Diversity Is Strength! It's Also… Witchcraft, Imported By Immigration. (And, Yes, From Obama's Kenya Too)

Probably one of the most emailed-around articles on Election Day was this:

"In western Kenya, relatives, friends and a bull ready for slaughter were massed around the homestead of Barack Obama's late father, awaiting a hoped-for victory for their new favourite son…Leading in US opinion polls over Republican rival John McCain, Obama received some added support in Kenya with special prayer sessions and even a victory prediction from a local witch doctor." [Obama's Kenyan relatives ready bull for slaughter, by Odhiambo Akombo, AFP, November 4, 2008]

Witch doctor?

In the wide, wide world of diversity, there's nothing quite as pungent as witchcraft. In many ways it is the gold standard of primitive anti-civilization belief systems—because it takes the human yearning for meaning and plops out credos that are reason-free and often violence-prone.

And because witchcraft and superstition represent such a complete refutation of multiculturalism—the ideology that all cultures are morally equal—there is little discussion in the polite liberal press when monstrous crimes result. The tone is one of proper shock, e.g.: isn't it terrible these things still go on in the world? Yet immigration in large numbers from these same societies is accepted with no question.

Now that our President-elect is the son of a Kenyan national, it's especially interesting to observe how strongly Africans cling to their belief in witchcraft. National Public Radio remarked recently that "In much of Africa, people believe in some form of witchcraft".['Witch' Burnings Haunt Kenyan Tribe, by Gwen Thompkins, October 22, 2008] (Nevertheless, NPR's reporting of African immigrants in the US has been largely positive).

If President Obama succeeds in arranging more immigration from Africa, Americans can expect a wide assortment of superstitious behavior that we would find objectionable, to say the least.

If witchcraft only included mildly offbeat practices like casting spells and mixing up herbal concoctions, it might not matter much. But those primitive beliefs can lead to deadly violence.

In Tanzania, at least 30 albinos have been murdered in the last year because of witchcraft. Their body parts are much desired for sorcery rituals and bring a high price. There is a cross-border trade with Burundi where albinos, including children, are chased down, killed and dismembered. One man was pursued by four armed men and had to hide in the forest for two days.

The purchasers may place a body part near a gold mine to bring the metal to the surface or on a hook as fish bait.

"The killers sell body parts such as arms, legs, hair, skin and genitals, according to police and albino groups.

"Those involved in witchcraft, especially in mining and fishing industries, believe these will enrich them, President Kikwete said last month, calling it a 'stupid belief.'

Local media have reported several incidents of victims left to bleed to death.

'They are cutting us up like chickens,' Msembo said, while pointing to a picture on a wall in her cramped office of a limbless body with the skin on its face peeled off from an incident in 2007." [African albinos killed for body parts, By George Obulutsa, Reuters, November 3, 2008]

As a result, the 200,000 Tanzanian albinos are terrorized and angry that their corpses have become a commodity. In one recent case, a 10-year-old girl was killed and mutilated by a gang to sell the parts.

In Angola and Congo, children are accused surprisingly often of being witches, and often expelled from their families. One investigation counted 432 Angolan street children in a single town who had been accused of witchcraft and turned out.

"The notion of child witches is not new here. It is a common belief in Angola's dominant Bantu culture that witches can communicate with the world of the dead and usurp or 'eat' the life force of others, bringing their victims misfortune, illness and death. Adult witches are said to bewitch children by giving them food, then forcing them to reciprocate by sacrificing a family member. [...]

"Angola's government has campaigned since 2000 to dispel notions about child witches, Ms. Silva said, but progress comes slowly. 'We cannot change the belief that witches exist,' she said. 'Even the professional workers believe that witches exist.' "[African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out, By Sharon LaFraniere, New York Times, November 15, 2007]

Witchcraft pops up in diverse ways that we westerners can scarcely imagine.

For example, it was reported in September that accusations of sorcery set off a soccer riot in eastern Congo causing the deaths of 13 people, most of whom were children and teens. [Witchcraft rumor sparks riot at Congo soccer game, AP, September 15, 2008] The blow-up began when one player was suspected of throwing something into the net of the opposing team, which was thought to be "witchcraft." The result was violence and death.

And here's a situation you don't often see repeated often in Peoria: Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital [By Joe Bavier, Reuters, April 23, 2008]. Actually, there were only attempted lynchings, after men became convinced that black magic had been used to disappear their all-important plumbing. (However, 12 accused snatchers were beaten to death by mobs in Ghana a decade ago, Reuters notes.)

Back to Kenya: just last spring eight women and three men, between the ages of 80 and 96, were burned to death for being witches in western Kenya. The Kisli people of that region are said to believe in witchcraft with particular fervor.

Not that Africa is the only place where sorcery is part of the social norm. India also has no shortage of witchcraft activity, despite its pretensions to being a new member of the First World.

Last March, a journalist reported and photographed an accused witch tied to tree while being beaten by her fellow villagers. The alleged witch lived through the violence, but another woman did not survive a similar attack the same month.

A 2006 study found that some 200 people had been killed in the state of Assam in northern India during the previous five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

And here's a story of witchcraft hysteria from India that features ugly details:

"The tea plantation worker and his four children had been blamed for causing a disease which killed two other workers and made many unwell in Assam state.

"About 200 villagers tried and sentenced the family in an unofficial court, then publicly beheaded them with machetes.

"They then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans denouncing witchcraft and black magic." [Indian 'witchcraft' family killed, BBC, March 19, 2006]

The Times of India reported a medieval-style test recently: Branded witch, tribal woman forced to dip hands in hot oil [October 10, 2008]. Actually, it was boiling oil:

"A group of villagers, including the panchayat members (Patels), then took the woman to a deserted location and forced her to pick a silver coin from a vessel containing boiling oil. The woman suffered severe burns on both her hands and she fell unconscious. However, this did not deter the villagers and they thrashed her badly with hot iron rods due to which she received head injuries. She was then forcibly taken to the Gharasiyas' house and told to ward-off the miseries from the family by chanting magic words. "

Long-time VDARE.COM readers know that immigrants don't leave primitive beliefs behind just because they are relocating to the First World. Foreign newcomers bring their whole cultural package—sometimes including the very worst that humanity has to offer.

One disturbing case was the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie, an African child living in Britain. Her death was caused by ongoing physical abuse connected to a belief in witchcraft on the part of her guardians. They tortured and killed her at least to some degree because they believed her to be possessed.

Worse, her case was only the tip of the iceberg.

"An official inquiry into the abuse of African children branded as witches is expected to conclude that there have been at least 50 such cases over five years in London alone.

The investigation is expected to find that cases of sorcery-related abuse are now spreading outside the capital to areas such as Liverpool, Newcastle and parts of Yorkshire—although they remain confined to only a minority of Africans in Britain.

The abuse of the children has ranged from shouting to beating, starving, slashing with knives and razors and, in at least one case, murder." ["Witch child" abuse spreads in Britain, By Jack Grimston  Sunday Times, June 25, 2006]

Another shocking murder was "Adam," an unidentified child whose headless torso was found in the Thames in September 2001. The African boy was believed to be between four and six years old and had swallowed a potion containing bone fragments before he died. Investigators concluded that the boy was killed in a ritual murder as a part of African witchcraft. No-one was ever arrested.

After more investigation of missing children in Britain, authorities determined that some 300 black boys aged 4-7 were unaccounted for, leading to fears of widespread child sacrifice. But child protective agencies do not track the many foreign children sent to live in Britain under the care of persons who are not the parents. So the extent of abuse is not really known.

More complicating is the presence of ostensibly Christian churches, populated with African immigrants, which commonly practice exorcisms. ['Exorcisms are part of our culture',  By Cindi John BBC News, June 3, 2005]In particular, Congolese and Angolan preachers accept the existence of evil spirits, curses and demonic possession, and weave that belief into their ministries. In some cases, pastors have crossed the line into child abuse in their activities to drive out evil spirits. Social turmoil has been an unfortunate byproduct, with ethnic groups accusing police of racism.

Sadly, America has not escaped from the diversity of African churches, as even the New York Times has reported.

In Washington, DC, the Spiritual Warfare ministry does battle against the witches and devils that parishioners regard as the source of life's difficulties.

Founded by a Congolese couple, the congregation fights the effects of sorcery as members sing, pray, kick and shadowbox against demons. Parishioners slice the air with their arms to cut the ties which evil has on them. They meet late at night because they believe that is when the forces of evil are most active. [ A Midnight Service Helps African Immigrants Combat Demons By Neela Banerjee, December 18, 2007]

So it goes in the increasingly borderless world that elites are promoting, in opposition to our old-fashioned nations with unitary cultures.

The advantages of One-Worldism are much-touted. We hear much less about the darker side of human nature with its many dark corners of fear and ignorance.

The social progress we have made in America is threatened by the deluge of immigrants whose customs are incompatible with our values. We have a system of government and society which we run by principles based on reason, not the reading of entrails. And we would like to keep depending on rationality.

Remember this when the new President starts pressing for more African immigration and influence.

Brenda Walker (email her) lives in Northern California and publishes two websites, LimitsToGrowth.org and ImmigrationsHumanCost.org. She had a rabbit's foot as a kid, but it didn't bring any luck so she threw it away.