FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY: SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH HUMAN
RIGHTS ACTIVISM
MUSEUMS AND CIVIL RIGHTS:
PAPER PRESENTED TO THE FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS CONFERENCE,
10-13 OCTOBER, 2011-09-21
INTERNATIONAL SLAVERY MUSEUM
Figure 1: Human Rights for All. (These children are all physically challenged, others
visually impaired, others albinos and others wheel chair but in the Museum they are
just as equal as others. Here, they are playing.
By
Lucina D. Shayo
Museum and House of Culture
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
Abstract
Museums are centres for education, social, culture and political
representation. They are for the public, serving students, teachers, artists,
women, men and the physically challenged people. Museums are sense of
identity, sense of place and an educational tool. As such, every body has the
right to the access of the museum. Also, the museum has the responsibility
of addressing all matters affecting every individual in the universe.
The mission of The Museum and House of Culture is to become a platform
for stakeholders’ partnerships and networking, creating and promoting
cultural experiences, material expression, attractive and interactive
programmes and dialogue, for the development of present and future
generations.
According to the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, “Equality
to Human Rights Act 1984” Human beings are born free, and are equal:
Everybody deserves respect and recognition: All people are equal before the
law, and they have the right, without any discrimination, to protection and
equality: Every person has the right to live and get out the community
protection of his life; according to law: Everybody has the right to be free to
live as a free man”
If we were to count how many physically challenged people visit our
museums, what percentage would we get? What are the matters affecting
them? How active are our museums in campaigning for their rights?
The aim of this paper is to share experience on how museums can work in
partnerships to address issues affecting the society and especially the
marginalized groups. Arranging programmes that can address issues like
wife beating, albino killings, female genital mutilation just to mention a few.
Museums are indeed places for civil rights as they deal with culture and
culture is such a unique phenomenon that it enables people to change
attitude towards certain matters. We can achieve the above goals by working
with our relevant stakeholders. The paper will explore how it can be done.
2
Introduction:
Tanzania is one of the many developing nations which are trying hard to
make meaningful progress in the sense of civil rights. According to the
Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, every person has the right
to live and to the protection of his life by the society in accordance with the
law.1 But there are negative values which creep among the society and form
undesirable behaviours such as stigmatisation especially these days of
HIV/AIDS, and to the larger society through practices such as homicide
(albino killings, elderly women killings, suicide), female genital cuttings or
mutilation, corruption, modern slavery (Children’s labour, lowly paid house
maids, lowly paid security guards, human trafficking), domestic violence,
lack of pride in nation-state, drug abuse, robbery, rape, dishonesty, sexual
immorality, greediness, prostitution, poor attitude towards work, underachievement, underemployment, displacement and other such behavioural
problems found to be detrimental to national development.
Popular opinion is that positive behaviour in a setting where negative values
and attitudes are prevalent can only be achieved through societal change of
positive attitude. The most needed reaction is to accept that there is a
problem and find a way of tackling rather than covering it.2
Cultural ethnicity, values, ethos and norms in effect, define the expectations
of right and wrong behaviour, proper and improper behaviour, in a given
society. Our values and attitudes often reflect us from the family,
community and society in which we belong. The families, the community,
the schools, the religious institutions and museums are all major
socialization agencies responsible for inculcating positive aspects of human
values in individuals from birth, through parents’ dos and don’ts, school
curricula, museum programmes and general interaction in initiation
ceremonies in adolescence to adulthood.
1
United Republic of Tanzania (2008.30) The Rights to Life Act No.15 of 1984 Art.6
Constitution of The United Republic of Tanzania of 1977, The Government Printer, Dar es Salaam-Tanzania
2
Migiro, Asha Rose, the Deputy United Nations Secretary General, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation
(TBC1) Television Programme on Children Abuse: 20 th. September, 2011 21:00hrs.)
3
Museums and Civil Rights:
Museums are the core machinery that can combine the intake of knowledge
within aesthetic and emotional experiences, and within creative activity
programmes in a way which no equivalent anywhere else. The Museum and
House of Culture coordinates relevant possible programmes used to
interpret the collections in her galleries to address issues of the civil rights.
Establishment of Museum Clubs:
Museums are public bodies which must help the entire community to
develop regardless of one’s condition or gender. The marginalised group
need to be given confidence in their own ability to take control of their own
lives. They need to be helped to stretch themselves. Public bodies hold
information not for themselves but as custodians of the public good and
everyone has the right to access the information, subject only to clearly
defined rules established by law.3
Museums can help the society to change in the direction of human equality,
civil rights and justice, leading to a decent life in dignity and freedom.
The Museum and House of Culture has established Museum Clubs in eight
primary schools in Dar es Salaam with one hundred and thirty members.
The reason of establishing these clubs is that since people do not inherit
behaviour we want to use the museum as a cultural institution to inculcate
the knowledge of civil rights to our children so that they can grow up with
this patriotism. “Culture is the totally of learned, socially transmitted
customs, knowledge, material objects and behaviour. It includes the ideas,
values, customs and artefacts of people”.4
Museum Club Activities:
We first organised a teacher’s workshop for the schools which became the
first members of the Museum Club. In this workshop teachers assimilated
themselves with various topics on heritage. They came up with the definition
3
Legal and Human Rights Centre (2005.384), Bisimba, Helen Kijo and Peter, Chris Maina, Justice and Rule of
Law in Tanzania, in Selected Judgements and Writings of Justice James Mwalusanya and Commentaries.
Legal and Human Rights Centre ( LHRC), Justice Lugakingira House, Kijitonyama, P.O. Box 75254, Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania
4
Schaefer, Richard T. ( 2001:65) Sociology, Seventh Edition, McGraw Hill, Bonston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque,
IA Madison, W1 New York.
4
of heritage both culturally and naturally, civil rights and the environment,
how mismanagement of environment can cause unfriendly climate change
and lead to the abuse of human rights (floods or drought, displacement,
hunger, diseases, death).
We normally conduct out reach education programmes in which we follow
the community in different centres including school. Apart from exhibitions
we have forums on different issues of civil rights. For example last year in
2010, Tanzania had a national election. We organised civic education to
change the cultural attitude of women towards freedom and right to vote.
Culturally, women in some ethnic groups believe that every thing they do
must be authorised by their husbands, something that deprive them of their
right to vote freely.
Monthly Meetings:
Research shows that life histories are an important influence on mental test
performance. Each generation as group performs at a distinct level of
ability.5
Figure 2. Students matching for human rights at one of the festivals we
organised at MajiMaji
Heroes Museum
5
Davidoff, Linda L.(1987:269), Introduction to Psychology, Third Edition, Mc Grow Hill, INCL. United States
of America
5
The members of Museum Club are children. We meet monthly to discuss
issues related to the museum and human/civil rights are the core issues.
Their teachers whom we had the workshop together are their minders. With
them we run lessons on what heritage is, (They now know why we have the
albinos in the society and how to assist them). We talk of freedom and their
aspects.
“There is personal freedom for the individual; that is his right to live in
dignity and equality with all others, his right to freedom of speech, freedom
to participate in making of all decisions which affect his life, and freedom to
arbitrary arrest because he happens to annoy some one in authority.6
Museum Club members are different role players in the museum. The most
famous is the junior guides. We also have young curators and teachers.
They have different activities like drama, singing, dancing and debate. We
have talked about peace in Dar es Salaam. Children came up with different
observations.
They said there are a lot of lunatics in our streets who are deprived their
rights to medication, education, shelter, clothing and even life. Other people
also do fear passing the streets with these lunatics. Therefore they are
deprived of free mobility in the city. There is a lot of unemployment which
has led to street vendors, homeless people, robbery and pick pockets,
actions that cause mob justice because when caught, they are killed by
“angry citizens” as the police put it.
While in the museum children have ample time also to watch well prepared
television programmes.
6
Nyerere, Julius, K. (1974:58), Freedom and Development, A selection from writings and speeches 1968-1973:
dare s Salaam Oxford University Press, Nairobi, London, New York.
6
Other partners:
We must recognize that there are others who know something we don’t; that
they may or may not be scholars, but regardless, we their help and their
support in variety of areas. Consequentially, we need to learn how when we
work in collaboration with others.7
As mentioned above that we normally work with schools and therefore
teachers are our first partners. Apart from those we work with the
administration of the local government (Village Chairs and executive officers,
Municipal Education Directors, Police, Non Governmental organizations and
the media). Each activity run by our club is aired by the national television
every Saturday morning in the children’s programme.
Figure 3. Let’s unite to fight violence against children in Tanzania
Tanzania has made history by becoming the first African country to release
a study on the extent of all forms of violence against girls and boys in the
7
Berck, Brenda (1992;72) Museum rethinking the boundaries, In UNESCO, No. 174:
Quarterly Review, Published by UNESCO No.: 2, 1992.
7
country. Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Asha Rose Migiro
hailed the study.
The statistics cover sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Violence in
schools is particularly high with one in ten girls falling prey to sexual
violence at the hands of their teachers.
According to Migiro (2011), youth makes up half of the population in
Tanzania. If we protect and nurture our children, with patience and love, so
we will be sure to build a nation which will stand for everyone’s rights and
prosperity. “The elders said that today’s children are the leaders of
tomorrow. So let us invest in them today for a better tomorrow.”
Migiro also says that, policies are important, but real progress comes when
peoples’ mindsets change.8
Tanzania’s Violence Against Children report found that nearly three out of
every ten girls and one out of every seven boys experienced some form of
sexual violence before the 18 years of age. Most sexual assaults occur in a
home or school, or going to or from school and children often know their
sexual attackers. Most children do not report their experience; few seek
services and even fewer actually receive any care, treatment or support.
Rates of physical violence are high: 72% of girls and 71% of boys’ experience
being punched, whipped or kicked – in their childhood, while one quarter of
all children experienced emotional abuse.
We in the Museum Club have agreed that we can not get on alone in this
challenge of human rights education unless we are sure that every one
knows the civil rights. Apart from being taught civics lesson in school our
children should know their rights from the stage of toddlers. That is why we
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2011/08/tanzania-launches-report-onviolence-against-children/2011 United Nations Radio
8
8
have different guest speakers in our meetings from Health and Social
Welfare, HIV and AIDS, Local Government, Community Development
and Civil Society. We aim to go international too, so that we can later work
with the UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA and any other relevant institutions.
Limitations:
Our big problem is that we do not have enough funds to run the
programmes set by the club because though the club members would like to
implement more programmes, the parents can not afford so much and the
museum budget is not sufficient.
CONCLUSION:
Museums as cultural institutions are the naïve of civil rights education as
culture is a unique phenomenon which can pass messages at times of
enjoyment and grief. Children can be influenced and therefore museums
have the role of changing the attitudes of children positively to prepare a
future generation of human rights implementers. Museums must also work
with
other
organisations
to
achieve
the
desired
goals.
Local
and
international organisations, the media and different ways of reaching the
community are vital for the change of attitude towards human right
violation. Civil education is impetus and therefore all the entire community
has the role of working with the museums.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
ASANTENI SANA NA
KARIBUNI TANZANIA.
9
References:
Berck, Brenda (1992; 72)
Museum rethinking the boundaries,
In UNESCO, No. 174: Quarterly Review,
Published by UNESCO No.: 2, 1992.
Davidoff, Linda L. (1987:269),
Introduction to Psychology,
Third Edition, Mc Grow Hill,
Incl. United States of America
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2011/08/tanzania-launchesreport-on-violence-against-children/2011 United Nations Radio
Legal and Human Rights Centre (2005.384),
Bisimba, Helen Kijo and Peter, Chris
Maina, Justice and Rule of
Law in Tanzania, in Selected
Judgements and Writings of Justice
James Mwalusanya and
Commentaries. Legal and Human
Rights Centre ( LHRC), Justice
Lugakingira House, Kijitonyama, P.O.
Box 75254, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Migiro, Asha Rose the Deputy Secretary general, United Nations, Tanzania
Broadcasting Corporation (TBC1) Television Programme on Children Abuse:
20th. September, 2011 21:00hrs.)
0
Nyerere, Julius, K. (1974:58),
Freedom and Development,
A selection from writings and speeches
1968-1973: dare s Salaam Oxford
University Press, Nairobi, London,
New York.
Schaefer, Richard T. (2001:65)
Sociology,
Seventh Edition,
McGraw Hill, Bonston Burr Ridge,
IL Dubuque,
IA Madison, W1 New York.
United Republic of Tanzania (2008.30)
The Rights to Life Act No.15 of 1984 Art.6
Constitution of The United Republic of
Tanzania of 1977,
The Government Printer,
Dar es Salaam-Tanzania
10