Atlanta: “Keeping quiet is coward’s way out”
— AJC’s Rick Diguette : “A few months ago one of my neighbors mentioned that the Ku Klux Klan had done a lot of good ‘back in the day.'”
— “My silence and yours, if you’re guilty and will admit it, can only help prolong this country’s continued inability to address the issue of race.”
— “if you still stand by and say nothing when a friend or neighbor uses a racial slur — and no, it isn’t only white folks who use them — or praises an organization like the Ku Klux Klan, then you’ve still got some work to do”
— “Silence is golden, but only when we need to get some sleep. Now’s the time to wake up.”
DC: 100,000 Protest Detention Chinese Christian Lawyer
100,000 Protest Detention Chinese Christian Lawyer
— “A petition calling for the release of a prominent Christian human rights lawyer, which was signed by some 100,000 people around the world, has been delivered to the Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. State Department, organizers said Friday, July 17.”
— “‘The signatures represent concerned citizens in the U.S. and around the world who are asking for the immediate release of Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights attorney who was kidnapped by Chinese officials on February 4,’ said advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA).”
— China Aid Association: Gao Zhisheng Petition Delivered to Chinese Embassy, U.S. State Department and CECC
— “Gao Zhisheng Petition Delivered; Chinese Embassy Says ‘Take it away!'”
Russia: Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov ‘to lead’ activist’s murder inquiry
Pittsburgh Foundation Funded Hate Groups
Pittsburgh Foundation Funded Hate Groups
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Donor to G-20 welcome board a past supporter of hate groups”
Jordan: “Honor Killing” of Married Woman by Brother, Stabbed 20 Times, Head Crushed
— Jordan Times reports: “Twenty-year-old kills sister over ‘immoral behaviour'”
— “A 20-year-old Jordanian stabbed his married sister and smashed her head with a rock after accusing her of ‘immoral behaviour'”
Communist China: China’s Human Rights Lawyers Face Major Obstacles
(Communist China) China’s Human Rights Lawyers Face Major Obstacles
— “Chinese regime’s new weapon: Denial of license to practice law”
Communist China: The Persecution of Falun Gong and How it Began
U.S.: New Policy Permits Asylum for Battered Women
(U.S.) New Policy Permits Asylum for Battered Women
— NYT: “The Obama administration has opened the way for foreign women who are victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the United States.”
— “In addition to meeting other strict conditions for asylum, abused women will need to show that they are treated by their abuser as subordinates and little better than property, according to an immigration court filing by the administration, and that domestic abuse is widely tolerated in their country”
— “They must show that they could not find protection from institutions at home or by moving to another place within their own country.”
— “The new policy does not involve women fleeing genital mutilation.”
— “Any applicant for asylum or refugee status in the United States must demonstrate a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or ‘membership in a particular social group.’ The extended legal argument has been whether abused women could be part of any social group that would be eligible under those terms. Last year, 22,930 people won asylum in this country fleeing all types of persecution; the number has been decreasing in recent years.”
— See also reports on misogynist violence against women
— See also reports on extremist violence and oppression of women
— See also U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 and Gender Imbalance in Human Trafficking
Will such a new United States asylum policy help protect women from extremist “honor killings” and other institutionalized violence against women around the world?
In the past month, these are just SOME of the stories of the continued INSTITUTIONALIZED misogyny and violence against women, rationalized by extremists:
Saudi Arabia: Abused woman flees shelter; shelter “accused of helping woman flee”
Saudi Arabia: Brother kills two sisters in Social Affairs shelter over “honor”
Saudi religious police blamed in ‘honour’ killing of sisters
Saudi Arabia: Child Marriage Not Prohibited Under “Sharia Law”
Pakistan: ‘Violence against women on rise as perpetrators go scot-free’
Pakistan: “122 cases of women being burnt were reported in Lahore”
Pakistan high court orders release of “honour killing” convict
Pakistan: “Honour killings in Sindh rise in second quarter: report”
Pakistan’s Lahore: Man kills sister in the name of ‘honour’ — in front of other family members
Pakistan “Honor killings”: Couple, including teenage bride, mother, sister murdered
Pakistan: 16 year old girl sold to 62 year old man
Pakistan: Another “Honor Killing” of Eloped Couple — Barki
Pakistan: extremist mob kidnap, strip, beat on pour acid on Christian women – July 7 report, July 1 report
Syria “amends” “honor killing law” – deciding that two years in jail is sufficient punishment for murdering a woman
Iran: No Matter Who Is President of Iran, They Would Stone Me – by Lila Ghobady
Iran: Concerns Over Detained Iranian Christian Women Amid Political Turmoil – may face execution for religious freedom
Gaza woman journalist: Hamas “police” “accused me of laughing in public” – now gets death threats
Gaza women suffer from die-hard custom of “honor killing”
Jordan: “Spree of honour killings in Jordan”
Jordanian stabs sister in “honor killing” for rumors she was dating a man
Afghanistan: “Honor-Killing” in Afghanistan: Father Kills His Daughter and Her Lover
Bangladesh: extremist fatwa used for public whipping of woman 200 times
Iraq: Iraqi-Swede woman attacked, attempted honor-murder suspected
Maldives: Woman gets 100 lashes in public, house arrest in Sharia punishment – govt says Maldives too “squeamish” for other Sharia penalties
Sudanese women flogged in public by extremists for wearing trousers
UK: Report on Sharia courts state women’s word not sufficient – even in abuse cases
UK: Forced Marriage reports up 16 percent – schools warned to watch out for abusive families
Germany: Turk stabs teen daughter in ‘honour killing’ – because daughter “did not want to follow the Muslim way”
Kyrgyzstan: Child Brides — “in accordance with Muslim Sharia law in a wedding ceremony known as a nikah”
Bahrain Offers Women No Protection from Spousal Rape
Russia: Suspect detained in “honor killing” in Chechnya
Belgium: Brothers arrested in suspected honour killing
Sweden: “Honor Killing” Suspected in Balcony Fall Cases
Russia – Ingushetia: Russian human rights activist, Natalia Estemirova, found murdered — critic of Extremist Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov
BBC reports:
— “A prominent Russian human rights activist, Natalia Estemirova, has been found dead in the North Caucasus.”
— “She was bundled into a van and abducted as she left her home in Chechnya on Wednesday morning, a colleague said. Her body was found in Ingushetia.”
BBC also reports:
— “Award-winning Russian human rights campaigner Natalia Estemirova, who has been found shot dead in the North Caucasus, documented hundreds of cases of abuse in Chechnya.”
— “Her work for the Russian human rights group Memorial latterly focused on alleged human rights violations by government-backed militias.”
New York Times reports:
— “In recent years, Ms. Estemirova had focused on kidnappings that she believed were carried out under the authority of the Chechen president, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, who has enjoyed unwavering public support from the Kremlin.”
— “Her work met with threats and denunciations from Chechen authorities. In March of 2008, after Ms. Estemirova criticized a new law requiring women in Chechnya to wear head scarves, Mr. Kadyrov summoned her to a personal meeting and threatened her, an experience so frightening that she went abroad for several months, said Tatyana Kasatkina, deputy director of the Rissian human rights group Memorial, where Ms. Estemirova had worked since 1999. Friends tried to convince Ms. Estemirova to stay away, but she felt compelled to return.”
Free Internet Press reports:
— “Ms. Estemirova worked for years helping families uncover details about kidnapped relatives. She was the recipient of several international awards, and in 2007 was the first to win the Anna Politkovskaya Award, named for the Russian investigative journalist, who also worked to uncover abuses in Chechnya before she was shot to death in October 2006.”
— “Ms. Estemirova’s work often ran afoul of the Chechen government, led by the Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, whom human rights groups have accused of personally torturing kidnap victims.”
— Reuters: Group blames Chechen leader for activist’s murder
— Global Post: “Did Chechnya’s leader just kill this woman?”
March 1, 2009 – Russia: Chechen President defends extremist “honor killings” – says women deserve 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. ‘If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed,’ Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.”
UK: White supremacist Neo-Nazi guilty of bomb plot – Neil Lewington — Ku Klux Klan, Combat 18 Nazi material found
(UK) White supremacist guilty of bomb plot – Neil Lewington
— Neo-Nazi convicted of terror plan
— “Man had turned parents’ home into bomb factory”
— “The search also found the Waffen SS UK members’ handbook, containing his blueprint for a neo-Nazi terror group, and notebooks with details of electronics and chemical mixtures and a book called Counter Bomb. His mobile phone contained hate material from a violent neo-Nazi group called Combat 18 and other material from the Ku Klux Klan was also found.”
— British white supremacist guilty of bomb plot