Yet another stunning example of 'justice' Muslims receive in this world - inside or outside the Middle East, inside or outside courtrooms.
I can't believe the story of the Marwa el Sherbini, the Egyptian woman stabbed 18 times in a German court isn't getting more press, well I actually can believe it given how devoid main stream media is of actual news.
Marwa, 3 months pregnant, was murdered just after winning a verdict against a man who verbally assaulted her for wearing the veil. Her 3 year old son watched the murder, and her husband was shot while trying to save her.
Here is a summary of what happened and here is an analysis of the lack of press coverage , explaining why Marwa hasn't been in the news, and juxtaposing her death with that of Neda, the Iranian woman shot by Basij who became a symbol of the demonstrations. Here is Hicham Maged's, Egyptian blogger, analysis of the tragedy. In it he goes down the 'what if' path. What if, for example, it was a western woman stabbed by a Muslim 'extremist'? Maged continues his analysis here with a piece entitled "De-Stereotyping the Image". Here, Michael Collins Dunn, Editor of Middle East Journal and blogger extraordinaire, has a great compilation of reports from a variety of Egyptian and Arab news sources.
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Women in the Middle East - Iranian reformists
Haleh Bakhash, daughter of Haleh Esfandiari, outspoken human rights activist and director of the Middle East Center of Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, reminded readers of an important point - "The silver lining to this harassment [article is about women scholars journalists and activists thrown in jail in Iran] is the reminder that women have been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and rights in Iran. They have overcome adversity in the past. In an environment of threat and intimidation they are enduring, and they need and deserve all the international support that can be mobilized for them."
It is important to realize that women of the Middle East, as I have mentioned in previous postings, are not poor, helpless victims. They are actors, agents of change, in parliaments, in the workplace, forming organizations, starting businesses and advocating for their own rights in their own societies. That these reform movements are occurring indigenously is key to their success.
The women I spent time with as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco were the exact opposite of the stereotype of the oppressed Muslim or Arab woman. They were strong - physically, emotionally and psychologically. They were intelligent and had the most endearing cynical senses of humor I've ever encountered. They had sound judgment. They were strong and motivated and resourceful.
A history of women's rights movements in the region is a longer post for another day, but there were women's rights movements in the Middle East in the early and mid 20th Century. Women had more rights in the Ottoman Empire (in the eyes of courts...see Judith Tucker's In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine and her Restoring Women to the Middle East) than in Europe. Anyone seen pictures of women un Egypt in the 50s and 60s? Short skits and tanks!
Unfortunately women's rights became tied to an imperial 'West' particularly after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the implementation of the mandate system and the COld War manipulations. One thing led to another and kerplop.
Women's rights in the Middle East will be successful as indigenous movements aided by foreign groups, and only as part of more comprehensive social, economic and political reform in the region - such as the end of dictators and opening of political space for expression (to protest and write about their desire for rights!) and economic opportunities (jobs for women!)
It is important to realize that women of the Middle East, as I have mentioned in previous postings, are not poor, helpless victims. They are actors, agents of change, in parliaments, in the workplace, forming organizations, starting businesses and advocating for their own rights in their own societies. That these reform movements are occurring indigenously is key to their success.
The women I spent time with as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco were the exact opposite of the stereotype of the oppressed Muslim or Arab woman. They were strong - physically, emotionally and psychologically. They were intelligent and had the most endearing cynical senses of humor I've ever encountered. They had sound judgment. They were strong and motivated and resourceful.
A history of women's rights movements in the region is a longer post for another day, but there were women's rights movements in the Middle East in the early and mid 20th Century. Women had more rights in the Ottoman Empire (in the eyes of courts...see Judith Tucker's In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine and her Restoring Women to the Middle East) than in Europe. Anyone seen pictures of women un Egypt in the 50s and 60s? Short skits and tanks!
Unfortunately women's rights became tied to an imperial 'West' particularly after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the implementation of the mandate system and the COld War manipulations. One thing led to another and kerplop.
Women's rights in the Middle East will be successful as indigenous movements aided by foreign groups, and only as part of more comprehensive social, economic and political reform in the region - such as the end of dictators and opening of political space for expression (to protest and write about their desire for rights!) and economic opportunities (jobs for women!)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Darfur and Beshir's ICC arrest warrant
While I am a firm believer that a country and a people can only move forward if those responsible for genocide and violence and perpetrating civil war and conflict are brought to justice, this justice must be timed to minimize civilian casualties and maximize effectiveness. I do not think this was the best time for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a warrant for Sudanese President Omar Beshir's arrest.
(This, by the way, comes from a humanitarian, someone who wrote their Thesis on the history of Darfur - showing that the conflict was based on resources due to desertification rather than 'Arab' and 'African animosities. But I am also, as I said above, a firm believer that justice brings lasting peace.)
Truth and Reconciliation commissions in South Africa and Rwanda and Liberia and Sierra Leone have been helpful in improving relations among former warring parties. After conflicts end (or toward the end) in these countries, and when other nations can secure the safety of civilians, arrest warrants for war criminals are also effective and necessary.
There have been a boatload of great op eds on this - an interesting one today from Nicholas Kristof who is fearful of the humanitarian outcome of the warrant as aid agencies are kicked out of Darfur - leaving 100s of thousands vulnerable to disease and without access to water and food.
He also mentions that no one he spoke to in the camps a week ago favored a delay in ICC proceedings.
He echos General Merrill McPeaks advocacy in an oped in in the Wash Post last week for a no fly zone in Darfur.
The worst thing about Darfur is to read that other Muslims (Sudanese Muslims out in the streets supporting Beshir, Hamas citicizing the warrant) speak out against this warrant as another western imperialist strategy in the region. Beshir and his cabal have killed thousands of MUSLIMS in Darfur.
(This, by the way, comes from a humanitarian, someone who wrote their Thesis on the history of Darfur - showing that the conflict was based on resources due to desertification rather than 'Arab' and 'African animosities. But I am also, as I said above, a firm believer that justice brings lasting peace.)
Truth and Reconciliation commissions in South Africa and Rwanda and Liberia and Sierra Leone have been helpful in improving relations among former warring parties. After conflicts end (or toward the end) in these countries, and when other nations can secure the safety of civilians, arrest warrants for war criminals are also effective and necessary.
There have been a boatload of great op eds on this - an interesting one today from Nicholas Kristof who is fearful of the humanitarian outcome of the warrant as aid agencies are kicked out of Darfur - leaving 100s of thousands vulnerable to disease and without access to water and food.
He also mentions that no one he spoke to in the camps a week ago favored a delay in ICC proceedings.
He echos General Merrill McPeaks advocacy in an oped in in the Wash Post last week for a no fly zone in Darfur.
The worst thing about Darfur is to read that other Muslims (Sudanese Muslims out in the streets supporting Beshir, Hamas citicizing the warrant) speak out against this warrant as another western imperialist strategy in the region. Beshir and his cabal have killed thousands of MUSLIMS in Darfur.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Article - Muslim Sent Home and a personal story on discrimination against Muslims and Arabs at airports
Muslim Sent Home in the Wash Post describes how Rashad Bukhari, a Pakistani citizen with a multiple entry visa to the US and works for the organization Search for Common Ground (works to solve conflicts around the world), was denied entry to the US the other day.
The author, John Mark, a colleague describes well how detrimental these kinds incidents are the the US reputation abroad and to individuals (like Mr. Bukhari) and organizations who are trying to help in build and repair bridges between the US and the Muslim world. Mr. Bukhari is quoted in the articles describing how it is a blow to him on many levels - personally (insulting and will make it more difficult for him to travel int he future) and professionally (exactly the kind of discrimination and misunderstanding he works to end.)
Last summer when I studied Arabic at the French Institute for Near East Studies in Damascus, Syria. It was a great program and one of my professors, who I will not name as I did not ask his permission to recount this story, told us one day in class that he had been to the US and would never go back. Of course we asked why. The story he told was deeply saddened me and still does to this day.
This professor, by the way, is a jolly old, curmudgeonly, insightful Syrian man, really great sense of humor. He also started one of the first human rights organizations in Syria (you'd think the US might want to welcome him here...) and is a well known and well respected scholar, published on many topics. He came to the US for the MESA (Middle Eastern Studies Assoc) annual conference and was detained and interrogated at Dulles. He did not go into the details of his detention, I think it was just too embarrassing and sad for him. He wasn't angry about his incident - rather disappointed, I think. He will never try to come back to the US and no one here will benefit from his activism and knowledge on the Syria and the region.
These policies hurt the US and the world on many levels. My professor and Rashad Bukhari are individuals who are trying to build relationships between the US and the Muslim world - they are our best diplomats and the US government immigration policies are inhibiting their work. Secondly, these discriminatory policies hurt our reputation in the region. This has happened to countless other individuals, students, scholars, activists (Tariq Ramadan's Notre Dame experience...) and each one returns to their home to tell their story of rejection. It's like the effects of our torture policies.
The author, John Mark, a colleague describes well how detrimental these kinds incidents are the the US reputation abroad and to individuals (like Mr. Bukhari) and organizations who are trying to help in build and repair bridges between the US and the Muslim world. Mr. Bukhari is quoted in the articles describing how it is a blow to him on many levels - personally (insulting and will make it more difficult for him to travel int he future) and professionally (exactly the kind of discrimination and misunderstanding he works to end.)
Last summer when I studied Arabic at the French Institute for Near East Studies in Damascus, Syria. It was a great program and one of my professors, who I will not name as I did not ask his permission to recount this story, told us one day in class that he had been to the US and would never go back. Of course we asked why. The story he told was deeply saddened me and still does to this day.
This professor, by the way, is a jolly old, curmudgeonly, insightful Syrian man, really great sense of humor. He also started one of the first human rights organizations in Syria (you'd think the US might want to welcome him here...) and is a well known and well respected scholar, published on many topics. He came to the US for the MESA (Middle Eastern Studies Assoc) annual conference and was detained and interrogated at Dulles. He did not go into the details of his detention, I think it was just too embarrassing and sad for him. He wasn't angry about his incident - rather disappointed, I think. He will never try to come back to the US and no one here will benefit from his activism and knowledge on the Syria and the region.
These policies hurt the US and the world on many levels. My professor and Rashad Bukhari are individuals who are trying to build relationships between the US and the Muslim world - they are our best diplomats and the US government immigration policies are inhibiting their work. Secondly, these discriminatory policies hurt our reputation in the region. This has happened to countless other individuals, students, scholars, activists (Tariq Ramadan's Notre Dame experience...) and each one returns to their home to tell their story of rejection. It's like the effects of our torture policies.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Robert Fisk Tells It Like It Is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDxezvEhHP0
In this video, Robert Fisk tells us what individuals in the Middle East really want: Justice.
In this video, Robert Fisk tells us what individuals in the Middle East really want: Justice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
