P.S. Your poetry is very good too, Letty. Keep up the good work!
Hay sunnie, let ... wish I could write more. I go through cycles of stupidity and lucidity. When I'm off I don't bother .... there is enough crap in the world, I don't need to add to it. But when I'm on I feel that I can speak without moving my lips. I wrote one a while ago about finishing poems for poet warriors of the past that died with their work un finished and so depended on thee poet warriors that followed to finish for them ....I speak from the ages .... sorta.
a
Did not know where else to post this .......
Laying Down 'the White Woman's Burden'
Monday, March 24, 2003
By Wendy McElroy
I try to look into the face of the long-suffering Muslim woman into whose world Americans have entered as soldiers. But a common complaint runs through the literature in which Muslim women describe themselves: they accuse the West of misrepresenting them. If so, who are they? What is the face of the Muslim woman?
A flood of stereotypes come to mind, from scantily-clad belly dancers to burqa-shrouded women.
But no stereotype explains the Muslim women who have become heads of contemporary nations: President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia; Prime Minister Tansu Ciller of Turkey; Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Sheik Hasina Wazed of Bangladesh; Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. The list could scroll on.
Clearly, the characterization of Muslim women is flawed if only by being incomplete.
The most recent stereotype to bombard the American psyche is of the Muslim woman who lives veiled and in fear of all men who, by virtue of their maleness, are her oppressors. This is the Afghan woman under the Taliban regime. The image is a snapshot of one truth in one context.
But is it true in general of Arab-Muslim women who have become the focus of world attention?
The first step in answering this question is to distinguish between Muslim and Arab-Muslim women.
An Arab is defined as "a member of a Semitic people originally inhabiting Arabia, who spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain during the seventh and eighth centuries a.d." The modern Arab League consists of 22 states. With geographical distance and other differences separating those who call themselves Arabs, being Arab has come to be considered as much a matter of culture as it is of ethnicity.
A Muslim is simply anyone who adheres to the Islamic religion. One in four human beings is Muslim with most adherents living in Asia or Africa. Only about 12 percent of Muslims are Arab. The Arab-Muslim woman is a minority within Islam and seems to be more defined by being Arab than by being Muslim.
Indeed, many Arab women are Christian. The Arab-American Institute estimates that 54 percent of the 3 million Arab Americans in the United States are Catholic or Protestant; 23 percent are Muslim. And, yet, such women are often lumped together with the Arab-Muslims beside whom they live.
This is especially true of the women in Arab nations who often look identical to the Western eye, whether or not they are Muslim. And, yet, even the faces of these women change dramatically depending on the culture of the country in which they live.
Consider the veil, which has become a symbol of the Arab-Muslim woman to Westerners. Many Muslims argue that hijab (head cover) does not come from the Koran but from the later interpretation of Islamic law. The scholar Sanusi Lamido Sanusi writes, "Even a cursory student of Islamic history knows that all the trappings of gender inequality present in the Muslim society have socio-economic and cultural, as opposed to religious roots."
In Saudi Arabia, Islamic religious law, known as Shariah governs virtually every aspect of life. This includes a strict code of dress, which virtually inflicts the hijab upon women.
By contrast, Tunisia has legally banned women from wearing the veil. In 1997, President Ben Ali was quoted as saying, "We have been concerned to ensure an equality of opportunity between men and women and to renew legislation regulating the sphere of women." The political circumstances of Tunisia created local traditions that denied women choice.
In other Arab nations, such as Egypt, hijab is a personal decision. In Lebanon "it is not uncommon to see two girls in Beirut, one in complete hijab, the other in heavy make-up and tight dress, walking hand-in-hand. Lebanon's diversity is reflected in strange ways."
The freedom women experience in any particular Arab nation seems to derive from local tradition rather than from the Koran.
I stare through a glass darkly at an exotic culture and my analysis may be flawed. But one point I am certain. To understand the Arab-Muslim woman, I must lay down "the white woman's burden."
This is the feminist version of the "white man's burden" ?- a theory that was used to justify colonialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In essence, the theory said that white people had a moral obligation to civilize brown people. The Rudyard Kipling poem in which the term originated was written to justify the British colonization of India.
Western feminists seem to believe they have a moral obligation to save the Arab-Muslim woman by molding her into their own image. But if the oppression of Arab-Muslim women results from local traditions and not from religion or ethnicity, then it is possible to respect Islam and Arabs without disrespecting her.
By abandoning the assumption of superiority, Western feminists can say to the Arab-Muslim woman, "we don't disparage your religion or your ethnic origins. We only want you to have choice."
Wendy McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com and a research fellow for The Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. She is the author and editor of many books and articles, including the new book, Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century (Ivan R. Dee/Independent Institute, 2002). She lives with her husband in Canada.
Excellent article, Doug. Thank you for posting it. I have read extensively in this area, and I find her thoughts right on target. Interestingly, I have read that Iraqi women enjoy a freedom not known in other Arab countries, and that the weight of the Sharia is not felt there. Maybe because the overpowering rule of Saddam is what counts, and men and women are equally oppressed by that.
The Sailor
In my movie the boat goes under
And he alone survives the night in the cold ocean,
Swimming he hopes in a shoreward direction.
Daylight and he's still afloat, pawing the water
And doesn't yet know he's only fifty feet from shore.
He goes under for what will be the last time
But only a few feet down scrapes bottom.
He's suddenly a changed man and half hops, half swims
the remaining distance, hauls himself waterlogged
Partway up the beach before collapsing into sleep.
As he dreams the tide comes in
And rolls him back to sea.
---Geof Hewitt
love
You
lying here amid
the perfume of your desire
the warm smile in your eyes
love is a nibbling kiss
rapture sensed
never spoken
while we loved
lust took over
building the pyre
delicious flames of
pleasure caressing pain
driving pulsing
higher and higher
bodies melting
into one
You
lying here amid
the perfume of your desire
Doug
Anyone else find it a bit warm in here? :wink:
Nice one, Chief.
MUWAHAHAAHAH
The death gig was killing my carreer ... had to show versatility yeeah thats the ticket ..... Mr. versatile
What is that ...Marcel Marceau ..... (sp?)
War never ends
Her eyes looked up
wide open with fear
eyes that cried out
to all that would hear
please, don't let me die here
don't let me die here
I wake cold and sweaty
a child's voice in the air
the stars stop their twinkling
through the darkness they stare
in their gaze
words were forming
please, don't let me die here
don't let me die here
each night
the dream returns
in the year that has past
my room filled with darkness
remembering the flash
bullet tearing through flesh
then falling beside her
I repeat her prayer
please, don't let me die here
don't let me die here
I wake cold and sweaty
Doug
That is a beautiful poem, Doug. Thank you.
The moment of dying, the concern of your poem, has fascination for me. What goes through your mind? Do you think of another? Or of your own suddenly small life that has fallen short of the promise, the hoped for purpose, of your idealistic youth?
It is about life ..... death is an inescapable conclusion. The little girl was saying over and over, don't let me die here .....
Christ said 'forgive them, they know not what they do.' I don't think he meant the crucifixion, He did not suffer death, the intent was what 'did him in', so to speak. The intent was that he suffer mortal injury .... a fact he realized in saying 'father, why have you deserted me?' and acknowledged with 'it is over' was .... he had failed, failed to reach them on a level higher than, don't let me die here.
So we die again, and again, until we come to know in our hearts, what we feel in our souls, a final lesson, preached from the cross ... and ignored, is the simple rule that we suffer every wound we inflict .... over and over.
Of mention would be that it matters how you tell the story, some meant to be heard, others felt.
Happy egg day darlin and to all my darlins reading this .....
Happy Easter, Gelisgesti and Kara
The silver trumpets rang across the Dome:
The people knelt upon the ground with awe:
And borne upon the necks of men I saw,
Like some great God, the Holy Lord of Rome.
Priest-like, he wore a robe more white than foam,
And, king-like, swathed himself in royal red,
Three crowns of gold rose high upon his head:
In splendour and in light the Pope passed home.
My heart stole back across wide wastes of years
To One who wandered by a lonely sea,
And sought in vain for any place of rest:
"Foxes have holes, and every bird its nest,
I, only I, must wander wearily,
And bruise my feet, and drink wine salt with tears."
I gazed into the darkness
what I saw gave great surprise
walking through black mist
knowing
I just left
the other side
ripples moving out and through me
fighting wake and wave
left of my passing
who was this
that knew they knew me
chasing shadows
in the dark mist
so far away were they near me
leaving ripples in the tide
waking up
to darkness growing
still not knowing what ...
was just described
Doug
Happy Easter to all here.
