Osun

Video: John and Yoko's creative use of the "N" word

Unfortunately, it's still all too true - and will likely remain true in 2008.
Even so, have a Happy New Year!

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Pardoning the victim

This is, presumably (and hopefully), the final chapter in an appalling case that took "blaming the victim" to a new extreme:

Saudi king 'pardons rape victim'

Saudi women are subject to strict sex segregation laws

The Saudi king has pardoned a female rape victim sentenced to jail and 200 lashes for being alone with a man raped in the same attack, reports say.

The "Qatif girl" case caused an international outcry with widespread criticism of the Saudi justice system.

Read the rest of the BBC article here

The Loomba Trust

Celebrate the true spirit of the holiday season by giving a donation to the Loomba Trust, an organisation that is "caring for widows around the world". I just did.

www.theloombatrust.org

"The Mourning After"

I'm very glad to see that Cherie Blair is continuing to keep the plight of widows in the public eye. Here's an excerpt from her op-ed piece, published today, December 18, 2007, in the New York Times:

When I reflect on the plight of millions of widows across the world, I realize just how fortunate we were. Although we were surrounded by love, widows and their children in many societies are shunned, abused and exploited.

The centuries-old practice of suttee — a widow burning herself alive on her husband’s funeral pyre — has all but vanished. But the few cases of self-immolation that do occur are a reminder of how bleak the future is for many widows. After a shocking case just five years ago in rural India, a sociologist in Delhi, Susan Visvanathan, explained that the widow who set herself on fire “would have assumed her life would be one of isolation and despair and shame and suffering.”

Read the rest of her article here

Enduring courage and camaraderie

By the time I finished reading this article, my eyes were blurred with tears.

Ladies of the French Resistance

By Emma-Jane Kirby BBC News, Paris and London

She told tales of camaraderie, of women from all walks of life thrown together in an alien country, tales of lonely Christmases singing French carols and desperately trying not to think of home.

There were apocalyptic accounts too of watching London burn, of courage in the Blitz and proud memories of moments on the number nine bus when a Londoner would notice her French uniform and lean over to say: "Vive La France!"

Read the entire article here

BBC News: Vancouver's vanished women

The victims of serial killer/pig farmer Robert Pickton were also victimised by the system because many were drug addicts, drifters and prostitutes. Here's an excerpt:

'Invisible women'

Many were drug addicts, working in the sex trade to fund their habits - part of a transient and disenfranchised community.

There were 27 on the missing list, going back to 1995. That was a cluster. That was way too many missing people Kim Rossmo Professor of Criminology

According to Mr Rossmo, now a criminology professor at Texas university, the low social status of these women, many of whom were of aboriginal origin, contributed to the police's lack of concern.

"If these women had been from the affluent Westside of Vancouver, you can count on the fact that it would have been a very different response," he said.

Read the entire article here

Heroic words

'Freedom of expression for some is not enough.
We must work for freedom of expression for all.
Human rights for some is not enough.
We must work for the human rights for all.
Peace for some is not enough.
We must work for peace for all.
I, come what may, will not be silenced.
Come what may, I will continue my fight for equality and justice without any compromise until my death.
Come what may, I will never be silenced.'
- TASLIMA NASRIN

Taslima Nasrin

Thanks to the op-ed piece mentioned in the previous entry, I found out about Taslima Nasrin:

Then there’s Taslima Nasreen, the 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer who bravely defends women’s rights in the Muslim world. Forced to flee Bangladesh, she has been living in India. But Muslim groups there want her expelled, and one has offered 500,000 rupees for her head. In August she was assaulted by Muslim militants in Hyderabad, and in recent weeks she has had to leave Calcutta and then Rajasthan. Taslima Nasreen’s visa expires next year, and she fears she will not be allowed to live in India again.
- AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Here's the link to Taslima Nasrin's official website: taslimanasrin.com

Keeping the 'Girl from Qatif' in the public eye - and keeping it real

Op-Ed Contributor

Islam’s Silent Moderates

By AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Published: December 7, 2007

When a “moderate” Muslim’s sense of compassion and conscience collides with matters prescribed by Allah, he should choose compassion.

Here's an excerpt:

A 20-year-old woman from Qatif, Saudi Arabia, reported that she had been abducted by several men and repeatedly raped. But judges found the victim herself to be guilty. Her crime is called “mingling”: when she was abducted, she was in a car with a man not related to her by blood or marriage, and in Saudi Arabia, that is illegal. Last month, she was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes with a bamboo cane.

Two hundred lashes are enough to kill a strong man. Women usually receive no more than 30 lashes at a time, which means that for seven weeks the “girl from Qatif,” as she’s usually described in news articles, will dread her next session with Islamic justice. When she is released, her life will certainly never return to normal: already there have been reports that her brother has tried to kill her because her “crime” has tarnished her family’s honor.

Read the entire article here (registration required)

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Vanishing headlines

Whatever happened to the Saudi rape case? It disappeared from the headlines shortly after the Saudis announced they had arrested over 200 terror suspects. Was it a trade-off? Two hundred-odd suspects for 200 lashes?

Interesting take on the 'teddy row'

Red faces in Sudan over teddy row
By Jonah Fisher
Former BBC Khartoum correspondent

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir speaks in Khartoum after pardoning Gillian Gibbons
President al-Bashir had been under huge pressure to intervene

Just over a week ago it was hard to imagine how the international reputation of the Sudanese government could sink any lower.

Accused of sponsoring the killing and rape of hundreds of thousands of its own people in Darfur and then of blocking the peacekeepers who might protect them - barely a week passed without a threat of sanctions or a new UN resolution.

But thanks to the Gillian Gibbons saga, Sudan has managed to transform its public image from pariah state to something approaching a laughing stock.

read the rest (and watch a statement by Ms Gibbons) here

BBC: Britons go to India to abort unborn daughters

Just when I was rejoicing about Gillian Gibbons's pardon (and hoping she gets safely out of Sudan), I found this on the BBC News website. It was like a slap in the face - and a wake-up call:

Britain's unwanted girls

By Sanjiv Buttoo

Cultural pressure to have a boy is leading some British women of Asian origin to travel to India for abortions to avoid having a girl.

Among them is Meena, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.

She describes what led her to do such a thing.

Reconstruction: 'Meena' went to India to abort her daughter Full interview

"As soon as you're pregnant everyone sits there and looks at you and constantly says: 'you're going to have a boy. We'll do this and we'll do that and we'll have celebrations'," she said.

But when the child is actually born and it's a girl, everyone around you feels disappointed - they say: 'well, never mind'."

read the rest here

Good news from Nigeria

NY Times:

Nigeria Turns From Harsher Side of Islamic Law

By LYDIA POLGREEN

Published: December 1, 2007

An Islamic revolution in northern Nigeria appears to have come and gone — or gone in an unexpected direction.

Here's an excerpt:

"[D]espite several internationally known adultery sentences of death by stoning in a public square — including that of Amina Lawal, a woman from Katsina State who gave birth to a child out of wedlock that a Shariah court in 2002 took as evidence of the crime — not one stoning sentence has been carried out. Ms. Lawal’s conviction was overturned the following year, and she is now active in local politics, living freely with her daughter Wasila in her hometown.

"The change has little to do with religious attitudes — northern Nigeria remains one of the most pious Muslim regions in Africa, as it has been since the camel caravans across the Sahara first brought Islam here centuries ago. In Kano, the main city of Kano State, thousands of men spill out in neat rows onto the city’s main boulevards on Friday afternoon, an overflow of devotion for the week’s most important prayer, and virtually all Muslim women are veiled.

"The shift reflects the fact that religious law did not transform society. Indeed, some of the most ardent Shariah-promoting politicians now find themselves under investigation for embezzling millions of dollars. Many early proponents of Shariah feel duped by politicians who rode its popular wave but failed to live by its tenets, enriching themselves and neglecting to improve the lives of ordinary people."

Another Heroine: Gillian Gibbons

As the mob calls for her head, her son tells the press:

"She doesn't want people using her and her case as something to stoke up resentment towards anyone, towards Sudanese people, towards Muslim people or whatever.
You know, that's not the type of person she is, that's not what she wants."

Crowds have marched in Khartoum demanding a tougher sentence

Read the BBC article "UK Peers visit teacher in Sudan" here

Good for Cherie Blair and "On Not Being a Sausage"

I was looking for a report on the interview with Cherie Blair just aired on the BBC, which opened my eyes and those of many others to the plight of widows (and their children) around the world, and found this instead, on the On Not Being a Sausage blog:

Cherie Blair's speech on Women's Human Rights in the 21st Century

Has the World Gone Mad? Redux

15 days in jail for the schoolteacher who allowed her young pupils to name a teddybear Mohammed, and now there are calls for her execution...

6 months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine if convicted...

...has the world gone mad?

Published 11.28.07 on the BBC News website:

Teacher charged over teddy row

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons said she made an "innocent mistake"

A British teacher has been charged in Sudan with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that charges have been laid against Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool.

She was arrested in Khartoum after allowing her class of primary school pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he will summon the Sudanese ambassador "as a matter of urgency".

In a statement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "surprised and disappointed" at the charges.

A spokesman said the first step was to "understand the rationale behind the charge", something which would be discussed by Mr Miliband and the ambassador as soon as possible.

"We will consider our response in the light of that," he added.

Lawyers say Mrs Gibbons faces six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine if convicted.

read the rest here

Reflections inspired by the Saudi rape case

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist
The Case for Illegal Mingling
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 25, 2007

"Two hundred lashes for a woman who was raped, under any circumstances in even the most traditional country, is barbaric — period. But what also keeps tripping off my tongue is this phrase 'illegal mingling.' It seems to me that if the Middle East could use more of anything these days it is more mingling — if not between the sexes then at least between the sects."

This one gets worse and worse

Saudi government: Rape victim had illegal affair

CNN Story Highlights

• Officials: Woman and her companion were discovered in a "compromising situation"
  
• Officials: Victim and her companion caused the crime to take place
  
• Woman convicted of violating law by not having a male guardian with her
  
• Court more than doubled woman's original sentence of 90 lashes to 200

Here's the Western interpretation - the "woman" was 18, and engaged to be married (no word on whether the marriage was arranged, but that is probably a given) and went out with another man. While they were having sex in a car, they were dragged out and gang-raped by 7 men. Neither pressed charges, but after the woman was married, her husband found out and made a formal complaint.

Putting things in perspective: if Sharia law had been applied in the US when Son of Sam was killing people in lover's lanes, any surviving victims who were not married to each other would have been flogged and jailed for violating the law against "illegal mingling." In fact, Son of Sam might have been viewed as something of a vigilante hero...

This one's closer to home...

...although Brazil's a big country. This horrific incident took place in the northern state of Pará.

Rape case adds to Brazil jail notoriety

By Gary Duffy BBC News, Sao Paulo

Brazilian jails have a long history of violence and overcrowding

It sometimes seems that there is little left to say about prisons and the system of detention in Brazil that still has the capacity to shock.

Even so, the report that a young woman, possibly as young as 15, was left to share a cell in a police station with around 20 men and is said to have been repeatedly sexually abused, does stand out for its sheer horror.

The fact that police officers involved then started to dispute her age, as if it mattered whether she was 15 or 20, does say something about the inability to grasp the scale of what had been done. (my emphasis)

The girl does not appear to have been helped by the involvement in the case of women officials at various levels.

Read the rest of the article here

See also: Brazil shock at woman's jail rape

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BBC: Saudis Back Rape Victim Sentence

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have defended a judicial sentence of 200 lashes for a rape victim.

The justice ministry said in a statement that the sentence was justified because the woman was in a car with an unrelated man.

The case has aroused controversy at home and condemnation abroad.

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said the sentence was an outrage and urged President Bush to put pressure on Saudi King Abdullah.

The 19-year-old, who has not been named, was travelling in a car with a male friend last year, when the car was attacked by a gang of seven men who raped both of them.


"I urge President Bush to call on King Abdullah to cancel the ruling and drop all charges against this woman
Hillary Clinton

She has become known as the "Qatif girl", a reference to the largely Shia town which she comes from.

Four of the men were convicted of kidnapping - but the court also sentenced the woman and her friend to receive 90 lashes each for the crime of "illegal mingling".

Last week the court increased the woman's sentence to 200 lashes and six months in prison.

It also banned her lawyer from the courtroom and took away his licence.

Read the rest (and weep) here

Old news

Most news stories follow the inverted pyramid structure, which I prefer to call the "ice-cream-cone" hierarchy - fresh, tasty news at the top, old, stale news at the bottom. Well, here's the "old news" at the very end of a recent CNN article on the woman who was gang raped in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to 200 lashes:

Women are subject to numerous restrictions in Saudi Arabia, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and the need for a man's permission to travel or have surgery. Women are also not allowed to testify in court unless it is about a private matter that was not observed by a man, and they are not allowed to vote.

The Saudi government recently has taken some steps toward bettering the situation of women in the kingdom, including the establishment earlier this year of special courts to handle domestic abuse cases, adoption of a new labor law that addresses working women's rights, and creation of a human rights commission (my emphasis).

Maureen Dowd is finally getting it (not to dis Dowd - I'm a big fan)

NY Times Op-Ed Columnist
Should Hillary Pretend to Be a Flight Attendant?
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: November 14, 2007
Stories have been popping up that suggest that evolution is moving forward in a circuitous route.

Gang-raped and sentenced to 200 lashes (plus jail time)

If you think rape victims are violated all over again when they go to the police and take their attackers to court, consider the fate of this woman, who had the bad luck to be gang-raped while "violating laws on segregation of the sexes" in Saudi Arabia:

SAUDI GANG RAPE SENTENCE 'UNJUST'

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Marry (the right man) or die

Honour crime fear of Syria women

Meena - the Founder of RAWA (1956-1987)

Click here to read

A short biography of

Martyred Meena

founding leader of RAWA

RAWA

I've been meaning to add to my list of heroines the brave women who formed the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and keep it going despite death threats and assassinations. I was just reminded of it because my good friend Marc Herold's new book is being advertised on their website (in Spanish) at http://rawa.org/marc_book_es.htm

Extraordinary Lives (from the BBC news website)

The extraordinary lives of Iraq's women

It is not often that we get to hear the personal stories of ordinary Iraqi women living under occupation. Earlier this year, however, eight women were asked to record their daily lives in a series of photo diaries.

The extraordinary results of the Open Shutters Iraq project are now being exhibited in central London.

Here are two of those photo diaries.

Why are women so unhappy?

Some interesting reflections in the Freakonomics blog

Words to live by

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage"

--Anaïs Nin

NY Times: Saudi Arabia Debates Women's Right to Drive

By HASSAN M. FATTAH

Published: September 28, 2007

Whether the newly open discussion signals that women will actually be driving soon remains to be seen.

Click here to read all about it

How do you say "good for you" in German?

Merkel angers China on Dalai Lama

Putting successful women between a rock and a hard place

Interestingly enough, this piece was published in the NY Times's "Fashion and Style" section

Putting Money on the Table

By ALEX WILLIAMS

Published: September 23, 2007

With rising incomes, young women discover the pitfalls of “dating down.”

Read it and weep.

The things that some of us take for granted...

Published yesterday on the BBC News website:
Women challenge driving ban

Saudi women rely on relatives or chauffeurs to drive them around

A group of women in Saudi Arabia is for the first time to lobby the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars.

Read the entire article here

Back to the subject of "gender imbalance"

From the BBC News website

Chinese woman's 'needle ordeal'

Doctors in China have discovered 26 sewing needles embedded in the body of a 31-year-old woman.

They think they were inserted into Luo Cuifen's body when she was a baby by grandparents upset she was not a boy.

Some of these needles have penetrated vital organs, such as the lungs, liver and kidneys. One has even broken into three pieces in the woman's brain.

The needles were discovered only when Ms Luo went to hospital complaining of blood in her urine.

She was given a routine X-ray, which revealed the needles. Up until then she had been in good health.

Read the entire article here - including links to articles on how China is waking up to the problem of female infanticide, aka, "gender imbalance"

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Nina Simone - 'nuff said

She made her life count for something - a true heroine

Jane Tomlinson loses cancer fight

Jane Tomlinson obituary

Terminal cancer sufferer Jane Tomlinson has died aged 43, following a seven-year battle with the disease.

The married mother-of-three, who was made CBE for charitable services in June, had raised £1.75m in a series of gruelling challenges.

Read the rest of this BBC article here

First female Beefeater

On a lighter note...this just in from the BBC website:

Beefeater makes history at Tower

Miss Cameron beat five men to the job

The first female Beefeater has made history by officially going on duty at the Tower of London.

Moira Cameron, 42, from Argyll, beat five men to the £20,000-a-year job as Yeoman Warder.

She said it was a "great privilege" to work and live at the Tower as she donned the famous blue and scarlet uniform for her first duties on Monday.

Miss Cameron joined the Army aged 16 and served the required 22 years in the Forces to become eligible for the post

Read the rest here