Also mentioned prominently in the article is their partner in this affair - a shadowy organization calling itself "The Justice Alliance of South Africa", which as it turns out, is a pitifully small right-wing Christian fundamentalist group which pretends to have the legal best interests of the South African public at heart, and which masquerades as a "friend to the court" whenever any legal issue related to matters of interest to the Christian hegemony appears before the bench.
This group has tried very hard to disguise the scent of Christian extremism emanating from within, with a thin veneer of legal respectability, and a spritz of eau de justice, but try as it might, the odors of religious extremism and conservative ulterior motives still linger.
JASA has, in the very recent past, lobbied against such terrifying threats against rule of law and civilization as abortion rights for women. Very tellingly, it's "Honorary Director" was also involved in Doctors For Life - yet another quasi-public interest, pretend-civic organization which actively opposed same-sex marriage based mainly upon regurgitation of disgraced former psychologist Paul Cameron's fake "research" which got him disbarred back in the 1980s.
The JASA (Justice Alliance of SA) is no more than a small group of religious conservatives, whose Board currently consists of just one legally registered law practitioner, and several Christian extremist right-wing pastors - professing to be a genuine LEGAL group - that is, a group based in the practice of South African law. Unsurprisingly however, this group actually exists to use the South African legal system to force the Christian extremist beliefs and views into both law and government, and by implication, onto South African society at large.
It should go without saying that JASA consists of members who oppose GLBT human and civil rights, feminist issues such as access to abortion, and seem intent on pushing a religious fundamentalist agenda in influencing government.
Coming back to the proposed law banning internet pornography, the wording of it puts forward as motivation, the "protection of children" and "good morals" and "family values".
So who exactly is the Justice Alliance of South Africa, and why is the government of South Africa seeming to listen to them? Surely they are just a group of concerned legal experts?
Let's find out.
In an annual report dated 2007-8, a feller called John Smyth, who is the "honorary director" of JASA stated (point-format is my own, with comments in square brackets):
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"During 2006, after some 4 years of work in South Africa grappling with moral issues in the context of our Constitution, it became increasingly clear to me that the church must play a greater part in setting the moral agenda for the country and doing battle with the flood tide of secularism and humanism." [This part indicates that as a group, they are opposed to the secular nature of South Africa and the Constitution, and intend to change it.]
- "South Africa’s heritage as a Christian country," [since when was South Africa ever an exclusively Christian country?] "and indeed that of the whole Continent which looks to us for a lead, was at stake. My work with Doctors for Life" [a rabidly anti human-rights, anti-gay, right wing fundamentalist group which is a close associate of the CAN and which opposed marriage equality for gay people in SA] "had taught me that opportunities for using the courts, the media, and making an impact on Parliamentary legislation, abounded if only a mechanism could be designed to harness them." [Straight from the horse's mouth - their intentions are to change the laws to suit their fundamentalist views] "JASA was therefore the response of a handful of Christian minds, and a handful of churches to the scriptural injunction which requires that every believer must engage in the pursuit of justice."
To elaborate on some of my comments above, South Africa has NEVER in its entire history been a "Christian country". It was ruled by various governments which may have drawn upon Christian imagery or dogma to justify their positions or actions, and they may have referred to the country under their rule as "Christian", but the fact of the matter is, that the inhabitants of South Africa have never as a whole been exclusively Christian - either by registration, or by identification with Christianity as a religion - or even as a "state religion".
One only needs to read all JASA's nauseating "newsletters" and "annual reports" to see that they are far less the "legal group" they present themselves to be, and far more a religious fundamentalist fringe group intent on stamping their mark on the South African Constitution and broader society.
Like most of their ilk, they are not content with the neat little line separating church from state, or the freedoms they enjoy to pursue and practice whatever religious nonsense they wish to their hearts' content, and would like nothing better than to rub that line out of existence.
The question here is - are South Africans stupid and apathetic enough to let them - because it seems that Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba is keen to meet them and make it happen?
As I've mentioned previously in other articles of this type, using "protection of children" as a smoke-screen for advancing religious fundamentalist goals is a clever, cunning cover for introducing legislation which is cleverly worded to allow it to be manipulated later to ban anything which strikes the religious fundamentalist fancy to shriek, pull up their bloomers and point at as "threats" to "children and Christian family values".
Ok, so you might not like porn - neither do I - but this move isn't really about pornography, is it? It probably doesn't directly threaten gay rights either, at least unless it whispers that between the lines - but it doesn't take a genius to see where things will head when conservative laws start taking root.
Bringing in a law to institute censorship - and that's the fact of the matter here, that's exactly what this will be - based on the so-called "morality" of a certain religious group, on the pretext of "protecting children" and which uses one religion as a basis would make such a law pliable enough to be applied to other things which religious fundamentalists of this order would find "offensive" - such as seeing gay characters in soaps like "Generations", gay people featured in magazine programs like "Top Billing". Heck, they will probably even want to ban "Spongebob Squarepants" and the "Teletubbies" for being "gay".
Before long it may be illegal for us to hold hands in public, hold public office or to have jobs as school teachers, without them pointing fingers at a law which they believe will "protect children, family values and morality" - from us. And it all starts with giving them a foothold in making laws which negatively affect freedoms of expression.
We know the South African right wing Christian fundamentalist collective - of which JASA clearly forms a part, have set their eyes on taking down the Constitution, and especially everything about it that gives the country its secular government, freedoms of (all) religion and all the human rights protections which make them queasy. In return, they want to put their narrow, fanatical grasp of religion back into it - and then to start hitting everyone they despise over the head with it.
Aside from JASA, other related groups such as Family Policy Institute (embodied by one Errol Naidoo) are working on the anti-prostitution law (with the very same minister of Home Affairs, funny enough) - and also Media24, in the Jon Qwelane hate speech case, is challenging the constitutionality of the one equality law that supposedly protects GBLT people from hate speech. I would say this looks very much like a broad, coordinated frontal attack on our rights.
The JASA is working on the premise that "protecting children" is constitutional - even when they have no factual basis to go on in proving what they are working against poses any threat, real or otherwise, to children in general. I think this will end up in court - in fact, I'm hoping some other, more sane group(s) will take this on.
I so love to say "I told you so", and I have been warning about the danger that something like this would happen for months now, if not longer. I sincerely hope there will be opposition to this monstrous violation of civil rights in the courts.
This proposed law is unconstitutional and someone with legal skills or perhaps a legal practice behind them needs to get in on the act. What about all those lawyers and advocates and politicians out there who enjoy freedom of expression and speech? If they want to keep it, they had better start getting their act together.
It is time our pink community had a group of legal experts to stand up for our rights, something of the same kind as this upstart right wing JASA, a group of dedicated volunteers who will defend civil and human rights in the constitution without expecting to walk away from it rich.
I don't know about you, but even though I don't like porn, I don't want to pay good money on an internet service, or TV license, or newspaper, or tax money to a state that causes my information, pleasure, interests or activities to be censored in any way, shape or form! I am over 21 and I demand to make my own decisions and choices.
In the meantime, perhaps you should let JASA and the Minister of Home Affairs know how you feel about their telling adults what we may or may not see or surf, using services for which we pay good money and are perfectly entitled to.
JASA Justice Alliance of South Africa 1 Ruskin Road, Bergvliet, Cape Town 7945 Telephone & Fax: 021-713-3259 Email: jasalaw@mweb.co.za
South African Department of Home Affairs: Complaints and compliments Phone: 0800 204 476 E-mail: ccu@dha.gov.za Fax: 012 810 7667
SAY NO TO SA's GOVT's CONSERVATIVE MOVE TO REINTRODUCE CENSORSHIP OF THE MEDIA!!
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.
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