Friday 16 October 2015

Portraits of Justice #20: Douglas {Harare, Zimbabwe}

This week marks the story #20 from Portraits of Justice - and I would like to say how profoundly grateful I am for the support all the way around the globe that I have received for this project. You do these powerful stories honour with your attentions. 

This week I share with you the story of Douglas from {Harare, Zimbabwe}, in the south of Africa. I originally met Douglas in Ottawa, Canada, and then interviewed and photographed him in Prali, Italy. Douglas is powerful young voice for justice, speaking in the face of political oppressions in his home spaces. A member of the the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, he is an inspiring leader for a rising generation.
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 "In my country justice is a privilege for the affluent, and a privilege for those who are politically correct – when I say 'politically correct,' I mean those are linked to the ruling party. If you do not have connections to the ruling political party justice is something that you might not realize. Our justice system is controlled by the ruling party. It is only those who are politically connected that can enjoy justice in my country"

"We have witnessed a lot of injustices to the opposition, or those who are perceived to be the opposition. Even if you want to demonstrate or to raise concerns against the government, you will find yourself arrested or being tortured by the government. I myself, being a political activist in my country, have been jailed several times,because of standing for the rights of students and standing against the injustices that the student communities experience. 
So in general justice is something that is determined by your political connection."


"The role of Christians and church in my country is to stand up and speak loudly against any type of injustice. We have joined hands with other christian communities to stand up to any type of injustice. For instance, one thing that we have done is to reach out to the student community and young people to work with the elections, which we just did in 2013, whereby we mobilized the young people to stand up against the abuse from politicians, to stand against any form of political violence, and to stand up against any form of political intimidation."

"We draw our inspiration from the book of Esther. It calls us during trying times to our duty to stand up and speak against any type of injustice, like Esther did. This is what we are doing as a christian community. We strongly believe that it is our duty to stand the rights of voiceless, to stand for the rights of the downtrodden. Even during our colonial times the churches played a major role in supporting the marginalized. We still strongly believe that it is our duty that the christian movement, and the ecumenical movement to voice and stand against any form of injustice. It is our duty to give hope, to give encouragement, and to give strength to those who are facing any sort of injustice."




Tell me something beautiful you have witness in your country

In 2013 my country had one constitution that was around from independence. This constitution was not good for us, it had so many flaws. Up to 2013 is had been amended several times. We saw that, as a country, it was not good for us, in terms of building democracy. So it was that I and my colleagues worked tirelessly in terms of mobilizing young people to have voice, because we are drafting a new constitution. And I am happy to say that right now we have new constitution that implicitly states and protects the rights of the citizens. This is something I am proud of, and this something that is good for the future of our country. We still have a lot of work to do in terms of operationalization of the constitution but I strongly believe that since we do have a constitution that binds us everything else in the future will fall into place and do good for future generations, in terms of building democracy for my country. 

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Portraits of Justice #19: Aruna {Chennai, India}

 In week #19, I introduce you to the brilliant eco-feminist theologian that is Dr. Aruna Gnanadason, from {Chennai, India}. It was an honour to meet her, learn from her wisdom, and adventure with her to the tops of the Alps in Italy. Her beauty comes from within.

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"Working for justice is a daunting task in India today.  There is huge global publicity about India being a incredible country; to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the producer of generic drugs, of alternative energy sources (we have one of the only fully solar energy powered airports in the world!). But then we have gross levels of poverty; of farmers committing suicide due to indebtedness, of soaring prices that leave the majority of the people with no access. Today millions of people do not have access to clean drinking water, to health, to education."

"Added to this we have an Indigenous and religiously sanctioned form of graded subjugation of people, called the caste system. Some 25% of the population of the country are relegated as "outcastes" because they engage in the most degrading and "polluting" tasks, cleaning the toilets, the roads, the drains. These are birth based occupations. Dalits (as they call themselves now) are getting organized and demanding justice for themselves."

"To this, one has to add patriarchy, which is strongly embedded into Indian society - recently dubbed the "rape capital of the world.” Indian women experience the worst forms of discrimination and violence. Working for justice is hard because so often economic structures interplay with caste and patriarchy giving us a complex and difficult agenda."
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"About 3% of Indians are Christian (that is about a huge number given the population of India which is roughly 1.3 billion!).  But then our minority consciousness strangles us!  Additionally we are a fragmented community, as much of what exists in the society of economic disparity, caste and patriarchy has been infused the churches too! Our theology too is still very much a slave to our colonial past. (There is of course and ecumenical movement and a liberation theology movement particularly Dalit, Indigenous Peoples' and feminist theology posing strong questions to the church.)"

"We do today face some real threats from the Hindu majority (not all Hindus....the majority have lived in harmony with minorities for all our history as a nation.  But a core of Hindu fundamentalists with a huge following have disturbed the equilibrium of the country by claiming that this is a Hindutva (a country for Hindus).  What makes it frightening is that this is the ideology that undergirds the ruling party that is in power - cultural nationalism is a real threat as they try to influence education, the media, the right to propagate one's faith, etc."

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Tell me something beautiful you have witnessed in your country:
This story is on going. One of the insidious efforts by the Hindutva ideologues and their followers was to call for a ban on cow slaughter and the eating of beef!  It is based on a conviction that the cow is a sacred symbol in Hinduism. What makes it difficult is that cow slaughter has been for centuries the occupation of Dalits additionally for farmers who depend on rearing cows. Literally thousands will lose their livelihood if this becomes a national law,as is being proposed.  Just a few days ago a Muslim old man was murdered for eating beef!Additionally it is the cheapest form of protein for millions of Dalit and Indigenous people and Muslims (and many others like me!)."

"It has been amazing the amount of support those opposing the slaughter ban have received from eminent Hindus, journalists and others, who are demanding the rights of Dalits, Muslims and others be given more serious attention than cows! “
"The other good story is a campaign started by a prominent film star Farhan Akthar, called "Men Against Rape and Discrimination"  (MARD), the symbol of which is a moustache!  He has been mobilizing Indian men to think and act against the horrific forms of violence Indian women experience." 

 Appreciate these stories? Leave a comment with your curiosities!