This campaign certainly deserves our support. Islam will not become a safe religion for anyone until Muslim women are free to live their own lives, and here are some women who are determined to fight for their freedom. The Logo of the campaign (the woman’s hair is a map of the Arab world.)
Inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, four Arab women have launched a campaign titled “The Uprising of Women in the Arab World,” aimed at gaining “freedom, independence and security” for Arab women. The campaign promotes gender equality in accordance with the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and calls to grant women freedom in the domains of expression, thought, schooling, employment, and the freedom to dress as they please, as well as political rights. The campaign’s Facebook page[1] features the full text of the Human Rights Declaration in Arabic, and there is also an official Twitter account.[2] ….
[Amongst those supporting the uprising is]
‘Alia Magda Al-Madhi from Egypt, who published nude photos of herself during the revolution in protest of oppression and attacks on freedom of expression: “I support The Uprising of Women in the Arab World because I was threatened with rape, incarceration, and murder. I was abducted, abused, and almost raped for posting an artful nude picture of myself and discussing women’s rights on my blog; for having sex with my lover; and for leaving my parents’ home.”[12]
Read more …. (with thanks to Malgorzata at Racjonalista in Poland)
No comments yet? I hope this isn’t because the subject of this post leaves people cold.
I recently heard a life story from a young Arab woman that included relentless abuse from her father, three suicide attempts, and a forced marriage. Also a declaration by her that males in her country are indoctrinated virtually from birth to treat all woman, no matter what their relationship to them, as all but slaves and unquestionably as pathetic inferiors.
This mindset can’t be stamped out soon enough, and one can only hope the efforts detailed in the post will be crowned with success eventually, even if the steady stream of horrifying stories emanating from the Islamic world incline one to terminal pessimism.