. The ruler of Dubai continues to own vast tracts of land in the UK for his prime racing stables. Glitterati continues to patronize Dubai on glossy publicized holidays.
The country still employs millions of impoverished Asian and Indian workers, kept in concentration camp conditions, often unpaid, kept deliberately in debt and forced to work in 48 degree temperatures on high building construction sites with a total lack of representation or safety while their passports are confiscated.
I don't see anyone raising protest.
I read of a word today. 'Slack-tivist'. The principle of pushing a button on a Facebook site and relieving our consciences that we have successfully contributed to defeating a cause, whether it be animal cruelty, hostage taking, oppression, unprincipled wars, domestic violence, the wrong candidate on the X Factor. Whatever. Let me tell you:- no one cares that you signed a petition. No one in the position of causing the damage, that is.
Tell me the last time it made a significant difference. Perhaps you have to go back to the Suffragettes to find a time when signing a petition meant causing change. The fact is that petitions are by dint of their nature the act of a minority. You can get a million people on a piece of paper and it wouldn't have the power of a cultural shift caused by a civil war, such as happened with Apartheid. Or the Global Fund removing monetary support to Malawi, which they're not about to do if that means that at the same time they deprive a quarter of a million people with AIDs their medical assistance. Should they? Not so black and white, is it?
Don't tell me I care about nothing enough to change it. I've leapt out of a car and waded, fists flailing, into a crowd of bikers on the street I saw abusing an animal. I've stood up to people much bigger than I in traumatic scenes of domestic violence, as a child and as an adult, on behalf of other people. I've risked my job many times to speak out on abuse and unfairness for people I was responsible for who couldn't fight for themselves. I've lost jobs for opening my mouth about corruption and abuse of authority when hundreds of my colleagues were too afraid to say a word. I've lived in frightening places that uniformly persecute for practices I feel are my right and stood firm on what I believe in and remained true to my own principles and choices. Can you say that?
I did say that in a comment on someone's page and it was quickly removed because it didn't conform to whatever political correctness was proliferating in the Malawi case.
If you have made a difference, you can then castigate me for worrying about what I can afford in Tesco today rather than joining a Facebook page.
Do what you must, with my blessing and admiration, but please remember that there is much out there to be concerned about. One either devotes a life to making a difference or gets through a life as best one can in the face of so many issues.
