Dead silence

Via Canadian Cynic, although deBeauxOs over at Dammit Janet! expresses most like I would.

I paraphrase:

So why is it that, when brown women are killed by brown men, conservatives and/or sexists scream ''Honour killings!'' and demand ''Where are the feminists?'' while professing to care about brown women's rights?

But, when a brown woman gets shafted by our very own Conservative government, these very same people, who are oh-so-concerned about brown women's rights, are silent?

This is a story the Star is all over today here, here, here and here.

... in Canada today, God help you if you're not white, because the federal government sure won't. Indeed, that government creates these problems in the first place.

(Suaad Hagi) Mohamud's case is a perfect example; her nightmare began when a functionary in the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi agreed with a Kenyan airport official and decided she wasn't the woman whose photograph appears in her passport. We were told, incredibly, that it had something to do with her lips. She was immediately declared an "imposter" and Kenyan authorities were asked to prosecute her.

Although she produced all kinds of identification – including a driver's licence, OHIP card, social insurance card and a Canadian citizenship certificate to boot – her fate was sealed. The poor woman even spent time in a Kenyan jail, the horror of which one can only begin to imagine.

Meanwhile, her 12-year-old son – clearly another figment of her imagination – languished in Toronto, wondering if, not when, his mother would be able to return home.

Months after Mohamud's ordeal began and even now that its falsity has been exposed, no one in Harper's government has said a word, let alone apologized.

This isn't just another political scandal; this is cause for deep national shame. This smacks not just of prejudice, but of apartheid.

The whole episode, don't forget, began and ended with Canadian officialdom. Even if one accepts that bureaucrats in a far-flung posting make stupid mistakes such as this, the elected government's response has turned that error into something wholly different, namely a matter of policy. Whether that policy is official or not, it's now clear that only certain Canadians can count on the protection of the federal government.

Had Mohamud been a white mother from Leaside, you can rest assured that Harper himself would have led the charge to have her repatriated.

(Preferably if she had been a stay-at-home mother, of course.)

Read some of the comments on these and related stories and you'll be shocked by the number of people who blame the victim because her head was covered. That despite how:

Mohamud quickly presented a credible batch of documents to Canadian diplomats in Nairobi attesting to her Canadian citizenship and residency. They included an Ontario driver's licence, an Ontario Health Insurance Plan card, a citizenship certificate, a social insurance card, credit card, bank cards, a Humber River Regional Hospital card, a Shoppers Drug Mart card, a note from her Toronto employer, and a recent Toronto dry cleaning receipt. Given all this, Ottawa should have been able to confirm her citizenship within days at most.

Yet officials in the high commission rejected the documents, branding her an imposter. They sent her voided passport to Kenyan immigration authorities to help them prosecute her, which could have led to prison or expulsion to her native, wartorn Somalia.

But it's not just blogging conjobs who are silent.

As Dammit Janet! notes:

And among those who demonstrated the most callous bureaucratic and racist indifference to her plight are Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney - all non-muslim white men of privilege and members of Stephen Harper's Conservative Government.

Oh, but when it comes to women in Afghanistan? They're so there.

Even if their tactics are a failure.

President Karzai has supported women simply through rhetoric. He has promised repeatedly to appoint more women ministers and nominate them to the Supreme Court, but has reneged on both. Worse, he signed the "women’s law," which essentially legalized rather than criminalizing abuse.

Karzai is appointing dangerous warlords who do not respect women’s rights and also pursuing a peace agreement with the Taliban. Feminist organizations must take their resources and work all sides of this equation. Perhaps Karzai should hear from these groups about a campaign to remove him from office instead of allowing him to use women as ballot stuffers.

Helping women in Afghanistan has never been easy, so it must be strategic. Abdur Rahman Khan, who ruled Afghanistan from 1880-1901, was the first monarch to allow his wife to be seen without a veil. This and his quest to bring progressive changes to Afghanistan sparked a rebellion that eventually cost him his crown. Any time reforms are initiated too quickly, or directly oppose traditions, Afghans tend to respond ruthlessly – as they did when the Soviets tried to impose progressive decrees that changed women’s status. What followed was the comprehensive suppression of women’s rights during the Mujahedeen and Taliban eras.

Although international rhetoric is on target, current policy is not.

More from LibArtsandMinds.

So anyway, where are those cons on Mohamud's plight?

<Crickets chirp. Frogs ribbit.>

Comments

[Electric Landlady]

The victim-blaming goes beyond head covering. Apparently: she shouldn't have been in Kenya in the first place; she should have done more to prove who she was (thanks, Lawrence Cannon); she should have got a new passport photo as soon as her appearance changed; and how do these "refugees" afford all these expensive trips?

Makes me sick.

[sooey]

I wouldn't discount the sheer incompetence factor combined with an inability to admit error.

I also think this could happen to anyone. Our government doesn't care about Canadian citizens who aren't rightwing nutjobs.

[Kateland]

Well, I started to blog on the Suaad story on July 8th, and so, when did you and Dammit Janet! join in? Although, after today's postings, the VRWC will probably punish me by making me eat the decoder ring.

http://lastexiled.com/?p=3043

[JH]

Can't argue with criticising the government. But as far as this dig about bloggers:

"So why is it that, when brown women are killed by brown men, conservatives and/or sexists scream ''Honour killings!'' and demand ''Where are the feminists?'' while professing to care about brown women's rights?

But, when a brown woman gets shafted by our very own Conservative government, these very same people, who are oh-so-concerned about brown women's rights, are silent?"

Well, I'm not blogging myself these days, but since you asked ... I do seem to recall ... wait a minute, let me find it ... ok, here we go: http://thestar.blogs.com/broadsides/2009/07/disclaimer.html

Or specifically, as you put it then:

"That's because some readers believe that, just because I criticize one thing/country, I have to criticize everythingandeverycountryinthewholewideworldeverinthesameblogpostorelseIameeeeeekbiasedorworse"

As soon as I saw that post of yours way back when, I *knew* it would come in handy.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

As one of those "cons" .....

perhaps the big difference is that the honour killings involve actual murders, whereas Suaad Hagi Mohamud is still alive, and will probably return to Canada very soon, and will be in a position to demand some serious compensation ...

but the victims of honour killings can never be rbought back ....

[Antonia]

@JH

Maybe. But interestingly, what is front page news across Canada is ignored completely by the Blogging Tories. That's some coincidence.

@Styg

http://thestar.blogs.com/broadsides/2009/08/outrageous.html

[sooey]

The Blogging Tories are just one note flacks for the New Conservative Party. It's not their mandate to tell the truth.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Esteemed and Beautiful Moderator,

"Can you shriek ''honour killings?''" (shooting women because of not getting enough sex, forsooth! If you don't like women that much, then why do you need sex at all?)"

OK, I will concede that one, if .....

"Just look at how some people try to make Mark Lepine into a secret Muslim, so that the violent impulses can be blamed on his Algerian-ness"

Because it's mostly true.

And if you concede that there is a new type of serious problem involved in the phenomenon more conventionally described under "honour killings" (did Sodini plot with others, or try and find a below-average-intelligence shill to do the job for him?).

Deal?

[deBeauxOs]

Wow. That blogger "Debra Moore" is a piece of work. Not only does she get many facts wrong (the family members family drowned in Gananoque), it was a tragic accident that befell non-swimmers.

There's a Canadian blogger by the name of Dennis Gruending who writes about political and faith issues. He has written a thoughtful, thorough and sane response to some of the hateful speculation that passes as news reporting these days.

http://dennisgruending.ca/pulpitandpolitics/2009/08/10/shafia-deaths-stir-debate/

[mozo]

"(Preferably if she had been a stay-at-home mother, of course.)"

Well if she was a stay-at-home mother she wouldn't have been gallivanting around the globe without her loving husband in the first place. It is logic.