Canadian Government Right To Ban Sizzla, No Place For Homophobic Lyrics

Submitted by Noman Faria (Guyana Consul to Barbados)

Sizzla

Last weekend, Jamaican-born reggae star Sizzla was supposed to headline a concert at the Paramount Theatre in Toronto, Canada.  He didn’t even  pack his bags. The Canadian Embassy in Jamaica had denied him a visa, apparently  because of  his songs inciting hatred and violence against homosexual people.  They were quite right to do so.

Sizzla whose real name Miguel Orlando Collins was known to Canadian authorities. He and  another unrepentant homophobe   at the time, Elephant Man, real name O’Neal Bryan had another concert in  the same Canadian city  in October 2007 cancelled after protests from community groups. A homophobe  has an irrational  dislike for homosexuals.

As a spokesperson for the  Stop Murder Music Canada Coalition  correctly noted: This (stopping of this show) was not about censorship or artistic freedom. That stops when hate propaganda is involved.” The SMMCC referred to one of Sizzla’s songs “Log On” which urged people to “stomp” on homosexuals (or “gays” as they are commonly referred to). If  that crude, distasteful and insightful  message wasn’t enough, read what Sizzla says in another  song “Pump Up“

Step up inna front line

(Step up to the front line)

Fire fi di man dem wah go ride man behind

(burn the men who have sex with men from behind)

shot battybwoy,my big gun boom

(shoot queers, my big gun goes boom)”

Homosexuality (in women, it is called lesbianism) is a sensitive and emotional issue. The average person in liberal democratic societies  like Guyana and Barbados sometimes have difficulty in understanding it. After all, being called upon to accept men and men together and women and women together, especially sexual acts, goes against the grain of all we were taught from  Biblical and other holy book  teachings.

It took some understanding from the average man, like myself, who felt that nothing could be more normal (and pleasurable) than man having sex with a woman. And after all , it made physiological/evolutionary sense. That was how people evolved to have children.

It took some time but the average person’s essential decency and respect for other people’s rights  emerged. Now there is a growing acceptance in many countries that homosexuals have a right to live normal lives so long as their behaviour doesn’t involve or encourage criminal and sexually unsafe practices.

More importantly that the behaviour of gays should be sensitive to the feelings of ordinary people  about the issue. A growing understanding about gays and their place in society comes too as more  scientific studies show them to be that way because of such factors as genes rather than suffering from a psychological disorder.

There has been deep revulsions over the violence and cruelty meted out to gays. Ten or so years ago a 21 year old political science student named Mathew Shepherd was pistol whipped  by two men and  tied to a wire fence in the U.S. state of  Wyoming and left to die. The widespread horror  shown by ordinary Americans at the hate crime  against Matthew who worshipped at the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church with his parents in home town Casper, led to moves to include crimes against gays in existing US hate crime legislation. First proposed by President Clinton, it was vetoed under President  Bush’s watch but current President Obama has pledged he will not veto the special amendments.

The state, whether it be in Canada or Guyana, must take some of the leadership where appropriate in properly channelling the  increasing social distain  against the violation of peoples’ rights on the basis of sexual orientation. Aside from Canada, the European Union (EU) group of countries also have strict laws prohibiting such discrimination. Last year, Sizzla was denied a Schengen Visa to tour Europe. In 2004 he was banned from entering the UK.

The decisions of the state in these matters are based on interpretation of laws which can deny a person entry if  it is determined he/she will  stir up hatred and cause disorder among peoples.Their recordings should also not be on sale.

This was the rationale  last year when Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee  announced that the singers Bounty Killer and Movado whose songs have equally repugnant anti-gay and pro-violence lyrics, would not be permitted to perform in Guyana again. The Minister should be commended for this forthright action . Guyana can do without such incitement to hatred and violence and inflammatory behaviour.

The Guyanese group Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) had voiced their opposition to the singers’ presence in Guyana as well as the recent  detention in Georgetown of  a group of  “cross dressers” (men dressing up as women).

As I wrote to Barbadian authorities urging more control and regulation of a certain internet blog in the island which carries the most repugnant and racist postings against Guyanese nationals in Barbados,  the prohibiting of airing of inflammatory and insightful messages has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Hate mongers and racists should have no freedom of speech. We have to think of the overall good of society and its more important  freedoms and rights which protect genuine freedom of speech and the  well being and happiness of all…

Sizzla may be a creative artiste when singing about other subjects. I understand he has  good social commentary in some of his songs. From working class roots, we must respect his creativity and look at his overall work.

However when  a singer gets up and publicly urges the audience to go out and kill a certain segment of the population, that is a hate crime. We have to take a stand.     In 1998, US senator Edward Kennedy told a legislative hearing . “Hate crimes are a form of terrorism. They have a psychological and emotional impact which extends far beyond the victim. They threaten the entire community and undermine the ideals on which a nation was founded.”

Amen.