EU aid to change Jamaican homophobia ?

This week, one of Acre Lane's loyal readers asked to comment on my post of September 12th concerning John Terry's murder in Jamaica. Here's what CB has to say.

In a recent newspaper article reacting to the murder of John Terry (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-tatchellpoliticians-and-pop-stars-are-to-blame-1786275.html), gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell depicts Jamaica as a place of blood thirsty homophobia. The island’s surveillance and control of sexuality is likened to living under the Taliban. ‘The homophobic lynch mob mentality is worse in Jamaica than in Saudi Arabia or Iran,’ he says. The controversial British activist argues that the church, politicians and dancehall artistes are the root causes of Jamaica’s anti-gay sentiments. His recommendation? The EU must make development aid conditional on Jamaica repealing its buggery laws and extending human rights protection to sexual minorities.

I am not so much concerned with Peter Tatchell, who is known for his exaggerated views and actions. As a Jamaican, my response to the issues is marked by anxieties about nationality, identity, politics, intellectual integrity and the threat of imperialism. My views often vacillate between an apologist stance (arguing that it’s not that bad for gays in Jamaica), and a utopian one (where I argue that things are unacceptable and Jamaica must come to fully respect and protect the rights of gays and lesbians). But I am sure of the following things:

1) Making aid conditional on the repealing of buggery laws will not change things. In fact, it will make things worse. Such a move would no doubt galvanise the virulent nationalistic homophobia that is at the root of Jamaica's present gay rights problem. What we do not need is self-righteous grandstanding from the ‘West’ which eviscerates rather than supports Jamaican-based efforts and strategies for gay emancipation.

2) Law and human rights are not enough. Activists would have us believe that de-criminalising gay sex is the route to redemption and inclusion. Yet in South Africa, progressive rulings from the Supreme Court on sodomy and on same-sex marriage - even enshrining gay rights in the South African constitution - have not been enough to halt the ‘therapeutic’ raping of lesbians by men hell-bent on turning them straight. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/eudysimelane-corrective-rape-south-africa ).

3) Gay Jamaicans can experience Jamaica in vastly different ways. The island’s Head of Serious and Organised Crime, Assistant Commissioner Les Green, flippantly pointed out in a recent newspaper article ‘there are openly gay people in Jamaica and they live quite openly and mingle freely.’ (http://w w w . j a m a i c a o b s e r v e r . c o m / n e w s / h t m l /20090912T230000-0500_159548_OBS_TERRY_S_MURDER_NO_HATE_CRIM
E__SAY_POLICE.asp ). He might have been blithely unaware of many others whose
experience is very much like ‘living under the Taliban.’ I am here reminded of a story of a young man who lived in a garrison community in Jamaica, who was beaten up daily (and at times raped) when passing other houses to get to his own.

4) There are ways in which privileged Jamaican gay men eroticise, play and get caught in a complex social, economic and sexual game with self-loathing, homophobic, gay-vague, opportunistic thugs. Some of this speaks to lack of personal responsibility on the part of those gay men. But in recognising this, we must also be alert to E. Akintola Hubbard’s comment on the previous blog post. He warns that the subtext in police reports of ‘no forced entry’ at the victim's home, is that homophobia is removed as a viable motive, the murder is dismissed as ‘gay on gay violence' and the entire spectacle is deemed not worthy of police investigation time.

5) Finally, as human beings - gays, straights, sons, daughters and friends of Jamaica - we are all affected by this incident. Not only are we affected by it, but we all have some agency (no matter how small) to begin to change it.


CB

What John Terry's killer knows

British honorary consul John Terry was found beaten and strangled in the bedroom of his home near Montego Bay in Jamaica this week. Police reports say there was no sign of “forced entry” to suggest a breaking and entering. A handwritten note found on 65 year old Terry’s body, referred to him as a “batty man” and warned that “This is what will happen to ALL gays.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/consul-jamaica-gay-hate-terry

From a country with an exceptionally high murder rate, the assailant’s note addresses what is political about this killing in Jamaica. Rather than just a grouse between murderer and victim, the animus here is directed against an entire class of persons, namely “gays.” In a literal sense, the words translate what many Jamaican dancehall deejays and others have said before – that all batty man fi dead.

The author of this tragedy signed his note “Gay-Man.” This should not be the least bit confounding for anyone. The gay ascription could be a fiendish joke, the seal of a self-hating homo or some other reason.

Far more intriguing, is what killers - gay or straight- know about Jamaica. They know that all gay men are vulnerable people, condemned by law and subject to ready hostility. Preachers call down fire and brimstone on gays; mobs will assemble in a quick minute to beat a suspected batty man; the Prime Minister embraces anti-gay sentiments as part of national cultural values. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeVy5Sp6xyw. If homophobia is cancerous in Jamaica, no one is capable of administering political chemotherapy. It is always possible to get away with murder.

I'm every woman: the Semenya story II

If South African 800m gold medal winner Caster Semenya had turned up at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin looking like she did after her girly make-over, there would have been no furor. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/09/2009-09-09_athlete_caster_semenya_forced_to_take_gender_test_to_determine_sex__appears_as_g.html. She might have passed as female, even with internal testes and 3 times more testosterone than the average woman. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/09/10/2009-09-10_caster_semenya_.html. By the time she won her gold medal, poor Semenya was the picture of radical gender ambiguity. This, it is now clear, was her grave public relations failing. (The Ibster has a very funny prescription of how to “pass” as a female runner: http://ibsters.blogspot.com/ ).

One could have predicted how radioactive the issue of the South African runner’s gender presentation has become. Now considered a freak (“hermaphrodite”), the next step will be that Semenya loses control of her own body. Between the IAAF, media and various medical experts, consensus will build around the athlete’s need to perform alteration surgeries, in order to better align her within the gender category that is deemed suitable.

All those wacky feminist folk were right: ideas of gender and sexuality, are indeed policed and regulated. This is the reality TV styled proof that certain bodies – those of women, gays and freaks - are a militarized zone. In his poem entitled Heavy Breathing, black gay poet Essex Hemphill captured his angst with this state of affairs, when he wrote:

Science continues
Dismantling chromosomes.
Tampering with genetic codes.
I am sure of this
As I witness Washington
Change its eye color
From brown to blue;
What kind of mutants are we now?
Why is some destruction so beautiful?

Do you think I could walk pleasantly

and well-suited toward annihilation?
With a scrotal sack full of primordial loneliness
Swinging between my legs
Like solid bells?

I am eager to burn
This threadbare masculinity
This perpetual black suit
I have outgrown

Michael Vick and the Lockerbie Bomber

It is not possible to control popular reactions to the release of a prisoner who has served a sentence. But is there a legitimate public interest in a convicted felon after he has duly served a punishment? Should politicians care about the sentiment on the street when they grant a pardon or make a compassionate release? At what point does a convicted felon repay his full debt to society? Two recent events elicited two distinctly different reactions from me.

NFL footballer Michael Vick was convicted and duly served 19 months imprisonment for hosting dog fighting at his home in Virginia, USA. After his release, he spoke in interviews about his regret and the lessons that he learnt during his incarceration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TIx-knnoE. Nevertheless, animal rights activists threatened to protest his return to the NFL as a pro-footballer. Mercifully, the Stop-Vick posse did not gain much traction. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9995466/Eagles-fans-cheer-Vick%27s-return-to-NFL.

To be clear, what Michael Vick did was horrible. And his quick acceptance back into the NFL is less about earned redemption and more about energizing interest in the game and profits. Still, I feel that Vick has discharged his obligations to society. Short of entering a monastery, there was nothing left for him to do.

I don’t feel the same way about the “compassionate” release of Lockerbie bomber Abedelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001, for being involved in exploding Pan Am flight PA 103 in mid-air. All 270 people on board the aircraft perished in this unspeakable act of mass murder. Megrahi is now suffering from terminal cancer. The Scottish Justice Minister agreed to send Megrahi back to his native Libya, for him to spend his remaining life there (estimated to be 3 months). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/8197370.stm

Megrahi has never expressed regret for his crime. Though compassionate releases are not unusual where a prisoner suffers terminal illness, the especially egregious nature of Megrahi’s case should have made him fail as a candidate for any good will. Furthermore, it now seems that Megrahi’s release might have had little to do with compassion or maintaining consistency in policy. The politics of ingratiating between the UK and Libya -with the lure of oil – took precedence over considerations of justice and sheer decency. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6823170.ece.

I can only imagine the horror of the victims’ family. Alongside the unhealed cruelties of the twenty year old Pan Am tragedy, they now have pictures of Megrahi being feted with a hero’s welcome on his return to Libyan soil. This story is a sick making experience – one that blows a shameful stench from Scotland to 10 Downing Street.

Who killed Michael Jackson?

The Los Angeles county coroner has decided that Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide. It is now left for a culprit to be established. All bets are on his personal physician, Conrad Murray, to be charged for administering the drugs that killed the legendary pop star. Dr. Murray is about to get caught up in a sprawling drama, for which any offence he might have committed is only a bit part.

The backdrop for this story is money, power and celebrity – Michael Jackson’s celebrity. In this gilded world, there were very few limits. MJ could indulge all his whims and fancy. He had a chimp for a pet, slept in an oxygen tent and built a fantastical ranch as a commitment to never growing old. But for the legal troubles that dogged him in recent years, few of Michael’s choices were subject to any consequential review. The negotiations that govern everyday interaction and serve as its checks and balances, were trumped by Michael’s enormous fame and fortune.

Who could tell Michael Jackson when his behavior might have been harmful? What seemed excessive to others was completely normalized in MJ’s world. His serial plastic surgery was the grotesque reminder that the singer was out of control. As was his feisty refusal to observe rules of propriety about relating with children. The singer’s prescription drug habit was just one part of a dangerous architecture.

For sure, a medical doctor who enables substance abuse is acting outside the law. But the person with the monstrous demand must take primary responsibility for the harm that befalls him. Michael Jackson’s celebrity sustained a syndicate that fed him the anesthetic propofol, along with other sedatives and painkillers. The core of the matter was Jacko's unchecked desire. It is the singer himself, who bears responsibility for his own untimely death.

The Usain Bolt effect

The Usain Bolt effect was evident among athletes at the recent world athletics championship in Berlin. If Croatian high jumper Blanka Vasic ordinarily appears stoic, she found time to do a jig en route to a gold medal performance last week. The East African distance runners seemed almost choreographed as they launched victory celebration after another. Everyone was mugging for the camera, a la Bolt. Serious looking sprinters like Tyson Gay might now be passé. Bolt’s “no problem” attitude is sweeping track and field.

After the debacle of Marion Jones’ drug cheating, the 23 year old speedster may be the right personality on which to hinge the reputation of beleaguered track and field. His show-boating is cute, and apparently, infectious. Just at the point when you think his antics might be overdone, he justifies himself with a blistering performance on the track. In post-race interviews, he shows restraint and message discipline, always emphasising the same themes: hard work, dedication and execution. His dope test results are negative. Track and field fans have never been more engaged.

We would hope that marketing experts are already thinking about how best to parlay Bolt’s super stardom into financial success. The obvious stakeholders – the Jamaican Tourism Ministry, the IAAF and Puma - have been quick off the mark in trying to capitalize on Bolt-mania. For his part, the triple world and Olympic champion will need to service their demands on him, while looking out for his best financial interests. There could be conflicts in finding the right balance. Not everyone will be happy with him all the time. Bolt will need business acumen alongside athletic prowess, if he is to achieve sustainable wealth from his extraordinary successes. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/08/24/pleitgen.germany.bolt.mania.cnn?iref=videosearch

Of all that he is, Bolt’s country boy representation is the most gratifying. He rids himself of the marquis puma spikes and does victory laps barefooted. Draped in his flag, Usain Bolt is the profile of raw athletic talent – childlike, brash but still unpretentious. Not bad for a boy from rural Jamaica.

What's a freak to do ?

A freak is usually a manifestation of our deepest and darkest fears. At the World Athletics Championship in Berlin, all our anxieties about sex and gender are being played out on the body of an 18 year old South African, Caster Semenya.

Entered to run as a woman, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) has asked that Semenya submit to a gender verification test. The South African, who had a modest career as a junior athlete, eclipsed a world class field in the 800m, belying her age and inexperience in the two lap event. Though her times have shown rapid and impressive improvement over a short period, they still remain within the mainstream of women’s 800m running. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8210471.stm

The IAAF is in a righted pickle. The Federation admits that gender verification is a “complex” process, involving the opinions of endocrinologists, gynecologists, psychologists, as well as experts in internal medicine and gender.

Ideas of what is “male” and “female” are by and large, socially constructed. On a daily basis, we perform roles of gender that we learnt and didn’t ourselves create. Markers such as clothing, voice modulation and mannerisms play a big part in determining whether we present as a man or a woman.

In their gender verification test, the IAAF will do well to consider the subjective element of Semenya’s own self-perception. What is this woman’s deeply felt sense of who she is? How has she approached her life, in a world that organizes human beings in terms of male or female? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-bqET22vEU

The tension between Semenya’s self-perception and the biological and social perceptions of her gender is what pushes us into a murky area. Could it be that Semenya’s sense of who she is and her attitude towards her own body, are at odds with the sex that she was assigned at birth? If so, how is she told that from henceforth, she will cease to be a woman on account of an IAAF test! What if the test is inconclusive? Even worse, can “she” be both male and female, at once?

In the context of professional sports, the worry is that there may be an unfair advantage for Semenya in being physiologically male, whilst competing against women. Responding to this question, Germaine Greer argues that sports itself is not fair, for rewarding genetic advantage (this analysis does not appreciate the role of skill and application in sports) http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/aug/20/germaine-greer-caster-semenya.

The Semenya story has gifted amateur humorists with very low hanging fruit. Everyone believes they can get a joke out of this one. Personally, my empathy chip has kicked in. If you have ever been considered a freak or a monster, this should not be a laughing matter.