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
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