Sexual violence in Zimbabwe dates back to the liberation war in the 1980s when women were used as sex objects serving Zimbabwean soldiers. There has been a silence around the rapes and other acts of sexual abuse which took place at that time. Now following more systematic sexual violence by the state - rape and other forms of torture against women during and following this years elections, Betty Makoni, Founder & Director of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, recently launched the Zimbabwe Rape Survivors Association (ZRPS)

The violence that characterized the presidential run off elections left a trail of disaster in Zimbabwe. The state sponsored post election violence from May 15 to 29 July 2008 left hundreds of women and girls traumatized because of rape which was used and continue to be used as a weapon of war. Many women not only lost their homes they had worked so hard for the past two decades to own but also hands, fingers, legs and their genital organs. Right now there seems to be somewhat every sign of political leadership transition in Zimbabwe and the women are angry and disappointed that there is no pointer that there would be transitional justice for the rape survivors and moreover many of them are still terrified ,displaced and are constantly mocked by their perpetrators and many men left their wives as a result of the public shame brought by the rape. It is feared more than 2000 women and girls in Zimbabwe were raped and due to intimidation and fear have not come out. The Zimbabwe Rape Survivors Association is a loose network of women who survived rape perpetrated by the youth militia under the command of Zanu PF and they will not this time let this case slip off like those before this one. Already the women have partnered with AIDS Free World for collection and preservation of evidence and on 11 September 2008 the idea to come up with the Zimbabwe Women Rape Survivors Association was conceived in Gaborone in Botswana with a vision to create a new culture of transforming rape victims into fearless leaders so that many more women who have not opened do so and have their evidence preserved and survival strategies and security put in place now that the political situation has not stabilized and nowhere in the political deal is stated that there will be justice for victims

Tags:
16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women
Rape + Zimbabwe

Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography by Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully

From the publishers: Displayed on European stages from 1810 to 1815 as the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman was one of the most famous women of her day, and also one of the least known. As the Hottentot Venus, she was seen by Westerners as alluring and primitive, a reflection of their fears and suppressed desires. But who was Sara Baartman? Who was the woman who became the Hottentot Venus? Based on research and interviews that span three continents, Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus tells the entwined histories of an illusive life and a famous icon. In doing so, the book raises questions about the possibilities and limits of biography for understanding those who live between and among different cultures.

In reconstructing Baartman’s life, the book traverses the South African frontier and its genocidal violence, cosmopolitan Cape Town, the ending of the slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, London and Parisian high society, and the rise of racial science. The authors discuss the ramifications of discovering that when Baartman went to London, she was older than originally assumed, and they explore the enduring impact of the Hottentot Venus on ideas about women, race, and sexuality. The book concludes with the politics involved in returning Baartman’s remains to her home country, and connects Baartman’s story to her descendants in nineteenth- and twentieth-century South Africa.

Praise from novelist Zoë Wicomb:

Finally, an authoritative account of the mythologized life of Sara Baartman. The meticulously researched subject comes to life in the hands of historians Crais and Scully, who skillfully negotiate the pitfalls of writing historical biography. The authors make a delicate distinction between the woman, Sara Baartman, and the iconic Hottentot Venus, in this elegantly written, passionate, compassionate, and carefully contextualized study, in which their findings are nevertheless unflinchingly presented. Magnificent–an outstanding contribution to South African culture, past and present.”

Via Africa is a Country

Tags:

Sara Baartman
South Africa + History

Aid agencies, NGO’s are being outed for their role as agents of Western financial captial at any cost who feed of the misery caused by their masters. Christian Aid is one such example. Following the 2004 coup against President Aristide of Haiti, Christian Aid issued a position statement in which it colluded with the lies of the US and France that Aristide resigned when in fact he was kidnapped and dumped in the Central African Republic. The paper went on to present Aristide’s government as a corrupt bunch of thugs whilst completing ignoring the fact that he won two elections with over 75% of the vote. They continued to ignore the violence committed by the UN forces following the removal of Aristide plus the systematic terrorising of Lavalas supporters. All this done under the disguise of “humanitarian concerns”. After assisting in the destruction of an elected government by bleeding it dry it then calls for aid to rebuild the very structures it has prevented from developing by the elected government. The people, in this case Haitians then become the objects of NGO industry which is based on the premise that there is a disaster or a conflict which enables them to step in and “save” the situation. This in turn is driven by adverts of helpless hapless people with no agency as victims of something that is disconnected from the financiers of the NGO’s themselves and Western financial interests.

Governments view humanitarian aid as a strategic battleground where their military forces can operate alongside doctors, to the great displeasure of the doctors. Multilateral organisations, such as the European Union, finance largescale programmes; the UN funds peacekeeping operations. All these players flood the poorest countries, overlap and fail to coordinate with each other, creating chaos rather than order.

Governments and multilateral organisations cannot allow voluntary organisations to have a monopoly on solidarity and generosity. So humanitarian work has become a world of populist politicians; tired, concerned professionals; international funders caught in a bureaucratic, financial rationale; and suspicious or blasé donors who prefer local causes. The circus follows the show – the misfortune of others – a media product in ever greater demand.

The media is busy reporting endless tragedies in Haiti - floods, hurricanes, collapsing schools. What they do not report is what iis behind these disasters. Why is it when the hurricane hits Haiti, thousands die yet in neighbouring Dominican Republic the numbers are in their tens and twenties? The $1 million Haiti pays back in debt payments every week which the West refuses to write off but is happy to spend millions on UN peacekeepers and the huge overhead costs of NGO’s and humanitarian aid thereby maintaining it’s control and occupation of the country.

In Haiti: Racism & Poverty, John Maxwell makes some comparisons between the amount of money paid out in bonus payments to Wall St bankers $18 billion - double Haiti’s GDP (8 million people).

The chairman of Goldman took home more than $70 million and his lieutenants – as Zoellick once was – $40 million or more, each.
It should be clear that someone like Robert Zoellick is likely to be totally bemused by Haiti when his entertainment allowance could probably feed the entire population for a day or two. It is not hard to understand that Mr Zoellick cannot understand why Haiti needs debt relief.

One million dollars a week would feed everybody in Haiti even if only at a very basic level – at least they would not have to eat earth patties. Instead the Haitians export this money to pay the salaries of such as Zoellick

But debt relief is too simple and at the same time to complicated to process. There are NGOs to rebuild what Western governments and multinationals destroy and NGOs to prop up the regimes that the US and multinationals wish to keep in place to maintain their financial interests and NGOs to spread the deceit that is charitable capitalism….

The aid industry is central to the current globalisation of ideology. Global capitalism must launder the profits from its exploitation. The harsh demands of this unregulated world – child labour, increased production, unpaid overtime – must be disguised. The huge number of people who suffer from these forms of social violence are rarely identified as victims. Governments, businesses and donors are paying a moral tax, trying to claim they are part of a moral humanity, through their pledges of morality, pseudo-transparency and charity.

Tags:
Haiti
Christian Aid
USA
NGO

The Afro-Brazilian film “Quilombo Country” is now available to watch on line for 94p or $1.49 I haven’t watched it yet but I have watched some of the short video clips on history, dance and and land rights.

Quilombo Country,” a documentary film shot in digital video, provides a portrait of rural communities in Brazil that were either founded by runaway slaves or begun from abandoned plantations. This type of community is known as a quilombo, from an Angolan word that means “encampment.” As many as 2,000 quilombos exist today.

Contrary to Brazil’s national mythology, Brazil was a brutal and deadly place for slaves. But they didn’t submit willingly. Thousands escaped, while others led political and militant movements that forced white farmers to leave. Largely unknown to the outside world, today these communities struggle to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression.

The film ranges from the Northeastern sugar-growing regions to the heart of the Amazon rainforest, raising issues of political identity, land rights, and racial and socioeconomic discrimination. Included are examples of the material culture that allow the quilombolas to survive in relative isolation, including hunting, fishing, construction and agriculture; as well as rare footage of syncretic Umbanda and Pajelança ceremonies; Tambor de Crioula, Carimbó and Boi Bumba drum and dance celebrations; and Festivals of the Mast.

Tags:
Africa Diaspora
Afro-Brazil
Slavery + Brazil

Anyone regularly reading this blog will by now have a fairly good idea of the long hard struggle faced by the African LGBTI community against homophobic bigots, even in South African where LGBTI rights are enshrined in the constitution and where same-sex marriage became a reality in 2006. However we often imagine that things are much easier in the US and I guess relatively they are but there the recent passing of Proposition 8 [a constitutional amendment in California which bans same-sex marriage] is a wake up call that all is far from being OK.

The title of this post comes from Pam’s House Blend who thought of using the word “hysterical” but thought it “too serious a topic for snark“. But that depends how you interpret the word “hysterical” - as in “hysterically roll on the floor funny”or as in “hysterical psychoneurotic - marked by excessive or uncontrollable emotion - mad frenzied raving; “a mob of hysterical vigilantes”. Taking this interpretation the use of the word is very appropriate.

The passing of the amendment was not just because Black voters supported it but they did have a considerable part to play[to make this point clear it should read “relative to their numbers and percentage vote*“] and we as Black people need to step up and own up to the homophobia in our communities whether here in England or Nigeria, Uganda or the US. And as Pam writes it’s not just Prop 8…..

It’s been an strange month to be black and gay in America so far. First there was the gay bashing that killed Michael Sandy in New York, and the disturbing news of Tyrone Garner’s lack of a burial 37 days after his death with the possibility of a pauper’s burial in the end. Those depressing stories were balanced out somewhat yesterday by the news of the New Jersey Supreme Court decision and the fact that a black lesbian couple was among the plaintiffs whose willingness to take a stand yielded that historic moment.

Pam’s hard-line response to the “hysterical” bigots amongst Black people is powerful and particularly addresses the religious bigots that we all know too well in African countries.

When I was growing up, I heard an old legend that if you read the Bible all the way through from beginning to end, it would make you crazy. Now I think what makes you crazy isn’t reading the Bible, but reading it literally and to the exclusion of anything else. That will drive you insane as surely as sitting in a dark room and never allowing any light to enter it would make anyone insane. Let in a little light, and you see enough to make things out. More light than that, and suddenly the way you thought the world around you worked doesn’t make sense anymore. But not enough light and you either have to create stories to explain what you can’t fully see. Or you have to just not see it. With African Americans, it began with the first slaves who were converted to Christianity only to be confronted with the biblical passages that justified and even sanctified their enslavement, and for the sake of sanity had to “not read those parts.”

Also note that in the US like Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and other African countries, the bigotry stems from the same Victorian puritanical Christianity forced fed on Africans by the colonial rulers and speaks to the “unAfricanness” of Christianity itself. This was a religion brought by white people who claimed Black people were not human but savage animals to be controlled and fed literal interpretations of a bible that was used to confirm their sub-humanness.

I basically concur with his premise that the vehement homophobia expressed by many Blacks stems from a the history of so many Black slaves being converted to Christianity by conservative denominations that stressed biblical literalism, strict Victorian sexual morality that was prevalent during the same period as American slavery, and a reaction against the stereotypes of Blacks as insatiable sexual savages.

We have all had to put up with being at best marginalised and worse excluded and disowned by families, friends and community or forced to live in open and closed closets of hurt and anger. Coming from our own people who have been oppressed and treated like crap for the best part of 500 years - is particularly hard to take. How can people who have been through so much pain because of their Blackness then turn around and inflict the same pain on their sisters and brothers just because they have a different sexual orientation? It is shameful. Black people all over the world are celebrating the fact that a Black man has become President of the US and therefore the most powerful person in the world. Yet they cannot even begin to connect the dots and link that up with their own homophobia they are so blinded with the ink from their bibles.

*Updated with clarification

Technorati: Proposition 8 + USA LGBTI Homophobia