'Witches' burnt to death in Kenya
"Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya, police say."
...
"Anthony Kibunguchy, the provincial police officer, told the BBC that the eight women and three men were all aged between 80 and 96 years old."
The mob dragged them out of their houses and burned them individually and then set their homes alight, our correspondent says.
Residents have been ambivalent about condemning the attacks because belief in witchcraft is widespread in the area, he says."
SOURCE
Given the right context people can be convinced of anything. The belief in witchcraft isn't new...and neither is the fact that the accused are dying because of the fear, anger and the need of a scape goat of those around them - See Salem, Massachusetts 1692.
Nigeria has a problem with witchcraft accusations as well. There, however, it's the children that get accused in for-profit operations wherein priests claim to be able to free the child of their demons...for a price and often times a child will need to be "de-witched" several times at a cost that is roughly one month's salary for the average working Nigerian.
But beyond greed and exploitation, a true fear of witchcraft seems to be something that many societies experience, typically early in their development and industrialization. I tend to think that it has something to do with the evolution of religion and sociologically, although it's tragic for those involved, I find it fascinating.
I find myself wondering what Human Rights Watch would call for in this situation. Said organization has a tendency to make calls for action that are incredibly obvious yet practically impossible and give no plan for HOW said action should be under taken. For a recent example see UN should force Burmese junta to accept aid. So, in this case it would probably pan out like: "'Kenyans should stop accusing each other of witchcraft and then engaging in murder.' Human Rights Watch said today." But in all seriousness, I'd really like to know what you do with people that are sincerely convinced that there are those among them that are evil and should be feared. In such a situation actions against the accused could be claimed to be self defense and if it's a large population that shares these beliefs changing them won't be an easy undertaking.
...
"Anthony Kibunguchy, the provincial police officer, told the BBC that the eight women and three men were all aged between 80 and 96 years old."
The mob dragged them out of their houses and burned them individually and then set their homes alight, our correspondent says.
Residents have been ambivalent about condemning the attacks because belief in witchcraft is widespread in the area, he says."
SOURCE
Given the right context people can be convinced of anything. The belief in witchcraft isn't new...and neither is the fact that the accused are dying because of the fear, anger and the need of a scape goat of those around them - See Salem, Massachusetts 1692.
Nigeria has a problem with witchcraft accusations as well. There, however, it's the children that get accused in for-profit operations wherein priests claim to be able to free the child of their demons...for a price and often times a child will need to be "de-witched" several times at a cost that is roughly one month's salary for the average working Nigerian.
But beyond greed and exploitation, a true fear of witchcraft seems to be something that many societies experience, typically early in their development and industrialization. I tend to think that it has something to do with the evolution of religion and sociologically, although it's tragic for those involved, I find it fascinating.
I find myself wondering what Human Rights Watch would call for in this situation. Said organization has a tendency to make calls for action that are incredibly obvious yet practically impossible and give no plan for HOW said action should be under taken. For a recent example see UN should force Burmese junta to accept aid. So, in this case it would probably pan out like: "'Kenyans should stop accusing each other of witchcraft and then engaging in murder.' Human Rights Watch said today." But in all seriousness, I'd really like to know what you do with people that are sincerely convinced that there are those among them that are evil and should be feared. In such a situation actions against the accused could be claimed to be self defense and if it's a large population that shares these beliefs changing them won't be an easy undertaking.