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Women Celebrate International Women's Day by Rallying for Peace
Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Bennett, 202-628-8669, ext. 123; cell 202-641-1906
Women Celebrate International Women's Day by Rallying for Peace
Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy
Today, on International Women's Day, women and men across the globe are celebrating women's social, political and economic achievements and honoring the gains women have fought for as activists, advocates, mothers, workers and citizens of their countries. Michelle Bachelet, a feminist, will be sworn in as the president of Chile this week, but unfortunately women in the United States and around the world have more to lament than to celebrate this year.
Here in the U.S., George W. Bush's war on women have brought us a budget that takes money away from family planning and public assistance programs that help women and single mothers escape the plague of poverty. The radical right has pushed through a heartless law in South Dakota that would ban nearly all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, and similar bills are being spearheaded by conservatives in several other states. And as the Bush administration presses war in Iraq and rewards the richest in this country with more tax cuts, it ignores women and children, whose education and healthcare needs are suffering because of these reckless priorities.
In the border town of Juarez, Mexico, hundreds of young women have been raped and murdered on their way to or from their jobs at sweatshops. The Mexican authorities say it is random violence, and the U.S. corporations whose clothes are made in these maquiladora factories have done nothing. The National Organization for Women's march from El Paso, Texas to Juarez in December brought more attention to their plight, but it will take government action to end this plague of violence. NOW Executive Vice President Olga Vives is in Venezuela today with an International Women's Delegation to learn about the struggles women face in that country, and build our international dialogue.
In Afghanistan and Iraq, where the Bush administration has turned an ill-begotten war into a disaster with global costs, women are suffering. The fight against terrorism has only ensured that more women abroad will be drawn into a cycle of violence, war and destruction. Afghani women have been forced back into the burqa, and girls' schools are burned down almost as quickly as they can be built. Countless Iraqi women have died as a result of the war and the insurgency, and the number grows. Women in U.S. military are dying as well, fighting in a war designed not to make us safer but to settle a score.
On this day of honoring women and calling for them to be equal participants across the world, NOW is marching in Washington, D.C., shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraqi women, calling for peace, an end to violence, reproductive choice for every woman and equal rights for all. We ask women and men who support equality, peace, justice and democracy to mobilize with us and March in New York City on Saturday, April 29, when we will send a message to the world that millions of us do not support this war and are demanding a change in the direction of our country. Women have spoken: Enough is enough.
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"Women in U.S. military are dying as well, fighting in a war designed not to make us safer but to settle a score."
What the hell does that mean?
What the hell does that mean?
and get back to your life. You're obviously just bored.
He abandons one thread when he can't come up with good answers and flits to the next. What an intellect!
The following is a leaflet that I helped to write and distribute at an IWD rally in my city. It is a refutation of those who would abandon the brave women of Iraq. I urge all women to reconsider any call they are making that has the objective result of abandoning the women of Iraq!
SOLIDARITY WITH THE WOMEN OF IRAQ!
“Singin’ about a revolution
because we're talkin’ about a change
it's more than just evolution
well you know you've got to clean your brain
the only way that we can stand in fact
is when you get your foot off our back”
Nina Simone, c1968 (“Revolution”)
The time has come for genuine international solidarity with the brave women of Iraq who stood up to threats of death when they came out - in their millions - to take part in two elections and a constitutional referendum over the past 12 months.
We need to stand with these women who have made it so very clear that wont’t lie down in the face of threats from jihadi terrorists and the remnants of Saddam’s Baath regime. With the overthrow of Saddam, Iraqi women celebrated the beginningof a new era – an era in which liberation from decades of oppression both as Iraqis - and as Iraqi women, became possible for them. They have seized this opportunity with both hands and they need our solidarity.
This struggle is only just beginning. There will be all sorts of obstacles faced by the women of Iraq in the immediate future. Undoubtedly they will have to fight against attempts to introduce Sharia law in some regions. The grip of backward ideas about the status of women will not be loosened without a fight. The good thing is that now that fight can happen – and it is happening. Before the overthrow of Saddam it wasn’t even a possibility.
Most of the Australians who marched against the war in Iraq in 2003 now want to see Iraqi democracy succeed. They stand in solidarity with the 14 million Iraqis who ignored the threats of the so-called ‘resistance’ and voted in the elections.
However there is still a group of remnant ‘peace campaigners’ attempting to undermine the blossoming of democracy in Iraq. Unable to see what is happening in front of their eyes, they persist in calling the elected Iraqi representatives “collaborators” and “puppets”. The fact that 14 million Iraqis turned out to vote for these "puppets" , is an unfortunate fact that they would prefer to ignore.
Solidarity with the Iraqis and with Iraqi women in particular, requires that we refuse to turn IWD rallies into anti-Iraq war peace rallies.
The “peace campaigners” who push this line are objectively providing support for the most reactionary forces in Iraq. Forces who who would (if they could) drag Iraq back to the dark days of fascism.
And make no mistake about it! By calling for “an end to occupation” these people are not supporting self-determination in Iraq but instead promoting capitulation to the Ba’athists (who derived their ‘Arab nationalism’ from the European fascist movement of the 1920s) and to anti-women medievalists like the Taliban and the equally repulsive Al-Qaeda.
Some facts to consider
* The recently elected Iraqi National Assembly contains a higher proportion of women parliamentarians than Australia’s House of Representatives .
* The Transitional Administrative Law, agreed by the Iraqi Governing Council in March 2004 set out the path to a permanent post-Saddam constitution which enshrined women’s rights and set a target of at least 25% representation of women in the Iraqi National Assembly. Every third candidate on party lists for election was a woman, with the result that 31% of the seats in the National Assembly are now held by women.
* All three elections held in Iraq have been declared free and fair by UN observers.
* The most recent election resulted in fully proportionate representation of the diverse Iraqi electorate (which consists of Kurds, Arabs, (either Shia or Sunni), Turkomen, Assyrians, Christians and atheists.)
* A legitimate Iraqi government will now be established after protracted negotiations between these political representatives, and it is a foregone conclusion that this government will call for continued military and economic assistance.
They must receive such assistance until the insurgents are defeated.
Sharia Law?
It has been argued that things are now much worse for women and that there is a danger that Sharia Law will be instituted in Iraq. Yet under the current Iraqi constitution all Iraqi women are now legally entitled to pursue both democratic and personal rights.
Under Saddam Hussein’s ‘secular” fascist regime, western freedoms were the preserve of a tiny elite. This was true for both women and men – but as always, women suffered from the added burden that comes from being female.
It is therefore women who have the most to gain from the success of democracy and the defeat of those who want to see it fail.
The empowerment of Iraqi women is apparent not only in the National Assembly but also in the thousands of NGOs, which had been banned by the Hussein regime in 1991, and which are now flourishing with local and international support.
Of course the struggle is not yet over. Iraqi women will have to fight to maintain and extend what is written in their constitution. This will be a long struggle, such change does not arrive overnight. Ultimately it is revolutions which make laws and not vice versa. We need to stand with them in this fight.
Peace at any price?
Peace at any price is never a real option when the alternative to war means continued oppression, greater loss of life and loss of hope.
Western feminists should be applauding the overthrow of the Baathist tyranny just as we applauded the victory of the Vietnamese people. Our feminist 'tradition' teaches that if you are being raped you fight back; not turn the other cheek.
The US-based women’s group, CodePink, calls for the spreading of 'love for the human family'. This is just pap – identical to the type of crap spoken by the Pope. It is meaningless to Iraqi women who struggle under arranged marriages, bride prices, the dowry system, , temporary marriage provisions and honour killings. The CodePink appeal comes pretty close to suggesting that we can have peace only if we obey our husbands and dress modestly. Frankly, progressive women prefer rebellion.
Like former Age Journalist Pamela Bone, we are mystified as to why more western feminists are not firmly standing against tyranny and lifing their voices in support of attempts to liberalise the entire Middle East. The cultural relativism is simply mind-boggling especially when the position is thinly disguised isolationism (mind our own business and look after ourselves).
Western women should reflect upon our own continuing historical struggle against conservative sexual and family practices. Spare a thought for Annette Kellerman who challenged the laws of decency in America early in the 20th century. Also reflect upon the work of South Australia’s Catherine Helen Spence who advocated representative government based upon Proportional Representation as well as Women’s Suffrage. (Currently the Iraq electoral system is based on proportional representation - something we have yet to achieve!)
It is quite bizarre that there can be people claiming to be on the Left politically yet they oppose the Coalition that happens to be crushing fascism and helping build democracy. This way of “analyzing” things is no more than “left” sounding rhetoric camouflaging a world view which is deeply conservative and reactionary.
The pseudo left are here today and will tell us that all we can do is vote against the Government and attend rallies calling for the troops to be brought home.
If you are bored by such empty rhetoric and would like to join in discussions about building a genuine radical left, you might be interested in coming along to our website http://www.lastsuperpower.net
and joining in the debates happening there!.
The Peshmerger is the name of the armed Kurdish militia who fought alongside the coalition troops in the North of Iraq to overthrow Saddam. Peshmerger women with guns know what Nina Simone meant in her affirmative version of the Beatles’ anti-revolutionary hit, “Revolution”.
We are with them, and oppressed women everywhere.
http://www.lastsuperpower.net
SOLIDARITY WITH THE WOMEN OF IRAQ!
“Singin’ about a revolution
because we're talkin’ about a change
it's more than just evolution
well you know you've got to clean your brain
the only way that we can stand in fact
is when you get your foot off our back”
Nina Simone, c1968 (“Revolution”)
The time has come for genuine international solidarity with the brave women of Iraq who stood up to threats of death when they came out - in their millions - to take part in two elections and a constitutional referendum over the past 12 months.
We need to stand with these women who have made it so very clear that wont’t lie down in the face of threats from jihadi terrorists and the remnants of Saddam’s Baath regime. With the overthrow of Saddam, Iraqi women celebrated the beginningof a new era – an era in which liberation from decades of oppression both as Iraqis - and as Iraqi women, became possible for them. They have seized this opportunity with both hands and they need our solidarity.
This struggle is only just beginning. There will be all sorts of obstacles faced by the women of Iraq in the immediate future. Undoubtedly they will have to fight against attempts to introduce Sharia law in some regions. The grip of backward ideas about the status of women will not be loosened without a fight. The good thing is that now that fight can happen – and it is happening. Before the overthrow of Saddam it wasn’t even a possibility.
Most of the Australians who marched against the war in Iraq in 2003 now want to see Iraqi democracy succeed. They stand in solidarity with the 14 million Iraqis who ignored the threats of the so-called ‘resistance’ and voted in the elections.
However there is still a group of remnant ‘peace campaigners’ attempting to undermine the blossoming of democracy in Iraq. Unable to see what is happening in front of their eyes, they persist in calling the elected Iraqi representatives “collaborators” and “puppets”. The fact that 14 million Iraqis turned out to vote for these "puppets" , is an unfortunate fact that they would prefer to ignore.
Solidarity with the Iraqis and with Iraqi women in particular, requires that we refuse to turn IWD rallies into anti-Iraq war peace rallies.
The “peace campaigners” who push this line are objectively providing support for the most reactionary forces in Iraq. Forces who who would (if they could) drag Iraq back to the dark days of fascism.
And make no mistake about it! By calling for “an end to occupation” these people are not supporting self-determination in Iraq but instead promoting capitulation to the Ba’athists (who derived their ‘Arab nationalism’ from the European fascist movement of the 1920s) and to anti-women medievalists like the Taliban and the equally repulsive Al-Qaeda.
Some facts to consider
* The recently elected Iraqi National Assembly contains a higher proportion of women parliamentarians than Australia’s House of Representatives .
* The Transitional Administrative Law, agreed by the Iraqi Governing Council in March 2004 set out the path to a permanent post-Saddam constitution which enshrined women’s rights and set a target of at least 25% representation of women in the Iraqi National Assembly. Every third candidate on party lists for election was a woman, with the result that 31% of the seats in the National Assembly are now held by women.
* All three elections held in Iraq have been declared free and fair by UN observers.
* The most recent election resulted in fully proportionate representation of the diverse Iraqi electorate (which consists of Kurds, Arabs, (either Shia or Sunni), Turkomen, Assyrians, Christians and atheists.)
* A legitimate Iraqi government will now be established after protracted negotiations between these political representatives, and it is a foregone conclusion that this government will call for continued military and economic assistance.
They must receive such assistance until the insurgents are defeated.
Sharia Law?
It has been argued that things are now much worse for women and that there is a danger that Sharia Law will be instituted in Iraq. Yet under the current Iraqi constitution all Iraqi women are now legally entitled to pursue both democratic and personal rights.
Under Saddam Hussein’s ‘secular” fascist regime, western freedoms were the preserve of a tiny elite. This was true for both women and men – but as always, women suffered from the added burden that comes from being female.
It is therefore women who have the most to gain from the success of democracy and the defeat of those who want to see it fail.
The empowerment of Iraqi women is apparent not only in the National Assembly but also in the thousands of NGOs, which had been banned by the Hussein regime in 1991, and which are now flourishing with local and international support.
Of course the struggle is not yet over. Iraqi women will have to fight to maintain and extend what is written in their constitution. This will be a long struggle, such change does not arrive overnight. Ultimately it is revolutions which make laws and not vice versa. We need to stand with them in this fight.
Peace at any price?
Peace at any price is never a real option when the alternative to war means continued oppression, greater loss of life and loss of hope.
Western feminists should be applauding the overthrow of the Baathist tyranny just as we applauded the victory of the Vietnamese people. Our feminist 'tradition' teaches that if you are being raped you fight back; not turn the other cheek.
The US-based women’s group, CodePink, calls for the spreading of 'love for the human family'. This is just pap – identical to the type of crap spoken by the Pope. It is meaningless to Iraqi women who struggle under arranged marriages, bride prices, the dowry system, , temporary marriage provisions and honour killings. The CodePink appeal comes pretty close to suggesting that we can have peace only if we obey our husbands and dress modestly. Frankly, progressive women prefer rebellion.
Like former Age Journalist Pamela Bone, we are mystified as to why more western feminists are not firmly standing against tyranny and lifing their voices in support of attempts to liberalise the entire Middle East. The cultural relativism is simply mind-boggling especially when the position is thinly disguised isolationism (mind our own business and look after ourselves).
Western women should reflect upon our own continuing historical struggle against conservative sexual and family practices. Spare a thought for Annette Kellerman who challenged the laws of decency in America early in the 20th century. Also reflect upon the work of South Australia’s Catherine Helen Spence who advocated representative government based upon Proportional Representation as well as Women’s Suffrage. (Currently the Iraq electoral system is based on proportional representation - something we have yet to achieve!)
It is quite bizarre that there can be people claiming to be on the Left politically yet they oppose the Coalition that happens to be crushing fascism and helping build democracy. This way of “analyzing” things is no more than “left” sounding rhetoric camouflaging a world view which is deeply conservative and reactionary.
The pseudo left are here today and will tell us that all we can do is vote against the Government and attend rallies calling for the troops to be brought home.
If you are bored by such empty rhetoric and would like to join in discussions about building a genuine radical left, you might be interested in coming along to our website http://www.lastsuperpower.net
and joining in the debates happening there!.
The Peshmerger is the name of the armed Kurdish militia who fought alongside the coalition troops in the North of Iraq to overthrow Saddam. Peshmerger women with guns know what Nina Simone meant in her affirmative version of the Beatles’ anti-revolutionary hit, “Revolution”.
We are with them, and oppressed women everywhere.
http://www.lastsuperpower.net
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