‘The Worst Place To Be Gay’

March 4, 2011 By 5 Comments

Brett Davidson

In a documentary broadcast recently on the BBC, the British DJ Scott Mills travels to Uganda and reports on the rampant homophobia there. (That’s Mills, above, in a still from the film with Ugandan gay rights activist, Frank Mugisha.) Technically, Uganda may not be the very worst place to be gay. Homosexuality can get you beheaded in Saudi Arabia for example, and there are several other places with similar policies. Nevertheless, Uganda’s pretty bad.

Mills’ film is  depressing viewing as he discovers the breadth and depth of rabid homophobia in Ugandan society. Perhaps because he’s a DJ and not a journalist, I found Mills annoying at times, as he tends to focus on himself and his own reactions a bit too much. But at other times his naive and good natured manner is quite endearing.

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Filed Under: JOURNALISM Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Deafening Silence

February 8, 2011 By 3 Comments

Has there been a deafening silence from African artists and musicians following the murder of gay activist David Kato? This Is Africa seems to think so, and I can find nothing to contradict them. As that blog points out, musicians are usually the first to speak out on behalf of the underdog. But not if you’re lesbian or gay, apparently.

Joining the musicians are some media houses – usually the first to complain when they’re the subject of censorship.

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Filed Under: JOURNALISM, MUSIC Tagged With: , , , ,

Preventing Project Prevention

February 1, 2011 By 18 Comments

After years of working in the United States, where they pay female drug users $300 to agree to be sterilized, Project Prevention has begun branching out to other parts of the world. Following a luke-warm reception in Britain, the organisation has now turned its attention to Kenya where it plans to start paying women living with HIV/Aids to accept long-term contraception.

Project Prevention is headed by Barbara Harris, who started the organisation in 1997. It was initially named CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity). While her PR has become more sophisticated in recent years, Barbara Harris has famously been quoted as saying “We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children.”

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‘They’d love to meet you’

December 3, 2010 By 7 Comments

A new public service announcement by the South African alcohol beverage company Brandhouse, warning of the perils of drinking and driving, is perhaps a more powerful argument against copywriting while drunk. It’s also more evidence of the garden variety racism that circulates in South Africa’s advertising industry and in polite circles. For those clueless to South Africa’s realities, the PSA basically warns white men what could happen to them if they are caught drinking and driving: They’ll get raped by black men in prison with big arms, no teeth and lots of tattoos. At the next award ceremony, here’s hoping it takes the prize for “most offensive stereotypes in under 60-seconds.”

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Filed Under: ADVERTISING Tagged With: , ,

Some Other Kenya

November 24, 2010 By 4 Comments

By Brett Davidson
Back in February 2009, the Daily Metro newspaper in Nairobi wrote about young Kenyan bloggers mobilising to try to bring about political change, inspired by US President Barack Obama’s use of the Internet during his election campaign. Disillusioned by the old guard of politicians from across the spectrum, , several web-based initiatives aimed at encouraging the youth to take an active role and bring a fresh approach to politics.

It seems this has continued. Ahead of the constitutional referendum this past summer in Kenya, the blog Kuweni Serious , produced the powerful video above, encouraging a move away from the image of young Kenyans as cynical, detached brand obsessed hedonists, and urging the youth to take a personal stake in the affairs of the country.

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I had a farm in Africa

November 19, 2010 By 26 Comments

By Brett Davidson
If I come across another book written by a white expat about their African childhood, I think I will be ill.  I have had this thought from time to time over the past few years, but it hits me hardest when I pass through Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta international Airport (JKIA)

Just try to find a book set in, or about, Africa, written by an African – they are few and far between. Oh, there’s a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie here, and a Ben Okri there. But they fade into insignificance next to the rows and rows of memoirs by ex-African white people. Here’s just a small and quick sampling, of publications old and new:

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Where does the money go?

September 29, 2010 By 6 Comments

Brett Davidson
How transparent are governments? How easy is it for citizens to get hold of information about how governments are spending their money?

It is this question that a recent international research project set out to answer.

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Filed Under: FEATURED Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Everyone’s an African

September 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Brett Davidson
Regional lobby group, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), has drafted an equal rights manifesto in conversation with civil society, cultural and religious leaders from around the continent. It presents the arguments for why equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are a crucial element of African culture and Christian philosophy, in addition to being a public health and human rights imperative.

The manifesto goes into detail on four aspects  of homophobia in Africa:  African Culture, Christianity, Public Health, and Human Rights.

ARASA is calling for comments on the document by the 14th of October, after which they will invite individuals and organizations to endorse it and make use of it to begin changing attitudes and policies. Go check it out.

Filed Under: ADVERTISING Tagged With: , ,

Just give poor people money

September 24, 2010 By 5 Comments

Brett Davidson
It is interesting to see “Social Protection” take the fore in discussions of the Millennium Development Goals at the UN this week (see Jamie Holmes’ piece on the Huffington Post, for example).

Over the past several years, evidence has continued to accumulate that it makes a lot of sense to give money to poor people in the form of social grants (See for example the wealth of research available at Wahenga.net).

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Filed Under: FEATURED Tagged With: , ,

Traffic Report

August 12, 2010 By 5 Comments

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, I had blogged about the proliferation of nonsensical press reports claiming 40 000 women would be trafficked into the country during that event.

Shortly after the tournament ended, NPR reported on the startling lack of incidences of trafficking, given all the scare-mongering.

Then yesterday I was amused to read a transcript of an exchange during a meeting of the South African Parliament’s Justice portfolio committee between MPs and a government official. The gist is: no trafficking happened during the World Cup. Here’s an extract:

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Filed Under: JOURNALISM Tagged With: , ,
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