---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Ashworth <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:31:40 +0300
Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: LGBT Has Hit Sudan
To: Group <[email protected]>
LGBT Has Hit Sudan
Concerned by the entrenched homophobia (along with severe prejudice
towards LGBT people in general) within Sudanese society, Ghareeb
considers what explains the persistence of extreme intolerance.
Ghareeb is a member of Freedom Sudan.
18 August 2011
allAfrica.com
There is a Sudanese website called Rumat Alhadag which posted in 2009
an article about the establishment of the Sudanese LGBT Association
Freedom Sudan and its goal to improve the rights of LGBT individuals
in Sudan. A quick analysis of the replies to this article reveals the
following:
- There were 39 replies (repetitions were not counted)
- While only four replies reflected positive attitudes toward
homosexuality and homosexuals, 33 replies displayed a negative (many
times very aggressive) attitude toward the issue. However, one reply
acknowledged its existence without showing a clear attitude and
another one only displayed a surprise feeling
- Words used to describe homosexuals included 'dregs', 'decadents',
'immoral', 'animals alike' and 'salacious', with calls to 'be expelled
to an empty jungle', 'buried alive' and 'pursuit by authorities'.
Before the establishment of the LGBT association in Sudan (Freedom
Sudan) in 2006, homosexuality was a taboo subject and not many people
dared to talk about it publicly and if they did so they would then
have to face fierce and sometimes personal attacks from the society
members. Even if they displayed a judgmental negative attitude toward
the issue they would probably be labelled with descriptions like
'profligate' and 'excitement seekers' and accused with 'attempting to
distort the image of Sudan'.
Sexual behaviour in Sudanese culture is strongly linked to honour (the
honour of the individual and the honour of the group are inseparable)
and the concept of 'honour' is a great and dangerous deal here in
Sudan; it pushes many people to lie even to themselves if it was
necessary in order to protect it. That is why these attempts to talk
freely about homosexuality were met by such enormous denial and
aggressive attack. Even until now after it has started to become less
and less a forbidden subject, many people still think that this issue
shouldn't be discussed openly and should be dealt with secretly by
security measures only. After all (according to these voices) these
'deviants' represent only a very small and closed group in Sudan and
no one supports them.
HOMOPHOBIA IN SUDAN: A 'PING PONG' GAME
In the highly charged political climate of Sudan, many political and
religious movements seized the opportunity of the already existent
negative public attitude toward LGBT people and the shock caused by
the formation of an association for LGBT individuals and also the
appearance of LGBT groups on Facebook (i.e. 'gay story in sudan',
'SUDAN NEXT TOP GAY', 'Sudanese Gays', and others). They seized all
this and used it as an argument against other opponent groups.
Those who consider themselves to be moderate or even liberals or
progressive thinkers blame the hypocrisy of the NCP* government and
its supporters which, as they like to prescribe, while raising the
logo of the 'civilised Islamic project', have created a proper
atmosphere for 'extraneous and deviant phenomena' like the 'spreading'
of homosexuality by forcing in a puritanical form of Shari'a** (which
was prominent during the 1990s and then started to weaken afterwards)
that inhibit the mixing of males and females in public and academic
life, causing the elevation of sexual oppression among both sexes and
pushing them to search for the 'alternative' (by which they mean
homosexuality)!
Many of them like to adopt the opinions of some journalists and social
thinkers like Mariam Othman and Hanan Aljak, who have prescribed
homosexuality and bisexuality as psychological ailments and attributed
them to many factors like:
- sexual assaults during childhood
- physical or emotional absence of the parent from the same gender
- other socio-economic factors like poverty, ignorance and the rising
costs of traditional heterosexual marriage.
Ironically, extremists and fundamentalist Islamist groups like Ansar
Alsunna (which has close ties with Saudi Arabia and the thinkers of
the strict Hanbali School of Islam which prevails there) also blame
the NCP government for its failure to implement the Shari'a
sufficiently strongly enough. They also don't forget to aim their
arrows at their natural enemies (the liberals) for calling for more
freedom in the society and separation of religion from politics.
Meanwhile, the NCP seems to be using the issue tactically against its
opponents, like in the famous case of the journalist Lubna Hussein who
was arrested in August 2009 among other women from a restaurant in
Khartoum for wearing 'indecent dress' in a public place - and thus
breaking the notorious article 152 in the Sudanese low 'indecent acts'
(she was wearing trousers in that incident).
The other women were flogged by law with 40 lashes each, but Lubna was
excluded from the sentence. Her immunity was due to her working for
the United Nations Mission in Sudan. However, she challenged the
authorities by refusing to pay a fine and called for the abolition of
article 152. Her case caused great embarrassment to the NCP
government, which was faced with not only international calls from
human rights organisations to release Lubna and remove the
above-mentioned article but also with demonstrations inside Sudan
which supported Lubna and her cause.
When the preparations of these demonstrations were taking place, an
article was published in Alwifaq newspaper (known to be a
pro-government newspaper) under the title 'And with the aid of Western
embassies, demonstration by prostitutes and homosexuals for the
abolishing of the public order law' in which the writer mentioned that
a demonstration was going to be organised by prostitutes and
homosexuals benefiting from the case of the journalist Lubna, with the
aim to reach the headquarter of UN in Khartoum and to hand in a
petition requesting pressure on the government to remove the public
order law.
The article was largely condemned and the government was accused with
attempting to abort the demonstrations that supported Lubna and
prevent supporters from gathering by sending a message via this
article that whoever goes out in this demonstration is either
homosexual or a prostitute. In other words, using public homophobia as
a weapon against opponents' demonstrations.
In the middle of all this political exchange, public opinion becomes
more congested and homophobia exacerbated. So it wouldn't be a
surprise to find a group on Facebook named (as it is translated to
English) 'Fighting homosexuals and those who call for sex in Sudan on
Facebook', which incites the visitors to help in closing Sudanese
homosexual groups by clicking 'report/block this person' on their
page.
Even many individuals who are supposed to be objective considering
their position display obvious prejudiced non-professional opinions,
which could be sometimes completely wrong. For example, in the forum
of the Sudanese universities of public health graduates and public
health officers (suphof) some members put homosexuality side-by-side
with increasing cases of AIDS in Sudan. Additional homophobic
statements were made by some members of the National Programme for the
Prevention of AIDS, of whom some prescribed homosexuality as a
'negative mutation' in sexual practices in Sudan and that it also
contributed to the high increase in AIDS in Khartoum state.
Although they mentioned concurrently that whereas the known HIV to
them reached around 10,000 cases (the estimate is 88,000 cases), the
number of homosexuals known to them was only 715 and the estimate
prevalence of HIV virus among them was 7.8% per cent - which means,
according to their figures, that there are only around 56 homosexuals
infected with HIV. This contradicts their argument about homosexuality
and AIDS spreading. The danger with these statements is that it came
from a health programme that is supposed to be objective and shouldn't
discriminate against any group in order to promote early voluntary
examination among the community.
SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
For me, fundamental Islamic teachings weren't enough to explain all
that hatred and the discrimination practiced at both official and
popular levels against homosexuals, so I have searched for the missing
part in the past and only then has the picture started to became
clearer to me.
Shawgi Badri is a popular Sudanese writer and historian well known for
his bold style in writing. Although he displays a frankly negative
attitude toward homosexuality and considers it as a problem, he
acknowledges both its presence and its historic existence in the
Sudanese community (the opposite to the public mainstream). This
attitude has brought him many accusations of being 'non-loyal to the
country' and 'a non-modest man who passed the seventh decade'. The
reader can only imagine if this is what a man who himself disapproves
of homosexuality had to face, because he spoke freely about it, what
homosexuals have to face on a daily basis!
In a post on the sudaneseonline.com website, Badri wrote a brief
glance at the history of homosexuality since the Fonj Sultanate in
Sinnar until the 1980s, passing through the era of 'Almahadia' in the
late 18th century and the years of British colonisation and the period
after independence. He referred to global historical figures who many
people tend to believe were gay like Alexander the Great, Richard the
Lionheart, the first Earl Kitchener and Leonardo da Vinci. He compared
them to homosexuals in Sudan using the following statement, which I
think is the key statement in his article:
'For those people there were choices. However, what is practiced in
Sudan is a process of enforcement and humiliation.'
He gave the following examples:
- His schoolmaster used to force some of his classmates to have sex
with him before he was caught
- In many areas in the capital Khartoum were not safe for boys and
young men to walk in after dark fell, and even in the daytime some
kids were harassed or even raped
- Badri wrote that he himself was subjected to harassment and many
attempts but his strong physical structure and his aggressive
behaviour during adolescence protected him from these attempts
- Some of this harassment took a 'class hatred' nature, being carried
out by some men of low socio-economic status against kids from
families of high socio-economic status just to break their spirits and
be 'well remembered by them when they grow up'.
Another very alarming statement made by him which is relevant to the
status quo was:
'Sudanese youth in high schools and universities who were harassed or
forced under fear, stimulation or threatening to have sex found a
shelter in the Islamic Brotherhood Organisation, which embraced them
and offered them protection. Some of those were filled with hatred
against the society and the others because they did not perform these
acts by their own will, and that might explain their dark behaviours
when they reach power'.
Badri once heard the mother of one of his classmates complaining to
their neighbourhood grocery man:
'What shall we do if the minister of the interior parks his car beside
our house, climbs it and cries out for our kid from behind the wall?'
It is obvious from what is mentioned above that homosexual acts in the
minds of many Sudanese are linked to sexual harassment, child abuse,
class hatred and marital infidelity, as Badri summarised at the
beginning as a 'process of enforcement and humiliation'.
I failed to find one known example of a man to man or a woman to woman
relationship described as being based on mutual love and respect
between the two partners. If this is the case, it's no wonder where
all this anger came from.
Who knows, perhaps the men who are today eagerly chasing LGBT
individuals are the children of yesterday whose innocence was brutally
taken from them by past monsters. It made me ask myself the following
question: To what extent is the reality today different from the past?
Well, I am still in the process of finding out the answer.
DEFINITIONS (TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG)
National Conference Party: The ruling party in Sudan since 1989.
Previously called the National Popular Party before the split of the
Dr Hasan Alturabi (the mastermind behind the 1989 coup d'état) and his
supporters in 2000.
Shari'a or Sharia: The code of conduct or religious law of Islam. Most
Muslims believe Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic
law: the precepts set forth in the Qur'an, and the example set by the
Islamic Prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets
and extends the application of Sharia to questions not directly
addressed in the primary sources by including secondary sources. These
secondary sources usually include the consensus of the religious
scholars embodied in ijma, and analogy from the Qur'an and Sunnah
through qiyas. Shia jurists prefer to apply reasoning ('aql) rather
than analogy in order to address difficult questions.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201108190815.html
END
______________________
John Ashworth
Sudan Advisor
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