Robert
Mugabe, 89, has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained
independence in 1980; he was most recently elected in 2008. The election
was widely held to be fraudulent and was unquestionably violent; allegations
appearing through Facebook are that Mugabe’s top aides are corrupt and very
rich. This election is expected to be very close.
Sub-Saharan politicians have learned: stirring up
hatred against LGBT folk means votes. So Mugabe is running—well, as much as an
89-year old can run—around the country saying things like this:
“They are worse than dogs and pigs, yes worse than
dogs and pigs,” he said. “I keep pigs and the male pig knows the female one.”
That’s actually mild;
today’s El Nuevo Día had this
to say:
Harare- El presidente de
Zimbabue, Robert Mugabe, candidato a la reelección en las elecciones del próximo
31 de julio, consideró que los homosexuales "merecen ser castrados",
informó hoy el diario estatal Chronicle.
Yup—castrados means just what you think it does….
Homosexuality, you see, is
a Western thing—Mugabe refers to Great Britain as United Gay Kingdom, and that,
in post-Colonial Africa, is deeply suspicious. But Mugabe has left the merely
verbal and moved into the world of action. Here’s Wikipedia on the subject:
In 1996, former President Canaan Banana was arrested
based on accusations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard,
Jefta Dube, and found guilty of eleven charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault in 1998.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, defrocked, and served 6
months in an open prison.
Oh, and he also changed the
constitution. No longer is it enough to criminalize sodomy, not it’s illegal to
perform any act—holding hands, kissing—that would be considered “indecent.”
Well, is it surprising that
Wikipedia says this
about LGBT folk in Zimbabwe?
Homosexuality is highly taboo in the socially
conservative country and Mugabe's anti-gay stance resonates with
many Zimbabweans.[16] Gays and lesbians in
Zimbabwe are threatened by violence and suicide attempts are
common among the gay community.
Well, into the picture
steps Peter Tatchell,
an Australian-born activist for LGBT issues. He’s apparently not afraid to get
into a scrap—he was one of thirty people to create the group OutRage!
Remember those guys? Here’s more Wikipedia on the subject:
Some OutRage! activities were highly controversial. In
1994, it unveiled placards inviting ten Church of England bishops
to "tell the truth" about what Outrage! alleged was their
homosexuality and accusing them of condemning homosexuality in public while
leading secret gay lives. Shortly afterwards the group wrote to twenty UK MPs,
condemning their alleged support for anti-gay laws and claiming they would out
them if the MPs did not stop what they described as attacks on the gay community. The MP Sir James Kilfedder, one such
opponent of gay equality,[45] who had
received one of the letters,[46] died two
months later of a sudden heart attack
on the day one of the Belfast newspapers planned to out him.[47][48] In a comment in The Independent in
October 2003, Tatchell claimed the OutRage! action against the bishops was his
greatest mistake because he failed to anticipate that the media and the church
would treat it as an invasion of
privacy.
 |
| Peter Tatchell, being interviewed by Natalie Thorne, deputy editor of Fyne Times, at a 'First Sunday' event, November 2007 |
On 12 April 1998, Tatchell led an OutRage! protest,
which disrupted the Easter sermon by George Carey, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, with Tatchell mounting the pulpit to denounce what he
claimed was Carey's opposition to legal equality for lesbian and gay people.
The protest garnered media coverage and led to Tatchell's prosecution under the
little-used Ecclesiastical
Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 (formerly part of the Brawling Act 1551), which
prohibits any form of disruption or protest in a church.[49][50] Tatchell failed in his attempt to summon Carey as a
witness and was convicted. The judge fined him the trivial sum of £18.60, which
commentators theorised was a wry allusion to the year of the statute used to
convict him.[51][52]
Right—clearly a guy not afraid to get into a fight.
Tatchell also went off to the first Moscow Pride march, and not surprising gotknocked unconscious for the trouble.
So what did Tatchell do about Mugabe?
He attempted a citizen’s arrest, not once but twice.
Back to Wikipedia:
Tatchell became convinced that Mugabe had broken international
human rights law during the attack, which is estimated to have
involved the massacre of around 20,000 civilians. Then in 1999, journalists
Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto were tortured by the Zimbabwe Army. The arrest in London
of Augusto Pinochet seemed to him a precedent that human rights
violations could be pursued against a head of state, thanks to
the principle of universal
jurisdiction. On 30 October 1999 Tatchell and three other OutRage!
activists approached Mugabe's car in a London street and attempted to perform a
citizen's arrest.
Tatchell opened the car door and grabbed Mugabe. He then called the police. The
four OutRage! activists were arrested, on charges including criminal damage, assault
and breach of the
peace; charges were dropped on the opening day of their trial.
Mugabe responded by describing Tatchell and his OutRage! colleagues as
"gay gangsters", a slogan frequently repeated by his supporters, and
claimed they had been sent by the United Kingdom
government.[64]
On 5 March 2001 Tatchell believed Mugabe was about to
visit Brussels. He went there
and attempted a second citizen's arrest. Mugabe's bodyguards were seen knocking
him to the floor. Later that day, Tatchell was briefly knocked unconscious by
Mugabe's bodyguards and was left with permanent damage to his right eye. The
protest drew worldwide headlines, as Mugabe was highly unpopular in the Western world for his land
redistribution policy. Tatchell's actions were praised by Zimbabwean
activists and many of the newspapers that had previously denounced him.
Tatchell has other
causes—he’s spoken out against China’s human rights record, fundamentalist
Islam, and he’s spoken out for Gaza and the Palestinians and for better
treatment of Australia’s aboriginal peoples.
Great job, Tatchell!
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