I’m glad that South Africa is hosting the World Cup. I’ve read a few posts (most notably this one by Melissa at Shakesville) criticizing South Africa’s selection on the basis of its record on human rights and women’s rights (which are human rights, after all!). I’m all for calling out misogyny. Overall, though, I think it’s important to decenter Europe as the imagined home of the cup, and so I was pleased that South Africa was chosen. (After all, Western countries don’t have a spotless record on women’s rights, either.)
But. This blog is overseen by the spirit of Grey Kitty, who has made a few brief appearances in our Berlin apartment lately. She objects STRENUOUSLY!!! to one element of South Africa’s hosting: the infernal vuvuzela.
Kittywampus officially endorses the following message:
and this one too:
(To be fair, the same must be said of the pirate flag that my friend was waving in lieu of a German banner at the England-Germany match. Her young daughter confiscated it before anyone lost an eye.)
Obviously, a cat who sees the vacuum cleaner as demon spawn will not tolerate vuvuzelas. She will lose what’s left of her mind.
The same, it seems, can be said for humans. A dipshit American living in Bavaria snapped last weekend after days of constant vuvuzela buzz from his neighbors. Note that this was in Bavaria (not South Africa) and these folks were tooting while watching the games on TV. He marched over to his neighbors, wielding an axe, and threatened to kill them if they didn’t pipe down. The police are considering whether to bring charges for the threat and – in a very German twist – for insulting his neighbors. (“Beleidigung” – or insulting someone – is a crime here, and it need not rise to the standard of slander.)
Kittywampus in no way endorses his methods. Can we understand his distress? Well … MEOOOOOOW.
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
Oh dear. That looks rather like intersectionality/cultural imperialism fail from Shakesville (especially after one of the commenters pointed out this nasty business with Germany 2006). Apparently it’s our duty to refuse to have anything to do with countries that are insufficiently supportive of women’s rights, which just so happen to always be non-White, non-Western ones. (Can you imagine the same post directed to a mostly-white western nation?)
I seem to recall feminism in general has a long and unpleasant history of issues in this particular area too…
Oh, yeah. Intersectionality will always fail, at least in my lifetime. It’s an ideal worth aspiring to. It’s still really far from reality. I know I fail, too. What you see on this blog will probably always be the least of it – you don’t see my screw-ups, omissions, distortions, placations, failures of courage, etc. when they happen in the classroom!
Yeah, feminism has its issues with racism. It also has roots in the abolitionist movement. It’s always had blind spots, and it’s always held the potential for being a broader liberation movement.
It’s sort of like humanity, that way …