Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
A Volunteer Human Rights Group – Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins
Other Religious Supremacism reports
Enough Project on the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and Congo
— in November 2009 “Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in mid-November passed the bill out of committee and are working to bring it to the Senate floor”
— Related press release
Uganda’s gays: from advocates to outlaws
— AFP: “The bill has baffled legal experts who read it as the product of an over-zealous Evangelical community that is clueless about both Uganda’s constitution and international law.”
On November 16, 2009, members of the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center extended their activities from Florida to Ohio attacking Islam as attendees at an event led by others which was reportedly intended to address religious freedom in Columbus, Ohio, in the case of Rifqa Bary, who states that she has been threatened for converting from Islam to Christianity.
We object to Dove World Outreach Center’s tactics as counterproductive and objectionable to the cause of promoting human rights and religious freedom.
At the November 16 Columbus event, we have been told that attendees came from: “Wisconsin, Toronto, California… Michigan, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana.” Although we were not in attendance at the November 16 event, we recognize the challenges that any event organizers might in having a consistent message from diverse members of the public from different parts of the country.
According to reports, the Dove World Outreach Center attendees appeared to be less than 10 percent of the crowd of 120 (reported by the Columbus Dispatch) at that event on November 16, 2009. The Dove World Outreach Center attendees wore shirts that read “Islam is of the devil.” The Dove World Outreach Center has been doing this in Florida since July 2009. On July 7, 2009, the Dove Center first posted a sign reading “Islam is of the devil,” and then started having children wear shirts reading “Islam is of the devil” to local Gainesville, Florida schools in August.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) believes that the issue of religious freedom and human rights is a very real and serious issue. The activities of the Dove World Outreach Center are not reflective of those who seek to defend our universal human rights of freedom of religion and conscience.
R.E.A.L. had our own separate event on November 13, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio which was focused on public outreach and dialogue to the citizens of Columbus, Ohio and the students at Ohio State University in Columbus.
We support universal human rights, including freedom of religion, for all people – as well as supporting human dignity and respect as fundamental human rights as well. During our November 13 public outreach event, we talked to a number of local Columbus individuals who were Muslims who listened to our concerns on human rights issues and politely debated us on some points.
Our point was that all human beings deserve our universal human rights, regardless of their religion. We stated that no one has the right to deny freedom of religion or freedom of conscience to others. We pointed to the threats alleged by Columbus’ Rifqa Bary that she stated she was threatened for changing her religion from Islam to Christianity. We addressed the July 2009 Chicago event with 700 attendees supporting an anti-democracy extremists group (rationalizing anti-human rights views based on its interpretation of Islam) that passed out brochures defending the “death penalty” for those “traitors” who left Islam. We addressed the “honor killings” by religious extremists in Ohio, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and Indiana that had been rationalized based on a religious extremist ideology. Finally, we pointed to the global problem illustrated by a recent Pew Global Poll in Pakistan that stated that 78 percent of Pakistanis “favor death for those who leave Islam.” Like the global scourge of so-called “honor killings,” such anti-freedom ideological views are against those who seek freedom of conscience and religion as universal human rights.
R.E.A.L. had such discussions with local Columbus area Muslims in a spirit of civility, dignity, and respect for human rights. This resulted in agreement and reflection on some of these human rights concerns. That is what public outreach on human rights issues is all about, reaching the public where we seek to affect change.
Regarding the campaign by the Dove World Outreach Center, it is also clear that two wrongs don’t make a right. Just as it is wrong for religious extremists to call for violence against those who seek freedom, it is also a challenge to human dignity and respect for protesters by wearing shirts stating “Islam is of the devil.” Working for human freedom and human rights begins with respect and dignity, and focusing on what you are for, not what you are against. This is why our organization is called “Responsible for Equality And Liberty.”
Our universal human rights begin with love. We can’t love our fellow human beings and deny their basic equality, liberty, and universal human rights. Moreover, we can’t hate our fellow human beings and claim to be fighting for human rights causes as well.
To those who state that the activities of the Dove World Outreach Center reflect “Christian” views, we note repeated protests of Dove World’s activities in Florida by Christians (and others), as reported in the Gainesville Sun, WCJB TV20 News, and by The Christian Post.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on the reaction by some at the Columbus November 16 rally to the members of the Dove World Outreach Center wearing the shirts “Islam is of the devil,” stating “Paige Bailey, who was at the rally, said she was troubled by that message. Rifqa wouldn’t like the focus to be on opposing Islam but rather on helping people come to Christianity, said Bailey, who met Rifqa through Christian groups at Ohio State University.”
The Dove World Outreach Center uses tactics to generate public outrage in Florida holding “fake lynchings” on church grounds, stating that President Obama’s polices are also “of the devil,” etc. Their campaign on Islam is another one of their campaigns designed to get a public outrage reaction.
From a human rights perspective, we believe that campaigns of outrage demonizing others is counterproductive in effecting change in human rights, because the point of a human rights campaign is to reach our fellow human beings. Moreover, according to the Christian Bible Romans 3:23, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The Dove World Outreach Center quotes the Christian Bible chapter of John on the front of their shirts that on the back states Dove’s message that “Islam is of the devil.” We recommend that they examine John 15:12: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Whether it is outreach on religion or outreach on human rights, we believe that, ultimately, Love Wins.
— Tony Alamo Gets 175-Year Sentence
— TV 40/29 reports: “Evangelist Tony Alamo has been sentenced to 175 years in federal prison for taking underage girls across state lines for sex.”
— “Alamo was sentenced Friday in Texarkana.”
— “U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes listened to testimony from three of Alamo’s victims before giving Alamo the maximum time allowed by federal guidelines. He told Alamo that he will one day face ‘a greater judge,’ and said ‘may (God) have mercy on your soul.’ ”
Arkansas Report: “Child Rapist and Anti-Catholic Cult Boss Gets 175 Years” — Tony Alamo
Texas: Polygamist convicted of sexual assault on child
— AP reports: “The first polygamist sect member to face criminal trial following last year’s raid at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas was convicted Thursday of sexually assaulting an underage girl with whom he had a so-called ‘spiritual marriage.'”
— “Raymond Jessop, 38, didn’t visibly react when the verdict was read after just more than two hours of jury deliberations. Free on bond during trial, he was immediately handcuffed and led to jail. Jurors were expected to return to court Monday to begin deciding his sentence on the child sexual assault conviction. He faces up to 20 years in prison.”
Texas: Child Sexual Assault Charges in Case Challenging Members of “Renegade Mormon Group”
The Daily Telegraph reports: — “Polygamy challenged as renegade Mormon group’s trial grips Texan town” — “Court case sheds light on Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where it is alleged that bigamy and sexual abuse of girls, some as young as 12, are widespread.’ — “It was laid out in the makeshift courtroom set up in Eldorado’s draughty community hall, where, over coming weeks, the key tenet that marks the sect out from mainstream Mormons – polygamy – will come under challenge. Prosecutors claim that the church’s controversial practice of ‘spiritually uniting’ young women with men often several decades older is a cover for rampant sexual abuse, as well as bigamy.” — “The legal showdown began last week, when a leading pillar of the church pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault against a 16-year-old girl, who was allegedly assigned as one of his nine wives.” — “Raymond Jessop, 38, is one of 12 men from the sect who are facing sex and bigamy charges arising from a raid last year on the church’s nearby Yearning for Zion ranch.” — “‘We will ask you to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Raymond Merrill Jessop is guilty of sexual assault on a woman less than half his age,’ deputy attorney General Eric Nichols told the jury of eight men and four women in a brief opening statement.” — “Jurors were shown a picture of a toddler in a pink prairie dress, clinging to the skirt of a teenage woman who prosecutors say is the girl with whom Mr Jessop allegedly had sex in 2004. Prosecution DNA evidence is be presented to show that the toddler was the product of that liaison.” — “Led by their ‘prophet’ Warren Jeffs, who has since been jailed on sex charges, many of the sect’s senior figures moved here in 2004 from their long-standing communities 1,100 miles away on the Utah-Arizona borders. — “Even as the softly-spoken mothers, their hair coiffed up from their foreheads as a tribute to God, insisted that the authorities were breaking up happy normal families, child welfare services were reporting a large number of pregnancies among ‘clearly underage’ teenage girls. They also noticed an unusual rate of broken bones among young children, The Sunday Telegraph was told.” — “The children were all subsequently returned to the church, to the delight of its leaders and horror of its critics. But based on evidence seized from the ranch, the prosecutions are being pursued.” — “Their 10,000 followers, who are spread across the Midwest, broke away early last century after the mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy. They are committed to the doctrine of ‘plural marriage,’ which requires a man to take multiple wives to receive the highest form of salvation.” — “The church also practices ‘placement marriage’ – with the church leader, who has the status of prophet, assigning females to husbands. Traditionally, this has involved marrying off girls as young as 12, although the church stated last year that it would end the practice of child brides.” — May 30, 2008: “Texas overstepped authority in removing polygamist sect children, rules court” — April 28, 2008: “Most teen girls from ranch have been pregnant” — Wikipedia reports: “Despite the widespread assumption that the calls that triggered the raid were hoaxes, Texas officials have no regrets. One child, a 14-year-old girl, remains in foster care. She was married to jailed leader Warren Jeffs two years ago, when she was just 12.” — June 11, 2004 – Arizona Republic: “Peek at polygamists’ haven”
“Westboro Baptist” Hate Group to Protest New York Area Synagogues
— The Jewish Star reports:
— “Fringe Baptist group to bring hate to Great Neck”
— “Protests planned next week in Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan”
— “A fundamentalist church from Topeka, Kansas plans protests at Jewish locations in Great Neck, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan for three days beginning Thursday, September 24th. The Westboro Baptist Church, led by Rev. Fred Phelps and composed largely of his family members, has been in the news with its protests at funerals of AIDS victims and American soldiers killed in action… While the church has mainly protested what it perceives as homosexual targets and colleges around the country, since April 2009 it has also picketed Jewish sites, according to the Anti-Defamation League.”
— “The church is an ‘extreme group that spews hate wherever it goes,’ said Ron Meier, director of the New York region of ADL. ‘Their strategy is to attract attention and draw a response and by doing so get publicity for their church, and that’s why the ADL has advised all groups not to engage them. Because without a response they don’t gain attention and any further spreading of their view,’ he said.”
— “Westboro Baptist Church is considered to be a fringe organization; it is not associated with any major Christian group or denomination. A documentary about the Phelps family that aired on the BBC was titled, The Most Hated Family in America.”
— “At Chabad of Great Neck, which according to the church website will be picketed at noon on Friday, Sept. 25, Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky said he was aware of the protest and planned to pay no attention to it.”
— “Protest are also planned outside the Great Neck Synagogue, North Shore Hebrew Academy High School and at Temple Beth Israel. The group also plans to picket outside the East Midwood Jewish Center on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, and in Manhattan at the 92nd Street Y, the Jewish Theological Seminary and at the United Nations. The group’s past targets include appliance stores that sell Swedish vacuum cleaners.”
— “The group’s website states that Jews killed Christ and that, ‘God hates these dark-hearted, rebellious, disobedient Jews.” The fifty-member church claims to have staged over 40,000 protests across the country.”
— “The automated telephone greeting at the Westboro Baptist Church features a pleasant, Southern-accented female voice who advises if you are a ‘Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or Christ-rejecting Jew,’ that ‘God hates you all,’ and recommends visiting the church’s website where more information is available.
— Additional Reports:
— Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports on “Westboro Baptist Church”
— Southern Poverty Law Center listing of “Westboro Baptist Church” as a hate group
— Christian Post reports: “Protesters at the so-called ‘Love Rally’ denounced Pastor Steven L. Anderson’s sermon — which called on parishioners to pray for the president’s death — as hate speech.”
— “‘It’s hard to believe we could have someone of a religious nature wishing our president was dead,’ said protester William Crumb to KNXV-TV in Phoenix.”
— “Another protester, Larry Crane, said, ‘I’m just disgusted with this man who claims to be a minister of the Lord preaching hate toward the president.'”
— “Last month, Anderson, 27, told the members of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., that he prays the president would die soon.”
— “‘Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow,’ Anderson said in the sermon, available on YouTube. ‘Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg.'”
— “Despite adverse reactions from the public, the controversial pastor again repeated his message Sunday outside his church.”
— “‘I hope it happens today, not when he (the president) gets older,’ said a defiant Anderson, according to NBC affiliate 12 News. ‘I hope he dies of brain cancer today.'”
— “Anderson said he received a phone call from the U.S. Secret Service in August. The Secret Service said it was following up on Anderson’s comments.”
There is no challenge or priority greater for our generation larger than the continuing global oppression of women, who represent half of humanity. This challenge for women’s equality and women’s freedom must be a concerted effort by men and women together for the futures of our daughters, our sisters, our nieces, and the billions of women who are counting on our courage to defend their universal human rights. We see the oppression of women on a daily basis around the world, including the pandemic rape and sexual violence in the Congo, so-called “honor killings,” and the religious extremist and misogynist oppression of women. We must stand united on all fronts challenging the human trafficking, oppression, sexual violence, and femicide against women around the world.
The key in this struggle for women’s equality remains consistency.
We cannot decide that women’s equality matters in some parts of the world, but not in others. Human equality is a universal human right – it applies everywhere and to everyone. We also cannot decide that we oppose women’s equality because we may not like some of the decisions some women may make if they have equality. Human equality is a universal human right – whether we like the decisions some people make as equal human beings is never an argument against equality itself.
Our hope for women’s equality lies in building communities that are willing to share our love for our fellow human beings, as well as share a consistent commitment to equality and liberty for women — in America and around the world.
Equality for Women Must Be Constitutionally Guaranteed in America
On August 26, 2009, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) will be remembering “Women’s Equality Day” with a public awareness event on women’s equality at Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza. Women’s Equality Day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave U.S. women full voting rights in 1920. But nearly 90 years later, it remains a disgrace that women have not yet been given full Constitutional equality, and that must change. In the United States, we must declare unequivocally and without reservation in our Constitution that all men AND women are equal under our national law.
Such fundamental issues of women’s equality must be not the choice of “interpretations” by state governments and changing legislatures, but must be a unequivocal, Constitutional right for all American women. Such human equality is fundamental to America’s very identity as a nation, and it is a universal human right.
Therefore, it is past time for the United States government to pass and endorse the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) to guarantee such Constitutional equality for women. Every day, women in our armed forces (over 200,000) and other branches of our government work to defend a Constitution of the United States, where their inherent equality is not guaranteed. The women of America deserve better and it is our responsibility to ensure their full Constitutional equality.
To those of you unfamiliar with the Equal Rights Amendment, I urge you to read what it actually states. It states that: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.”
The Equal Rights Amendment’s wording reflects the Constitutional language of the 19th Amendment which states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Some will continue to make arguments that such U.S. Constitutional equality for women should not be supported through the Equal Rights Amendment because they are concerned about the impacts of such an amendment on American society. We have heard this before. Arguments against a Constitutional amendment on women’s rights as a threat to American “civilization” have been made many times – as they were against the 19th Amendment to the Constitution – giving American women the right to vote.
Those who sought to deny women the right to vote claimed that the 19th Amendment would lead to war, would undermine America’s national security, would create “mental disorder” in women, would lead to voter fraud by women, and would undoubtedly threaten women’s health as they were too “fragile” to vote. Those who sought to deny women the right to vote claimed that the 19th Amendment “would produce a nation of transvestites,” and would result in the “resignation of manhood.” Despite the claims of those who opposed the 19th Amendment, America commemorates Women’s Equality Day on August 26, remembering those American legislators and states that had the courage of their convictions to act and ensure women the right to vote through the 19th Amendment, which was finally ratified on August 18, 1920.
It is past time to complete the unfinished business on women’s Constitutional equality in America. The 19th Amendment was first ratified by Illinois, yet the Equal Rights Amendment has still not been ratified by Illinois and 14 other states today, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. Women’s equality is a universal human right, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States joined in adopting as part of the United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically recognizes “equal rights of men and women.” In recognition of these universal human rights, we urge our fellow Americans to support the Equal Rights Amendment. We ask President Obama to ask his fellow citizens in Illinois and around the country, when will they ratify the Equal Rights Amendment? In the interim, we urge President Obama to show historic initiative by declaring an Executive Order recognizing the equality of women in America.
In our generational defiance of the misogynist hate against women around the world, America cannot afford to allow any exceptions, starting at home. We cannot allow the continuing failure to have Constitutional equality of women in America as a rationalization to justify oppression of women in America or anywhere in the world.
A Global Defiance Against Misogyny – No Exceptions, No Excuses, No Rationalizations
Of all the forms of institutionalized hate that our society faces today, none is more self-destructive to the continuing survival of the fabric of humanity than the hatred of women, or misogyny.
Yet we see increasing misogynist murders, violence, hate, oppression, and intolerance growing around the world. It is our responsibility to consistently and unceasingly defy such hate and violence against women. We cannot leave such a world of misogyny as the legacy of our generation to our daughters, sisters, and women of the world.
If we continue to expect the least from others regarding hate and violence against women, that is precisely what we will get. It is time to stop expecting the least from others in America and around the world regarding misogyny, and start demanding the most in terms of consistent equality, freedom, and respect for women.
How do we change public attitudes on misogyny? We start with ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our cities, our nation, and then reach out towards the rest of the world. We start by expecting equality for women in the workplace, in our Constitution, in our government, and in society. We start by rejecting the idea that women are second-class citizens or second-class human beings in America or anywhere in the world. We consciously choose a global defiance against misogynist hate – no exceptions, no excuses, and no rationalizations. We recognize misogynist activities as precisely what they are – hate crimes.
We need to set a new standard of public rejection of misogyny as something that is always unacceptable, just as racism and any other form of institutionalized hate is always unacceptable. In the United States, our national priorities, funding, and programs must be geared to promote equality for women and to consistently defy misogyny.
In our foreign relations, we must show a zero tolerance for misogyny, especially institutionalized misogyny. Those nations whose leaders and governments tolerate or support hate and violence against women are rogue nations that are not, will not, and must not ever be viewed as “allies” of the United States of America. Terrorism against women is nothing less than a declaration of war against half of humanity itself.
The New York Times recently reported that the “global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine ‘gendercide’ far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.”
U.S. taxpayer dollars and U.S. corporate investment must not reward nations with institutionalized hate against women. But it does today and that must change. While some may view such a change as “radical,” our generation must develop a culture that holds equality, freedom, and respect towards women as a basic standard of civilized human behavior. We cannot continue to look the other way as women are murdered, mutilated, raped, and oppressed around the world. We must develop a culture where such equality and liberty is a priority in who and what we are, not just as individuals, not just as a nation, but also in the way we relate politically and economically with the rest of the world.
Our tolerance of the oppression of girls and women in Communist China, in Saudi Arabia, and in too many nations around the world is a legacy that we must change. In our international relations, too often we have allowed continued support of those nations that practice institutionalized hate against women, with the rationalization that we have had to make the best of bad choices. But those bad choices set an example of how much misogyny we will tolerate, we will accept, and we will appease. It sends a very clear message that human rights are not our top priority, and may even be our last priority. Human rights are never our last priority; they are always are the first priority for humanity. The dark chapter in our history that has consciously ignored such oppression of the world’s women, while doing business and funding some of the world’s worst oppressors of women’s rights must come to an end, so that we can forward together to bring equality and liberty to women around the world.
Men and women together must recognize that our “standard of living” is only as great as our “standard of human rights.” It is our standard of human rights that defines whether we are or are not a civilized people.
We can’t buy back the human rights violations of women around the world. No material creature comforts, momentary pleasure, or economic prosperity will ever justify one moment of inequality, degradation, oppression, or violence against women. We need to come to the societal realization that we can’t put a price on hate and violence against women. We need to come to the realization that no productive foreign policy, no productive national security tactic, and no political objectives of free people are ever advanced by ignoring hate and violence against women.
Our Responsibility for Women’s Equality and Liberty
Let us not deny who and what we are collectively. Collectively, we are the ones that create the governments of the world. Collectively, we are ones that form the corporations of the world. Collectively, we are the races, religions, conscience, and nations of the world. This is not someone else’s responsibility. This is our responsibility for women’s equality and liberty. It is our personal responsibility to challenge those who would justify or rationalize hate, violence, and oppression against women.
But if we are not consistent in our defiance against misogyny, then we will simply tell those who hate women that we just don’t tolerate hate against women in SOME instances. That is the societal change we must affect in our generation. A zero tolerance policy against misogyny must challenge hate against women consistently and globally.
Without a culture of zero tolerance against misogyny where will our society end up? Reports from around the world give us a preview of the inhumanity that continues to grow on a daily basis against women. Misogynist hate seeks to dehumanize women either through acts of war or acts of oppression.
According to V-Day reports on the Congo war, “[a]n estimated 5 million people have died here since 1996, with over 250,000 victims of rape.” U.S. Department of State Secretary Hillary Clinton recently reported from a trip to the Congo: “Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.” This misogyny against women in Africa includes the use of rape as acts of war by military and terrorist organizations. Regarding the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations reports that “the Congolese army, security sector personnel, and several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC.” While the United States is providing funding for medical care and support for rape victims in the Congo, it must also set expectations for President Kabila to prosecute Congo military involved in such sexual violence, and U.N. Secretary Ban to ensure action against any UN personnel involved in such sexual violence. The violence in the Congo is linked to violence in Sudan (where a human genocide continues to rage) and Uganda on its borders. In addition, these rapes are also performed by the Uganda rebel terrorist organization, the “Lords Resistance Army” (LRA). The LRA terrorist organization claims to seek to create theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments, while murdering and raping other Christians and destroying their churches. In addition to setting expectations for the Congo and U.N. leaders, we must have a continued commitment against the LRA Ugandan terrorist organization, and Christian organizations must publicly and aggressively reject the actions of the LRA. The continuing conflicts in the Congo, Uganda, and Sudan must be a priority for Africans, Christians, Muslims and human beings around the world.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been described by one Muslim woman as the “world’s largest prison for women,” but the endless reports of misogynist abuses by government officials and Saudi clerics has not impacted our continuing trade or support for the misogynist government of Saudi Arabia. Some human rights organizations even continue to seek funding from within Saudi Arabia, while Saudi Arabia continues to refuse to end its segregation and oppression of women and it refuses to end child marriages. Women who have managed to escape outside of Saudi Arabia file for asylum from Saudi Arabia’s misogynist laws, including their fear of being stoned to death. The Saudi prison state is hardly unique in the Middle East and Asia in terms of oppression of women. Iran continues to hold women in prison for their religious beliefs, allows raping of women prisoners, and has a long history of oppression and violence against women, including stoning, with women such as Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani awaiting death by stoning. Across the Middle East, so-called “honor killings” of women are rampant with limited punishment of those who commit such violence, with Syria recently deciding to increase the penalty for murdering of “honor killing” of a woman from 1 year to merely 2 years in prison. In Iraq, women are not protected as rape victims, and the “honor killing” of an Iraqi woman is punishable by 3-6 months in prison, resulting in the creation of an “underground railroad” for Iraqi women to try to escape. In Afghanistan, the government recently adopted a law permitting starvation of a Shiite Muslim woman if she doesn’t provide sex to her husband, while one cleric in Afghanistan defends marital rape as a “democratic right.” We are told by the news media that women have been prevented from voting due to the absence of segregated voting booths, rationalized by one newspaper as merely “strict cultural norms.” Women continue to live in terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where women are routinely murdered, mutilated, sprayed with acid, and raped based on the rationalization that they deserved to die for committing some “offense” against Islam. Generations of women have gotten so used to being beaten, abused, and killed, some don’t even know there is anything wrong with it. The cancer of this misogynist hate has spread from Africa’s Somalia (where a 13 year old girl was stoned to death for the “crime” of being raped, while 1,000 watched) to Europe’s Turkey (where 25 percent of the population approves of “honor killings”). Furthermore, such “honor killings” and violence against women has spread throughout all of Europe, the United Kingdom, and into the United States of America (Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Buffalo). Nor is this violence restricted only to Muslim women, as Christian women in the Middle East and Asia are frequent targets of such hate. Egyptian Christian women are kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert to Islam. Pakistani Christian women are tortured, stripped, raped, and burned alive by Muslims in Pakistan. This global violence against women must be a priority for Muslims, Christians, and human beings around the world.
The consistent denial by world governments on such misogynist threats against women can be seen this week in Russia, where on Monday, August 24, 2009, Reuters reported on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to support Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov has been denounced by human rights organizations for Chechnya’s history of killings and kidnapping of human rights activists. Responsible for Equality And Liberty has criticized Kadyrov since our March 2009 protest at the U.S. Capitol on International Women’s Day for his support for “honor killings” of women in Chechnya. On February 28, 2009, AP reported that “the bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die. Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had ‘loose morals’ and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.” On April 7, 2009, Interfax reported that Kadyrov justified murdering women who were “promiscuous.” Yet Russian Prime Minister Putin openly and publicly supports Ramzan Kadyrov, with no visible outcry from international women’s groups, no denunciations by the U.S. government, and no protests (yet) at the Russian Embassy. Some view supporting Kadyrov as the best of bad choices. But if we believe in women’s equality and liberty as a priority, we must always and consistently object to institutionalized and government support of misogyny. Turning a blind eye to hate and violence against women will never ensure security for Russia or any nation.
The magnitude of this problem cannot be effectively communicated in this brief article. At Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s website on such violence, I was recently asked for the web link on the initial report on Buffalo’s Aasiya Zubair Hassan in mid-February and I discovered that we have 12 pages of headlines on such attacks in the past 6 months alone. These are more than merely tragic statistics of a continuing horror story of institutionalized misogynist violence against women. Each attack was against a unique and individual girl or woman who was someone’s mother, daughter, sister, and they were loved, special human beings. But this consistent, global war against women has yet to be prioritized by the national news media. Such hate crimes against women are not yet a consistent priority of much of the mainstream news media. This is precisely what we must change in being responsible for women’s equality and liberty.
Empowering Each Other to Stand United for Women’s Equality and Liberty
The problem we face in challenging misogynist hate demands accountability from the governments we elect, and the nations, races, and religious organizations we belong to. We can bring change to our culture in support of women’s equality and liberty, but we must expect a “standard of human rights” that respects women’s equality, liberty, and dignity from all of the organizations that we are part of as individuals.
Women deserve better than this. On this Women’s Equality Day, we must resolve to make such hate and violence against women a consistent priority for human rights groups, for women’s groups, and for each other as individuals.
We must remember that our struggle against misogynist hate and violence is based on our love for one another as fellow human beings, and not become desensitized and demoralized to believe that misogynist terrorism is nothing but statistics that we feel hopeless to change. We must remember who and what we are working for – equality and liberty of women and each other as individual human beings. But most of all we must work to build communities of love, building relationships with others to share our commitment for equality and liberty for women and each other. People empower us – people inspire us – and people move us to action. This is why we must work first in building communities of those who share our love for humanity to organize our efforts and keep working towards defending the human rights of women and all people.
Together, we can be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.