There is this story in the NY Times this morning about children in Angola who have been driven out into the streets because the families’ misfortunes are blamed on them and they are labeled witches.  Many have been killed and badly treated and there no voice in protest is raised on their behalf. The children obviously are not responsible for the conditions in their homes and there are no international organizations to point out that the super-natural is not responsible for there are no such thing as witches.  But it is no use to try to argue with people who believe strange things.

Here in the educated, reading western world we have been captivated by the notion of a Hogwarts, Harry and his friends and the existence of dark forces – and we smile, laugh and wait for the next story to unfold.  Witches exist in folklore and on the pages of Ms Rowland‘s books but despite strong beliefs from ancient times there were no and there are no witches.  To scape-goat little children as the cause for misfortune is a horrible thing. It is understandable in the context within which it exists.  Education absent, this archaic and brutal system of values and inertia are unbroken by outsiders protesting or coming in to be activists. The reality is so hard to understand by “us” but what they have are countries that are not really countries but left over lands from the days of European conquest and settlement.

It is easy to read the ‘progress” of places like Angola.  They were despoiled by the Europeans who started up little colonies and exploited a whole continent and the people.  When the Europeans left before the job of “democratizing” them was completed and had proven itself, the tribal rivalries that crossed over the new artificial markers where England, France, Germany, Belgium and Holland drew lines that made the mix and mess even stranger than fiction.  What is real is not the fictional witches who are saddled with the blame and punishment but the practices that horrify us while we are safe in our houses where we use electricity to light our reading space where we can explore the mind of Ms Rowland. We will spend the next few years analyzing and coming up with expectations with prequels as well as a wealth of spin-off stories inspired by Harry.

The witches of Halloween and the stories told in summer camp around campfires to scare the wits out of us are all part of growing up but the rest of the world has not kept up with the civilization that produces prizes for excellence in Science, Economics and Literature.  Meanwhile, little children are brutalized or ignored in so many ways because of primitive belief and practices that are an abomination in this new century.  Don’t wait for the leaders in the U.S. to do anything.  Such things have been privatized.