An update to my post yesterday about the vote in the French Parliament to ban burqas: The French lower house today passed the bill by a 335 to 1 margin. (335 to 1???) The bill must still be approved by the French Senate, which is expected to vote in the week of September 20.
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Law, Religion | Tagged: Burka, Burqa, France, Sarkozy | Leave a Comment »
The day has finally come. It has been more than a year since French President Sarkozy first proposed a ban on wearing burqas in public places. Tomorrow, the French Parliament will vote on the proposal. After some initial wavering, I came to my position on the proposed ban last July and have not changed my [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Law, Religion | Tagged: Burka, Burqa, France, Sarkozy | 5 Comments »
When I first saw a story today about CNN firing Octavia Nasr, I couldn’t believe CNN had acted so stupidly. All Nasr had done was say “”Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” Later, after a deluge of criticism, Nasr, in a blog, [...]
Filed under: International, Religion | Tagged: Octavia Nasr, Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah | Leave a Comment »
What I’m about to say will fall into the “typical feminist buzzkill” stereotype– but, hey, it wouldn’t be the first time: While most of you are undoubtedly watching the World Cup US v. Ghana game, think about the following: During one typical 90 minute game, 317 women in South Africa will be raped. It isn’t [...]
Filed under: International, Sports, Violence | Tagged: Rape, sexual assault, south africa, world cup | 4 Comments »
In an effort to improve Islam’s image in Great Britain, an Islamic organization began placing ads in the London Underground and on taxicabs. Remona Aly, the campaign director of the Exploring Islam Foundation (the group responsible for the ads) says that she hopes the campaign will help counteract “the often inaccurate and negative stereotypes of [...]
Filed under: International, Race/Ethnicity, Religion | Tagged: Islam, Muhammad, women's rights | 31 Comments »
According to BBC, Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the West Bank has recently banned women from running in elections in his community. After an anonymous woman wrote to him, expressing her interest in running for Common Secretary, Rabbi Levanon said: “The first problem is giving women authority, and being a secretary means having authority. The second [...]
Filed under: International, Male Perspectives, Politics, Religion | Tagged: israel, sexism, west bank | Leave a Comment »
I was astounded by this statistic. The Immigrant Rights section of change.org writes that “[a]n estimated 6 out of 10 migrant women are raped” while attempting to journey illegally from Central America to the United States in order to try to lift their families out of poverty. Amnesty International details the violence, rape and kidnappings [...]
Filed under: Health, International, Law, Violence | Tagged: Amnesty International, Immigration, Rape | Leave a Comment »
The women of Afghanistan are correct to worry that any peace deals the Afghan government might make with the Taliban will sacrifice women’s rights. After all, the Taliban was more repressive to women than, probably, any government in the world. And their relatively recent re-control of parts of Afghanistan is reestablishing the tyranny. For example, [...]
Filed under: Education, International, Politics, Religion, Violence | Tagged: Hillary Clinton, Karsai. Afghanistan, Taliban | Leave a Comment »
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is the most prominent son of Libya’s 40-years-in-charge leader Muammar Gaddafi (spellings change according to the news source). The son is supposedly a “liberal” and “reformist” who is looking to increase his profile so he can become Libya’s leader when his father steps down. One of the steps for which he is [...]
Filed under: International, Marriage | Tagged: Gaddafi, Gadhafi, Libya | 2 Comments »
M.I.A. is a popular and controversial musical artist from England, of Sri Lankan origin. Though many of us remember her music from years ago (I have to say, her song “Galang” is still one of my favorites), her 2007 album Kala got a lot of play. The single “Paper Planes” was sampled everywhere, from commercials [...]
Filed under: Feminism, International, Politics, Pop Culture, Race/Ethnicity, Stereotyping | Tagged: M.I.A., music, palestine, race, racism, Violence | Leave a Comment »
Emily
Mike