I attended the screening of “I am not a Witch” on October 24th from 7pm to 9pm at the Gateway Theatre. This screening was provided by Ohio State University’s Global Engagement Center. Viewing this film was an academic event. The film relates to the topics I have learned about in other courses, particularly my Peace Studies Course. “I am not a Witch” relates to my Peace Studies course through exploring problematic cultural practices.
“I am not a Witch” relates to the topic of problematic practices by depicting the results of what happens to women accused of witchcraft in modern day Zambia. After women are accused they are taken to a witch doctor to determine if the claims are true. When the claims are found true the women are sent to live in witch camps where they are forced into labor for the state and cannot leave. The director of this film directly drew from cultural practices in Zambia and Ghana that continue today to create this film. In my Peace Studies course we are currently addressing the question of whether or not cultural pluralism can be an acceptable defense to oppressive practices. Cultural pluralism is when minority cultural practices are respected to maintain independence. When we ask this question we are ultimately trying to determine whether foreign intervention should be used to protect human rights. To find the answer we discussed: just war theory, the “Universal Declaration on Human Rights”, the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, and the theories of Michael Walzer and Charles Beitz.
From our class discussions I developed the opinion that extreme human rights violations should warrant foreign intervention. Not all human rights violations should result in foreign intervention because human rights are a very broad category that most modern countries do not fulfill. For example: we discussed the former practice in Saudi Arabia of making it illegal for women to drive. We decided this is a human rights violation, discriminating against women and limiting movement, but it should not be responded to with foreign intervention. It is not resulting in the loss of life or torture so it is better to let the culture evolve on its own so the people do not become resentful of the forced implementation of western values.
I believe the cultural practices of witch camps in Zambia warrant foreign intervention. The women in these camps are having their basic human rights violated so the international community must take action. The basic human rights violations are the women being held against their will and being subjected to forced labor. These are extreme violations because the women do not have any freedom. In the example from Saudi Arabia the women still had limited freedom so foreign intervention would result in more harm than good. I think foreign intervention in Zambia or Ghana to end the practice of witch camps would result in more good than harm.