Canada.com report the unsurprising to many news that 'Women are being shut out of political life in the aftermath of democracy revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia'. Yes apparently the coming to power of Islamists in Egypt and Tunisia has not been all for the good:
The second story is less serious but still indicative of the atitude of many Islamists to women. The Israeli Herald reports that:
'U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.The only shock is that Hilary Clinton is in any way surprised.
...
she warned that women, despite taking part in the street protests, now risked a reduction in rights. Clinton is due to travel to Egypt and Tunisia next week.
"Unfortunately, in both countries now there is a very real danger that the rights and opportunities of women could be eroded in this transition period," Clinton said in the speech to the conference.
Clinton said that only two women were on Tunisia's transitional government — fewer than the number serving under ousted strongman Ben Ali. "There is even talk of rolling back the country's historic Personal Status Code that has protected women's rights for half a century," Clinton said.
"In Egypt, the women who marched for freedom in Tahrir Square are now shut out of the committees and the councils deciding the shape of Egypt's new democracy," Clinton said.
"The Constitutional Committee has not a single woman member. And when women marched on Tuesday to celebrate International Women's Day in their new democracy, they were met by harassment and abuse.'
The second story is less serious but still indicative of the atitude of many Islamists to women. The Israeli Herald reports that:
'A girl, who hopes to become the first Muslim to represent UK at the Miss Universe competition, has revealed that religious zealots, who are against her competing, have told her to "rot in hell".Wherever you are a Muslim woman woman in North Africs, the Middle East or Great Britain there are Islamists ready to tell you what you should or should not be doing. Is that afreedom you want for your children?
Shanna Bukhari, 24, from Manchester, who will be facing fierce competition from other models, hopes to send out a message that beauty competitions should not be off limits to Muslim women.
"I want other girls from Muslim communities to feel they can do this," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.
"My family are right behind me and I have had support from many others on Facebook - including friends who wear headscarves - after I set up a campaign," she stated.
She has agreed, like all other competitors, to take part in the swimsuit section of the contest but says there are some who have reacted with fury to the idea.
"Three men wrote that they would not support me because what I was doing was sinful. They said I should rot in hell which is pretty shocking," she revealed.
"But they contradict themselves by going out clubbing, drinking and smoking.
"I have had amazing support from the Asian/Pakistani community right across the UK and they want me to do well.
"These competitions are not just about beauty, they are about brains and personality as well," she added.
Bukhari was born in Blackburn and studied English literature at Bolton University. Her brothers and sisters and her parents all support her bid for the title.
She got through to the British final after qualifying from Miss Universe Asiana, a competition for Asian women living in the UK.
The winner of Miss Universe GB at the ICC Birmingham on May 1 will go on to the final in Sao Paulo on September 12. (ANI)'
1 comment:
Yes, the ignorance of individuals such as Hilary Clinton with respect to Islamic doctrine and attendant social norms is staggering. Why would anyone, except someone with a total lack of understanding of Islamic doctrine and social norms, be surprised by the fact that giving doctrinaire Muslims a free choice in determining their political future will create a political system and mode of political practice and discourse which is both determined and circumscribed by this doctrine and attendant norms? Democracy is a form of government, the content of which can be good, bad or indifferent depending upon the choices of a given electorate and the relative weights of various entrenched interests within a country.
The Soviets had an old slogan: ‘National in form, socialist in content’. What we are likely to see in North Africa and the Middle East in the near future are political systems that are ‘democratic in form, Islamic in content’. Alas, to a certain extent, the emergent Shariah compliance of our own politicians and judicial system means that Islamic social norms are now being privileged in our own society. Shockingly, Andrew Ryan has been charged with 'religiously aggravated harassment' having burned a Qur'an in Carlisle in January which carries a potential seven-year prison sentence. Any chance he'll get off as lightly as Emdadur Choudhury? http://durotrigan.blogspot.com/2011/03/of-burning-qurans-poppies-andrew-ryan.html
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