The arrogance of people like the British prime minister who assume that knowledge and civilisation reside in them and that they are on a civilising mission, is typically colonial and it is not surprising that she picked a neo-colonial club like the Commonwealth to stage her play on homosexuality.
British prime minister, Theresa May had a clear message, or more appropriately, a directive to the 53 leaders of the former British colonies euphemistically called ‘Commonwealth” who gathered at the Westminster on Tuesday. The matron told them to return home and promote homosexuality. She told them point blank that leaders of the 37 Commonwealth countries who have laws that do not favour gays and lesbians, should return home and reverse them. Like a mother talking to her kids, she promised them lollipops in the form of aid to enable them dismantle all laws that criminalise or do not favour homosexuality.
Aunty May, presented her crusade for homosexuality as a fundamental human right and sought to equate it with women rights, which are human rights. Her song about, “criminalising same-sex relations and failing to protect women and girls” deliberately seeks to confuse issues; mixing or equating homosexuality with girl or women rights.
When she said, “I am all too aware that these laws were put in place by my own country; they were wrong then and they are wrong now… As the UK’s prime minister, I deeply regret that those laws were introduced…”, the British leader could only have been speaking for her country. For us in Africa, we were not wrong about those laws then, and we are not wrong now, so there is nothing to regret and we do not owe homosexuals any apology.
Clearly, when Ms. May told the forum that, “As a family of nations we must respect one another’s cultures and traditions, but we must do so in a manner consistent with our common value of equality,” she was being disrespectful to us Africans. If she respects our cultures and traditions, she and her government would not be trying to impose a culture of homosexuality on us. Although Britain may seek to deceive Africans enslaved by her that they belong to a ‘commonwealth’, clearly they do not have the same “common value of equality.” Our values are clearly different and what constitutes ‘equality’ to the former colonial master, does not mean the same to us, just as we had fundamental differences when Britain characterised African liberation fighters like Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo and Walter Sisulu as “terrorists.”
It was the same fundamental differences we expressed in 2014 with our soul brother, Barack Obama, then president of the United States, who turned himself into the sales manager of homosexuality in Africa. That year when Uganda decided to enact a law against homosexuality, Obama in a public statement, claimed that, “It will be a step backward for all Ugandans and reflect poorly on Uganda’s commitment to protecting the human rights of its people. It also will mark a serious setback for all those around the world who share a commitment to freedom, justice and equal rights.” He then threatened the African country that, “Enacting this legislation will complicate our valued relationship with Uganda.”
Africa needs assistance, it may need aid, but not the type Aunty May offered at the Commonwealth. The aid Africa needs is the type that would assist her build homes, schools, factories, roads and railways, not the one to campaign for a culture of homosexuality that will compromise and destroy the nuclei family.
When Obama was becoming too overbearing on homosexuality, the irrepressible Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe declared in 2015, “I’ve just concluded – since President Obama endorses same-sex marriage, advocates homosexual people, and enjoys an attractive countenance – thus if it becomes necessary, I shall travel to Washington, DC, get down on my knee, and ask his hand… We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman; and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no.”
For being outspoken against homosexuals, Mugabe was widely attacked in the West, and on March 5, 2001 while on a visit in Brussels, a Briton, Peter Tatchell attempted what he claimed was a citizen’s arrest of Mugabe, a sitting African president.
The nuclei family is the most basic distinction between Africa and Europe; for us, a marriage is between a woman and a man, while for the European, it could between a man and a woman, a man and a fellow man (we call it bone-to-bone) or a woman and another woman (flesh-to-flesh). The typical African nuclei family is made up of a man and his wife, and if blessed, plus their child or children. In contrast, the European nuclei family might be two men, two women (a so called partnership), a woman and her dog or cat.
Another vital difference between Africans and Europeans is that for the former, sex is a private matter. It is a closet issue; who you sleep with, is your personal business, not that of the public. In contrast, the trend in Europe is to make sex between two persons a public matter, and even a casual encounter like going to buy sweet in a neigbourhood shop. So while there are doubtlessly homosexuals in Africa, unlike Europe, they do not advertise it, carry placards or emblaze it on their t-shirts announcing their sexual preference. In Europe, advertising one’s sexual orientation is chic; without provocation, a person calls a press conference to announce he is gay or she is a lesbian, and of what benefit to humanity is that? Promoting homosexuality as modernism; as a culture superior to our way of life, as Ms. May and her tribe are doing, do not advance human development.
Our positive culture, traditions and norms must not be surrendered to foreign decadence, even if such is couched as a ‘human right’ and marketed as a commodity with discounts, just as life-size doll babies are now being marketed as acceptable ‘sexual partners.
The arrogance of people like the British prime minister who assume that knowledge and civilisation reside in them and that they are on a civilising mission, is typically colonial and it is not surprising that she picked a neo-colonial club like the Commonwealth to stage her play on homosexuality.
Just as individuals have rights, so do communities and societies; there is something called group rights, which I hold to be more fundamental than individual rights. The collective rights of the African people, are more much fundamental than the individual rights of the gay or lesbian, and European and American leaders need to respect the rights, traditions, cultures and sensitivity of the African people. We Africans owe it a duty to ourselves, our ancestors and our children to maintain family life and dignity.
Our positive culture, traditions and norms must not be surrendered to foreign decadence, even if such is couched as a ‘human right’ and marketed as a commodity with discounts, just as life-size doll babies are now being marketed as acceptable ‘sexual partners.’
Africa needs assistance, it may need aid, but not the type Aunty May offered at the Commonwealth. The aid Africa needs is the type that would assist her build homes, schools, factories, roads and railways, not the one to campaign for a culture of homosexuality that will compromise and destroy the nuclei family.
Owei Lakemfa, former Secretary General of African Workers is a Human Rights activist, journalist and author.
Picture credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via Reuters.
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