Second opinion
MOBUTU Sese Seko, it seems to me, is a much traduced man. In the field of social policy he was a most enlightened ruler and was greatly in advance of his time. For example, he lowered the age of consent to 13, legalised polygamy and endowed men with almost infinite rights over their women. He thus made de jure what, in an English slum, is merely de facto. His code of law, instead of limping lamely after social trends as British law invariably does, was on the contrary in the vanguard of social change — by defi- nition a good thing.
Take the case of Donna, whom I saw last week. At the age of 14, Donna had given birth to Darren's daughter, pre- dictably enough called Jade. Darren was 16 when he became a father, and the happy parents set up home together. Darren soon grew tired of his respon- sibilities, but he nevertheless loved Donna, which is why he accused her all the time of having affairs, the slut, and why he partially strangled her from time to time, especially after he'd been at the glue, and why he broke her ribs and blacked her eyes. Once he pushed her all the way out of a closed window (on the ground floor) and Donna called the police, who told her that if only she'd remained indoors they could have done something but because she was out of doors they could do nothing. If she'd been indoors, of course, it would have been the other way round.
At the age of 19, Darren decided that he needed his 'own space', i.e. he moved in with another girl. But that did not pre- vent him from coming round to Donna from time to time, for respite care as it were, and there he would either make love to her or beat her up, or both. She once tried to lock him out, but he smashed the door down and broke her jaw, so she never tried again.
It is shameful that such a situation should be allowed to continue, with Dar- ren being so uncertain of where he stands. I would suggest a Mobutuan law — possibly even a clause in a written constitution, since written constitutions have historically been the best guaran- tors of freedom — to the effect that men may physically chastise or beat up any woman with whom they have ever been in the slightest associated. Then, and only then, will the hypocrisy of the pre- sent situation be brought to an end.
Just in case anyone should run away with the idea that Darren's case was unique, let me describe Mohammed, aged 22, whom I met the same week, an alcoholic Muslim who broke into a house to burgle it, where he found Tracey, 15 at the time, all alone. Tracey wasn't getting on very well with her mum, Mohammed was charming, so she left the house with him. Six months later, Tracey was pregnant, though she still might not come to term because Mohammed kicks her in the stomach so much and so often. He doesn't allow her out of the house, he locks the doors when he's gone from his (now their) 11th-floor flat, and he demands that she dress, behave and act like a Muslim wife, that is to say obey him in every- thing.
I think a clause in a written constitu- tion is needed to guarantee religious freedom.
Theodore Dalrymple
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