July 28^th, 2003

The Raid on ‘Porno’ Night Clubs

by Fitsum Getachew

I was amazed to see the recent sensationalised news about the raid of special police forces on a number of Addis night clubs, ‘accused’ of entertaining night shows with teen age topless dancers, thus inviting/encouraging their clients to promiscuous sexuality. “At a time when the nation is suffering from the ravages of HIV/AIDS, it is outrageous that businessmen should allow such spots which help youths practice unsafe sex, to operate”, a police official is reported to have pronounced on the national television, immediately after the raid. Pictures of posters showing half naked girls, (the kinds that you would find on the magazine “Playboy”) were showed on TV, hanging on the walls of the clubs. Indignation-filled reporters filed their colorful stories showing these images. When the news suggested that well known personalities, possibly government officials, were among the clientele, the public’s curiosity sky rocketed to capture the names of perhaps some renowned figure. It is natural that the public is attracted by scandals. But few people did not know that such houses existed for years. And it would be absurd to declare that they came to the attention of the police, only after some crazy person happened to throw a bomb into one of such centres (near what is locally called ‘Haya-hulet Mazoria’, a sort of night club with half naked girls serving drinks and dancing). This had happened on Saturday, 12^th July, 2003, at around nine-thirty in the evening (with thirty one people injured).

Naturally, Police Commissioner Workeneh Gebeyehu condemned the attack as ‘cowardly’. Terrorism of any sort is wicked and deserves unanimous and unequivocal condemnation! And the news has stirred not little indignation and anger throughout the country. There is nothing more disheartening than to see the lives of innocent people blown up under whatever motive, political or otherwise. Definitely, we are confident that the police will do their homework and find out the culprits for the deserved punishment. In the meantime, society should open their eyes wide open so that such incidents are nipped in the bud.

What is amazing was however, that it was this ‘Segen Hotel incident’ that seemed to prompt police action against night clubs with strip dancers. Many wondered about the rationale of raiding such places today, when it was an open secret that there are hundreds of them, thriving under the eyes of all authorities. Owners even protested that they had legal licences and duly paid their taxes! This is common even outside Addis. A friend of mine who just returned from Gambella was telling me with sadness that teen aged girls abounded in such trade in every locality he came by. Drinks are served, enriched with a menu of adolescent female staff, not only in the evenings but also during day. These are open to any one, with out any specific restrictions, nor age limits, as long as one afforded the costs. In fact, it is no wonder that the rate of HIV infection does not seem to abate while people continued to indulge in persistent and uncontrolled intakes of alcohol, often as a sequel to ‘chat’ (the famous leaves, specially amongst the youth). There are thousands of such places that people can resort to if and when they want to quench their thirst of alcoholic beverages, depending on one’s economic possibilities. The clubs that the police raided recently were only special in that they had as clients ‘very rich and distinguished people’, (including allegedly some government hierarchies, members of the diplomatic corps, celebrities and business men). Some of these clubs charged as much as a hundred birr for a soft drink or needed special membership identification to access them, it was noted!

The incident is even more bizarre if we consider the fact that such clients of the clubs were taken to police stations and detained (with questionable legality) until the following day, before they were released on bail. No wonder that it must have been a very embarrassing moment for these people, specially for the government officers or well known individuals, caught ‘red-handed’ betraying their ‘principles’. Some had to withstand the presence of their wives or other family members during their release! Although it would be difficult to envisage under what criminal laws of the country these night clients had to undergo all the publicised processes, the moral implications should immerse them in enough shame! However, it would also be appropriate to distinguish between ‘culture’, ‘reputation’, ‘Ethiopian moral’ etc and one’s constitutional rights to privacy, one’s rights to pass the evening wherever one preferred as long as one did not violate laws. The question, ‘is there any specific law that provided for the arrest of people who are found drinking in a public place with a perfectly legal trading licence?’ needs to be addressed.

Morally, there is no question that frequenting such ‘clubs’ could qualify as ‘disgusting’, specially for people with families and expected to set examples for others, specially in view of our HIV/AIDS crisis. But in strict legal terms, what justifications can be provided for the arrest, harassment, and videotaping of both owners and others? Wouldn’t this risk to converge in to the notorious and often cited huge river of ‘police brutality’ or ‘arbitrariness’? And from the legal point of view, this point could be crucial, debatable. Under our Penal Code, ‘crimes’ have their own specific anatomy and physiology, their own configuration. Outside such confines, they don’t exist as crimes. There are no crimes by analogy, extension or speculation of any sort. And the right to one’s privacy is a constitutional right, the Ethiopian moral parameters, another matter! Hence, caution would require the reconciliation between these two not necessarily incompatible values: crimes and their prevention, and human rights and their respect. Beyond whatever rhetoric, clear demarcation need to be drawn.

True, today, there is a lot of ‘moral bankruptcy’, not only among the youths, but also among the reputed and elderly. The 200 people detained for questioning following the July 12^th incident is symptomatic of this. And this referred to only the tip of the iceberg! On the other hand, however, exaggerations that we saw following the incident seems at least hypocritic. When the news was widely publicized, many exclaimed: “Hey, look! that is how our rich community, our ‘officials’ enjoy themselves! That is how they pass their nights, corrupting our youths, contributing to the spread of HIV! During day, they preach decency, abstinence, one-to-one sexual relation, bla bla, but in the evenings, they undergo a metamorphosis like ‘Dracula’! They inundate brothels, ‘indecent’ night clubs, strip tease centres! etc”. Many commentators tried to ‘play the saints’ ( or ‘naive’, would be proper!) by condemning such people and circles. However, if we don’t shun frankness and honesty, we would know more and better. And we would not play the tune of sensationalism just for the sake of it.

Prostitution is reported to have been introduced and institutionalized here during the Italian occupation of the 1930s, when soldiers needed some ‘female care’ to help make their stay here less burdensome and more enjoyable. But once the invaders left the country, the trade had already taken deep roots, continuing to expand until it became common and even ‘accepted’. Today, the phenomenon is so widespread that even in the face of a catastrophic expansion of the HIV drama, demand and supply had increased, going hand in hand. And the signs are that it is going to further thrive, assuming even more sophisticated vests, (such as the night clubs where half dressed teenagers indulge in ‘shows’ trying to lure clients and satisfy their ‘lustful desires’).

On July 19-20, a Walta-HAPCO-CDC National Symposium was conducted at the UN Conference Centre on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, with the theme “Committed Leadership and Popular Participation Key in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS”. In this two-day symposium, (opened by President Girma and chaired by the Deputy Premier Addisu Legesse, also widely broadcast on live TV), 15 study papers were presented and discussed. Well, the findings were astounding. There was an increasing admission that what the people and government of Ethiopia have been doing for the last decade, in trying to combat the virus, had in major part failed! It had failed to bring about significant changes in, not only decreasing the figures of those affected by the virus, but also in bringing about significant behavioural/attitudinal change in social interactions, so that HIV would cease to flourish.

It was underlined, yes, people now do know more about the virus, even in the countryside, but that by itself did not result enough to curb the spread. The awareness was not at a level where people would be ready and willing to actively commit themselves in the crusade against the virus. There was still ‘a lot of mystification’ about the disease, a lot of ‘denial’ of evident, hard facts, a lot of misconceptions about the disease, and its impact. People still do not believe that HIV is every one’s agenda! The bottom line implication was that we needed ‘a new formula’, ‘a new approach’ a new ‘strategy’ to face the crisis, ‘a new understanding and appreciation’ and a new methodology. Otherwise, we would continue to lose sight of the major issue. We would continue to lose precious time. And the more we waited, the greater the risks of uncontrollability of the pandemic, and the more devastating the consequences.

One of the discussants at the symposium, a certain Dr Yegeremu, was heard saying, ‘we had the chance to halt/control HIV, ten years ago, when it was confined to a certain category of people . We missed that occasion, for many reasons. Today, there is no section of society that can be called ‘exempt or free’ from the contagion! It has spread in all sections. Therefore, today, we are in total emergency! Thousands die and we risk to lose all our working force in the near future, if things continue at the current pace! We need a major ‘mainstreaming and networking activity’. We need to adopt a new way of facing the challenge’. This is a grim but equally true and frank admonishment. Our efforts until now have not ‘matched’ the extent of the crisis. There is a big discrepancy between what is done and what needs to be done. (With this in mind, the Addis City Council has just launched, in a new way, the city’s HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Council). Others as well made similar remarks and it was sad to find out that after so many years of campaigns and awareness meetings and symposia, so many projects, so much publicity, so much resources expended, we are back to square one. And no wonder the situation is as grim as described by these scholars, candidly and passionately!

Indeed, one of the negative factors in such campaign could well be the continuing proliferation of night clubs, drinks houses, pubs, and the corresponding increase in the number of the clients, specially among youths. Some participants at the symposium mentioned illegal video houses, and ‘chat’ peddlers as ulterior accomplices to such debacle, obstacles to our fight against HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, the ‘evening business’ continues to attract very young teen-agers, ready and anxious to support their wretched families through the income that they hope to derive from such activities. Some of these girls were approached by reporters and the tales they tell resemble incredible. Many are forced to such trade by their very parents who require them to earn ‘easy’ money. Some of the night strip dancers were found to be high school graduates who did not know how to make ends meet and survive. They did not manage to find any other employment.

The issue would be very complex and challenging. There have been infinite discussions and researches on the issue of prostitution, on alcohol, and their implications on society. I am sure any sociology student would be familiar with this. There are thousands of research papers written on this subject, from every angle, including the health, economic, legal, moral and societal implications. Solutions have been prospected but have always been aborted for various reasons. Even in the advanced societies, prostitution exists, alcoholism flourishes. But their origins, causes and effects on society are well different from the scenario in developing countries. In any case, to expect that HIV would diminish, until such brothels, places of half-naked pubs and drinking quarters, with barmaids promptly available for commercial sex are widespread and easily accessible, would be naive, just like day dreaming. To expect that such houses will close and convert to other businesses would also be another dream, inasmuch as they continue to acquire easy, fast and immense riches ‘trading on the skin of our sisters’.

But of all such dreams, the least plausible would be to expect that police raids such as the one recently effected would discourage people from embarking on such activities, when we all know that they would resume the next day, (under perhaps a new guise, new name, new location). Until all pertinent bodies and associations, government and non, (Ministry of Trade, Health, City Hall, Police, Inland Revenue Authority, non-governmental organizations, business communities, civic and religious associations, leaders...,) all in unison take concerted and coordinated action that can be sustained, and until some sort of all-encompassing solution is sought for the thousands of youths that have no other means of survival but resort to prostitution or related trade, there will be no way of coming out of the dark tunnel, the impasse! That is for sure. The recent police raid therefore, impressive as they might appear, would hardly pass the stage of a mere PR exercise for police authorities! At least for a while, they would be thanked by the public for their ‘efforts’, a sigh of relief that hardly lasts long! Or just a lip service to the cause. Let’s be frank with ourselves and admit. It would be absurd to cheat oneself, it would be impossible to hide behind one’s fingers! It takes more than one or two police raids to uproot such big social catastrophe!