Democracy in a regressive state
An article appeared in Time, March 7, 2009, Iraq's Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Pimping Daughters. What the article indicates is that women in Iraq are now being sold off by their families to live their lives in prostitution. If they don't fetch a good husband, then they are seen as commodities. It adds:
Still, it remains a hidden crime; one that the 2008 US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report says the Iraqi government is not combating. Baghdad, the report says, "offers no protection services to victims of trafficking, reported no efforts to prevent trafficking in persons and does not acknowledge trafficking to be a problem in the country."In other words, Iraq is moving forward towards democracy, but at the behest of an entire segment of their population. In the end, are women going to be grateful for this great democracy that is being formed, when they're sold off into sexual slavery? I seriously doubt it. And that's the problem, because I don't think the men of Iraq, the ones who are pushing for their own democracy, care. And that's par to the course in a lot of these areas. Yesterday, in Saudi Arabia, a woman was arrested for driving. Not for driving under the influence, too fast or over the lines in the middle of the road. For driving. Here's the first words of the article on CNN's site:
Police in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca Wednesday arrested a woman for violating the country's ban on women driving, according to the Saudi English-language daily Arab News.The woman, whose nationality and name were not released but who was described as being in her 20s, attempted to flee when she realized police had spotted her driving, Saudi authorities said.
Yep, the women had to flee when the police discovered her driving. So, no, it's really not that hard to make the leap from not being able to drive to being sold into sexual slavery. This area of the world has nothing but disgust towards women, unless they are fulfilling their "purpose", which supposedly is procreation and remaining invisible.
But the United States is in Iraq right now, and sadly enough we made things worse for women than they used to be. We like to tout our accomplishments (like the few times we did something good for women out there) but those advances were in spite of the people of Iraq. The men of Iraq don't want an equal playing field for men and women.The problem is that the United States is always willing to support a regime as long as it is loyal to the United States. We used to stand behind dictators and horrible people, because they would show loyalty and/or support to the United States. But these policies have ALWAYS come back to bite us on the ass. An example: Iran. We supported the Shah of Iran. Look what that got us. 444 days of captivity for the people of our embassy and hostility from a country that is on the verge of becoming a nuclear state.
Right now, we're kind of doing nothing, hoping the Iraqis will fix their state. We're happy as long as no more Americans are dying. But we broke this country, and we're probably going to leave it in pretty sorry shape, although our press releases will indicate it's doing great. As long as one woman is being sold into sexual slavery, we have helped to ruin a people.
So, what can we do? We can use what's left of our influence to influence the important things, like civil liberties. We have a female Secretary of State going over to a country to negotiate with a group of people who would probably sell her into sexual slavery if they were given the chance. They have no respect for women, so what makes us think they respect her for anything more than the fact that she has the ear of the President of the United States? They probably laugh at her behind her back because she is a woman and is completely unworthy of their attention. That's the kind of people we're dealing with right now.
So either the United States needs to be forthright about this sort of thing, indicating that oppressive behavior towards any part of a society is wrong, or we need to stop doing ANYTHING to try to influence other countries because for way too long we've been vociferous about some things and boisterously silent on others because we feared ruffling feathers of people who already don't like us.
Either way, it is truly sad that this sort of thing is still happening under our noses in the 21st century. And with that said, because it's so easy to point our fingers at these "evil" empires, it happens in the United States, too. So if there's any point to this post at all, it's about how good we are at ignoring the plight of other people who are right there in front of us, suffering. Somewhat out of character, I leave you with one of my poems, Saw It On TV:
The TV remote must be broken
I click the buttons
But the channel doesn’t seem to change
On the screen
Is the figure
Of a malnourished little girl
Cold and hungry
I think we’re supposed to watch her starve to death
These reality programs are hard to understand sometimes
I really don’t want to be watching this
I keep waiting for Sally Struthers
And a plea for money
But neither comes
Just that poor little girl
Starving on the screen
I change the channel manually
But still the same haunting image
She lives in a home
Made of aluminum siding
She’s covered in dirt
Innocent to the rest of the world
Both a gift
And a curse
I wonder what horrible creature
What vicious regime
Twisted government
Hater of mankind
Could allow this to happen to a little girl
In one’s country
I try to turn off the TV
For some reason
Nothing happens
The child is soon replaced
By a malnourished family
They stare at me
At the camera
With blank faces
As if seeing the camera for the first time
I wonder how the cameraman
Can just stare back in silence
How can someone be so indifferent?
How can people ignore something like this?
And then I begin to remember
I don’t own a TV set.
I’m looking out my own window.
Labels: Iraq, Poetry, Politics
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