Feminist Peace Network

A new U.S. offensive in Afghanistan is underway. Despite the promises below, please keep in your heart the innocent people who will, without doubt, be victimized by this latest military action.

The operation was aimed at putting pressure on insurgents “and to show our commitment to the Afghan people that when we come in we are going to stay long enough to set up their own institutions,” Captain (Bill) Pelletier said.

He said the US military was prepared for casualties, but stressed that “it is absolutely essential that no civilians be harmed”.

“We do not want people of Helmand province to see us as an enemy, we want to protect them from the enemy,” he said.

Addressing Marine commanders days before the assault, Dutch Major-General Mart de Kruif compared it to the D-Day invasion that changed the course of World War Two.

“We have people out there who do not realise that progress is about to come to them,” he said.

Perhaps history makes that a little difficult.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities, Militarism, U.S. Politics, Children, Afghanistan | No Comments »

Talk about ironic observances, the annual Fourth of July fireworks at our local park has been canceled due to budget woes.  No doubt the neighborhood dogs will be appreciative of the peace and quiet, but since learning this news, I have been trying to figure out a substitute tribute that would be equally fitting.

With knee-jerk flag-waving and latter day tea parties of the faux patriotism genre obviously to be avoided at all costs, it occurs to me that the way a real patriot would celebrate is to secede.  That’s right, get up and walk away and start a new country because this one is showing definite signs of being about as life-like as a used cherry bomb.

After all, only in America:

Are you likely to be denied urgent health care for lack of seven dollars. 

A major tobacco company helps to write tobacco regulatory legislation.

The winner of the Presidential election is the one who gets the most money from the defense industry even when the majority of his supporters want to get out of the unpopular wars of the last eight years.

The people who make laws regulating corporations take money from those same corporations?

Illegal detention is a happening event despite campaign promises and a whole lot of laws to the contrary?

The President thumbs his nose at the LGQBT community numerous times, with the vague mention of addressing their concerns later, especially the baffling back-peddling on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and DOMA?

Bailed out banks raise salaries to get around bonus caps and have the chutzpah to raise interest rates despite promises not to.

We listen to climate change skeptics that are funded by oil companies and continue to insist (and here), against all evidence (and here) that there are such  things as clean, safe and affordable coal and nuclear. energy.
The government not only blames the wrong people for what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but actively works to cover up the real culpability.  As Mark Karlin, editor and publisher of Buzzflash accurately points out,

It was always one of the great betrayals of the American public, dead Iraqi civilians, and our killed and wounded service men and women that the Bush Administration — and particularly Cheney — used anti-terrorism as a guise to secure control over oil fields.

Clearly, not only absolving, but actually legally covering up for Saudi financing of terrorism is a deal with the devil: You keep sending us the oil and you can do whatever you want to keep your regime in power, even if it’s paying off the terrorists who committed 9/11.

Where a pop-singer is memorialized in butter at the Iowa State Fair and the story appears not in The Onion but in America’s newspaper.  (With the bizarre emphasis we place  on the Iowa caucuses during presidential elections, this litmus test of values should not be taken lightly.)

Yes dear citizens, these are the remains of our country.  It has gotten to the point where it feels like we’re living in a surrealistic sequel to Orwell’s 1984. And there are many more signs of imminent failure, but the above should suffice to make the point, if not keep you up at 3 a.m.) Not a scenario that leads one to want to celebrate. America, love it or leave it. Or time to say enough is enough and fight like hell and take our country back with real substantive change.

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Wow, here’s a news flash, it turns out that the National Organization for Women is responsible for the mis-treatment of women in Iran.  Why the hell not, feminists are to blame for everything, aren’t they?

According to Chip Hanlon’s logic (okay, that might not be the right word), when a woman gets murdered on the streets of Iran, by the forces of a government that regularly abuses women, NOW is the culprit because it has not made this a ‘top priority’.

Well here’s a newsflash Mr. Hanlon–the N in NOW stands for National, that means that NOW primarily focuses on issues in this country.  Secondly, women are murdered every day in this country and way too frequently by our military forces in other countries and NOW is VERY vocal on those issues.

And what are you doing about Neda Agha Soltan’s murder Mr. Hanlon?  Are you too busy bashing feminists to realize that the murder of women is, at the end of the day, a man’s issue because men are the ones who need to stop killing women.  And oh by the way, if you did even a modicum of research you would know that NOW is not the only feminist organization and that many other feminist organizations have in fact been very vocal about the impact of what is happening in Iran on women’s lives.

Be that as it may, whether or not NOW issued a statement really isn’t the point because feminists are  not responsible for taking up the fight against every damned bad thing that happens on the planet, the argument that they are is misogyny at its worst.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Feminism, Misogyny, Feminist, Iran | No Comments »

Statement from the Central Americal Women’s Network (CAWN) regarding Honduras:
CAWN is seriously concerned about the latest political situation in Honduras, the accusations and actions against the President, Manuel Zelaya, the civil society organisations and in particular the violation of the democracy of Honduras.

CAWN will be taking lobbying and advocay actions in solidarity with the people of Honduras. More information will be soon posted on this website.

Statement From Honduran Women’s Organizations and Feminist Networks:

“On Sunday June 28, the President (of Honduras), Mr. José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, was assaulted, kidnapped and sent to the Republic of Costa Rica in the presidential plane with military guards who claimed he had violated the Constitution…

He had implemented a popular consultation through a public opinion survey, which asked the people whether or not they agreed that on November 29 (national election day) a fourth urn be placed for the people to vote on a proposed National Constituent Assembly, which would develop a new Constitution with the full participation of different social actors in the country.

This consultation was declared illegal by the judiciary, the Public Ministry and the National Congress, to justify the arrest and extradition of the President of the Republic, which has violated the rule of law through the use of brutal force and the lack of respect by the military for his election as President of the Republic by the people.

Read more…

Filed under: Uncategorized, Militarism, Feminism, Feminist, Honduras | No Comments »

Filed under: Uncategorized, Violence Against Women, Artistic Activism | No Comments »

Via The Nobel Women’s Initiative:

The Nobel Women’s Initiative is deeply concerned by the detention of Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and other human rights activists on the Free Gaza Movement mission to deliver aid to the people of Gaza by boat.  Israeli naval forces forcibly boarded the Free Gaza boat and detained the human rights workers late this afternoon, 23 miles off the coast of Gaza.  Earlier in the day, the Israeli Naval Forces ordered the boat—at gun-point—to turn back.

Maguire is traveling on the Free Gaza fishing boat, accompanied by a sister boat called the Spirit of Humanity.  The boats are carrying construction materials, three tons of medical supplies, and suitcases full of children’s toys—all items banned by the Israeli government.

The approximately 30 activists on board include a former Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, as well as envoys from Gulf nations. This is the eighth mission of the Free Gaza Movement, an international human rights group formed in 2006 to bring attention to the Israeli blockade of Gaza.  Past mission participants have included parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries./p>

Before embarking on the journey, Maguire said:  “We sail to Gaza to break this cruel siege of Gaza by the Israeli Government,and to show the people of Gaza that the world does care what is happening to them.”

“It is appalling that in this the 2lst century, the Israeli government is allowed to carry out its policy of collective punishment of an entire people [by continuing] to keep borders closed and refuse the people of Gaza basic necessities for living - food, medicines, cement, and building materials.”

Filed under: Uncategorized, Sheroes, Militarism, U.S. Politics, Human Rights, Gaza, Israel | No Comments »

I suppose if it hadn’t been Michael Jackson’s untimely death, it would have  been some other crisis du jour  that knocked the Iran election coverage to the back burner.  However, as Marcia G. Yerman points out, that our interest in Michael mania rivaled if not topped our concern about Iran does not speak well of us.  As Yerman mentions, in the hours after Jackson’s death, there were so many messages on Twitter that the system was swamped to the point of disfunction,

I checked Twitter, to see if I were the only person wondering where all the other news stories had gone. The bird was pooped, exhausted from too many Tweets. When I went back later, I was able to get on, and found a few kindred souls lamenting the media situation. One had sent a message out to followers in Iran, asking them to hold on while the United Sates went through the Jackson news cycle.

However,  if you happen to live in Iran, the  crisis does indeed continue.   I’m sure sooner or later someone will run some stats on MJ vs. Iran media coverage, it will no doubt be an embarrassing inditement of our priorities.  In the meantime, FPN will continue to point towards useful commentary and information, particularly relevant to the role of women in what is happening.

Latoya Peterson has an excellent analysis of how references to beauty in the political discourse have been distracting from useful discussion of the issues,

While the politics of beauty practices has been a feminist mainstay around the globe, when employed while discussing the situation in Tehran, it distracts from understanding the actual issues at play.  Often times, Western feminists become infatuated with the symbolic nature of veiling, and fail to listen to women discussing what they are actually fighting for.

In this case, it was not just the fact that the votes in Iran may well have been rigged—the regime hand selects the candidates anyway, meaning that only a small portion of those who wish to run for election will ever find themselves on the ballot.

She goes on to make the excellent point that,

Our feminist conversations on politics in the region should not immediately default to veiling and other style issues.

The visual narrative may emphasize clothing and beauty, but we should not be so distracted by images that we miss the message underneath the make-up.

As we continue to monitor the story, please add the Tehran Bureau, run by Kelly Golnoush Niknejad to your list  of  go-to sites for information.  Lastly IPS has a good background piece here that also reports that  a mothers-run ongoing vigil that has been organized in Tehran,

(A) group of women calling themselves “The Mourning Mothers” issued a call for peaceful protests at Laleh Park at 7:00 on Saturdays, near the area where Neda was killed on Saturday, Jun. 20.

The statement reads: “Based on what sin have you murdered our children? Why have you forced all mothers into mourning?”

The mothers have demanded an end to violence, the prosecution of those who have committed violence, and the release of over 800 persons arrested over the past two weeks.

It seems that with this new call to action, women will continue to have an active presence in the protests, which have taken on new dimensions objecting not only to election fraud but to violent suppression of peaceful dissent.

Many thanks to Mari Kurisato for permission to reprint the beautiful image above of Neda Agha Soltan from her website.

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When it comes to funding social services, the folks with their hands on the  purse strings always have a long speech ready about how they would provide more funding if only there was more money available. 

Perhaps if they sat down and had dinner with Jane Stillwater, they would realize that actually those funds are indeed available, it is just a little question of how we spend them.  You see Jane has solved the problem of hunger in America, not to mention world peace.  It’s simple really, go to dinner at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse.

As Jane quickly points out, most of us would find the tab a bit steep, but compared to the cost of a Lockheed Trident missile, it’s a steal because as it turns out, a Trident costs $30.9 million dollars.  According to Jane, for that price, 386,250 people could eat the healthy, delicious food at Chez Panisse.  And imagine if two of those people were the heads of state of say India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, well you get the idea.  Or suppose we used that $30.9 million to feed the hungry, imagine the feeling of security those people would have.

And then look at that pie and realize there is a whole lot more goodness to be had if only we buy the right ingredients. The problem is the folks that go shopping at the national mall, your elected representatives and mine, are major pushovers for glitzy advertising by those savvy marketeers on K Street.

In recent days we’ve seen numerous reports about how much money members of Congress get from the health care and banking industries. And as PilotOnline points out, much as we’d like to think of Republicans as the big recipients of defense dollars, the reality is that Obama got more defense industry contributions than McCain in the last  election. It’s gotten so bad that the recent tobacco legislation that is being hailed as a big reform was co-written by Philip Morris. Uh huh, and I’ve got some swamp land in Florida that you can have for a song.  What truly is wrong with these folks that they don’t see the inherent conflict as problematic and why do we allow it to continue?

The good folks at Open Secrets have an outstanding database that shows in painful detail which of our elected officials get what from whom.   Bears some serious digesting.

Courtney E. Martin sheds some light on another thing that might lead to some better economic decision making.  Again, quite simple–let women have at it.  Yeah really, forget that bad rep about going to the mall and racking up debt, it turns out that,

(W)omen make up just 10 percent of all mutual fund managers and only 3 percent of the approximately $1.9 trillion invested in hedge funds. This, despite the fact that women-owned funds outperform funds in general; Hedge Fund Research has just released a study that found that women-owned funds delivered an annual return of 9.06 percent compared with 5.82 percent among all hedge funds from 2000 to date.

Food for thought.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Militarism, Economics | No Comments »

Suppose just for a minute you’re an unemployed middle-class white guy in Detroit.  Your marriage falls apart, your house burns down and you are in debt up the wazoo.  But you’re really, really well-endowed down there.  Solution?  Sell your services.  Yes those services.  According to HBO’s new series Hung, the notion of a guy taking up what is sometimes referred to as women’s oldest profession in order to make ends meet should be highly amusing. As Dan Barry of the New York Times puts it, “The writers have turned a penis into a plot device”. Ho, ho.

Leaving aside the revolting suggestion that residents of Detroit should turn to prostitution now that the economy has tanked, and with all due respect for the rights of those who freely choose this line of work, the reality is that most people who sell their sexual services are coerced or sold into the profession and most of those people are women. For them, sex work is most definitely not a form of entertainment.

Sex trafficking is currently recognized by the United Nations as human rights violation. However, not all forms of prostitution involve sex trafficking, which leads to significant debate over whether all prostitution should be considered a human rights violation. While not all women are forced into prostitution through sex trafficking, many are somehow coerced or forced into the profession.

Research shows that sex trafficking greatly contributes to the spread of infectious diseases including HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B in women and their clients in South Asia, an area deeply effected by sex trafficking. Very few prostitutes receive the proper screening or treatment for these STIs.

Furthermore, while prostitution has not historically always been recognized as a form of violence against women, prostitutes suffer significant physical violence resulting in black eyes, bruises, and broken bones.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice,

• 83 percent of the reported human trafficking incidents involved allegations of sex trafficking.
• Over 90 percent of victims in both alleged and confirmed human trafficking incidents were female.
• 99% of the victims in alleged and confirmed sex trafficking incidents were female.
• 71% of sex trafficking victims  were under age 25.
• 80% of sex traffickers are male.

Not a very amusing scenario is it?  For more information about sexual trafficking, via RapeIs the following are organizations working to raise awareness about sexual slavery:

• Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE)
• The Protection Project
• Captive Daughters
• Polaris Project
• The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

Filed under: Uncategorized, Violence Against Women, Human Rights, Trafficking, prostitution | No Comments »

This brought me to tears–Via NPR:

Filed under: Uncategorized, Artistic Activism, Iran | 1 Comment »