Nonviolence at work in South Sudan

This article was published in The Broken Rifle, December 2013, No. 98

 

Find it here:http: //www.wri-irg.org/node/22728

 

  

ONAD Nonviolence Workshop
A Pastor reported (in a follow up meeting) “Since I attended the nonviolence workshop, I stopped hating Muslims. They burnt our Churches in Khartoum and since that time, I lost respect to Muslims and hate them. Now we are in a new Country, I don’t want Muslims to suffer the way Christians suffered under Islamic regime in Sudan. Its painful to forgive but my Bible tells me to forgive as God has forgiven us”. Since 2011 the pastor, a few other Christians and group of Muslims are working together. They organize outreach workshops to both Christians and Muslims in Juba.

A civilian hands-over his gun after attending nonviolence and trauma healing workshops “I killed people from the neighbouring tribe” confessed a participant after attending nonviolence and trauma healing workshop. “I am a youth leader and I led 2011 inter-communal violence that took place between Counties of Yirol West and Mvolo. My own brother was killed in that conflict. I was later arrested and put into jail. While in Prison, I suffered psychologically as I knew I will eventually be hanged by neck to death. Fortunately, I was granted amnesty on the eve of independence in July 2011”. He added “Although I was discharged, I still did not feel free as the memories of the past keep coming in my mind. The trauma healing workshop organized by ONAD was my space for healing. I stopped blaming myself and decided to handover my gun to the local authorities and joined peace teams. I want to live the rest of my life as a peace worker and I don’t need gun to protect my cattle.”

People often view nonviolence with mixed feelings! At first, normally on a few people appreciated it's importance. Others question whether or not it will work in our highly militarized and violent context. Others feel it can work in a less violent society but not in South Sudan. One of the participants in our recent workshop commented that we have been living in violence since the creation, and after all independence of South Sudan was a result of two civil wars within the Khartoum regime (referring to the 1955-1972 and 1983-2005 civil wars in Sudan). He asked: how do you face brutality and gun points with flowers?



Our participants often express the difficulties involved in following principles of nonviolence, because - it's true - what happens around us is mostly violent. But there are also positive changes of attitude taking place in South Sudan - and that’s the little we are building on. We refer to practical experiences of nonviolence locally and globally. We always say that nonviolence is like a seed that needs time to germinate and grow to become a big tree. It starts with me, not with others. Personal transformation is key to nonviolence. During workshops, people often express the idea that 'If I become nonviolent, others can learn from me'.

When we meet with the same group after a couple of months break for follow up, we ask them how nonviolence has worked for them. Many people give examples of practical life experiences with nonviolence. For example, Emmanuel Ladu was able to reconcile with the person who killed his father. He said “It took me six years to forgive and get reconciled with a person who killed my father. I was a victim and so I took the initiative myself. The nonviolence workshop gave me the courage to face the enemy and let go the past pain. After I forgave him, I too felt relieved. Forgiveness sets us free of hate! I too have suffered because of not forgiving!”

In summary, the follow up meetings are always inspiring to us, and we hear our participants share their stories. On 2nd October 2013, ONAD and its volunteers celebrated the international day of nonviolence. It was the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement who devoted his life to the cause of nonviolence. We honoured him and thousands of other who worked in the same spirit. While we strive in their way, we believe victory is certain no matter how long time it will take. Forward we move, back ward NEVER.

Moses Monday

Prostitution, Patriarchy and Power in the Military

This article was published in The Broken Rifle, December 2013, No. 98

Find it here: http://wri-irg.org/node/22731

Embrace Dignity is a South African human rights organization advocating for legal and social reform. We campaign for reforms recognising prostitution as violence and aim to reduce demand for commercial sex. Recognising the harms of prostitution, we offer support to women seeking exit through a self-led system. We look forward to welcoming and collaborating with international and local nonviolent activists embodying the conference’s theme: “small actions can contribute to building big movements for change”.
 

Re enacting a violent scene
In our country, it is more likely that a girl will be raped than go to secondary school. If girls do manage to attend school, it is unlikely they will find a job. Violence against women stops them getting an education, limits economic activity, and undermines their ability to choose the timing and number of children they have. It is also damaging to their physical, social, emotional and psychological well being – for many, it is a direct cause of death or disability. It also has huge economic costs, including costs to health and policing. Every year, thousands of rural South African women migrate to urban centres in the hope of economic opportunity, often joining the ranks of the unemployed. Domestic and gender based violence worsen the situation, and under these conditions, prostitution flourishes.

Prostitution is a deeply rooted form of sexual exploitation that feeds off poverty, inequality and entrenched social constructs. The sex industry is unequivocally dangerous. Different degrees of abuse, coercion and violence are experienced but all prostituted people are physically and psychologically harmed in the process. Prostituted women’s level of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been proven to be equivalent to that of combat veterans. Once in the sex industry, women often resort to alcohol and drug abuse to endure daily mental distress, resulting in dissociation from oneself and the rest of the world.

Prostitution also has negative impacts on the rest of society. If some women can be bought and sold it gives the message that all women are potentially for sale, a concept which permeates social sensibilities. South Africa is a deeply patriarchal society, in which masculinity often entails conquering or controlling women. The perception that masculinity and violence are intimately entwined is still dominant. Young boys fear that demonstrating sensitivity or gentleness will emasculate them and make them appear weak.
War feeds into the image of masculinity as unemotional, dominant and hyper-violent. In fact, the militarisation of societies and war play an enormous role in fuelling prostitution. A breakdown of social structures, economic crisis, and an influx of occupying soldiers (and even peacekeeping forces) result in a drastic increase in demand for prostitution – a burden often carried by women from poorer nations. Some argue that the act of war creates individual feelings of powerlessness, which must be regained through the domination of vulnerable women.

This is not new information. During World War II the Japanese Empire forced thousands of “comfort women” from Japanese-occupied territories into a prostitution corps to serve soldiers. The United States armed forces have a particularly damning history of misuse of the women of occupied countries, as well as the practise of “R & R” (rest and recuperation). Prostitution sites around military were encouraged by military leadership, with condoms and security escorts often being provided.

In the past, arguments have been made to explain the blind eyes and enabling hands of governments and military leadership – rampant sexual activity would occur anyway so it might as well result in some financial “reward” for the bought individual rather than manifesting as rape. This creates a fallacious distinction between rape and prostitution, when in fact the two are intimately linked and complementary. Both acts conform to the concept of a right to pleasure, encouraged by military leadership and hegemonic masculinity. Government-sanctioned prostitution has also been rationalised as useful for creating a necessary sense of brotherhood and camaraderie between soldiers – what about the women’s rights to equality, happiness, and human dignity? This is also an injustice to men, portrayed as incapable of controlling their rampant sexual urges.

One of the results of organised military prostitution for soldiers’ “rest and recuperation” is the creation of a “prostitution economy”. Even after the military moves away, sex trade entrepreneurs maintain the industry through sex tourism. This has an economic and generational legacy in which it becomes a dominant option for employment for impoverished women. Children (destined to be fatherless) are also born, bearing the stigma of illegitimacy and often entering the trade later in life. The recurring occupation of parts of South East Asia by United States forces is perhaps where this is most evident.

While South Africa has a considerable influx of international trafficking victims, Embrace Dignity has also realised the significance of “domestic” trafficking. According to the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, an internationally ratified UN declaration, trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”. If a rural woman travels to a big city with the promise of work as a cleaner but arrives to find that she is expected to earn money through prostitution (even if she is not physically forced to do so), she can be identified as a trafficking victim. She has been transferred by fraud or deception, most likely because of the abuse of her position of vulnerability.

South Africa is not at war but one in three men has raped a woman and violence is considered one of four primary factors detracting from health. Enforcing the patriarchy, industries like mining, trucking and the military occupy a significant portion of the country’s male workforce. Our historical and continued migrant labour system leaves many women responsible for families while their partners are away. Family pressure, poverty, violence and a lack of other options often result in vulnerability to trafficking.

Embrace Dignity advocates for a legal model known as partial decriminalisation. This decriminalises the bought person in order to allow access to vital services, decrease stigma, and increase the chance of pursuing an alternate form of income. This necessitates a social welfare dimension, with government support provided for exit. On the other hand, the buyer, third party trader (pimps and traffickers) and the sex industry remain criminalised. This approach recognises that the supply of prostituted people only exists because there is a demand for commercial sex. It also acknowledges the inherent harms and gender inequalities in prostitution and seeks to attribute punishment appropriately onto the exploiter.

WRI can be a part of a nonviolent campaign toward the dismantling of patriarchal relations and the transformation of gender relations, so that men and women are truly equal and can enter into mutually fulfilling relationships, free of exploitation. This would enrich peace-keeping efforts too, bringing usually absent women's voices into the discussion and contributing to a decrease in sexual violence.

Zara Trafford