Western wars vs. Muslim women

[Donnachaidh]

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/08/05/western-wars-vs-muslim-women

Western media is awash with reports about Taliban mistreatment of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan that feature countless voices in support of the war to secure a 'brighter future for women's rights'. This week's Time magazine cover story is a case in point.

If Western wars 'liberate' Eastern women, Muslim women would be - after centuries of Western military interventions - the most 'liberated' in the world. They are not, and will not be, especially when liberty is associated with Western hegemony.

Afghanistan has had its share of British, Russian and American military intervention to no avail. In fact, reports from credible women's groups there signal worsening conditions for Aghan women since the US invasion a decade ago.

The Taliban's social norms might be an affront to modern values, but they cannot be replaced summarily with Western values, let alone by force.

If, as General Petreaus insists, US soldiers should "live" with Afghans in order to defeat the insurgency, expect more hostility towards the foreign invaders and their values.


More at the link ---

from further down in the article --

Western man's long-held fantasy of 'rescuing' veiled women from their repressive captors is being exploited to promote the idea that war can free women from the wrath of the 'bearded terrorists', as it 'liberates America' from their terrorism.

[uncommon]

1. They have to free themselves...

It is very hard to watch, especially as a Western feminist, but you can't force people to be free. We had to fight for it, and they will have to fight for it, when and if they decide to, as well.

We can spread ideas and education, but we can't force people to demand freedom. And we can't really demand it for them.

[burnsei sensei]

2. This is a false equivalency.

One that our government wants us to believe-- that liberty survives and thrives in hegemony.
Wrong.

Liberty and hegemony should not be said in the same sentence.
Hegemony is totalitarianism, an empire, oligarchy or dictatorship, that forces people through social pressure or violence, to participate in their own subjugation.
Hegemony is totalitarian first.
There is no liberty in hegemony.
But hegemony has been an American political objective in America and in the world for at least a century.