Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
david ferry
appledor at SYMPATICO.CA
Tue Feb 8 09:51:24 EST 2005
I attempted to send a letter of concern and you might like to know that I
received "administrative errors" failure to deliver notices with regards to
the "africaonline" and the "statehouse" email addresses.
daf
-----Original Message-----
From: Canadian Theatre Research [mailto:CANDRAMA at unb.ca]On Behalf Of Don
Rubin
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 6:37 PM
To: CANDRAMA at LISTSERV.UNB.CA
Subject: Re: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
dear candrama people:
let me add my voice to those around the world who are standing up in
support of Ngugi and his wife.
the reports out of kenya indicated that the attack on the two of them
really was politically motivated. he has been critical of human abuses in
his native kenya for a very long time. he goes back to the country after 22
years abroad and winds up severely beaten and his wife raped. too much
coincidence there.
ngugi is an important playwright and novelist and a great voice for human
freedom. i urge you to support this committee which is trying to ensure that
justice is not treated casually.
many thanks to denis salter for circulating this information.
don rubin
york university
Denis Salter wrote:
From: Tiziana Morosetti [mailto:morosetti_tiziana at hotmail.com]
Sent: 31 January 2005 15:17
Subject: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o: important
Dear Friends,
As you may already know, world renowned Kenyan playwright,
novelist and social critic Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and his wife
Njeeri Wa Ngugi
were brutally attacked on August 11, 2004, in an apartment
in
Nairobi, Kenya.
Ngugi was severely beaten and burned with cigarettes, and
his
wife,Njeeri, was raped in the ordeal. Subsequently, several
people were arrested in conjunction with the attack, and it is becoming
increasingly clear that this was a politically motivated assault on a
leading international
intellectual and his wife. It was the first time that Ngugi
had returned to
his home country after 22 years of political exile.
We are writing to ask you to take a few minutes of your time
to
send a letter to the addresses appended below to encourage
the Kenyan
courts and government to take this attack seriously, and to
prosecute
not only the direct attackers, but all those involved in the
attack.
This is not only an issue of paramount importance for
political liberties
and the rights of intellectuals. It is also a critical test
case for
overcoming a culture of silence and impunity surrounding
violence against
women in Kenya (and, in many ways, the world at large).
We have included a letter in the body of this mail that
exemplifies the spirit of the pressure that we
believe it is necessary to put on the Kenyan government to
insure that
these attacks are treated in the most appropriate and
deliberate
matter. We fear that without this pressure, the political
forces behind
this attack may go unpunished, and the issue of rape glossed
over. A letter
of any length, either in your own words or borrowing from
the language
of theone included here, would make an immense difference.
Please
send your letters to as many of the appended addresses as
you wish and
also forward our call to others who might want to join our
efforts.
If the Kenyan government in compelled to see the overall
importance of
this trial, we will win an overwhelming victory in our
struggle
against violence against women and for the rights of public
intellectuals. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
Please write to one or more of the following contacts:
1. Kiraitu Murungi
>Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
>State Law Office, Harambee Avenue
>P O Box 40112, Nairobi
>Tel: +254 20 227461Minister:
>Minister's email: minister-justice at skyweb.co.ke
>
>Permanent Secretary: Dorothy Angote
>PS Justice & Constitutional Affairs
>Please use fax: 254 20 316317
>psjustice at africaonline.co.ke
>
>2. Attorney General
>State Law Office
>P O Box 40112-00100, Nairobi
>Tel: 254 20 227411
> no email address. Please use fax: 254 20 315105
>
>3. First Lady Lucy Kibaki
>State House
>P O Box 40530-00100, Nairobi
>Tel: +254 20 227436
>oafla at statehousekenya.co.ke
>
>4. John Githongo
>State House
>P O Box 40530-00100, Nairobi
>Tel: +254 20 227436
>contact at statehousekenya.co.ke
>
>5. Office of President
>State House
>P O Box 30510-00200, Nairobi
>Tel: +254 20 227411
>pps at statehousekenya.co.ke
>
>6. Hon. Ayang Nyong'o
>Minister
>Ministry of Planning & National Development
>Treasury Building
>P O Box 30007-00100, Nairobi
>Tel: +254 20 252299
>mopnd at treasury.go.ke
>
>7. Phillip Murgor
>Director of Public Prosecution
>State Law Office
>P O Box 40112-00100, Nairobi
>Tel: 254 20 227411
>no email address at DPP but personal through his law firm
>murgor at nbi.ispkenya.com
>
>
>Please forward a copy of all letters you send to the
following
addresses
>as well:
>
>1. Federation of Women Lawyers - Kenya
>Amboseli Road off Gitanga Rd.
>P.O. Box 46324 Nairobi, Kenya
>info <mailto:info at fida.co.ke> @fida.co.ke
<mailto:info at fida.co.ke>
>
>Jane Onyango, Executive Director:
>jonyango <mailto:jonyango at fida.co.ke> @fida.co.ke
><mailto:jonyango at fida.co.ke>
>
>Hellen Kwamboka
>hellen <mailto:hellen at fida.co.ke> @fida.co.ke
<mailto:hellen at fida.co.ke>
>
>
>2. The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
>ngugisolidarity <mailto:ngugisolidarity at gmail.com>
@gmail.com
><mailto:ngugisolidarity at gmail.com>
>
>
>3. Kenya Human Rights Commission
>P.O. Box 41079-00100
>Nairobi, Kenya
>admin at khrc.or.ke
>
>
>---Thank You,
>The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
>
>
> Sample Letter:
>January 31, 2005
>
>To Whom It May Concern:
>
>We are writing to appeal to the Kenyan government to react
appropriately and with all deliberate speed to the brutal
attack on Ngugi Wa
Thiong'o and Njeeri Wa Ngugi and the rape of Njeeri. We
write to stress
the urgency of an appropriate response that will hold
accountable
not only the direct attackers, but all those responsible for
what we see
as a politically motivated attack by enemies of what
Professor Ngugi
Wa Thiong'o stands for in Kenya, Africa and the world.
The world community continues to watch this case closely,
first
and foremost because we are shocked by the brutality of this
attack
and rape, but also because of the grave implications
impunity for
the perpetrators would have. International organizations,
including
women's groups, civil liberties organizations, and
organizations of
writers and intellectuals are but a few of the members of
the international
community deeply invested in how the present administration
will respond to this attack.
It is critical for the Kenyan government to rebuff this
grave
attack against an internationally celebrated public
intellectual whose
commitment to his country and the empowerment of ordinary
people has been unwavering. If this attack on the occasion
of his first
return to his home country, after 22 years in forced exile,
is not
condemned, and all those responsible pursued for their
crimes, a chilling blow
to intellectual liberty will have been dealt. Such blows
have
impact the world over. This one, in particular, would send a
sad message
regarding Kenya's capacity to overcome its political past.
This
government must respond firmly to demonstrate a commitment
to the political
future of the country. It is equally critical to demonstrate
a willingness on the
government's part to respond to the full gravity of the rape
of Njeeri Wa
Ngugi. The culture of silence around violence against women
in Kenya
fosters repeated and widespread abuses against the human
rights of
women. A full length Amnesty International report on
violence against women
in Kenya (March 8, 2002) cites several national and
international
instruments that hold governments responsible for failures
to prosecute
with "due diligence" any violence against women. We want to
express our
unconditional solidarity with Njeeri Wa Ngugi in her ongoing
struggle to
stand publicly against the epidemic of violence against
women.
We believe that the government of Kenya has both the
opportunity
and the responsibility to meet the challenge of supporting
her. This
challenge consists in bringing all those responsible for
this attack on
Njeeri Wa Ngugi and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o to justice. But steps
must also be
taken toend the conditions that foster this culture of
silence. Systems
must be put in place, as in other countries, for women to
anonymously
identify their attackers. Every form of sexual violence
against women
must be treated as a crime of the gravest consequence. The
victims
cannot be left to fight alone. To that end, we hope that
this
administration will not set the precedent of allowing Njeeri
Wa Ngugi to stand
alone. At a time like this, when we are seeing political
violence
erode so many countries in Europe, North America, Africa,
and indeed on every continent, it is doubly important for people in
positions of
power to stand against the impunity of perpetrators. We hope
that with
your actions, you will set an example for Kenya and the
world.
Thank you for attention
(Signature)
__________________________________________________
"To celebrate this award, and the work it recognizes of those around the
world, let me recall the words
of Gandhi: My life is my message. Also, plant a tree."--Wangari Maathai,
winner of the 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________
" . . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning-hooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more."
Isaiah 2.4
___________________
Denis Salter
Professor of Theatre
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC
H3A 2T6
(514) 487 7309
d.salter at videotron.ca
denis.salter at mcgill.ca
__________________
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