Junta-run Burkina Faso has passed a law banning homosexuality and instituting punishments of up to five years in jail, the latest in a clutch of African nations to pass anti-gay legislation.
“The law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines,” Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on national broadcaster RTB.
“If a person is a perpetrator of homosexual or similar practices, all the bizarre behaviour, they will go before the judge,” he said, adding that foreign nationals would be deported under the law.
It’s typical of French media that they focus on cherrypicking only the bad out of a much larger bill. Their reporting on Burkina Faso, as usual, is highly biased and designed to undermine the image of the Traoré government. If they didn’t find something negative they wouldn’t report at all.
Still… It is going to be very sad if this really ends up being included in the law. Unnecessary and counterproductive. Huge own goal. Not a strategically smart move as it harms the ability for supporters of the revolutions in the Sahel to counter western accusations.
I’m not mad, Burkina, i’m just disappointed… 😞
The Burkinabe have strong relations with their diaspora so I am pretty sure that they will overcome it through strong Grassroot orgs independent from imperialist funding.
The diaspora will have to be very careful how they approach this. The last thing you want is to come off as trying to push the cultural norms of the imperialist West onto a native population. That risks hardening opposition and increasing the backlash.
What should be done is to emphasize that homophobia and queerphobia are not inherently African, that traditional African culture actually was much more tolerant and matriarchal, and that these hetero-normative and patriarchal gender roles are actually a cultural imposition by colonizers.
In doing so you have to try and avoid using western symbols and terminology, and instead find ways to root your LGBT advocacy in traditional culture, using language which doesn’t come across as alien to the local culture but appeals their deeply rooted history and identity.
It’s quite a delicate dance that requires a deep understanding of the cultural sensibilities, and that is something that only the people who come from that culture can really do. The diaspora needs to partner with local groups that support the overall trajectory of the current government’s reforms but which can also recognize that a serious strategic mistake is being made here in this specific instance.
This is literally a law that I would expect a fascist country to have, not a revolutionary socialist-leaning one. Way too many people defending this.
I’m not defending it. I have said repeatedly i think they’re making a big mistake. Unfortunately many people even in socialist societies are homophobic, including those in the ruling party and government. Communists are not immune from holding onto antiquated and reactionary prejudices. And Burkina Faso, even with all its positive changes these past years, is not yet a socialist country, nor is it ruled by communists.
But the fact is that such laws do get passed in socialist countries. Stalin himself passed such laws. We should not idealize socialist countries as perfect societies that can do no wrong. Sometimes they make very big mistakes. It’s sad that it still happens in this day and age, but the hope is that through internal struggle and self-critique they can come to understand that they were wrong. As happened in Cuba.
Communists are supposed to be leaders and a guiding hand of the people, it doesn’t mean that their reactionary beliefs should be downplayed or mollycoddled.
The fact that Stalin and many communists were harshly anti-LGBT is half my point. Keyword, is WERE. There is no justification anymore. Not that there was in the first place, but even more so now.
I think Cuba is a different case, because the communists overthrew Batista and the U.S. backed cronies, in the mid 20th century.
If Cuba didn’t have it’s revolution until now, and then still persecuted LGBT people like Traore’s government is, I’d be just as pissed and disgusted as I am now.