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Africa is Burning
Author: BobR
Date: 02/28/2014 13:43:00
Conflict is the bread and butter of television. Whether it's between political parties, or the U.S. and "terrorists", or the "real" housewives of some random city, the media loves to show it. If we can take sides, we can be coerced into watching. Eyeballs on the screen translates into advertising dollars, and the dollar is the bottom line.
That makes international news a little dicier for the American consumer. The conflicts in Egypt hold some interest because it appears to be Muslim -vs- non-Muslim. The power struggle in the Ukraine is a little more difficult. Everyone is white, so the bad guys aren't immediately obvious. There is concern, though, because we can see what looks like cities and white faces getting hurt, and explosions which look scary (yet safe) in HD.
But what happens when the victims AND the villains are both black? Africa as a continent is huge - much bigger than the U.S. and Europe combined. It contains over 50 countries and 15% of the planet's population. Yet discussion and footage of power struggles and war and the downright horrific atrocities occurring there are practically non-existent on TV. The continent is on fire with violence and suffering, and we go about our lives, complaining about our 1st-world problems, blissfully unaware of it all.
In the Central African Republic, there has been a bloody cycle of revenge violence occurring there between Christian and Muslim extremists. In the absence of high-powered weaponry, the weapons of choice are decidedly more medieval: machetes and fire:
Amongst all the hatred, there is a glimmer of trust:
(read the entire article - it's heartbreaking)
Some of us may be more familiar with Uganda. Like Russia, they have passed anti-LGBT laws. Sadly, these laws were encouraged by fundamentalist Christians from the U.S. In Uganda, the enforcement is more akin to lynch mobs. The world is trying to persuade them to change these, but the hate and fear is strong. Along with gays being outlawed, so have miniskirts:
Does that sound like the Taliban? These are supposedly Christians. We make jokes about the American Christian taliban trying to legislate their religious beliefs, but this is what it looks like in practice.
Nigeria, meanwhile, is becoming another Afghanistan, circa 1999. Muslim "enforcers" are doing their best (or is that their worst?) to push out any "westernization" they can target, even if that means slaughtering a schoolful of boys:
Here in America we are (rightfully) shocked, outraged, and saddened when someone goes into a school wounding and killing children with firearms. Thousands of miles away, in small towns on another continent, children are being burned alive, and then hacked with machetes or shot if they try to escape. This should be front page news, with President Obama trying to work with foreign leaders to stop the nightmare.
Instead, there's a solemn shake of the head, and secret sigh of relief that it's "just them" (you know - savages) and then we go on about our day, irritated that NetFlix doesn't carry that one movie we had our heart set on watching with a big bowl of microwave popcorn. Maybe we could even watch a nature documentary about the lions of the Serengeti to reinforce our incorrect preconceived notions about what that part of the world is like, so we don't have to feel guilty or care.
And even as you read this final sentence, another child has been slaughtered.
That makes international news a little dicier for the American consumer. The conflicts in Egypt hold some interest because it appears to be Muslim -vs- non-Muslim. The power struggle in the Ukraine is a little more difficult. Everyone is white, so the bad guys aren't immediately obvious. There is concern, though, because we can see what looks like cities and white faces getting hurt, and explosions which look scary (yet safe) in HD.
But what happens when the victims AND the villains are both black? Africa as a continent is huge - much bigger than the U.S. and Europe combined. It contains over 50 countries and 15% of the planet's population. Yet discussion and footage of power struggles and war and the downright horrific atrocities occurring there are practically non-existent on TV. The continent is on fire with violence and suffering, and we go about our lives, complaining about our 1st-world problems, blissfully unaware of it all.
In the Central African Republic, there has been a bloody cycle of revenge violence occurring there between Christian and Muslim extremists. In the absence of high-powered weaponry, the weapons of choice are decidedly more medieval: machetes and fire:
On Tuesday and Wednesday most of the 11 corpses collected around Bangui were from the PK-5 neighbourhood, where Christians and Muslims had previously lived peacefully together.
"Many were chopped to pieces," said a Central African Red Cross official in charge of collecting the bodies.
Until the last few days, the area had escaped the worst of the sectarian violence that has decimated other parts of the capital.
"PK-5 is the last neighbourhood we still call our own but for the last three days things have gotten worse," said a man who would not give his name.
Amongst all the hatred, there is a glimmer of trust:
In a country busily ripping itself apart in a bloodthirsty cycle of revenge, Father Fagba and his congregation are a remarkable exception – an unlikely group now bound together by a messy combination of high ideals and the purest desperation.
The crowds sheltering inside his church – families camped out in the aisles, luggage piled high on the altar, bags of food in the font, Christmas bunting still hanging from the rafters – are all Muslims seeking sanctuary, convinced that if they leave the compound they will be killed on the spot on the dusty streets of Boali.
Some of us may be more familiar with Uganda. Like Russia, they have passed anti-LGBT laws. Sadly, these laws were encouraged by fundamentalist Christians from the U.S. In Uganda, the enforcement is more akin to lynch mobs. The world is trying to persuade them to change these, but the hate and fear is strong. Along with gays being outlawed, so have miniskirts:
The recently signed Anti-Pornography Act 2014, broadly defines pornography as "any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual excitement". Simon Lokodo, Uganda's ethics and integrity minister and a former Catholic priest, has vowed that women wearing clothing that stopped above the knee would be arrested in a revival of Idi Amin's 1970s law, which was on the statute books until 2002.
[...]
So can women wear miniskirts in public? The Ugandan cabinet is currently reviewing the bill in response to public attacks on women. On Monday, after the ceremonial signing of the anti-gay bill, Lokodo made his feelings clear, saying: "Put on a miniskirt but please don't expose your thighs, your buttocks and your genitalia. Finished." But while women continue to suffer as a result of his bill, the problem is far from over
Does that sound like the Taliban? These are supposedly Christians. We make jokes about the American Christian taliban trying to legislate their religious beliefs, but this is what it looks like in practice.
Nigeria, meanwhile, is becoming another Afghanistan, circa 1999. Muslim "enforcers" are doing their best (or is that their worst?) to push out any "westernization" they can target, even if that means slaughtering a schoolful of boys:
On Tuesday at 2 a.m., in a familiar pattern of early morning raids, the radicals set fire to a boarding school in Yobe State and killed students aged 10-16 as they tried to escape. Other students perished in the blaze, according to teachers, some of whom escaped into the bush.
[...]
Since the state of emergency announced by President Goodluck Jonathan last spring, Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sinful," has launched an escalating series of raids and indiscriminate slaughters at schools, along roads, in mosques, at churches, and at communication centers. Of late, it's been attacking entire towns in the north.
Here in America we are (rightfully) shocked, outraged, and saddened when someone goes into a school wounding and killing children with firearms. Thousands of miles away, in small towns on another continent, children are being burned alive, and then hacked with machetes or shot if they try to escape. This should be front page news, with President Obama trying to work with foreign leaders to stop the nightmare.
Instead, there's a solemn shake of the head, and secret sigh of relief that it's "just them" (you know - savages) and then we go on about our day, irritated that NetFlix doesn't carry that one movie we had our heart set on watching with a big bowl of microwave popcorn. Maybe we could even watch a nature documentary about the lions of the Serengeti to reinforce our incorrect preconceived notions about what that part of the world is like, so we don't have to feel guilty or care.
And even as you read this final sentence, another child has been slaughtered.
