Men of honour

Via my Twitter friend Natalia Antonova, the Jordan-based editor of GlobalComment.com yet another honour killing:

A father and his two underage sons tortured and killed their 19-year-old daughter and sister because she reportedly was caught wearing makeup while out on an errand with her younger brother. Her uncle, who caught her apparently walking in an area other than the one she said she was going to, brought her back to her father and reported her “crime”.

I want to repeat this news. A young girl, a teenager, was relentlessly beaten with water hoses mercilessly and continuously by three men until she died. Initial reports indicate that the police arrested the three after she was declared dead by the doctor. The father, who led the two-hour beatings, shared his hose with his underage sons and encouraged them to join in the beating. Now this has been designated as an “honour crime”.

Welcome to Jordan in the 21st century. This case underlines the paradox of messages from this apparently modern country that has taken a leading position in the region with its progress despite its limited resources, yet still allows its human resources and future to remain hostage to archaic practices that have no relevance to the majority of society.

Parliament has rejected amendments to a law that would have banned the use of a ‘fit of fury’ clause to stop the practice of letting the perpetrators of crimes against women go free. Instead they have continued to support heartless and unnecessary murder, which is masked as a claim to have cleansed the honour of their families. This is the same Parliament that has failed women repeatedly thereby institutionalising open discrimination and the subordination of women to their male “guardians” as well as condoning violence against women.

So let's see. In Afghanistan, we are fighting in support of a government that condones this sort of thing. And Jordan is our friend and ally?

What's wrong with this picture?

As Natalia, who is on the scene, notes:

I’ve been reminded today that it’s wise to remember that the make-up thing is probably a red herring. She probably displeased her uncle in some way - perhaps he wanted to have sex with her, or wanted her to marry someone and she refused - and was therefore slandered.

I wonder what punishment, if any, the killers will get? How much ''honour'' have they earned?

Judging from what's in The Jordan Times, I won't be holding my breath:

When was the last time the prime minister made statements about improving the situation of women in Jordan? When was the last time the government intervened with Parliament and used its considerable clout to ensure the passing of laws that would change the lives of women for the better? Clearly there is no political will to improve the status of women in Jordan or even extend them the minimum protection against violence and inexplicable discrimination. As long as that political will is absent there will be no change.

The world's women. Disposable, dispensable, dead.

Comments

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

OK

Never mind Jordan or Afghanistan.

It's happening here in Canada, cf. the recent case of Aqsa Parvez. What about an expression of support for her memorial in the town of Pelham, Ontario (clerks@pelham.ca)?

And why not admit that the good citizens of Herouxville understand the issues, even though they've expressed themselves a little crudely?

What would happen to such cases if Sharia law is accepted as a legitimate part of the legal system in Canada?

There are many fronts here. . . . .

[Blind Man]

I salute the courage of Nermeen Murad for speaking up against this crime, but as Westerners, particularly those involved in a war of occupation in the Arab world, we should be wary of bandying about the term 'honour killing'. How is this act of violence any different from the numerous times a woman or young girl is murdered by her husband, boyfriend or male family member? 'Honour killings' don't happen in the west, we tell ourselves, except when foreigners commit them. Why is white, anglo North America so eager to attribute this crime to Islam, to Arab culture, or, to be prosaic, to the Other?

This line of thinking--one that sees crimes of other cultures barbaric while committing identical acts here at home--results not only in the kind of casual racism of the above poster who finds sympathy in Herouxville and explicit repudiation of people and nations trying to make a home in 'multicultural' Canada, but in the kind of aggression, imperialism and war you allude to, Antonia: our odious presence in Afghanistan.

How shall we save this young girl? By invading Jordan and imprisoning her father and others like him? We've seen how that story ends. Instead, let's try to beat sexism where we can make the most impact: here at home, where daughters are being beaten, raped and killed by their fathers every week. And 'honour' doesn't even make an appearance.

[Paul]

Why do you say "the world's women" when you seem to be referring to those specifically under Sharia law? I'd like to see your feminist firepower concentrate where it is needed most.

[Edson Castilho]

This blind man sees pretty clearly. The same can't be said for Paul. While the crimes Antonia likes to keep harping on may be horrendous, no less horrendous things occur right here in Canada to women and children all the time. The continual pointing out of crimes of "the other" as Blind Man puts it, serves not only to point out the horrendous conditions women in other parts of the world live in, but also encourage racists to point out how "unlike us those savages are".

Edson

[Antonia]

Rape victims in war (Bosnia, Congo, etc.), the Catholic Church's refusal to help women plan their families, harsh anti-abortion laws that drive women to back alley butchers, child brides, girls who have babies because they were child brides (and not just in Muslim countries, as I have posted elsewhere), girls not educated ... really, do we need to spell it all out?

[Antonia]

Thanks Edson but are you suggesting I don't harp on the crimes against women in Canada? Because that will come as a big surprise to some of the regulars here who think I do too much of that relative to what goes on elsewhere. You know those guys. The ones who claim that violence against men is just as bad and frequent as violence against women.

[Paul]

Yes we do need to spell it out Antonia. It's something that is raised frequently within feminist circles as without. I recall replying that Western feminism has little to offer women under Sharia law because it's idea of cultural tolerance paralyzes it.

So instead of viewing clear cut cases of the most horrific sexist abuse, insitutionalized under law of "those" nations and state governments (how is that racist, unless you conflate race with state) they instead try to frame it in the context of some larger patriarchal continuum of violence model. That way, we can avoid the specifics, which invariably mean condemning specific cultural practices of "others" (ie. how about female circumcision, for a recent example). When it's posed within the context of a continuum like that, we do not distinguish between the severity of the crime - they are all tarred with the same brush - and we don't need to be pointing at "the other". It's safer that way.

I don't think it is particularly sensitive to the nature of the suffering of those women to equate legalized rape under Shariah law with a church's refusal to help women with families (and I say that, not being a fan of the Church and its treatment of women). While certainly women around the world are going to suffer for various reasons, there are specifics to this -- one of them being Shariah law - and it's not helping anyone to dilly dally around it because you are afraid of people like Edson calling you a racist for condemning it as sexist. Nor does condemning the specifics of "the other" Shariah law imply endorsement of other forms of oppression, of women, or whatever else.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Blind Pew, Edson, Saint Paul, Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator,

You're missing the point (Saint Paul less so; Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator, it would help if you spelt it out properly), as shown by your attempts to cite Western parallels (none of which come close). "Honour" killings nearly always involve the murder of women by the whole family, often using a male member playing without a full deck to do the actual deed, and with the complicity of other women therein. Danish legal experts have in fact noticed this aspect, and legislation is being/may already have been developed under which the whole family can be charged for honour killings.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Blind Pew,

I could flip back your silly, Pavlovian, accusation of "racism" and suggest that that is what you are displaying towards rural Quebeckers.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/590936

.... and if the Star is going to publish nonsense like this, I'm afraid you guys are very much part of the problem.

fortunately moat of the people publishing comment do appear to understand.

[Edson Castilho]

Not at all Antonia, it just makes me uncomfortable how much you focus on the sensationalistic examples of woman abuse in the muslim world. There is lots of sensational explotation of women in the west too, all over the world, the trafficking of women, etc..

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Edson,

Maybe the Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator has struck a balance between us ......

Personally, though, I wish she WOULD "focus on the sensationalistic examples of woman abuse in the muslim world", and stop the nonsense of moral equivalence ....

Maybe you're part of the problem too ...

[Edson]

Styg and the hounds

And maybe you're a racist, which really is an actual problem.

[Paul]

Edson, when engaging feminist dogma, "racists" are the new witches. You need to actually support the argument to convince anyone other than Womyn’s Studies thugs.

In your accusation - you conflated my attack on the law of a state government (which applies to a portion of the Muslim community), with an attack on a race. Inherent in that accusation is an equation of the biological and the culture it created. In other words, *you* pre-judged the attributes of culture with the assumption of race -- not me.

The depth of your outrage at my calling out of Sharia law underscores the typical paralysis of Western feminism in dealing with the most egregious examples of state-sponsored, primitive and barbaric misogyny. You’ll actually call me a racist for suggesting it, rather than standing up for those women. And this kind of shaming is typical within most organized Western feminist advocacy.

Looking at the photos of those women, covered from head to toe, getting clubbed for whatever offence they gave – such as maybe driving a car? Do you think they would appreciate that the description of their daily horror lumped together by Western feminists as just another example of what Western women need to deal with every day? Because that’s kind of how this moral equivalence nonsense looks to those who are no longer invested in such dogma.

[Antonia]

Holy crap Paul. Either I am reading you completely wrong or you are somehow resorting to the old ''blame the feminists'' con job regarding what is happening in some Islamofascist societies.

[Paul]

You are either reading me wrong or have have expressed myself poorly. My point has been mainly that Western feminism has been largely irrelevant when it comes to Islamofascism, with little to offer them. That's a bit different than your reading.

I view much of the protest from within those cultures as being much more akin to the kind of issue-based women's advocacy I applaud - that of Wollstonecraft, and Virginia Woolf. As you know, I see that as being very different from what most people know as Western feminism, or gender feminism today.

I don't blame feminists for what happens to those women, except in situations where dogma and shaming language gets discourages more effective advocacy, or where it takes us further from understanding. Edson's accusation couldn't be a more perfect example of what happens even within feminist circles when these questions are raised. Which shows why it is largely impotent in protesting the offences of Islamofascism. It's too self focused.

[Natalia]

Thanks for the link-love, Antonia.

Blind Man - the term "honour crime" or "shame crime" is a direct translation from the Arabic. It is what it is. English-speakers didn't make it up.

"Why is white, anglo North America so eager to attribute this crime to Islam, to Arab culture, or, to be prosaic, to the Other?"

It has nothing to do with the Other. As you must have noted, Antonia linked to a Jordan-based conversation on the subject. As she has every right to do - because the struggle for women's rights is a global struggle, and for those in Canada, international perspectives on these issues are surely valuable.

Or are you under the impression that no North American journalist can open his or her mouth on the subject? That would be rather odd, considering that in Jordan - people speak about the U.S. and Canada all the time.

Also, as a general aside - honour crime is not unique to the Arab world. It happens in South Asia, it happens in Southern Italy. And yes, it is a specific occurrence - wherein family members get together to eliminate a woman who has become, for whatever reason, "inconvenient."

Antonia's outrage on the tolerance for honour crime is justified. Many Jordanians are outraged as well. Of course, there will always be those who cheer these laws on in Jordan, but that doesn't lend honour crimes legitimacy.

[Edson]

Paul and the Styg
The only moral equivalence I'm seeing is from a couple of guys who conveniently forget just how much of the blame for women's and the poor's plight in the "not-west" falls on the people (us) of the west. Propping up all male oil oligarchies in the middle east and other places because we nned their oil so badly, playing off one general of a militia that uses rape as weapon against another of the same ilk in the Congo so that mining companies continue to have access to the resources we so need, moving all production to places like China where women's labour is even a better deal than it is here, and all the while blaming "those people" for being, well, just uncivilised. Unlike us enlightened, wonderful, advanced and civilised westerners. But go ahead, continue to demonise "others" and shift the blame away from ourselves for complicity in the state of the developing world and its women and poor. Don't act where it may actually make a difference to women and the disadvantaged, right here, no no, just teall us all how horrible it is that women somewhere else are treated horribly (as if we didn't already know).

[Paul]

Whoa, Edson, that's an elaborate argument you've assumed - you might need to hold my hand and lead me through it. Are you suggesting that if you didn't use their resources, that there would be no Islamofascist oppression of women?

I dunno Antonia -- I've seen criticism of the US government for not preventing 9/11, but such criticism is different than accusing the US government of flying the planes. The whole "oh, so you blame the feminists" feint doesn't seem different than a claim that I hate America for observing mistakes were made. Surely, the feminists could welcome such criticism from without - they do-so from within routinely.