Please support the poor victims in Malawi

[Tjerk12]

I just read in my newspaper that in Malawi (Africa) a young Gay couple is sentenced to 14!!!! years of prison. Why? They murdered people? No, just because they are Gay. Please friends let us support those guys. Mail to your government or to amnesty international. Whatever, let us do something. Or maybe our forum could make a petition and we sign that. We could mail it to the Human Rights commission of the U.N.

 

[Tjerk12]

Hi Inte,
I don't expect to make a difference, but I will try, as my companion Don Quichote did, who wasn't Dutch, but also had something to do with windmills. At least I could convince my Dutch friend who runs a Gay site in The Netherlands. The central theme for this weekend will be the faith of those poor devils. And I, idiotic as I am, I will send an e-mail to my prime minister and to mister Baroso of the European Union.

 

[XMan101]

The British are one of the largest givers of aid etc but although protesting in the strongest possible way have stopped short of any sanctions. There are many reports & opinions all over the net about this and it's featured quite a lot in the news & discussion programmes over here.

I have little tollerance for any kind of prejudice and deliberate suffering imposed on people but in the great scheme of things this incident is just one "minor" incident in the world. It is obviously going to be something that is closer to the heart of most on this forum , being a gay issue, but it is just a drop in the ocean in worldwide suffering stakes.

An eye-opening doentary series worth catching if you're able to is on our Channel 4 over here called "Unreported World". The things people have to go through on a daily basis in some parts of the planet is quite heartbreaking.

Africa is still living, in many areas, to our old Victorian rule book. Legislation won't change anything, it's public attitude that has to change, and we all know it can take several generations for that. It seems inherrant in people to react against anything different or potentially threatening to their beliefs in their minds. We still have pockets of prejudice even in the "enlightened" western world, I don't believe you'll ever change that entirely.
In South Africa, the only African country to have legalised same sex marriage, there are still reports of gang rapes in the cities against gay people. Legislation is never enough, you can't force a belief, it has to be worked out over time and by education. A slow process.

 

[Winger]

The British are one of the largest givers of aid etc but although protesting in the strongest possible way have stopped short of any sanctions. There are many reports & opinions all over the net about this and it's featured quite a lot in the news & discussion programmes over here.

I have little tollerance for any kind of prejudice and deliberate suffering imposed on people but in the great scheme of things this incident is just one "minor" incident in the world. It is obviously going to be something that is closer to the heart of most on this forum , being a gay issue, but it is just a drop in the ocean in worldwide suffering stakes.

An eye-opening doentary series worth catching if you're able to is on our Channel 4 over here called "Unreported World". The things people have to go through on a daily basis in some parts of the planet is quite heartbreaking.

Africa is still living, in many areas, to our old Victorian rule book. Legislation won't change anything, it's public attitude that has to change, and we all know it can take several generations for that. It seems inherrant in people to react against anything different or potentially threatening to their beliefs in their minds. We still have pockets of prejudice even in the "enlightened" western world, I don't believe you'll ever change that entirely.
In South Africa, the only African country to have legalised same sex marriage, there are still reports of gang rapes in the cities against gay people. Legislation is never enough, you can't force a belief, it has to be worked out over time and by education. A slow process.

A lot of African attitudes to homosexuality are colonial holdovers. At best the prevailing narrative in a country might be that a gay male is a man who wants to be a women. At worst, well, you have the kind of scapegoating that you see here.

The gay scapegoating gets thrown in with the AIDS thing. These are countries where AIDS education is *extremely* difficult for a myriad of reasons, and wherever you have serious social problems like that, you have blaming. People all around the world like to blame their problems on other people, and African countries are no different. That the gay/AIDS link already exists just makes it worse.

It will be interesting to see how foreign donors play this. On the one hand, they can twist the arms of legislators in countries like Malawi to get them to change, but you're right, that doesn't resolve the social narratives and perceptions that exist. Moreover, it's risky for a foreign government to be seen as directly meddling in national politics of sovereign countries, even if there isn't this kind of widespread social consensus anyways.

About the only positive is that there have been a few cases lately like this. You have to start somewhere, so maybe this is the first step of breaking down this social barrier in Africa. It's probably a long ways off, but even if you force some people to make an argument against acceptance of homosexuals, that's better than them never having to engage the topic at all.

 

[BugsyB]

nothing will happen but WE MUST TRY!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slimjim]

Just heard on BBC radio news broadcast - the Malawi President has pardoned them, with release effective immediate... just spotted this on the BBC website:



A gay couple who were jailed in Malawi have been pardoned by President Bingu wa Mutharika.
Mr Mutharika, speaking as UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited Lilongwe, said he had ordered their immediate release.
Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were given 14-year jail terms after being convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts.
The case has sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country.
Mr Ban said he welcomed the president's decision.
Correspondents say Malawi is a deeply conservative society where religious leaders equate same-sex liaisons with Satanism.
Mr Mutharika, who has in the past dismissed homosexuality as alien, said he had set them free on humanitarian grounds.
"These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws," he said after meeting Mr Ban.
"However, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions."
Aid donors and human rights groups have been putting pressure on his government to respect the rights of minority groups.