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All materials published and promoted by L Smith, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU
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Salma Yaqoob
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In this post 9/11 world the liberation of Muslim women and the fight
against terrorism have become intertwined. ‘The fight against terrorism
is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women’, claimed Laura
Bush in the run up to the invasion of Afghanistan.
‘Civilized people throughout the world are speaking out in horror - not
only because our hearts break for the women and children of
Afghanistan, but also because in Afghanistan, we see the world the
terrorists would like to impose on the rest of us.’
The idea that one of the weakest countries in the world was going to
impose its religious strictures on the most powerful was nearly as
ludicrous as the suggestion that George W Bush was about to embark on a
feminist mission in Afghanistan.
Behind the rhetoric the real reason for war was more straightforward.
The attacks on the Twin Towers provided the ‘Pearl Harbour’ moment
which the neo-cons embedded in the White House were only too willing to
exploit in order to remap the Middle East in the interests of US power.
For some, concerns about the brutality of war and occupation gave way
to what were seen as the benefits: the civilizing role of Western
imperialism in undermining ‘Islamic fascism’.
And, for them, nothing
more symbolized Islamic tyranny that the plight of Muslim women.
Battleground
There was nothing new in this for Muslim women. As Maleiha Malik points
out, our bodies have always been used as ‘a battleground for European
and US imperialism’:
“Lord Cromer, British consul general in Egypt in the late 19th
century, famously justified British colonial rule by arguing that it
could liberate Egyptian women from their oppressive veils.
Commenting on French colonialism in Algeria in the 50s the writer
Frantz Fanon noted: ‘There is also in the European the crystallization
of an aggressiveness, the strain of a kind of violence before the
Algerian woman. Unveiling this woman is revealing her beauty; it is
baring her secret, breaking her resistance (to colonial rule). There is
in it the will to bring this woman within his reach, to make her a
possible object of possession.’”
It is not surprising that in this context of the struggle for Algerian
independence, wearing the veil became a symbol of resistance.
Muslim women have found their lives subject to unprecedented scrutiny.
Too often we are caught between a rock and a hard place: between the
politicians who in the name of liberation are prepared to demonise our
communities at home and bomb our sisters abroad, and the Muslim men,
who in the name of protecting us, want to restrict our rights.
But contrary to what politicians and media might say, the biggest
obstacle we face to fuller integration in society is not how we dress,
but the discrimination we suffer.
A report by the Equal Opportunities Commission found that girls of
Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin - 90% of whom are Muslim - “...were
making remarkable progress at school.
They had overtaken white boys in
performance at GCSE, with a higher proportion achieving five good
passes at grade C or above. Despite lower family incomes they are also
rapidly catching up with white girls”.
This progress in educational achievement is an important signal of
successful integration. It is not a piece of cloth which holds us back,
but the “brick wall of discrimination”, which faces all Muslim women,
and not just the tiny minority who wear the niqab.
These findings were confirmed for me by my own practical experience as
a councillor in a deprived inner city ward with a large Muslim
population. A significant proportion of constituents visiting my
surgeries are Muslim women but the majority of the issues I have to
deal with do not concern family or cultural conflicts.
The problems that I am confronted with are a chronic shortage of affordable housing,
the lack of job opportunities, racism in the employment market, and the
provision of worse council services to deprived areas compared to
wealthier ones.
Demonized
Muslim women do have specific and well-documented problems of
patriarchal oppression to overcome, more often disguised with a pseudo
religious gloss.
These challenges however have been made immeasurably
more difficult by the war on terror. Muslim communities now feel
demonized, under constant attack and ridiculed to an unprecedented
degree.
In this climate the instinctive reaction is to adopt a defensive stance
and emphasize only positive aspects of Muslim faith and culture. Space
for self-criticism is restricted for fear that washing one’s dirty
laundry in public will give succour to those already fuelling
Islamophobic hostility.
It creates a climate of self-censorship at the
very time when Muslim voices, and the voices of Muslim women, in
particular, need to be heard in all our diversity.
This reaction, while understandable, is deeply damaging.
It reinforces
those who say Muslims are in denial or indifferent to addressing
oppressive practices within their own communities. In so doing it
undermines our ability to forge effective progressive alliances with
non-Muslims.
It also strengthens the hand of those who argue for
greater state intrusion, restriction and regulation of our lives.
The experience of the anti-war movement has both helped women like
myself find our voice and created space to express it.
I have chosen to
root my feminism and political activism in my Islamic understanding.
Other women will choose different paths.
In our different ways Muslim women are acting to challenge the racism
generated by this ‘war on terror’ and the barriers to our equality from
both within and without our communities We need solidarity from
non-Muslim women in those challenges.
As we celebrate International
Women’s Day it is a fitting reminder that the common ground is there if
we choose to occupy it. |
News and articles of interest
Here are some articles and news reports we think are worth looking at
From Triumph to Torture by John Pilger
Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it.
SATs school tests criticised by official report by Harvey Thompson and Linda Slattery
In May, millions of school children throughout England undertook their Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in English, mathematics and science. The statutory tests are widely considered to be flawed and almost universally reviled by teachers and children alike.
Health: Who asked for choice? - Morning Star
IF Health Minister Ben Bradshaw believes that there is political capital to be made by taking on our NHS doctors, he will quickly come unstuck.
Afghanistan troop deaths outnumber those in Iraq by Angela Balakrishnan and agencies
Militants in Afghanistan killed more US and Nato troops than those in Iraq in June after a fresh spate of rebel attacks that highlighted the growing strength of the Taliban.
Iran legally entitled to develop nuclear energy, says UK MP
Iran is legally entitled to develop nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to a British MP visiting Tehran for the first time.
George Galloway, who was expelled from Britain's ruling Labor Party for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war, also criticized the hypocrisy of Israel's belligerence towards Iran, which has its own illegal stockpile of nuclear weapons.
In the Cause of Fear and Ignorance by John Pilger
Muslims are alone as they watch the British state, with its "obstinate incomprehension" of their faith, do to them as it would never do to those of other faiths. Imagine Jews treated this way. You cannot imagine it; the profanity is too great. The silence of British Jews, who have the history, is also great.
Migrant Myths by Adam Ford
As part of her degree course, Kurdish migrant Filiz Celik researched the conditions that workers from overseas face in the United Kingdom. The full text of her study can be read here, but this summary by Adam Ford gives some idea of the reality behind the media-generated myths.
Tesco shareholders reject TV chef's chicken welfare call
Tesco shareholders today voted against a resolution from TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall which called for the retail giant to improve its chicken-rearing standards.
Academies expelled 10,000 pupils
Academies have been accused of excluding disproportionately high numbers of students after it emerged that they excluded nearly 10,000 pupils for poor behaviour last year.
Let companies run state schools for profit, says Sir Simon Milton
Private companies should be allowed to run state schools at a profit and be free to dismiss teachers who are not up to the job, the head of the Local Government Association (LGA) said yesterday.
For more stories, click here
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