9 years ago
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Five women killed in India by villagers suspecting witchcraft
Five women have been killed in eastern India by villagers who believed they were witches, according to local officials. The killings took place in a rural community in the state of Jharkhand, where there are frequent reports of fatal attacks on women who locals say have cast curses that are blamed for poor crops, illness or misfortune. The killings often disguise family feuds or land disputes.
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http://www.theguardian.com
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+6Submitted 9 years ago by BlueOracle
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+3Submitted 9 years ago by Urgz
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+3Submitted 9 years ago by Lievren
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It is so hard to think that in the year 2015 stuff like this still goes on. :( "According to Indian government statistics around 2,000 people, almost all women, were killed after being branded witches between 2000 and 2012."
It really is. If only there were a virus that would cue superstition and was very contagious.
"In Southern Africa, decades of violent repression and armed struggles against it have led to a 'culture of violence'. Witchcraft and witch hunts directed against evil sorcery are but two manifestations of that." The Ministry of Safety and Security of South Africa's Northern Province created a Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft, Violence and Ritual Killings. The Commission issued a report in 1996-MAY which showed that thousands of people had been accused of witchcraft, run out of town and lost their property. More than 300 had been killed by vigilante mobs over the previous ten years. The victims were accused of "shape-shifting" themselves from human form into bats and birds, of converting people into zombies, and of causing death by calling down lightning or through the use of toxic medicines. These beliefs are quite similar to those which circulated during the Witch burning craze of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Europe circa 1450 to 1792 CE. Those Witches didn't exist either. One possible source of confusion in the country is the Suppression of Witchcraft Act -1957- which does not differentiate between most forms of traditional African healing and evil sorcery --black magic--. It banned both practices.Ten farms have been set up in the Northern Province to hold hundreds of refugees who have been found guilty of witchcraft by traditionalist kangaroo courts and are in danger of being assassinated by mob action. The Congolese Human Rights Observatory recently announced that more than 60 people had been burned or buried alive in that country since 1990 - including 40 in 1996. The victims were accused, often by members of their own family, of being witches.
Seriously with all DUE respect, Fuck your shitty Gods