OBA Newsletter #3
Susan Lyon
FOR THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF PANZI
(near Bukavu, provincial capital of South Kivu Province in eastern D R Congo)
The rapes suffered by children and women from Panzi were on a different scale (see IRIN, Democracy Now). From the testimonies available, one can easily feel the witnesses searching for the adequate appropriate combination of words, emotions, feelings, empathy to render as faithfully as possible what the women went through. This newsletter is being written not so much to add to the outrage that has already been expressed. It is to face rape itself in a way which at least half of humanity, i.e. men, refuse to face, and/or face up to: a crime against humanity. It is written in the hope that male-driven humanity might be shaken from its complacency toward self-annihilation. For those who have been raped everything must be done so that remaining silent is not the only trustworthy refuge.
Is it really possible to bring people to look at rape as the one crime which opens the way to everything else. What would happen to humanity if rape were treated as the mother of all forms of violence, in thought and in practice? What if rape were to be understood as being one of, if not, the principal root of the competitive mindset leading to the generic will to power and, from there, to genocidal sequences?
If one assumes that the task of every single human being is to stand up for the safety and security of every other single human being, then the above questions, however simpleminded they may sound to some, may help change how rape is seen, felt. More crucially, is it not time to completely reverse the male power-driven mindset which takes for granted that the raped person was looking for it and only deserved what happened to her? But, when children are raped, is it enough to draw the line around pedophiles? The question then boils down to this: why and how do collective rapes like the ones in eastern DRC or in the Balkans in the 1990s occur? The context of warfare is not enough of an explanation. After all, the cases of children being raped have been reported in perfectly peaceful societies, so-called advanced ones too.
This letter is written to/for the women of Panzi, to/for the children of Panzi. It is to say that their agonizing indescribable pain shall not be in vain. However symbolic it may sound, it is to share the pain, it is to call on those who are helping you to heal, to make your pain felt as deeply and as intensely as you felt it and continue to feel it. I do not know how to do that myself, but I do know that shared pain and suffering, even as horrendous as the ones you have experienced, will be soothed--especially if practiced till such horrors are wiped off the surface of the planet.
I am fully aware of how inadequate these words are in helping you bear your pain, but I would rather be stumbling inadequately toward finding healing words than remaining silent. To be raped, I imagine, is to be violated, brutalized in a way which leaves the person frozen into disbelief, paralyzed by suffering, terror, shame, and more bewildering emotions than a human mind, at rest or even under intense creative pulse, could possibly imagine. Even if one were to inventory all of the emotions, one would still be far below the reality felt by a person who has been raped. If there were such a thing as a measuring standard for evaluating human pain, rape would, under this so-called civilization framed and driven by competitive mindset, be at the top.
In a nutshell and at the risk of being repetitive: until there are steps taken to move away from the trivialization of rape as it is understood among humans, the idea that Gaia, Mother Earth, must no longer be raped is simply a delusion. Humanity, including those who have most suffered from horrendously indescribable acts, will tend to silence what it went through even if encouraged to speak up. The suffering led to a sort of complete seizure of the soul, and all of the senses and sensibilities which, we have been telling ourselves, distinguish humanity from the animal world. The pain and suffering inflicted remain silenced because that is where it feels safest, given the extremely hostile mindset toward victims of rape.
Even in this silence, one can imagine your words struggling to come out of your maimed, tortured body. It is up to us to make sure that those words do eventually get born, and through them hear the sounds of a humanity freed from fear, from the never ending pain kept alive for as long as the body continues to breathe. For you to be free from the pain inflicted, and the desire to silence the pain, we must carry on a never-ending battle against rape and rapists, against the mindset which says that such a task is not a priority and should only be a priority once a year. Only by battling against that mindset of might is right, all the time, will it be possible to bring about a context favorable to treating women and children as our most treasured people. A healing process toward a rape free world is one which never stops.
J. Depelchin
16 March 2008
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Chères Mamans, Soeurs et Enfants de Panzi,
Bonjour et bonne fête du 8 mars.
Tous les jours depuis le moment où j’ai appris ce qui vous était arrivé, je ne sais pas quoi faire pour vous soulager des souffrances qui vous assaillent de partout, sans arrêt. Je me suis dit que je devrais au moins vous faire savoir que je sais ce qui vous est arrivé. Je me suis dit que quand on souffre on respire un peu mieux, un peu plus facilement en sentant la présence d’autres personnes, même des inconnus, à ses côtés, même si ces personnes sont très loin physiquement.
Je me suis dit que si d’autres personnes pensent de la même façon, nous pourrons au moins diminuer l’isolement et le sentiment de rejet qui a suivi la descente dans chacun de votre enfer. Je me suis dit que même si je ne peux pas comprendre l’indicible de votre souffrance, au moins je devrais me mettre à vos côtés et vous le faire savoir.
La sécurité tant recherchée par les fabricants d’ armes de destruction massive est probablement une des plus grandes fraudes de l’histoire de l’humanité. Je me demande tous les jours pourquoi tous ceux qui veulent assurer la sécurité de l’humanité refusent de reconnaître le viol comme la pire des violations de tout ce qui vit, de tout ce qui respire
Je me dis, si tous les hommes de la RDC, si tous les hommes en Afrique faisaient serment d’empêcher tout viol et tout geste, toute parole qui peuvent directement ou indirectement y conduire ; je me répète que si nous disions non au viol par solidarité avec les femmes et les enfants, par solidarité avec ceux et celles qui ont besoin de la plus grande protection, parce que les plus vulnérables, nous pourrions, pourquoi pas, réduire et puis éliminer le besoin des armes de destruction massive
Je me dis que tout geste, toute parole, toute émotion qui irait dans ce sens, patiemment, avec persistance, sans hésitation changerait le climat actuellement dominé par les plus forts, par les plus violents. Le viol est le geste le plus destructeur inventé par l’humain. La violence du viol est telle qu’elle est indescriptible. Pour l’abolir pourrions-nous faire naître une volonté plus forte que la loi des plus forts: celle qui vient d’une solidarité sans limite, sans répit pour que cesse à jamais le viol.
Je me suis dit qu’il faut faire quelque chose pour que ce qui vous est arrivé reste le point le plus haut (ou le plus bas) de la violence contre les femmes et contre les enfants en terre Africaine. Je me suis dit que vous devez guérir de vos blessures, de vos souffrances, de la terreur qui vous empêche de dormir, de l’isolement.
Pour que les opposants au viol l’emportent sur les alliés déclarés et non déclarés des violeurs, est-ce trop fort de vous demander de résister à l’envie de ne pas parler de ce qui vous est arrivé ? Les violeurs et leurs alliés cherchent par la peur collective à nous réduire au silence, à la soumission de la loi des plus forts.
Dans un monde où le viol est accepté comme un fait divers, vous les enfants, les mamans, les sœurs de Panzi, ensemble nous ferons tout pour que vos témoignages percent les murs blindés par la peur, le silence et la honte. Vous devez nous aider à mieux vous connaître.
Nous vous embrassons tous bien fort, humblement avec respect et amour.
Je : pour les amis immortels d’Ota Benga.
Jacques Depelchin
Le 6 mars 2008