At a forum on Monday last to launch what will initially be a year of anti-violence activities targeting men, Dr Marlon Hestick, executive member of Men Empowering Network (MEN), gave a case study of a group of 14 teenagers who had broken into a mall and stolen items. They were caught, but instead of facing prosecution and sentencing, the Guyana Police Force which was collaborating with a social group committed them to a rehabilitation programme aimed at turning young men away from delinquency.
Dr Hestick was proud to report that four of those young men eventually became first generation university students in their families. While this is good to know, it is not a success story, as it is only part of the story. Dr Hestick did not go on to reveal what happened to the other 10 teen boys. Were they also rehabilitated? Or have they fallen through the cracks? He said that the social group had since become part of MEN and one hopes that its rehabilitation programme has not suffered as a result.
While MEN should be lauded for stepping up to the plate with an initiative designed to whack domestic violence out of the ball park, there is overwhelming evidence that there is still need for the “social groups across the country that had been quietly working to change the culture of violence… targeting young males at the community level.” MEN has stated clearly that its focus is stamping out domestic violence and abuse by addressing the root causes. Pulling back young people teetering on the brink of a life of full-blown delinquency that might include violence can help. However, this can only be a long-term goal.
If there is to be a change in the current circumstances, which see women being murdered this year at the rate of two a month and battered at perhaps ten times that rate, those targeted have got to be the older males that would fall into the group of ‘most likely to hit or kill their wives/girlfriends/mates or exes.’ Of course the verbal, mental and emotional abuse have got to be tackled as well. But it’s not unlikely that they could be addressed as part of the physical violence issue, since in many instances the hitting comes after the battering and breaking of the spirit. Then there is the fact too that physical violence brings with it its own psychological trauma.
MEN says it plans to do both. It will be engaging with men at the community and faith-based level and it will be using music as education to get its message across in schools, not only to young men but to young women as well. Part of its plan for the year also includes supporting traumatized adult males and boys exposed to abuse and collaborating with other agencies working towards the same cause.
As it confronts violence, MEN proposes to address the issue of power and control and how they translate in the man/woman relationship. It states that domestic violence should never be treated as simply a woman’s issue since it is a threat to the civil liberties of the entire populace.
MEN members have declared too that their aim is to pick up daily newspapers which no longer carry stories of women being murdered by the men in their lives. There were nine from June to November last year and ten from January to May this year. There is a lot of work to be done. MEN have said ‘yes we can’ and they deserve the full support of all stakeholders in accomplishing what should be the common goal of us all.
