'tortured as witch'

This is a shocking yet also interesting case. If you thought that witch persecution was a thing of the past, think again. However, we have to tread delicately in analysing what's going off here. First thing is that it is essentially and import from Angola. Secondly it is earily similar to that kind of 'Salem' dynamics that are shown up in 'The Crucible'; in other words we daren't be smug and say it's down to 'superstitious' beliefs from developing nations: are we so sure that we don't have our equivalents? What about alleged paedophiles? What about suspected Islamist terrorists [Guantanamo]? In any case, even if you didn't believe in the reality of what witches are supposed to be capable of in some AFrican beliefs, there is still this: "Even if a child was possessed, nothing in African religions justified physical harm, Mrs May said: 'These defendants, whatever their beliefs, knew full well that the treatment of B was absolutely beyond anything accepted by their community and what happened amounted to no more or less than abuse.'
Surely the real issue is something about dealing with situations where belief systems follow certain logics into abusive behaviours. It's a real challenge to multi-culturalism, and yet as the quote above shows, there may be help from within the resources of a belief-community itself ... It's also a bit of a challenge to the 'There is no wrong, there is no right' lobby, don't you think?
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Refugee orphan 'tortured as witch':

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