Press release
We the undersigned condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of Mr David Kato the Ugandan gay rights campaigner. We wish to state emphatically that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a social or cultural construct. It is a biological given. Homosexuals are human beings like everybody else. Scientific research has been helpful in clearing the fog of ignorance entrenched by some religious texts in regards to homosexuality. Our opinions of homosexuality must change for the better just as our opinion of slavery has changed even though it was endorsed by those same religious texts. All violence against gays and people deemed to be gay in Africa must cease forthwith.
We call on the government of Uganda to find and prosecute all those involved in the murder of Mr Kato, including the newspaper that called for the hanging of gays. We also call on African governments to learn from the South African example by expunging from their laws all provisions that criminalize homosexuality or treat homosexuals as unworthy of the same rights and entitlements as other citizens. African states must protect the rights of their citizens to freedom and dignity. Homosexuals must not be denied these rights.
Undersigned
1. Wale Adebanwi, PhD, University of California, US
2. Diran Adebayo, Writer, UK
3. Kayode Adeduntan, PhD, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
4. Biola Adegboyega, University of Calgary, Canada
5. Shola Adenekan, Editor, The New Black Magazine, UK
6. Pius Adesanmi, PhD, Carleton University, Canada
7. Akin Adesokan, PhD, Indiana University, US
8. Joe Agbro, Journalist, Nigeria
9. Anthony Akinola, PhD, Oxford, UK
10. Anengiyefa Alagoa, Writer, UK
11. Ellah Allfrey, Deputy Editor, Granta Magazine, UK
12. Alnoor Amlani, Writer, Kenya
13. Ike Anya, Public health doctor and writer, UK
14. Bode Asiyanbi, Writer, Lancaster University, UK
15. Sefi Atta, Writer, US
16. Lizzy Attree, PhD, University of East London, UK
17. Damola Awoyokun, Writer, UK
18. Doreen Baingana, Writer, Uganda
19. Igoni Barrett, Writer, Nigeria
20. Tom Burke, Bard College, US
21. Jude Dibia, Writer, Nigeria
22. Chris Dunton, PhD, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho
23. Ropo Ewenla, PhD, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
24. Chielozona Eze, PhD, Northeastern Illinois University, US
25. Aminatta Forna, Writer, UK
26. Ivor Hartmann, Writer, South Africa
27. Chris Ihidero, Writer, Lagos State University, Nigeria
28. Ikhide R. Ikheloa, Writer, US
29. Sean Jacobs, PhD, New School, US
30. Biodun Jeyifo, PhD, Harvard University, US
31. Brian Jones, Professor Emeritus, Zimbabwe
32. Martin Kiman, Writer, US
33. Lauri Kubuitsile, Writer, Botswana
34. Zakes Mda, PhD, Ohio University, US
35. Colin Meier, Writer, South Africa
36. Gayatri Menon, PhD, Franklin and Marshall College, US
37. Valentina A. Mmaka, Writer, Italy/South Africa
38. Jane Morris, Publisher, Zimbabwe
39. Mbonisi P. Ncube, Writer, South Africa
40. Iheoma Nwachukwu, Writer, Nigeria
41. Onyeka Nwelue, Writer and filmmaker, India/Nigeria
42. Nnedi Okorafor, PhD, Writer, Chicago State University, US
43. Ebenezer Obadare, PhD, University of Kansas, US
44. Juliane Okot Bitek, Writer, Canada
45. Tejumola Olaniyan, PhD, University of Wisconsin, US
46. Ngozichi Omekara, Trinidad and Tobago
47. Akin Omotosho, Actor and filmmaker, South Africa
48. Kole Omotosho, PhD, Africa Diaspora Research Group, South Africa
49. Samuel Sabo, Writer, UK
50. Ramzi Salti, PhD, Stanford University, US
51. Brett L. Shadle, PhD, Virginia Tech, US
52. Lola Shoneyin, Writer, Nigeria
53. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate for Literature
54. Olufemi Taiwo, PhD, Seattle University, US
55. Kola Tubosun, Writer, Fulbright Scholar, United States
56. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Writer, Nigeria
57. Abdourahman A.Waberi, Writer, US /Djibouti
58. Binyavanga Wainaina, Writer, Kenya
59. Ronald Elly Wanda, Writer& Lecturer, Marcus Garvey Pan-Afrikan Institute, Uganda
60. Kristy Warren, PhD, University of Warwick, UK
French Version
lettre de pétition: Sur la Assassiner de David Kato, l'ougandaise des droits de Gay de campagne
Nous, soussignés, condamnons dans les termes les plus énergiques l'assassiner de M. David Kato de la campagne ougandaise des droits des homosexuels. Nous tenons à affirmer avec force que l'homosexualité n'est ni un péché, ni une construction sociale ou culturelle. Il est une donnée biologique. Les homosexuels sont des êtres humains comme tout le monde. La recherche scientifique a été utile dans l'élimination du brouillard de l'ignorance entretenue par certains textes religieux en ce qui concerne l'homosexualité. Nos opinions de l'homosexualité doit changer pour le mieux même que notre avis de l'esclavage a changé même s'il a été approuvé par ces mêmes textes religieux. Tous violence contre les gais et les personnes réputées être gay en Afrique doit cesser immédiatement.
Nous appelons le gouvernement de l'Ouganda à trouver et à poursuivre tous ceux qui sont impliqués dans la assassiner de M. Kato, y compris le journal qui a appelé à la pendaison des homosexuels. Nous appelons aussi les gouvernements africains à s'inspirer de l'exemple sud-africain par radiation de leur législation toutes les dispositions qui criminalisent l'homosexualité ou de traiter les homosexuels comme indigne des mêmes droits et avantages que les autres citoyens. Les États africains doivent protéger les droits de leurs citoyens à la liberté et la dignité. Les homosexuels ne doivent pas être privés de ces droits.
Portuguese Version
Carta de Petição: sobre o assassinato de David Kato, o Uganda Gay ativista de direitos
Nós, os abaixo assinados condenam nos termos mais fortes possíveis o assassinato do Sr. David Kato o activista dos direitos gays de Uganda. Queremos declarar enfaticamente que a homossexualidade não é pecado, nem uma construção social ou cultural. É um dado biológico. Os homossexuais são seres humanos como todos os outros. A investigação científica tem sido útil para limpar o nevoeiro da ignorância enraizada por alguns textos religiosos em relação à homossexualidade. Nossas opiniões sobre a homossexualidade deve mudar para melhor assim como a nossa opinião sobre a escravidão mudou mesmo foi aprovado por esses mesmos textos religiosos. Toda a violência contra homossexuais e pessoas consideradas gay na África deve cessar de imediato.
Apelamos ao governo de Uganda para encontrar e processar todos os envolvidos no assassinato do Sr. Kato, incluindo o jornal que pedia a suspensão dos gays. Apelamos também aos governos Africano de aprender com o exemplo Sul Africano por expurgando de suas leis todas as disposições que criminalizam a homossexualidade ou tratar os homossexuais como indignos de os mesmos direitos e os direitos dos outros cidadãos. Africano estados devem proteger os direitos dos seus cidadãos à liberdade e dignidade. Homossexuais não devem ser negados os seus direitos.
Swahili version
Mauaji ya David Kato - Mwanaharakati wa haki za wapenzi wa Jinsia moja nchini
Uganda.
Sisi tuliosaini hapo chini, tunashutumu vikali mauaji ya David Kato,
Mwanaharakati wa haki za wapenzi wa Jinsia moja nchini Uganda.
Tunasisitiza kuwa
mapenzi ya jinsia moja sio uovu wa aina yoyote, katika tamaduni zetu.
Hili ni jambo linalotokea kimaumbile na wapenzi wa jinsia moja ni binadamu tu
sawa na wengine. Utafiti wa sayansi umesaidia kuondoa kasumba hii mbovu
iliyowekwa na baadhi ya vitabu vya dini juu ya wapenzi wa jinsia moja.Lazima
tubadilishe maono yetu na mawazo tuliyonayo juu yao ili tuboreshe uhusiano
uliopo.
Lazima uhasama na chuki iliyopo dhidi ya wapenzi wa jinsia moja iangamizwe
kabisa.
Tunatoa wito kwa serikali ya Uganda kuwafungulia mashtaka wote waliohusika
katika mauaji ya David Kato pamoja na gazeti hilo lililotoa wito wa chuki na
mauaji ya wapenzi wa jinsia moja.
Pia tunatoa wito kwa mataifa mengine ya Afrika yajifunze kutoka kwa serikali ya
Afrika Kusini na kuondoa tamaduni zinazoakandamiza wapenzi wa jinsia moja na
kuwanyima haki zao za kibinadamu sawa na wananchi wengine. Mataifa ya Afrika
yanawajibu wa kulinda haki na uhuru wa raia wao. Na wapenzi wa jinsia moja pia
lazima wapewe haki hizi.
Showing posts with label LGBT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LGBT. Show all posts
Monday, February 07, 2011
Monday, March 24, 2008
The IRN Awards
News Release
More than one hundred submissions were received for the first IRN collection; and, entries were highly competitive. After a rigorous assessment of all works, especially based on how well the theme of theorizing eroticism in Africa is captured, these contributors won the IRN awards for their outstanding bodies of work.
Shailja Patel: The IRN-Africa Fanny Ann Eddy Award for the poem “Screaming.” “Screaming” is striking because Patel illustrates how damage to the body is one of the many tools oppressive patriarchy uses to impose control over people who dare step away from the margins of its strictures.
Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, playwright and theatre artist; she has performed her work in venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Centre, to Durban's Poetry Africa Festival. Her one-woman show, Migritude, received Ford Foundation funding for a Kenyan tour, and an NPN Creation Fund Award. CNN describes Shailja as an artist "who exemplifies globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange."The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates) calls her "the poetic equivalent of Arundhati Roy."
Crispin Oduobuk-Mfon Abasi: The IRN-Africa Outstanding Award in Creative Writing for the short story “Two-Step Skip.”
“Two-Step Skip” is a unique narrative set in Abuja,Nigeria; it tells the story of a young gay man who arranges to secretly meet with a potential lover he meets on line. He is, however, brutally attacked and almost raped for being gay.
Crispin Oduobuk-MfonAbasi lives in Abuja, Nigeria. His work is included in Workshop Engelsk VG1 Bygg-Og Anleggsteknikk (eds. Janniche Langseth, Hege Lundgren, Jeanne Lindsay Skanke) and In Our Own Words Volume 6 (ed. Marlow Peerse Weaver), as well as several other anthologies. BBC Focus on Africa and Genevieve are some of the other markets where his work has appeared. Also, his stories have been published by East of the Web, Eclectica, Gowanus, 42Opus and other literary sites. Crispin’s "Petrovesky and Polarbywall" was named a Notable Story in the 2005 Million Writers Award. The story was also named one of the ten finalists in the 2006 Best of the Net. Moreover, his "Maiduguri Road" was named a Notable Story in the 2006 Million Writers Award.
Victor Ehikhamenor: The IRN-Africa Outstanding Award in Visual Arts. Victor's images and drawings are haunting, and leave lingering impressions; his art makes very strong statements.
Victor Ehikhamenor was born in Edo State, Nigeria. He is an artist and a writer whose works have been widely exhibited and published. He is currently an MFA fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Yvette Abrahams’ essay “Your Silence Will not Protect You”: Silence, Voice and Power Moving Beyond Violence Towards Revolution in South Africa (# Khib Omsis) won the IRN-Africa Desmond Tutu Award. This award goes to the outstanding essay submitted to OUTLIERS. In this essay, Yvette offers a theoretical framework through which identity and specifically lesbian identity in Africa is theorized in ways that deconstruct preconceived ideas about feminism, patriarchy, empowerment, politics of embodiment and social activism. This essay speaks [to] both the academy and the non-academic worlds and will inevitably generate more discussions and contributions to the understanding of queerness in Africa. The strength of this essay is that none of the following, silence, protection, violence, voice, power and revolution is assumed. Instead, Yvette works us through all the steps and argues for every position she takes or do not take. “Your Silence Will Not Protect You...” enters the pantheon of classics in related subject on its own right.
Yvette Abrahams was born in Cape Town in 1963 to parents of slave and Khoekhoe descent. She grew up in exile and returned home in 1983. Since then, she has joyfully tried to practice “the constant vigilance” which she affirms is the price of freedom. She was trained as a historian, and after many years in the academia, she became the Commissioner of Gender Equality. She [got] married to a dyke on Freedom day (April 27, 2007) and now spends most of her time off the Cape Coast planting enough trees to offset two lifetimes of carbon emissions. She has no cat.
Notisha Massaquoi's essay "The Continent as a Closet: The Making of an African Queer Theory" won the IRN-Africa Audre Lorde Award.
This selected essay captures the notion of 'home', citizenship and belonging for queer immigrants and refugees. She elegantly bridges African queer identities with accounts of "complex, dynamic, and overlapping geographies while interrogating transnational subjects, their nation of origin and destinations as well as their understanding of sexual dynamics." The beauty of the essay is that both Africa as a "continent" as queer identities are revisited and re-articulated from and beyond the "intellectual landscape of academic theories and practices." The queer project she imagines functions discursively as anarrative of Africa's political history boldly resisting oppression, and embodying utopian stories and possibilities of life as queer Africans on the continent.
Notisha is originally from Sierra Leone and currently resides in Canada. She is the executive director of Women's Health in Women's Hands Community Health Center for Black women of color and a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. Her most recent publication is the edited Theorizing Empowerment: Canadian Perspectives on Black Feminist Thought. She is currently working on a second collection with Selby K. Thiam entitled None on Record: Stories of Queer Africa.
The IRN-Africa Simon Nkoli Award goes to Professor Femi Osofisan 's article "Wounded Eros and Cantillating Cupids: Sensuality and the Future of Nigerian Literature in the Post-Military Era."
In this essay, Professor Osofisan retraces the shifts from erotic abstract symbolism to flesh, "as breathing, living, and corporeal presence, capable of sensual desire and carnality, and vulnerable to violation" in Nigerian Literature in the post-Military era. He uncovers the ideological erotic stereotype underneath early Nigerian Literature --and pan-African Literature-- and discusses why and how the option for "full disclosure and unrestrained loquacity" has dominated the post-Military era. He also analyzes the impact of globalization and globalized "American values" and the possibility that erotic full disclosure in Literature may not escape the intrusive lenses and the probing inquisitiveness of the West. However, what is seen as "license" may itself be attributed a judgment value that is telling about our Christian upbringing, which out of misplaced zealousness, systematically expunge the vulgar. Professor Osofisan deconstructs the fortress of the insensible and embraces the new bloom and heteroglossia of wounded Eros with measured skepticism. To interrogate Eros in Nigerian Literature and African society, one must grapple with the multiplicity of subtle strategies and channels through which Eros is represented as well as the inadequacies and brutalities committed in its name. The beauty of the essay is that it not only highlights the shift from abstract symbolism to full embodiment of Eros in the post-military era in Nigeria, it also reminds us that such disclosure is not costless when the market of modernism collides with the lingering pain of humanism in our society.
Professor Femi Osofisan is a renowned African Playwright and professor of drama. He is currently in the department of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan where he has taught many dramatists for many years.
Sybille Ngo Nyeck and Unoma N. Azuah.
Editors, OUTLIER collection.
More than one hundred submissions were received for the first IRN collection; and, entries were highly competitive. After a rigorous assessment of all works, especially based on how well the theme of theorizing eroticism in Africa is captured, these contributors won the IRN awards for their outstanding bodies of work.
Shailja Patel: The IRN-Africa Fanny Ann Eddy Award for the poem “Screaming.” “Screaming” is striking because Patel illustrates how damage to the body is one of the many tools oppressive patriarchy uses to impose control over people who dare step away from the margins of its strictures.
Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, playwright and theatre artist; she has performed her work in venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Centre, to Durban's Poetry Africa Festival. Her one-woman show, Migritude, received Ford Foundation funding for a Kenyan tour, and an NPN Creation Fund Award. CNN describes Shailja as an artist "who exemplifies globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange."The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates) calls her "the poetic equivalent of Arundhati Roy."
Crispin Oduobuk-Mfon Abasi: The IRN-Africa Outstanding Award in Creative Writing for the short story “Two-Step Skip.”
“Two-Step Skip” is a unique narrative set in Abuja,Nigeria; it tells the story of a young gay man who arranges to secretly meet with a potential lover he meets on line. He is, however, brutally attacked and almost raped for being gay.
Crispin Oduobuk-MfonAbasi lives in Abuja, Nigeria. His work is included in Workshop Engelsk VG1 Bygg-Og Anleggsteknikk (eds. Janniche Langseth, Hege Lundgren, Jeanne Lindsay Skanke) and In Our Own Words Volume 6 (ed. Marlow Peerse Weaver), as well as several other anthologies. BBC Focus on Africa and Genevieve are some of the other markets where his work has appeared. Also, his stories have been published by East of the Web, Eclectica, Gowanus, 42Opus and other literary sites. Crispin’s "Petrovesky and Polarbywall" was named a Notable Story in the 2005 Million Writers Award. The story was also named one of the ten finalists in the 2006 Best of the Net. Moreover, his "Maiduguri Road" was named a Notable Story in the 2006 Million Writers Award.
Victor Ehikhamenor: The IRN-Africa Outstanding Award in Visual Arts. Victor's images and drawings are haunting, and leave lingering impressions; his art makes very strong statements.
Victor Ehikhamenor was born in Edo State, Nigeria. He is an artist and a writer whose works have been widely exhibited and published. He is currently an MFA fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Yvette Abrahams’ essay “Your Silence Will not Protect You”: Silence, Voice and Power Moving Beyond Violence Towards Revolution in South Africa (# Khib Omsis) won the IRN-Africa Desmond Tutu Award. This award goes to the outstanding essay submitted to OUTLIERS. In this essay, Yvette offers a theoretical framework through which identity and specifically lesbian identity in Africa is theorized in ways that deconstruct preconceived ideas about feminism, patriarchy, empowerment, politics of embodiment and social activism. This essay speaks [to] both the academy and the non-academic worlds and will inevitably generate more discussions and contributions to the understanding of queerness in Africa. The strength of this essay is that none of the following, silence, protection, violence, voice, power and revolution is assumed. Instead, Yvette works us through all the steps and argues for every position she takes or do not take. “Your Silence Will Not Protect You...” enters the pantheon of classics in related subject on its own right.
Yvette Abrahams was born in Cape Town in 1963 to parents of slave and Khoekhoe descent. She grew up in exile and returned home in 1983. Since then, she has joyfully tried to practice “the constant vigilance” which she affirms is the price of freedom. She was trained as a historian, and after many years in the academia, she became the Commissioner of Gender Equality. She [got] married to a dyke on Freedom day (April 27, 2007) and now spends most of her time off the Cape Coast planting enough trees to offset two lifetimes of carbon emissions. She has no cat.
Notisha Massaquoi's essay "The Continent as a Closet: The Making of an African Queer Theory" won the IRN-Africa Audre Lorde Award.
This selected essay captures the notion of 'home', citizenship and belonging for queer immigrants and refugees. She elegantly bridges African queer identities with accounts of "complex, dynamic, and overlapping geographies while interrogating transnational subjects, their nation of origin and destinations as well as their understanding of sexual dynamics." The beauty of the essay is that both Africa as a "continent" as queer identities are revisited and re-articulated from and beyond the "intellectual landscape of academic theories and practices." The queer project she imagines functions discursively as anarrative of Africa's political history boldly resisting oppression, and embodying utopian stories and possibilities of life as queer Africans on the continent.
Notisha is originally from Sierra Leone and currently resides in Canada. She is the executive director of Women's Health in Women's Hands Community Health Center for Black women of color and a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. Her most recent publication is the edited Theorizing Empowerment: Canadian Perspectives on Black Feminist Thought. She is currently working on a second collection with Selby K. Thiam entitled None on Record: Stories of Queer Africa.
The IRN-Africa Simon Nkoli Award goes to Professor Femi Osofisan 's article "Wounded Eros and Cantillating Cupids: Sensuality and the Future of Nigerian Literature in the Post-Military Era."
In this essay, Professor Osofisan retraces the shifts from erotic abstract symbolism to flesh, "as breathing, living, and corporeal presence, capable of sensual desire and carnality, and vulnerable to violation" in Nigerian Literature in the post-Military era. He uncovers the ideological erotic stereotype underneath early Nigerian Literature --and pan-African Literature-- and discusses why and how the option for "full disclosure and unrestrained loquacity" has dominated the post-Military era. He also analyzes the impact of globalization and globalized "American values" and the possibility that erotic full disclosure in Literature may not escape the intrusive lenses and the probing inquisitiveness of the West. However, what is seen as "license" may itself be attributed a judgment value that is telling about our Christian upbringing, which out of misplaced zealousness, systematically expunge the vulgar. Professor Osofisan deconstructs the fortress of the insensible and embraces the new bloom and heteroglossia of wounded Eros with measured skepticism. To interrogate Eros in Nigerian Literature and African society, one must grapple with the multiplicity of subtle strategies and channels through which Eros is represented as well as the inadequacies and brutalities committed in its name. The beauty of the essay is that it not only highlights the shift from abstract symbolism to full embodiment of Eros in the post-military era in Nigeria, it also reminds us that such disclosure is not costless when the market of modernism collides with the lingering pain of humanism in our society.
Professor Femi Osofisan is a renowned African Playwright and professor of drama. He is currently in the department of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan where he has taught many dramatists for many years.
Sybille Ngo Nyeck and Unoma N. Azuah.
Editors, OUTLIER collection.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Gay Afrique
As with the previous post, we're staying with The Guardian, this time the April 14th edition, which had a centrespread on 'The gay globe'. The feature used a colour code to show how gay people fare under the law in countries across the world. Countries with liberal legislation on homosexuality are tagged with pink balloons. Nigeria is one of the 'dark blues' where a gay person may expect a grim treatment under the law. According to the Guardian, the family of one Emmanuel Obahiaghbon reported him to the authorities last year and requested that he be sentenced to death by stoning. The piece did not indicate whether the poor man was reported in the 'Sharia' states of Northern Nigeria. But I'd be very surprised if anyone, whatever their orientation, can be stoned to death South of the River Niger.~
The Africa segment was illustrated with an image of Nigerian gay activist, Bisi Alimi, engrossed in a copy of the Gay Times, supposedly in Lagos. As it happens, an interview with Alimi is in the current issue of Farafina Magazine. The interview is available online.
~
The current issue of Wasafiri (Issue 50) focuses on the 'Queer Postcolonial'. Among the contents is an essay, 'If You Like, Professor, I Will Come Home With You' - a re-reading of Wole Soyinka's The Road - by academic Chris Dunton.
~
Sable Litmag also did a recent LGBTQ issue (issue 9) with a spotlight on Jackie Kay.
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