Thank you Michael! I too believe that there is little difference
between Republicans and Democrats. We need real choices in the
U.S. If we had them perhaps people would vote.
*Look to your local Green Party. There are two national conferences
this year and the purpose of one is to look at running several
third party candidates for president. While this top-down approach raises the
hackles of many Greens, there is still work being done at the local
level.
*Think about running for office. There are positions such as city council,
county board and school board (Barbara?) where people can make a significant
difference in their communities.
I don't believe electoral politics is the answer to all of our social and
economic ills, but what are our alternatives? It`s worth a try.
Shawn Boeser
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue May 2 10:39:34 MDT 1995
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Michael Golden)
Subject: [WFS]-RELIGION: FUND.WarOnWomen (fwd)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 2 May 95 9:38:06 PDT
Forwarded message:
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 01:18:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: PNEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [WFS]-RELIGION: FUND.WarOnWomen
[*****PNEWS CONFERENCES****]
/* Written 8:32 AM May 1, 1995 by wfs in igc:wfs.english */
/* ---------- "RELIGION: FUNDAMENTALISM'S WAR ON W" ---------- */
Copyright, WOMEN'S FEATURE SERVICE, All Rights Reserved
Used here on PNEWS with permission. This story may not be reproduced, e-
mailed, or posted anywhere outside the APC without specific permission
from WFS. E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for subscription information.
TITLE: RELIGION: FUNDAMENTALISM'S WAR ON WOMEN
By Marsha Talcin
New York, March 24 (WFS) -- Three women are killed in the U.S. by
a scripture-quoting gunman opposed to abortion. Algerian women are
shot in the streets for refusing to wear the veil.
Although separated by miles and borders, these attacks on
women are linked by common, powerful shifts in the religious
landscape worldwide.
The rise of religious fundamentalism is inciting violence
against women and reversing human rights advances worldwide,
according to participants who spoke out during panels held recently
in conjunction with the final preparatory meeting this week for
next September's United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women.
Panels on fundamentalism and women's rights included speakers
on Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and Judaism, as well as on
Buddhism and Hinduism.
Common themes discussed explored the way extremists use
religion to achieve a political end, and how the rise of
fundamentalism is fueled by declining economies and escalating
nationalism.
"Religion is the most powerful force in the lives of most
people," explained Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a
Free Choice, a group that supports the right to choose abortion.
Kissling recently won a battle against the Vatican, which tried to
deny her certification as a delegate to the U.N. conference.
"At best, religion represents goodness and charity," she
continued. "At worst it occupies the fear and hatred within
people."
Panels sponsored by the U.S.-based group, The Project on
Religion and Human Rights, included "Witnesses on the Situation of
Women's Human Rights in Various Religions" and "Fundamentalism and
Violence against Women."
The project is described by founding co-chair Reverend Dr.
Donald W. Shriver, Jr. as "a new effort to overcome the gap between
people who swear by religion and those who swear at it."
Women's Feature Service USA sponsored an evening discussion
titled "Counter-Attack: Women Stand Up To Fundamentalism" to
emphasize the courageous measures that women are taking to maintain
rights they have gained over the last two decades.
Reports on the brutality women have suffered were mixed with
discussions of why such attacks are occurring.
Controlling women's behavior is essential to the
fundamentalist ideology, said Kissling, a member of the
"Counter-Attack" panel.
"Why does the Catholic Church reserve its passion for issues of
sex, reproduction and women's rights?" Kissling wondered. "Where's
the passion for civil rights? Why do they rage against women?"
The church, she added, seems "lost in the pelvic zone."
Inevitably, all religions are connected to human rights
violations against women, said Dr. Susanna Heschel, a professor of
Jewish studies who spoke on the "Witnesses" panel.
Women cling to their religious beliefs, she explained, "because
they think sexism was created by men, not God."
In The Project on Religion and Human Rights panels, Muslim
women from Sudan and Pakistan criticized the U.S. media for
portraying their religion as specifically fundamentalist and evil.
"There is nothing in my religion against women," Dr. Asma
Mohamed Abdel Halim, a Sudanese speaker, said. "What women need is
a feminist interpretation."
Halim added that in the Sudan, interpretation of the Koran is
in the hands of a few people. Women are not part of that group.
Shazia Rafi, a Pakistani, said Islam was liberating for women
in the sixth and seventh centuries. "Polygamy was outlawed and
women had rights of inheritance," she explained. At that time, she
added, "Lawyers and judges set the rules. Nowadays it is done by
people with little education."
Karima Bennoune, an Algerian-American lawyer and activist,
prefaced her remarks at the "Counter-Attack" panel by encouraging
the audience not to blame Islam.
"I am speaking of a political movement, not Islam as a whole,"
she said, as she described how organized violence against Algerian
women, including gang rapes and murders, is rapidly escalating.
The use of male imagery encourages patriarchal religions, said
Joan Ferrante, a professor of medieval religions and one of the
keynote speakers for The Project on Religion and Human Rights.
"If the male is set up as the authority figure and the female
as a figure to be dominated," she said, "it is a small step from
controlling what a woman does to beating her."
She added, "We have to change basic attitudes of religion to
equalize women's lives."
There are some bright spots for women and religion. Yoden
Congdon, a member of the "Witnesses" panel, described Tibetan
Buddhism as an equalizing force.
"We believe in reincarnation, where form is transitory. Anyone
can come back as a male or female so religion has played a positive
effect in our society," she said.
Radha Kumar, a fellow at the Institute of War and Peace Studies
at Columbia University, described two successful Indian campaigns
on behalf of Muslims and Hindus during the 1980s.
"The court ruled that religion was not allowed to intervene in
human rights," Kumar said as she described the result of successful
campaigns to give Muslim women the right to financial maintenance
from their husbands and free Hindu women from the pressure to
commit suicide after their husbands' death.
Kumar, who spoke at the "Fundamentalism" panel, explained that
when feminists involved in the campaigns were criticized for being
too Westernized, they searched for and received support from some
traditional sections of Indian society.
"This shows great promise for such campaigns in the future,"
Kumar added.
In spite of the horror that is currently occurring in Algeria,
Bennoune said women should not lose sight of the progress being
made. Algerian women are fighting against the fundamentalists both
individually and collectively.
"Women activists continue to meet in secret and speak to the
foreign press," Bennoune said. "They continue to write, to publish,
to work and not to wear the veil. Women have gone into hiding to
continue their work even though they face death at every moment."
(Ends/970 words)
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Michael Golden
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Biology
Grossmont College
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, CA 92020
619-465-1700 x332
