Witch Hunts Are Not a Thing of the Past: Witch Hunts In Africa and the Horror of the Video
Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2010
by Connor Davidson
Witch hunting conjures up images of dirty, smelly, plague infested, god fearing medieval peasantry living in a pre-enlightenment age. Whenever you read about witch hunts in history books you often read things like “Many historians state that the final execution of a witch in Europe occurred in Switzerland on 17 June 1782” – (Executioners by P Clarke, A Williams and L Hardy, P196) in the chapter entitled “The End of the Craze”. However, I’m afraid the notion that society has moved on from such primitive, nonsensical and, above all, barbaric behaviour is an overly romantic notion.
Let’s start in Africa where many of the witch hunts and burnings have taken place. In 2008 the BBC reported that eleven elderly people (80 to 96 years old) were burned on the “charge” of witchcraft in Kenya. The murders were carried out by mobs and were not government sanctioned. This mob told reporters that they had evidence. These people have burned eleven people so they must have really strong evidence to support their case. What was the evidence? What did they tell reporters had driven them to the conclusion that these poor people were evil “witches”? What made them do this?
An exercise book at a local primary school with minutes from a witches meeting explaining who was going to be “bewitched”. I’m not even going to bother saying anymore – I can’t come up with anything to weaken their case. It’s already worse than pathetic.
Now of course this is one single isolated case in only one part of one country by one mob. This is, regardless of how horrifying it may sound, an extremely rare and localised phenomenon. The overwhelming majority of the world does not have any involvement in “witches”. On the whole we are complete past that. There is a brighter side.
Actually, scrub the above paragraph. The whole article is miserable and depressing. There are many, many more cases to look at. So it is on this note that we take a trip to Papua New Guinea. Channel Four’s Unreported World ran a series on this (source 2) where they reported that more than fifty people have been murder in relation to witchcraft.
Continuing on our journey, which I’m only going to summarise here, we find children being thrown out of their homes, prayed on by exorcist and abused in Congo (source 3). We find examples of state sponsored murder of people run by the ludicrously over titled His Excellency President Professor Dr. Al-Haji Yahya Jammeh (in other words Mr Jammeh, President of Gambia with unaccredited degree) – source 4. There have been numerous examples reported in India, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Still think “witch” hunts are a thing of the past?
I’d like to point out, briefly, what made me write this article. I saw the first few seconds of a video that I wish I never knew existed. It is vial and I strongly recommend you do not watch it – the site Friendly Atheist said something along the lines of don’t watch if you get queasy easily . If you really insist on watching, search for it yourself: I refuse get you a link to it – it’s just too horrible (source 5). Just imagine for one second seeing a woman struggling desperately while a disgusting vile thing (he’s not human) tries to grab at her and, succeeds in throwing her in the fire. Imagine the pain he has caused. Now stop.
The words on the page may be too far. The video was definitely too far. I was originally going to include a screenshot of the Google search page but I couldn’t stomach it and nor do I want to show it to others.
However through that awful experience I wondered. If satanic possession really exists (metaphorically; I’m not silly enough to entertain the possibility, so shut up it's metaphorical) who do you think is more likely to be possessed by Satan: the so called “witches” or the people who murder them?
Actually, changed by mind; it’s not rhetorical: it’s the latter. If you’d like to disagree then get ready to rumble in the comments section.
Sources and Further Reading
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7413268.stm
- http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2009/episode-9
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/575178.stm
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/world/africa/21gambia.html?_r=1&ref=africa
- Me: DON'T. No seriously don’t do it to yourself.
This Article has been viewed 1,359 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Wow, people still do that? I really enjoyed the article because it informed me of the messed up crap people do. These sort of things should have stopped centuries ago.Thanks for the comment.
I don't think I could watch the videos, Connor. Some of the inhumane acts that occur here are too hideous for words. As for your question, it's a no-brainer.Thanks for the comment.
You are right, Connor, witch hunts are a present-day reality. I observed a witch hunt or two in my home town village in Liberia. Witch hunts even used to take place in some parts of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia! It is an interesting question you raised: who's demon-possessed ... the witch or the witch hunters? And I agree with your conclusion as well. ~mogama~Thanks for the comment.
Despicable human beings ( for want of a better term) have always committed despicable , vile acts, upon other human beings and justified it in the name of their deity, when all they are trying to justify is the fact that they are just too sad and sadistic to be a part of a civilized community. They happen every day in every country and we will never rid ourselves of this disease until we can get people to believe that they are simply human beings and not part of some divine creation by some divine creator. Should the pope's condemnation of the use of condoms in a world full of HIV transmission be considered any less evil? How many have died from this interpretation of his God's intention for humans.Though, I'm afraid it is very difficult to stand up to people who happily burn people alive. As for the pope and HIV that is a pretty shocking and destructive mistake for someone "infallible" to make.
Thanks for the comment.
Witchcraft is one, man-eating is another. Imagine a human slaughtering another to cook and eat . Connor, I also had seen this gruesome clip. The cannibals cutting up a beautiful girl (they only eat girls) How horrible !Thanks for the comment.
Wow, it is shocking that it still happens. But as the person above me said, under the right circumstances, people will resort to absolute stupidity, cruelty, and animosity. Actually, I take that back, it's an insult to animals. I've never been able to understand it, and I don't think I ever will. I wish I believed in satanic possession, because then I wouldn't have to accept that some people commit such violent acts against other people.
Thanks for the comment.
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