Senza categoria – Flesh & Blood: The Blog of Mukesh Kapila

The hysterical womb: pathologising abused mothers

Since time immemorial, women who did not comply with male-prescribed behaviour norms were diagnosed as hysterical on account of their wicked, wandering womb. The prevalent laws punished them in many cruel and degrading ways.

We look back on that history with horror but the modern version is histrionic personality disorder. Although debunked as pseudo science, it is still commonly used in family courts to separate mothers and their children when domestic abuse by fathers has been alleged.

It is a legally-sanctioned injustice that ruins the lives of thousands of children and their mothers and families worldwide.. An example of structural state-sponsored violence against women despite the days of gender equality we are supposed to be living in.

Ethiopia arguments

The genocidal conflict in Tigray has sucked in many of Ethiopia’s varied ethnic groups, and polarised positions. Some critical questions and answers.

Drowning in the soup of male violence

From womb to tomb, girls and women are exposed to male violence in every neighbourhood, everywhere.

The world’s biggest active war: Appeal for Tigray, Ethiopia

The civil war in Tigray, Ethiopia is a year old. It is the biggest active armed conflict in the world with millions blockaded and denied humanitarian aid, even as massacres and sexual violence abound, and famine is getting established. Distinguished scholars and researchers from around the world appeal for the blockade to be lifted as prerequisite for negotiations and eventually peace.

Are peacemakers really blessed?

Making peace is a messy business. And the best of intentions to bring peace and harmony in situations of armed conflict can backfire. Sometimes war must run its course before peace can be constructed.

Every atrocity needs a face

Faceless victims get forgotten and faceless offenders go unpunished. That is how justice is truly blinded. That is also why egregious human rights abuses including mass atrocities and genocides need a face.

The malignant pseudo-science of ‘parental alienation’

What is parental alienation? Based on junk science, this dangerous concept is destroying many families even as domestic abuse is allowed to flourish by courts. A grave injustice around a peculiar form of violence that affects thousands of mothers and children, worldwide.

Circles of impunity: why sexual violence by humanitarians and peacekeepers keeps happening

Why does sexual exploitation and abuse continue to happen in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations worldwide? What must be done to break the circle of impunity?

What Climate ‘Code Red’ Means for Africa

There is much talk on the #ClimateCrisis. And the impacts of #globalwarming take on existentialist proportions for the most poor and vulnerable on the planet. Especially so for peoples in #Africa as their continent is warming slightly faster and their sea levels rising slightly more than elsewhere, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. What will happen there?

Health in the crosshairs of the Tigray conflict

Mukesh Kapila – 31 August 2021 As Ethiopia’s civil war approaches its first deadly anniversary in November, there is, as yet, little prospect for peace. The underlying causes of the immediate conflict are bitterly contested and the essential conditions for solutions remain elusive. Geopolitical factors mean that the African Union and United Nations are paralysed,Continue reading “Health in the crosshairs of the Tigray conflict”