Through the World Wide Web, pressure is mounting on Tanzania to protect its albino citizens who are being  mutilated and murdered for their "magical" body parts. JOHN HARRIS reports.

A TV show about albinos in Tanzania being slaughtered for body parts has caused a flurry of activity in our household.

Two weeks ago, SBS Dateline reported that a traditional Tanzanian belief in the magical power of albino bones, fuelled by greed, has led to the murder and mutilation of many albino Africans.

In the story, video journalist Aaron Lewis reported that despite dozens of murders to harvest body parts, not a single conviction has been recorded.

Albinism is a genetic condition that causes pale skin and hair and poor vision due to a deficit of pigment. Malian singer Salif Keita, who performed at Womadelaide in 2007, is an albino as was the psycho killer Silas in the Tom Hanks movie The Da Vinci Code.

While about one in 17,000 Australians is born with albinism, it is much more common in Africa. As well as superstitious stalking, African albinos generally have very poor eyesight and little pigment to protect them from the sun, leading to widespread skin cancers.

According to the Tanzanian Albino Society, Tanzania has about 370,000 albinos. More than 50 have been murdered since 2007 while many more have lost body parts to the black magic harvesters.

The Dateline report caught my wife’s attention, so she decided to find out what is being done to help stem this slaughter. A Google search for the words “albinos” and “Tanzania” produced an index of 175,000 web pages, many of them from major media outlets including the New York Times, the BBC and even our own ABC.

Tabloid outrage is plentiful with headlines like “Tanzania fear over albino killing”, “Tanzania's Albino Harvest,” and “Albino murdered, dismembered in Tanzania”.

However the Internet has changed the dynamic of such reporting. A few years back, this story would explode through radio, TV and the press to satisfy the lust for punchy promos and sensational headlines, then disappear as a footnote of history.

The Web, on the other hand, exists in the eternal present tense. As well as providing immediate access to the genesis, status and response to Tanzania’s albino massacre, it has even created a “poster girl” to champion change, 49-year-old Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer, Tanzania’s first albino MP.
The Web also points concerned people to areas where they can make a difference.

Canada-based Under the Same Sun is running an online awareness campaign and petition to pressure the Tanzanian Government into action at www.underthesamesun.com/. The Hands of Africa Foundation with the Tanzania Albinos Centre is also active at www.tanzaniaalbino.org/

John Harris is albino. His website is at www.johnharris.net.au.

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