"Witch Hunt" - Making false accusations
against a large number of people.
Catholic and Reformation inquisitions have caused a human catastrophe,
which is unparalleled in the history of mankind. Needless to say, that
all of these victims were completely innocent. The torture methods were
absolutely brutal - some of the victims were tortured up to 30 times.
Even the execution was part of the torture: before burning at the stake
some of the victims were burned with glowing irons and got their hands
chopped of.
The Terror of History: The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe
Lecturer: Professor Teofilo Ruiz http://www.history.ucla.edu.
The classical period of witchhunts in Europe falls into the Early Modern
period or about 1480 to 1700, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation
and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 40,000 to 100,000
executions.
Pope John XXII formalized the persecution of witchcraft in 1320 when
he authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcerors. In 1484 Pope Innocent
VIII issued the bull Summis desiderantes, authorising two inquisitors,
Kramer and Sprenger, to systemize the persecution of witches.
In those days torture was a legal method to gain evidence - but there
were restrictions too, which have been neglected permanently by the
inquisitors.
Why such fear?
Theory has been put forward that provides an alternative
explanation. According to this theory, the witches, who often had highly
developed midwifery skills, were prosecuted in order to extinguish knowledge
about birth control in an effort to repopulate Europe after the population
catastrophe triggered by the plague pandemic of the 14th century (also
known as the Black Death).Citing Jean Bodin's "On Witchcraft",
this view holds that the witch hunts were not only promoted by the church
but also by prominent secular thinkers to repopulate the European continent.
By these authors, the witch hunts are seen as an attempt to eliminate
female midwifery skills and as a historical explanation why modern gynecology
- surprisingly enough - came to be practiced almost exclusively by males
in state run hospitals. In this view, the witch hunts began a process
of criminalization of birth control that eventually lead to an enormous
increase in birth rates that are described as the "population explosion"
of early modern Europe. This population explosion produced an enormous
youth bulge which supplied the extra manpower that would enable Europe's
nations, during the period of colonialism and imperialism, to conquer
and colonize 90% of the world. While historians specializing in the
history of the witch hunts have generally remained critical of this
macroeconomic approach and continue to favor micro level perspectives
and explanations, prominent historian of birth control John M. Riddle
has expressed agreement. -wiki
Modern Day Witch Hunts
Witch-hunts against children were reported by the BBC
in 1999 in the Congo[17] and in Tanzania, where the government responded
to attacks on women accused of being witches for having red eyes. A
lawsuit was launched in 2001 in Ghana, where witch-hunts are also common,
by a woman accused of being a witch. Witch-hunts in Africa are often
led by relatives seeking the property of the accused victim.
Children Accused of being Witches
On February 16, 2008 a Saudi woman, Fawza Falih, was arrested and convicted
of witchcraft and now faces imminent beheading for sorcery unless the
King issues a rare pardon. Amongst the Bantu tribes of Southern Africa,
the witch smellers were responsible for detecting witches. In parts
of Southern Africa several hundred people have been killed in witch
hunts since 1990.
Several African states, Cameroon, Togo for example, have reestablished
witchcraft-accusations in courts. A person can be imprisoned or fined
for the account of a witch-doctor.It was reported on 21 May 2008 that
in Kenya a mob had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft.
In March 2009 Amnesty International reported that up to 1,000 people
in the Gambia had been abducted by government-sponsored "witch
doctors" on charges of witchcraft, and taken to detention centers
where they were forced to drink poisonous concoctions.[27] On May 21,
2009, The New York Times reported that the alleged witch-hunting campaign
had been sparked by the Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh.
In Sierra Leone, the witch-hunt is an occasion for a sermon by the kɛmamɔi
(native Mende witch-finder) on social ethics : "Witchcraft ...
takes hold in people’s lives when people are less than fully open-hearted.
All wickedness is ultimately because people hate each other or are jealous
or suspicious or afraid. These emotions and motivations cause people
to act antisocially".[29] The response by the populace to the kɛmamɔi
is that "they valued his work and would learn the lessons he came
to teach them, about social responsibility and cooperation."
Papua New Guinea
Though the practise of "white" magic (such as faith healing)
is legal in Papua, the 1976 Sorcery Act imposes a penalty of up to 2
years in prison for the practise of "black" magic. In 2009,
the government reports that extrajudicial torture and murder of alleged
witches - usually lone women - is spreading from the Highland areas
to cities as villagers migrate to urban areas.
SALEM
In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris
of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was
called in when they failed to improve. His diagnosis of bewitchment
put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging
deaths of nineteen men and women. In addition, one man was crushed to
death; several others died in prison, and the lives of many were irrevocably
changed. To understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary
to examine the times in which accusations of witchcraft occurred. There
were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village
' families and rivalry with nearby Salem Town combined with a recent
small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes created
a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. Soon, prisons were filled with
more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem; their names
had been "cried out" by tormented young girls as the cause
of their pain. All would await trial for a crime punishable by death
in 17th-century New England - the practice of witchcraft.
