Exploiting a Tragedy to Score Political Points -Dishonest, Insensitive and Cold

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The National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) condemns the dishonesty of the Conservative Party which, in an insensitive and opportunistic manner, used the tragic murder of a young girl to score political points. This blatant attempt at smearing the reputations of the Prime Minister, Paul Martin, and of New Democratic Party leader, Jack Layton, is a profoundly cynical tactic.

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party must take responsibility for their lack of accountability in their latest media ploy and for his party’s failure to address issues of violence against women. To date, there has been no mention in the Conservative platform about stopping violence against women and children.

NAC has worked for decades with other activists in the women’s movement to address the issue of violence against women and children. We condemn Harper’s hypocrisy in exploiting the issue of control of child pornography as if such control would end the problem of child abuse. For a leader of a national party, this is a line of argument both simplistic and insular.

“It is deplorable that the Conservative Party is using this painful event to further its political agenda. The party has been shamefully silent in fighting the sexual exploitation and murders of women and girls, especially Aboriginal women and girls, who are targeted in our communities. Yet it has been very vocal in fighting legislation that would save lives such as gun control,” said NAC Vice-President Kripa Sekhar. “Stephen Harper has spent a lot of time and attention complaining about the gun registry, but gave no priority in his party’s platform to explaining how his party will stop violence against women and children."

"Have we so quickly forgotten the Montreal massacre on December 6, 1989 - a hate crime against women, which started the whole movement for gun control?” asked NAC Vice-President Anne Kettenbiel. “Fourteen young women engineers were gunned down at l’Ecole Polytechnique by an anti-social young man who used a semi-automatic military weapon. Students at the school spearheaded a movement for a gun registry.”

Other parties currently represented in the House of Commons have addressed violence against women in their platform documents.

The Liberal platform document states, “Dealing with crimes also means dealing with the circumstances that cause it - such as poverty, inequality and family violence.” It presents its record of having “introduced significant new measures to protect our children..." and includes:
• Passed legislation to establish a National Sex Offenders Registry;
• Toughened laws on child prostitution and child sex tourism
• Passed legislation criminalizing the luring of children over the internet, and toughened measures against child pornography…
• Passed strict sentencing for gun crimes including a minimum four-year sentence for using a firearm in the commission of certain serious offences (such as robbery or sexual assault)

The Liberal platform further states that, “A Liberal government will combat sexual exploitation of children on the Internet by providing increased resources for the RCMP, setting up a national Internet tip line and heightening public awareness.”

The NDP platform document commits to:

• Providing stable funding for women’s centres and educational programs designed to combat sexism and violence against women.
• Developing a Victims’ Bill of Rights to ensure victims of crime are treated equally and fairly.
• Protecting Canada’s children from sexual predators by supporting an effective national sex offender registry of people convicted of violent sexual crimes or sexual crimes against minors and by following the Manitoba example of posting pictures and details about sex offenders on a national web site to help citizens protect themselves.“

The Bloc Quebecois which has one of the best representations of women candidates has stated categorically that it will take a stand on the anti-gun lobby, abortion issues, pay equity, and violence against women.

Violence against women and children should never ever be allowed to happen in this country. As mothers, sisters, and daughters, we grieve the tragedy of a murdered child, a pain shared in homes across all communities. Sexual exploitation of any child is a crime of violence. We must work together to end violence against women and children.

The Conservative party should own up to its duplicity at once and deal openly with issues affecting the rights of women and children in a straightforward way.

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This being the case we have to address the level of disengagement that women feel in the current political climate. To do anything less is morally cowardly and intellectually dishonest, because any less of an approach will not get at the most fundamental problem we face. Why?

Why are women not getting involved in the numbers required to maintain organizations? Why are women not contributing their time, talents, energy and resources to these organizations? Why have Canadian women grown content to allow men to set our agenda’s? Clearly, these are not the sorts of questions that feminists in the 21st century ever thought they would be called on to tackle. Apathy is a poor way for any social movement to expire.

If you are a woman and you have worn or are wearing pants, you are a feminist.
As a woman, your right to choose what is best for your life and your body is under attack as never before, so if you have a uterus then you are a feminist. Feminism is not a condition that requires a specific anatomy so much as one that requires a specific mindset.

It’s later at night, after the sun has slipped behind the horizon and the shadows lengthen until they become substance. You are walking from a bus stop, or home from an errand and you hear the sound of footsteps behind you. I need go no further with this narrative example, it speaks for itself and so I say that if you understood what I wrote then you are a feminist. The removal of a woman’s right to choose is nothing more than the avocation of forced childbirth. Whether we are to be culled into a new form of Lebensborn babies to re-supply the armed forces, or supply the needs of adoption agencies is frankly immaterial. Once we allow our hard fought and won rights to be eroded, we are all on borrowed time.

The world over the containment of women to not incite a man’s sexual energy is nothing more than slavery. He has the problem but she wears the burga. This is wrong, and to see it so quickly spread to Canada is appalling. Stephen Harper would like to paint himself as a compassionate conservative. He promises to not pass any legislation that would infringe on a woman’s right to choose but the promises of vipers are hard to believe. Harper has always hidden his agenda behind the words and actions of backbench MP’s like Cheryl Gallant.

The deliberate manipulation of language to cleave a woman’s interest from a child’s is designed to nullify women’s voices. There are no women only issues in this campaign, there are only issues that matter to women. As a woman, it is imperative that we pool our collective voices now, before the 28th lest we be in a position of forever regretting our silence.

Raven Darke

Copyright © 2004 Raven Darke Productions

[ 22 June 2004: Message edited by: RavenDarke ]

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Originally posted by RavenDarke:
Raven Darke

Copyright © 2004 Raven Darke Productions

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A couple of netiquette hints:

1) Signing your posts is just annoying. You're name is clearly visible at the left of the screen.

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The Penis is a weapon of mass destruction. It kills, directly it can lead to horrible degradation and un-controlled it can and has led to atrocities.

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[edited to fix thinko]

[ 22 June 2004: Message edited by: Mandos ]