Topic: Barbara Ehrenreich: feminism as counterterrorism strategy
brebis noire
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7136
posted 12 May 2005 09:13 AM
quote:So here in one word is my new counterterrorism strategy: feminism. Or, if that's too incendiary, try the phrase "human rights for women." I don't mean just a few opportunistic references to women, like those that accompanied the war on the Taliban and were quietly dropped by the Bush administration when that war was abandoned and Afghan women were locked back into their burqas. I'm talking about a sustained and serious effort.
Does anybody know why she hasn't been picked up as a regular NYTimes columnist? She subbed for Thomas Friedland when he was on hiatus, and her columns were excellent.
Anyways, here's an excerpt from "Stop The Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism"
posted 12 May 2005 09:57 AM
I approve of the strategy, but Ehrenreich has put her finger on the reason the U.S. cannot lead this fight (not that the current admin looks likely to anyway):
quote:We're going to need a thorough foreign policy makeover--from Afghanistan to Israel--before we have the credibility to stand up for anyone's human rights. You can't play the gender card with dirty hands.
At the moment, I think, it is some NGOs and some UN agencies that are struggling to advance this cause, among others. They're the ones who really believe that a major early step in liberating a people and their potential is to educate the women.
But do the men of power who play chess with our world give a fig about that (demonstrated) truth?
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posted 12 May 2005 09:13 AM
