Sunday, June 26, 2011

The loneliness of Bikela


(ES)

"A spokeswoman for the agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said about 170 women had been raped in the villages of Nakiele and Abala in South Kivu Province on June 11."

What makes men capable of committing such acts of violence against those poor women?
Is the power they wield weapons?
Is the hatred?
Is the impunity?
Is the recognition of his military commanders because of the control of natural resources, or fear of disobeying an order from their superiors?
Is to have lived with violence since ever?
Is to understand the looting and rape as the sole means of livelihood?
Or is the path with no return of who use violence to survive in an equally violent society?

Without wishing to debate about the immorality or amorality of the following statement, taking into account the time it was done, the answer to all these questions was summarized by a soldier of the Force Publique of the State of Congo to which Mr. Casement, author of the report that bears his name, asked why he had been so many years in the army. His answer was that due to problems with the rubber tax, he could not live in his native village, and laughing, confessed that he preferred to be among the hunters rather than among the hunted. This statement is included in Roger Casement's report dated 1903 that presented to the Marquis of Lansdowne, at that time Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the British government.

The language of the media, despite the mix of horror, anger and sadness that produces us this kind of news, insulates us from the real suffering of the Congolese people.

It is not only one more terrible story of many that come from this country in particular and from the African continent in general. It is the story of a life or a death. And that of millions of men, women and children who have been and are victims of violence.

And my question is: Can we be witnesses to such crimes and do nothing to avoid them?

Surely a considered response to this question leads us to even more questions, to explore alternatives until a combinatorial explosion, to build a world of illusory limitations. But sometimes the answers are not in reason, and it is solely an election. As the soldier would rather be among the hunters than among the hunted, I prefer to be among those who act that among those who mourn. And I'm not going to question the morality of those who act differently than mine.

It is not one more story, is the story of a life, like Bikela's life, whose testimony is contained in the statement to Mr. Casement in Ikoko, in the Free State of Congo, August 12, 1903. Here is a summary of their statements:


"My mother, my grandmother, my sister Nzaibiaka and I had fled to the jungle. The soldiers followed us and ran to where we were hiding. They took my grandmother, my mother, Nzaibiaka and another girl younger than us. Soldiers were discussing by my mother, for they all wanted her as a wife, and finally they decided it was better to kill her. She was shot in the stomach, and she fell to ground. She was pregnant and she had little time to give birth. Also killed my grandmother and they took my sister with them. I saw it all, I wept much, because they had killed my mother and my grandmother and I was alone."


Perhaps my contribution is miniscule in more than a century of violence, but if I have someone else to join me in this cause, my efforts and those of many other will not have been useless, and the loneliness of Bikela will find relief.


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