Nagasive,
Appreciate your deeper analysis of what's behind the "childhood sorcery"
accusations in the Congo.
I titled the post with "Harry Potter" only because in the story his mother
and father were killed for being sorcerers, and Harry when a child was
almost killed for the crime of simply being born into a sorcerer family,
which I found similar to the plight of the 450 known kids last year targeted
for execution because of sorcery allegations.
After a quick search I was surprised to see that there is actually a "Harry
Potter Alliance" of wannabe sorcerer youth that are currently discussing
helping these children in the Congo:
http://thehpalliance.ning.com/profiles/blogs/congo-1
In general the article caught my attention because, as you're probably
aware, Darfur and other atrocities in that region get all the press, even
though probably under a million have died in Darfur, compared to over four
million dead already in the Congo. It's rare that stories of the ongoing
horrors specific to the Congo ever even make it out to the mainstream news.
James
On 2/27/10 4:02 PM, "nagasiva yronwode, YIPPIE Director"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> hi James,
>
> James John Bell <[log in to unmask]>:
>> Might be of interest to folks,
>
> I'm guessing your original title for this thread
> ("Harry Potters of the Congo") was a joke, but the
> news article is no laughing matter, of course. agreed
> that it might be of interest to folks here, but,
> primarily because of how this culture is in turmoil
> over the treatment of those *accused* of being
> sorcerers or witches.
>
>> CHILD SORCERY
>
> this isn't child sorcery, and these are not
> Harry Potters. these are children being subjected
> to accusations fostered by subversion ideologies.
> the BBC News was wrong to advertise the story as
> 'Child sorcery in DR Congo' and their subtitle
> which is 'Crisis in DR Congo' is much better.
>
> it is VERY important to understand the difference between
> subversion ideologies, which are lies purported within a
> culture that demonize deviant individuals, minority cults
> or groups, migrants, and any sadly becoming the 'Other';
> and actual magical practice, which typically amounts to
> more than Potterish pointing of wands and uttering Latin.
>
>> "People accused me of sorcery and my mother believed
>> them," he says.
>>
>> 12 year-old, Henri, which is not his real name, points
>> at a large fresh looking scar on his midriff.
>>
>> "Look, here on my stomach. She tried to kill me with
>> a knife. It really hurt and I cannot understand why
>> my mother did it."
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8530000/8530686.stm
>
> the article goes on to explain that, not only did he not
> do anything relating to magic, but that other children
> are being burned and beaten and abandoned to the streets
> because of this kind of alarmist scare-mongering (at
> least in part inflamed by disintegrating socioeconomic
> conditions).
>
> we should be comparing this with the recent Satanic Panic
> examined with great detail by sociologists and folklorists
> as presented within "The Satanism Scare" and edited by
> Best, Bromley and Richardson, and with the European
> Witch Craze.
>
> it is my contention that Witchcraft religion and Satanist
> religion are direct reactions to the generation of these
> subversion ideologies, primarily by taking their termsets
> and revising their significance to defensive religious
> standards, then identifying the conventional responses to
> these ideologies as bigotted and aggressively heinous
> actions that should draw punitive social repercussion.
>
> with identification of 'hate crimes', my contention
> is that we should further be (and it is the domain of
> folklorists and sociologists to assist in) identifying
> the generators of subversion ideologies, especially
> institutions such as the Roman Catholic church and
> its anti-satanist fear-teachings, or any other
> conservative political or religious group advocating
> fear of witches, satanists, heretics, races or
> religions other than one's own, etc., and prosecuting
> them for a magnified version of yelling 'Fire!'
> in a crowded movie house (with severe penalties).
>
> this goes beyond freedom of speech issues, and
> religious and political groups that instruct these
> kinds of divisive, incendiary ideologies (e.g. nazis)
> ought to be prohibited by law or heavily undermined
> by restrictive legislation. the terrible tragedies
> we have seen that result from them is simply too great
> to continue considering them 'rights' as a valuably
> defended aspect of the social contract.
>
> cordially,
>
> nagasiva yronwode ([log in to unmask]), Director
> YIPPIE*! -- http://www.yronwode.org/
> -----------------------------------------------------
> *Yronwode Institution for the Preservation
> and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
> -----------------------------------------------------
