Nigeria: Why the West keeps its hands off
Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…
Why don’t Western countries use their economic clout to push Nigeria to repeal the harsh anti-gay law it enacted last year?
That’s an issue addressed in the latest interview on the No Strings podcast, which provides a voice for the LGBTI community in Nigeria.
The situation in Nigeria differs from that in Uganda, where economic pressure from the United States is apparently one reason why legislators haven’t reintroduced the Anti-Homosexuality Law that was invalidated last year on procedural grounds.
Why is that so? Author Stephen Lovatt, a gay Catholic physicist from the United Kingdom, discusses that question in the latest No Strings podcast. He suggests that Nigeria’s own economic importance makes Western nations reluctant to tangle with it.
“The USA and EU are not making a good job of engaging productively with Africa or Asia economically and/or financially and they will be wary of further compromising their prospects of profiting from trade and/or investment,” Lovatt says.
Another reason: “Fear of being castigated as being ‘Imperialist’ and imposing ‘Western values’ on African or Asian peoples.”
“Speaking Out, Gaining Courage and Overcoming Fear” is the title of this episode of the podcast, which can be downloaded or streamed. It is also on the new No Strings podcast website.
Lovatt’s book “Faithful to the Truth” is sold by Amazon in paperback and in an electronic edition for Kindle readers.
Related articles
- Nigerian podcast, website join fight against homophobia (76crimes.com)
- Nigerian film maker: ‘Yes! You can be an LGBTIQ Christian’ (June 22, 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Nigerian podcast: I was outed, jailed, bailed, shunned (June 15, 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Hate, gender non-conformity: Topics of Nigerian podcast (June 5, 2015, 76crimes.com)
Reblogged this on Fairy JerBear's Queer World News, Views & More From The City Different – Santa Fe, NM and commented:
A breakdown of the podcast posted here earlier…