roger hollander

Afghan Women Protest Marital Rape Law; Men Spit and Stone Them April 16, 2009

Rady Ananda

www.opednews.com, April 16, 2009

WARNING:  GRAPHIC VIOLENT CONTENT 

Last month, the new Afghanistan parliament passed the “Shia Family Law” which legitimates marital rape and child marriage for Shia Muslims who make up ~15% of the population.  At least 300 women protested the law, with their faces exposed.  Nearly 1,000 Afghan men and their slaves turned maniacal and stoned the protesters. Police struggled to keep the two groups apart, reports the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).

Supporters of the law redefine ‘rape’ to fit their narrow patriarchal views.  Forced sexual relations, to them, is about loyalty to the husband.  One counter-protester reportedly described rape as marital infidelity – by the wife!

Rape is what you see in the West where men don’t feel responsibility for their wives and leave them to go with several men.”

Well, honey, that is not the definition of rape.  That’s called cheating.  Afghan protesters object to insane Taliban views that promote stoning women to death for perceived affronts to their masculine godview:

Woman Stoned to Death

Last week widespread objection erupted to the stoning of a 16-year-old for leaving her house with a male non-family member, while the man was left unmolested and unpunished.  The Taliban’s femicidal misogyny is infamous, world wide.  RAWA and others hope to neutralize the psychopathic influence of Taliban thought in the Middle East. 

Afghanistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, except when it conflicts with their religion.  How convenient.

Treating Shia women separately than all other citizens sets them up for violence, as the counter-protesters proved.  RAWA tracks this violence, posting photos, reports and, recently, its statement on the 7th Anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan:

Neither the US nor Jehadies and Taliban,
Long Live the Struggle of Independent and Democratic Forces of Afghanistan!

RAWA reports:

“The government of President Hamid Karzai has said the Shiite family law is being reviewed by the Justice Department and will not be implemented in its current form. Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labeled it ‘abhorrent.’

“Though the law would apply only to the country’s Shiites – 10 to 20 percent of Afghanistan’s 30 million people – it has sparked an uproar by activists who say it marks a return to Taliban-style oppression. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home without a male relative.

“Shiite backers of the law say that foreigners are meddling in private Afghan affairs, and Wednesday’s demonstrations brought some of the emotions surrounding the debate over the law to the surface.

“‘You are a dog! You are not a Shiite woman!’ one man shouted to a young woman in a headscarf holding aloft a banner that said ‘We don’t want Taliban law.’ The woman did not shout back at the man, but told him: ‘This is my land and my people.’

Women protesting the law said many of their supporters had been blocked by men who refused to let them join the protest. Those who did make it shouted repeatedly that they were defending human rights by defending women’s rights and that the law does not reflect the views of the Shiite community.

“Fourteen-year-old Masuma Hasani said her whole family had come out to protest the law – both her parents and her younger sister who she held by the arm.

“‘I am concerned about my future with this law,’ she said. ‘We want our rights. We don’t want women to just be used.'”

This 10-minute 2006 phone-video evidences the murder by stoning of a teen girl who favored a boy outside her religious sect.  The boy, of course, went unharmed.  The femicidal maniacs cheered their actions, with several taking pictures.  Bloodlust fueled the men; they cheered when her head cracked open and blood pored onto the ground. Finally, the mob dragged her off.

Gotta love US influence in the Middle East.  We sure “brought democracy” over there.  Early this month, UK Gay News reported that 100 Iraqis face imminent execution for being gay. 

Despite US President Barack Obama’s “abhorrence” at legitimizing marital rape, RAWA is not happy with US foreign policy in Afghanistan:

 

More about RAWA.