William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice

I must confess that I never had the privilege to study the Merchant of Venice although recent intellectual discourse with a friend who studied the Merchant of Venice in University led me to regret this state of affairs.  On a cold wintry night as my country men and women  took positions on the Gay bill recently passed in neighbouring Uganda, I decided to watch the 2004 adaptation of Merchant of Venice yet again.  Indeed, I had given this Bard of Avon a wide berth despite the fact that - in a impulsive moment - I purchased a box full of BBC adaptations of his plays.  How relieved we were when King Lear was excluded from the set books for study in my literature class.   There just was never enough time - in between other subjects - to prepare oneself for otherwise gruelling exams.  Not sure where I find the courage to rant about one of Shakespeare's most famous plays which has been read, acted, watched, studied and so much commented upon. 

 

The character that led me to re watch this movie was Shylock, the antagonist.  Apparently the title of the play was explained as "The most excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme cruelty of Shylock the Jew towards the said Merchant ".   Now Shylock had the double jeopardy of being both a Jew and a money lender.  In Exodus 22:25 God warns the children of Israel  "If thou lend money to [any of] my people [that is] poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury."   This and many similar verses were those that early Christendom took very seriously.  There has been great debate on what Usury means.  Islamic finance takes the more conservative view that any form of interest is usurious.  Many global Banks have been hard pressed to deal in Islamic Bonds & Money market instruments because the oil rich gulf states will neither borrow nor invest in deals they consider usurious.   Modern day Christendom - egged on by capitalism - takes usury to mean onerous interest but has not defined when interest must be considered usurious.  So as I mused upon this matter, I digressed to consider the terms of my mortgage and  declared the terms thereof quite usurious!!!!   As I pondered my mortgage repayments, I understood the antipathy towards money lenders in Elizabethan times.  

The story of  the children of Israel is an interesting one, with some Jews wondering why they are referred to as God's chosen people.  It seems - if one were to consider history - that they were chosen for persecution by people different from them.  Shylock entreats us...

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means,
warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.
If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility?
Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his
sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge.
The villainy you teach me, I will execute,
and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
(Act III, scene 11)

Discrimination can be far-reaching, be it based on gender, religion, race, colour, sexual orientation, age, height, stature, weight, nationality, tribe, clan or disability. Development must focus largely on reducing these prejudices and providing equal access to things like health care, education, human rights, employment and public services. Every individual — no matter where they are from, who they are or what they are — must be able to realize their full potential without stigmatisation.  (Adapted from Kate Warren as quoted on Devex).  

So was I led to consider the plight of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice and juxtapose this against the events surrounding the aptly named Gay Bill.   People - myself included - are unable to debate this issue without drawing out swords.  The bright side of the story is that in assenting to this bill, M7 has brought otherwise quiet people out of the woodwork to wax lyrical on their points on view.  While opponents to the bill indicate rather unconvincingly that "choices have consequences", proponents of the bill swear upon the graves of their ancestors to defend against what they perceive to be an affront to their culture and values.  Meanwhile those affected plead "who will go for us...?"  An otherwise heterosexual Bible believing mother who has the 'misfortune' of spawning a child with homosocial tendencies  posted on a Christian blog "How do I deal with my son who is gay?".   I wager that this mother (like the mother of Moses) would  have to die first before she sends the child of her womb who sucked at her breast to the slaughter.; A homosexual adult stuck with a condition - which like Shylock - they cannot change and wonder why this was visited upon them. Cimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes an expose about her experience as a student in Nsukka, Nigeria. There was a classmate whom mates wondered: "Why can’t he just be like everyone else?";  a spouse finding themselves attached to a partner who seeks satisfaction in his or her own gender.  This led me to research what became of Ted Haggard, the Denver evangelist who visited male prostitutes while he had the audacity to rile against people with homosocial tendencies from the comfort of the pulpit.   Jewish Shylock wondered why Christian Antonio went to bridge his gap - money wise - from him.  Wasn't this the height of hypocrisy?

The world has not changed much through the ages.  The issues that irk us may have changed over time but the reactions on both sides of the divide are the same. The vitriol - in my neck of my woods - is currently directed towards people of a different sexual orientation.  We who wax lyrical against western influences regarding tolerance towards those different from us have named our children Stacy and Stephanie instead of Awinja and Amboka.  On this particular delicate matter of homosocialism we have agreed to disagree even though we have swallowed all other influences hook, line and sinker.  Watching Shylock in a hostile court, reminded me of the scribes and Pharisees who said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”    The woman caught in an act of adultery was fortunate that she was brought to Jesus for in the spirit of Solomon He said to her accusers:- “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

The issues in the Merchant of Venice are complex and have been debated at length by scholars. I have simply taken the issue of discrimination and juxtaposed this against the most topical issue that lawmakers have decided their energy is best spent upon. 

As for me, I have advised myself to first remove the log in my own eyes before I bother to draw the sword about the speck in another person's & to love my 'brother' as myself.

 

JMAW - Education: A right or a privilege?

Children who have aced their Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE) but would not be taking up their Form One places for lack of funding need a lifeline. KCPE is, for the majority of Kenyans, a rite of passage akin to the ancient primary rites of passage because, rightfully or wrongfully, it separates the wheat from the chaff.

For most parents, it is a do or die situation. The 13+ year olds who are selected to join secondary schools to commence the journey to the next station have a fighting stab at life.  But for the child who does not manage the threshold required to proceed to Form One, a life of hardship and penury beckons. Oftentimes, they are destined, like the mythical Sisyphus, for a vicious circle of poverty that could last through generations.  Suggestions that the pupil might join a village polytechnic are academic because those institutions have a stigma and lack the resources to train and imbue 14-18 year old primary school dropouts with lifelong skills and a meaningful craft.

It is more painful for children who work hard and post good results but are unable to join the secondary school of their choice because their parents are too poor to afford it. Whereas, access to a good education is an inalienable right that should not be determined by the economic status of one’s parents, the anxiety for some children is heightened when they realise that their pursuit for higher education lies in jeopardy.  Their parents or guardians do not have the wherewithal to raise the requisite funds needed for Secondary School admission as the few Institutions who attempt to offer scholarships through Corporate Social Responsibility budgets are unable to service all the bankable applications received for funding.

For these future voters, despondency and hopelessness eventually sets in when they learn, rather belatedly, that the Constituency Development Fund (Bursaries) coffers are empty and that elected officials will avoid them like the plague at their hour of extreme need.  It goes without saying that in a Country where the gap between the rich and the poor widens by the day, most Kenyans feel constrained to make a difference – individually - that might bring about sustainable change.

The excitement is electrifying as individuals – vet the applicants; transfer, receive and account for funds; pay the requisite school fees; manage the school shopping; accompany the children to the various secondary schools; rally other people to join in and manage the myriad of attendant social protection issues.

For these girls and boys, from impoverished backgrounds, the Form One admission letter is simply been a mockery that reminded them of the futility of seeking to influence one’s destiny for the better.  The suboptimal options otherwise available to them ranged from repeating Standard 8, joining the family bricklaying business, enrolling in ill-equipped and poorly funded community day schools, dropping out of the school system altogether, becoming housemaids or getting married prematurely as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

It takes passion, commitment, vision and strong resolve to rescue these children without regard to the families, clans or sub tribes into which they were born.  The rallying cry  echoed Martin Luther King, Jr  who is quoted as having said "Life's most persistent and urgent question ...is, 'What are you doing for others?"

Through LIFELINE and many other similar initiatives, private citizens address the glaring faults of a system that treats education as a privilege as opposed to a right and hence consigns children from poor households to a perpetual life of poverty and stagnation from which they can hardly extricate themselves, fifty years after independence notwithstanding.  A government that seeks innovative ways to increase the tax burden of long suffering Kenyans, including taxing their chicken, their dead and traditional healers, must at a minimum guarantee its children 16 years of affordable quality education, from standard one to fourth form, irrespective of their station in life by enacting appropriate legislation and ensuring the implementation thereof.

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