The following letter calling for greater defamation law reform, including limiting corporations ability to use libel law to silence civil society critics, was coordinated by Index on Censorship and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange network (IFEX)
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President Bingu wa Mutharika in Malawai is facing growing criticism for authoritarianism, from both internal and external critics. He has been accused of trampling on democratic freedoms, human rights abuses and presiding over the collapse of Malawi’s economy by the donor community. On 15 March 2012 the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a Malawian religious rights group, called for the resignation of the president, or for a referendum for the president. Unless the president complies within 90 days he will face ‘civil disobedience’ charges.
Mutharika, a former World Bank economist, is seen as becoming increasingly autocratic and his disagreements with the West over politics and economic policy have left the country without critical external aid from donors and the International Monetary Fund. Several major donors, including the UK, cut their aid in 2011 over concerns about the infringement of democratic freedoms, economic management and governance. Nearly three-quarters of Malawi’s population of 15.4 million people live on less than $1 (60 pence) a day. Mutharika has accused Western donors of funding an opposition protest movement that is challenging his regime.
This recent criticism comes from the powerful Church lobby, The Public Affairs Committee. The PAC’s call is the latest in a series of ultimatums for Mutharika to step down. The leaders of Malawi’s main churches, which have considerable standing and influence in the country, dominate the 20-year-old PAC. The PAC was instrumental in forcing the Malawi Congress Party to move Malawi from a one-party dictatorship to plural politics in the 1990s.
Mutharika’s regime has in the past demonstrated eagerness to use country’s security forces to thwart popular demonstrations and disrupt opposition rallies. Newspapers are being targeted and articles deemed “contrary to public interest” are being censored by Mr Mutharika’s government. Famously in May last year, when he sacked government minister Joyce Banda, Mutharika pronounced: “When God noted that Lucifer was being big-headed, he did not hesitate to evict him from the heavenly government. I am not the first to fire someone, it started in heaven. So before you start faulting me for being intolerant because I have sacked Joyce Banda from DPP, fault God for sacking Lucifer from heaven.”
On Sunday (March 18 2012) the police tear-gassed and assaulted opposition supporters as opposition presidential aspirant Atupele Muluzi, tried to address a gathering. He was later arrested, and riots continued in Lilongwe. Angry Malawians responded by attacking a police station, beating up officers and looting their houses.
In July last year, 19 people were killed in a police crackdown to quell protests over deteriorating political and economic conditions. There has been arbitrary arrest of prominent anti-government activists such as John Kapito, chairs of the state-funded Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and former attorney general, lawyer cum human rights campaigner, Ralph Kasambara.
Students in May 2011 were tear gassed and several lecturers at Chancellor College in Zomba were dismissed following an unsavoury stand-off between academics and the police. The row started because Peter Mukhito, the Inspector General of the Police, quizzed a political studies lecturer, Blessings Chitinga over his discussions of the Arab Springs Revolts. “
In East Africa, Homosexuality and lesbianism is totally taboo. At best the the attitude is to ignore homosexuality, at worst, there are deaths, “corrective rape” of lesbians in South Africa, and communities vilifying and occasionally killing gay citizens.
‘We’ve been together for 15 years,’ says Amina*, 35, married with two children, adjusting her burkhah and niquab. She is fully veiled; only her mobile phone, customised with trinkets and baubles, hint at individuality. ‘We knew each other from school,’ says Amina. ‘I courted her slowly, watched her, gave her clues with my eyes, sent her SMS (text) messages, brought her gifts, oud (perfume, usually jasmine or frankinsense). It was, and is, really important it’s secret; we meet only in my bedroom, I would bring shame on my family if they knew.’
Although lesbianism is not actually illegal on Zanzibar, it’s taken over six months of Chinese whispers to set this interview up. The deal is that it has to be done in private, in a place far from any interviewees neighbourhoods, and in the middle of the day, with no real names or photos. And yet, ironically, anyone with an interest in lesbianism will happily tell you it’s everywhere here in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania in East Africa.
At Raju; the only gay and lesbian bar on the island, the atmosphere is staid. Everyone is seated, the atmosphere quiet and the women older, some in burkahs, many dressed to the nines in glittering dresses and low necklines. There are couples, some women in matching clothes, but no outward displays of affection. There are no exclusively lesbian clubs, bars, cafés, no social or political associations offering support, counselling and social networks for lesbians, nor gays at all in Zanzibar or Tanzania. Women and men rely on secrecy and international internet sites for information and support. Tanzania is slightly more accommodating than our neighbour Uganda, where gay citizens risk death or imprisonment if a recently-revived Bill becomes law.
Across the African continent homophobia seems to be burgeoning: both ideologically, and violently. Barak Obama said this week he is deeply alarmed by the treatment of lesbian, gays and transgender people, and will be looking at linking aid with the treatment of lesbian and gay citizens. This is important as many NGO’s here ignore homophobia and are actively conservative, preaching against the use of condoms in a bizarre leap of logic between abstinence and heterosexuality. Condoms, for many here. gives permission to people to sleep around, including having gay (male) sex. The reaction of the Ugandan Presidential Advisor, John Nagenda — “If the Americans think the can tell us what to do, they can go to hell” — is not, sadly, unique, or unusual (though Malawi did announce today that it will review it’s anti-gay laws).
And David Cameron’s sentiments, whilst worthy, do not really bear scrutiny — there are no Lesbian, Gay or Transgender projects supported by DFID here on the continent anyway.
In Nigeria, where homosexuality is already illegal, a new bill has been approved that will imprison for 10 years “Any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisation, or directly or indirectly make public show of same sex amorous relationship in Nigeria”. Nigerian Lesbian activist Osazeme O speaks for many when she says “ The bill is a distraction. There are so many other things our government could be doing right now Nigeria, people here are concerned with, ‘Will I have light when I get home? Will I have running water?’ Things like that. If we open this gate to this kind of discrimination, what next?”
A common perception here is that it’s illegal under Islam or that gay people are indoctrinated or “Westernised”. Homosexuality is “unnatural” and a threat to social, moral and cultural values. With the exception of South Africa, where lesbians and gays are the cultural emblem of liberal, party-loving Cape Town, and global ambassadors for all kinds of radical HIV activism and arts work, much of Africa has a long way to go. South Africa is the only country on the continent that has a group of active, out HIV positive gay men, who do much to uncover the hypocrisy of the homophobia present.
The rise of Pentacostal and Evangelical churches, (with active strong links to the USA) here in East Africa has seen a growing intolerance of gays and lesbians, which is associated with Westernism, paedophilia, sodomy, insanity and colonialism. The Muslim mosques and Christian churches in East Africa are vociferously, and often violently, against gays and lesbians. Workshops are held to “make people straight”. It’s even regarded as a mental illness. Variously associated with witchcraft, “shetani” (evil spirits), being “Kafir” (a non-believer, an infidel) or anti-culture, homosexuality is not just a sexual preference, it’s a lifestyle that can cost your life.
Anecdotally, many men and women in Tanzania and Zanzibar are killed by the Askari Jamani (a vigilante community police force) for having same sex affairs: This is not even considered newsworthy, so accepted is it.
When a local Zanzibar radio phone-in recently tackled this thorny issue of lesbianism, only one caller over five hours had anything positive to say, and she was a Kenyan lesbian. In South Africa the “corrective rape” of lesbian women has received media attention.
But the evidence of lesbianism and gays in Africa is centuries old. The chronicles of the Ibo in Nigeria, the Kouria in Tanzania, members of the Sudanese elite — all feature lesbians. And in Zanzibar, where strict segregation of men and women is the norm, there are plenty of places where people meet illicitly for sex: hair salons, each other’s homes, after the mosque. Massage in hair salons is very common here, and one thing often leads to another…
One completely culturally specific perk of being gay on Zanzibar, Lamu and other Tanzanian coastal areas, is that an older lesbian lover brings status, security and respect.
According to Fatima*, “Older, strong women, with good jobs, salaries and status, often take younger lesbian ‘wives’. They support the younger woman with food, social connections and help getting work, and in return, there’s sex involved. But we would NEVER call it lesbianism; it’s just one of those things in Zanzibar. We were colonised by the Persians and the Omanis; lesbianism is in these Arab cultures — look at the poems — but it’s behind closed doors. Behind the veil, if you like! We are socially isolated, we are teased, talked about, but I don’t care, I am strong.”
Maryam* is a prominent artist and civil servant. She says she’s happy to be seen as lesbian when she travels abroad to America and Europe, but would never dream of being out in Zanzibar. She organises the women’s football team that plays in Zanzibar’s main football ground. It’s a place where lesbian women meet. The team are a collection of women playing football in full hijab. Only “Father” is dressed like a man: she’s an out transgender woman, and has relationships with women. “I am able to marry women because really I am a man. I know I am, they know I am, so it’s ok. It’s not wasagaji,” she explains, using the local perjorative slang term for lesbianism — it means grinding. So here’s the rub; anything goes, as long as you keep up heterosexual appearances.
Women’s sexual pleasure is a completely taboo subject, although it wasn’t in the 50s and 60s, when Zanzibar was “the Paris of Africa”. Older Zanzibari women recall the “kibuki” and “kidumbak” – highly secretive nocturnal rituals from which men are excluded. The kabuki is a spiritual invocation for sexual power and attractiveness. Over copious cups of konyagi (the local gin), women harness the mystical power of female sexuality. The kidumbak is a night-long event of overtly sexual music, seduction techniques and dances, where women mimic explicit sexual positions with each other.
Through the grapevine, I speak to a lesbian Taarab singer, Khadija Buruma*. She tries to explain the contradiction to me. “We live in an intensely private and secretive society, where gossip is everything. If you are public about being a lesbian then you bring shame on yourself and all your family and neighbours, it’s completely un-Zanzibari. But if you do it in private, or at a Taarab, no-one really cares. You need to keep your reputation and ‘face’ in order to function in society – deal with the government, do business. The only other people who know if you are lesbian are at the Taarab or kibuki too, and they won’t talk. They can’t take the risk of being called lesbians too.”
Uganda’s outrageous Anti-Homosexuality Bill was rejected last year in parliament, and with the death of activist David Kato in January 2011, for a brief moment the issue hit the global press. However since October 2011 there are moves to reinvigorate it: in Uganda gay citizens repeatedly caught having sex face execution, while people “who touch each other in a gay way” could be jailed. The death penalty will apply automatically if one partner is under 18, has a disability or is HIV-positive. This punitive and regressive law seems to reflect the feelings of many in Uganda and the surrounding countries; there’s a shocking disconnect between what people in this part of the world do behind closed doors and what they will admit to in public.
Hello, welcome to Index on Censorship Uncut for Sub Saharan and East Africa.
I am honoured and excited to be part of this global team, and hope you will read and contribute to the growth and formation of a network of people across this continent and around the world. This first (official) blog, from me, looks at the overall picture of free speech in this area. Then there’s another one about the recent events in Zambia. I am delighted to welcome the contributor Tatenda Malan who’s written about Malawi and Botswana.
Please feel free to comment, critique, and add your comments. And to send in your ideas. We are actively seeking new writers, commentators, thinkers, activists and I particularly wish to encourage people who might not have published before, or who don’t write in English. Let me know how free speech works in your area — whether it’s radio stations that won’t play the music, a law that stifles free expression, harassment of journalists or activists,or a local event that is talking about issues that are difficult for the community. Index on Censorship seeks to promote ideas, debate, healthy controversy and free speech, via music, poetry, plays, improvised drama or journalism.
Thanks for reading this.
Thembi
Forget the newsagent. The way to get media information here is to hang out on the pavement. At the petrol station Fakuru sells me a paper from his stall laid out on the ground. Newspapers are displayed in a rack, and a group of men are huddled round reading the headlines. Over by the shoe polishing “fundi” a group of motorcycle taxi drivers are listening keenly to the football results on the radio. A hundred yards down the road, Mama Ameena runs a tv shack — for a penny you can go inside and watch the news.
There is media here in East Africa and Sub Saharan Africa, lots of it, newspapers, the much vaunted (in the West) East Africa high speed internet cable, private radio stations, and daily news broadcast on televisions. In South Africa there are 17 private newspapers, but only two Ombudsmen. Here in Tanzania there are nine private radio stations, and the Chinese-owned Star TV cable station. We get Al Jazeera, CNN, Fox, DSTV (from South Africa), Hindi films and Nollywood. The problem is not quantity, but quality and access. A combination of poor journalism, bullying, fear and widespread poverty, (the recent global food prics hikes have seen all the basic staples in the region double in price in two years) means most people are concentrating on the basics, not press freedom and censorship.
Poverty and lack of media freedoms, freedom of expression, and a culture of debate go hand in glove. There are flagrant abuses of press freedoms and brutality to journalists (in DR Congo and Ethiopia and Rwanda right now journalists have been beaten up or put in prison accused of treason; in Swaziland the President of the National Union of Students is imprisoned whilst his charges remain vague). There are also rife threats of lawsuits, defamation or sheer time wasting that prevent smaller commercial media outfits from broadcasting or writing what they want to. Despite judiciaries functioning in name, often a culture of bullying pervades, the threat of a lawyer is enough to prevent most people from pursuing their rights.
At a daily level women singers in Zanzibar are offered radio play in exchange for sex with DJs. In Kenya journalists are too frightened to take on the wrath of Unilever — who own the flower farms and tea estates — and exposing the scandal of female workers offering sex in exchange for work shifts and house repairs.
With top heavy government control, unwieldy bureaucracy and poor pay for journalists, it is sadly the case that in much of East and Sub Saharan Africa free expression is underdeveloped. Self censoring is rife. As Meab Mdimi, from the civil society organisation Daraja, in Njombe, Tanzania, notes: “Our media reproduces government press releases, journalists are frightened to expose factions, or even explore basic issues, like taxes, electricity, water supply.”
Mama Kidawa, a seaweed farmer in Zanzibar comments: “I want our local media to show me how other farmers live, real people, to promote discussion that is relevant to me, my life.”
This lack of quality reporting impacts on free speech, public debate, censorship and what “facts” are. Additionally some churches perpetrate misinformation, particularly around health, whilst the burgeoning of dubious self help books individualises what are essentially societal and political problems. Without information, critique and comparisons, people are stymied, intellectually, economically and physically.
Yet ironically we have it all here in East and Sub Saharan Africa a motivated workforce, plentiful mineral resources, and a hunger to learn, discuss and debate.
I write from Tanzania, where, according to Afrobarometer the majority of the population (of 45 million) have not more than basic primary education, 80 per cent do not own a television, and only 3 per cent of the entire population has ever written to a newspaper, or call a radio show. Seventy Seven per cent of our population is rural and under 34 years old. Yet mobile coverage is huge here — over 70 per cent of the East African population have access to a mobile phone.
There is change afoot: internet connectivity is limited to a small elite in the East African cities, but SMS and mobile phones are changing the way we talk and connect. As the predicted growth of middle classes here takes place, and time is freed up from doing basic chores, people are reflecting on the kind of societies they want. The basic desire to create, express and critique in public forums is utterly embedded in our cultures. Happiness, an entrepreneur says: “My parents were goat herders, I went to university and now run a successful business, I am determined to be informed and aware, because I can.”