Quiet, or I'll call democracy
by Haifa Zangana
The Guardian [UK]
12/22/04
The US state department has launched a $10m 'Iraqi women's democracy initiative' to train Iraqi women in the skills and practices of democratic life ahead of the forthcoming elections. Paula Dobriansky, US undersecretary of state for global affairs, declared: 'We will give Iraqi women the tools, information and experience they need to run for office and lobby for fair treatment.' ... Of all the blunders by the US administration in Iraq, the greatest is its failure to understand Iraqi people, women in particular. The main misconception is to perceive Iraqi women as silent, powerless victims in a male-controlled society in urgent need of 'liberation.' This image fits conveniently into the big picture of the Iraqi people being passive victims who would welcome the occupation of their country. The reality is different. Iraqi women were actively involved in public life even under the Ottoman empire...
http://tinyurl.com/646hx
Hypocrisy and nuttiness
by Fawaz Turki
Arab News
12/22/04
But the US, I say, is hell-bent on 'introducing' you and me to Jeffersonian principles of civil rights, human rights, women's rights, political rights, democratic rights and heck, name the rights, and these bozos will take them out from under their armpit and hand them over to you like a bouquet of roses. Seriously, folks, the issue here is not the intrinsic worth of these values, which clearly are a necessary function of the growth of any vibrant society, but the hypocrisy and nuttiness of American foreign policy in our part of the world....
http://tinyurl.com/5gege
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
The Guardian [UK]
12/22/04
The US state department has launched a $10m 'Iraqi women's democracy initiative' to train Iraqi women in the skills and practices of democratic life ahead of the forthcoming elections. Paula Dobriansky, US undersecretary of state for global affairs, declared: 'We will give Iraqi women the tools, information and experience they need to run for office and lobby for fair treatment.' ... Of all the blunders by the US administration in Iraq, the greatest is its failure to understand Iraqi people, women in particular. The main misconception is to perceive Iraqi women as silent, powerless victims in a male-controlled society in urgent need of 'liberation.' This image fits conveniently into the big picture of the Iraqi people being passive victims who would welcome the occupation of their country. The reality is different. Iraqi women were actively involved in public life even under the Ottoman empire...
http://tinyurl.com/646hx
Hypocrisy and nuttiness
by Fawaz Turki
Arab News
12/22/04
But the US, I say, is hell-bent on 'introducing' you and me to Jeffersonian principles of civil rights, human rights, women's rights, political rights, democratic rights and heck, name the rights, and these bozos will take them out from under their armpit and hand them over to you like a bouquet of roses. Seriously, folks, the issue here is not the intrinsic worth of these values, which clearly are a necessary function of the growth of any vibrant society, but the hypocrisy and nuttiness of American foreign policy in our part of the world....
http://tinyurl.com/5gege
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
Starmail - 23. Dez, 15:56
