Come kiddies, gather round - aunty Tina is going to tell you all a story... and I want to share it with you because it made me think. Pay attention in class, because I will be throwing lollipops at anyone I see sleeping - and there will be questions afterwards.
Once upon a time, Mr. Mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?" Mr. Mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a bag of mousetraps - and pellets of poison, which the farmer and his wife began to leave around the farmhouse in all the places where Mr. Mouse was known to eat or move about.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed this warning to all who would hear him:
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house! And poison too!"
Mrs Chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Oh dear, Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I am a chicken you see, and so I couldn't be bothered by it."
Mrs. Chicken went back to scratching for worms in the sand, so Mr. Mouse went to the pigsty, where he found Mr. Pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There's poison too! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
"I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse," Mr. Pig sympathized, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my thoughts and prayers."
Mr. Mouse scurried about in a panic until he found Madame Cow, and said, "Madame Cow, there is a mousetrap in the house! And there's poison too! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
Madame Cow said, "A mousetrap? Oh, my dear Mr. Mouse. I'm so sorry for you, I'm a cow, you see, and so it really doesn't affect me at all."
Finally, Mr. Mouse went to Mr. Dog, who was lying in the shade of the barn, to complain, "Mr. Dog! Mr. Dog! There is a mousetrap in the house! And poison too!"
"Oh?" Said Mr. Dog opening one eye to look down at him. "Poison? Mousetraps? How did they get there, pray tell?"
"The farmer brought them, and his wife helped him put them around the house!" Mr. Mouse squeaked, waving his little arms urgently. "What am I going to do? They want to kill me, Mr. Dog!"
"My
dear Mr. Mouse." Said Mr. Dog casually. "I have no problem with you
personally, you understand, but this is the farmer's house - and if he
puts out mousetraps and poison, it's not my place to contradict him!"
"But... what am I supposed to do?" Mr. Mouse sighed sorrowfully.
"I have no idea what to tell you, Mr. Mouse - you surely are in a jam. Go and ask Ms. Cat - perhaps she can help you." Said Mr. Dog closing his big brown eye unconcernedly before dozing off again.
"Ms. Cat?!" Mr. Mouse squeaked in protest. "She's already tried to eat me twice just this past week!" But Mr. Dog had drifted off back to sleep and did not respond.
Mr. Mouse found Ms. Cat napping on a fence post nearby, but he didn't even get a chance to squeak his warning about the poison or the mousetraps to her, before she spotted Mr. Mouse and charged at him, becoming a snarling, growling, hissing motion of terror and death! Mr. Mouse turned and fled in terror - and she chased him all around the farmyard, through the barn, while trying to have him for an early dinner - until he managed to lose her underneath the farmhouse!
And so it was that poor, dejected Mr. Mouse returned to the farmhouse, head down and forlorn, to face the dangers of the farmer's poison and mousetraps... alone.
Later that very night, in the quiet, peaceful darkness, a sharp, sudden 'snap!' reverberated throughout the farmhouse - the sound of a mousetrap loudly being triggered.
The farmer's wife excitedly got up and rushed to see what had been caught. In the darkness, she did not see all the obstacles in her path, and tripped
over the lifeless body of poor Mr. Dog - who had accidentally eaten
some of the poison pellets meant for Mr. Mouse, thinking it was his food. While she was fussing over the body of Mr. Dog, she hadn't seen the venomous snake whose tail had been caught in the trap, and got too close to it. The snake bit the farmer's wife on her ankle, at which she cried out and collapsed, writhing in agony, while the snake managed to escape with the mousetrap still attached to its tail.
The farmer arrived moments later, to find the body of Mr. Dog, and his wife moaning on the floor beside it. In a panic, the farmer sent for the doctor, who rushed over right away to treat her condition. But even after receiving treatment from the doctor, she still had a fever and was very poorly.
Everyone knows how you treat a fever - with fresh, delicious chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard to procure the soup's main ingredient. Thus, Mr. Mouse's problem became Mrs. Chicken's problem too.
But even in spite of the delicious chicken soup, his wife's sickness continued. The frustrated doctor told the farmer he'd done all he could, and advised him to call for the priest. This the farmer did, and the priest came to hang around and pray for her recovery and made sad faces while commenting that this tragic turn of events had all been Mr. Mouse's fault in the first place.
The farmer became weary and exhausted with caring for his ailing wife, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock to give him a bit of rest. To feed them - and the priest, the farmer then had to slaughter Mr. Pig too.
Alas, the poor farmer's wife did not get well... After a few weeks spent in lingering agony, she died. In the meantime, in all the confusion resulting from all the people visiting at the farmhouse, some of the poison pellets that had been left out to kill Mr. Mouse had found their way into the food bowl left for Ms. Cat - which resulted in her demise as well.
So many people came to the farmer's wife's funeral - and so many relatives came to stay with the farmer for several days, that he had to slaughter Madame Cow to provide enough meat for all of them.
After they'd all left, the farmer lived in the empty farmhouse, all alone, without his wife, Mrs. Chicken, Mr. Dog, Ms. Cat, Mr. Pig, or even Madame Cow for company. The only other breath in the whole place, was Mr. Mouse - who looked upon it all through a crack in the wall of the farmhouse with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn't concern you, remember --- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another."
I would like to use this story to illustrate the story of human rights in South Africa. The mouse could represent any group you like, but obviously it would be a group whose rights are clearly under threat - typically at the moment, it would be us - the Pink Community. And the other farm animals? Well, they could be any other group - presumably groups which are so secure in their own social status that they feel they would never suffer the same fate which threatens to befall the mouse. Actually, the farm animals could also represent the general public - apathetic and disinterested - and the mouse, the people trying to raise the alarm about the threat facing them all. And the Farmer? Well, I think that is open to interpretation, but I would suggest that the farm is a euphemism for the country, and the Farmer is seen as the leader or owner of the farm - so paint any face you like on him... we all have our favorites.
And before you ask, no - this is not a tongue-in-cheek reference to the recent song that made it to the top of South African charts, "kill the boer" by Juliaaas and the Xtremes.
There are many stories or comparisons I have used to illustrate the apathy, disinterest and inaction in South Africa in the past - my favorite was the inscription on the Holocaust Memorial, and the second favorite was the pot of frogs on a slow stove, slowly boiling them to death, but so slowly the frogs did not even notice. I think this little story has just moved to the top of the list. Of course, it pales in comparison to the stark reality of the story which follows - which is, obviously - real.
For years we as human rights activists have been warning of the gradual deterioration of the protections and perceived value of human rights and the Constitutional protections thereof - and for years we have watched apathy and disinterest enable the rise and progress of determined groups - whether conservative or religious fundamentalists - and watched their influence grow.
I would still like to express my sincere appreciation for the hard work of the SAHRC in trying to bring Media24 and Mr.Qwelane to the Equality Court to answer for their actions. I live in hope that this matter may be resolved successfully, although I have to express my misgivings at the contents of their report on the matter, which was the focus of a press release I sent out in the early hours of this morning.
It is of great concern that this move by Media24 to challenge the validity of Act No 4 of 2000, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (whole or in part) would constitute a direct assault on the validity of constitutional provisions for human rights, equality and prevention of discrimination against people on the grounds of sexual orientation.
As you should be aware, this Act is currently the only recourse open to human rights groups and individuals when faced with offensive material or hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation in the media or in the workplace, there being a loophole in the Constitution (sec 16.2(c)).
Should this Act be removed or altered in order to circumvent these protections, then homophobic individuals and groups will be free to vent whatever hate speech and incitement to hatred they wish against people on the basis of sexual orientation, as this will once again be allowed to slip through the same loophole in the Constitution which resulted in the drafting of the Act.
Various groups have recently been undertaking to have the Constitution changed in order to remove provisions which grant our community equality - and it seems that this is simply another one - except that they have targeted specifically the Achilles heel of our legal protections - the Act which is intended to close the loophole in the Constitution itself.
Act No 4 of 2000 has long been seen as a weak point in our equality in this country, and many feel that it would have been unnecessary to draft such an Act if the Constitution itself did not have the glaring loophole which omitted "sexual orientation" from the list of groups protected against hate speech and incitement to hate. The Constitution itself should have been checked properly at the draft stage in the first place to ensure such loopholes did not occur.
I am no legal expert, but it seems to me that Media24 is by this action attempting to either delay prosecution to the point where the case may be eventually scrapped - or escape prosecution by removing the article which criminalizes their actions.
Mr. Qwelane may of course also decide to simply not show up at the Equality Court and have his lawyers file a similar paper as Media24, asking to not be prosecuted until Media24 has finished tearing up Act No4 of 2000 - in which case he will simply walk away Scot-free. It seems in both their interests to simply play for time.
Either way, this move by Media24 is a genuine attack on the equality of diversity, which is entrenched in the SA Constitution - in fact, no matter which way I look at it, no matter what the motive, this is exactly what it looks like to me.
Apathy is an interesting thing. Back in 2008, after the Qwelane-gate issue broke - a consumer boycott on Media24 products was called - and I have to wonder, despite this interesting turn of events, just how many members of the Pink Community, their friends and families will continue to make use of their services and buy their products as if they are not in effect supporting them in doing so?
Of course, if an ordinary citizen were to be fined for speeding and wanted to challenge the relevant Act which described his or her offence, making it an offence - it could be deduced that this person is indirectly admitting to his or her crime - but is intent on changing the rules in their favor so that they can get away with it. We of course have a pretty good idea that such a citizen would not get very far, don't we? Well, anyway - I used to think so.
In fact, I would say that Act No 4 of 2000 - as well as the SA Constitution and the Bill of Rights form the very foundation of the SA Human Rights Commission and describe its Mandate - one could well take this move as an attempt to usurp the authority and Mandate of the SAHRC itself.
I sincerely hope that the SAHRC and all its legal resources are prepared for that.
What about you?
______________________________________________________________
If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.
If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.
________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment