DECEMBER 2002
We are all deeply saddened by the violent acts
perpetrated on September 11, 2001, both here in NYC and in the hundreds of thousands of
homes around the world where terrorism is part of everyday life. Our hearts and work
at insite go out to all who are suffering from these uncivilized acts.
It is said that the level of civilization in a
society can be judged by how it treats its least powerful. Well, in every society on this
earth, including, and especially in Afghanistan, the group called "women" are
the least powerful. In fact, more women and girls die each year as a result
of gender-based violence than as a result of any other human rights abuse.
[For some insight into the daily violence women and girls suffer at the hands of
men and boys, check out the
Amnesty
International Women's Human Rights Campaign For some statistics
on the war against women in the United States, please scroll down to the end of this
column.]
According to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, Amartya Sen, noted historian
James McElvaine and many other feminist women and men, if we are to stop the wars that
have been terrorizing and de-civilizing our world since the beginning of time, we must
liberate all women, respect them equally and give them an equal voice in every
government (including in the US).
The first step in this novel experiment is to
picture women as deserving of such treatment...which insite hopes to help you do in the
future.
To get a little background on the abuse against women in Afghanistan - which
continues to this day, you can click here to read the US State
Department's 2001 Report on the Taliban's War on Women.
According to this radical feminist organization:
"Prior to the rise of the Taliban, women in
Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society.
There was a mood of tolerance and openness as the country began moving toward
democracy. Women were making important contributions to national development.
In 1977, they comprised over 15% of Afghanistan's highest legislative body. It is
estimated that by the early 1990s, 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers, and
40% of doctors in Kabul were women. These professional women provide a pool of
talent and expertise that will be needed in the reconstruction of post-Taliban
Afghanistan."
Below is a bit of a timeline of events - in reverse chronological order - in the
course of setting up a new government in Afghanistan that is ostensibly committed to equal
rights and opportunity for all. You can help by getting up to speed on the issues and by
e-mailing or writing your government representatives and urging them to support the humane
treatment of Afghani women. Oh, and while some people continue to say that
congresspeople don't listen to e-mails... they do. We've gotten written (snail mail and
e-mail) responses from our reps. It matters that you write them! (And this from one
of us who lobbied in the US Congress for the Civil Rights Act of 1991).
~~
December 17, 2002 - Human Rights Watch report released today shows that the
oppression of women and girls continues in Afghanistan.
May 10, 2002 -
Human Rights Watch sends letter
to First Woman Laura Bush urging her to increase support for Afghan women's security
concerns. Ms. Bush is on a ten-day official
tour of Europe during which she will highlight U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. Acting
as President Bush's official representative, she willl meet with European
ambassadors and organizations that support reconstruction aid and development for
Afghanistan.
May 9 - Human
Rights Watch issues report revealing that Afghan
women continue to fear physical violence and insecurity even after the end of the Taliban
regime in Afghanistan. Personal safety is also the reason many women continue to
wear the body bag called the "Burqa."
May 4 -
Annual White House Dinner/Lovefest for US
press and Hollywood Celebs (we stretched the facts
here... but, hey, we're only joking!)
(The facts:) United States President George Bush Jr. holds up a picture of an
Afghan woman in a burqa entering the White House for a meeting on the oppression of women
in Afghanistan and jokes that is was really... Senator Hillary Clinton! Har
Har!!! (Our joking:) He warns all those feminists/Afghani women who don't laugh that
he'll call them frigid in his next radio address (assuming Karen Hughes is still available
for language instruction from Texas). Also makes joke about Vice President
Cheney peeing (does not need Karen for that).
Industry buzz is that Bush and Cheney are being heavily courted by both MTV and
Miramax to pen their next movies. Failing that, both men are said to be eager to
guest star on The Osbournes, the new hit show with the pee and burka crowd. The pair
have turned down repeated requests to appear on Oprah, explaining that "she asks
difficult questions on issues outside our area of concern." Stay Tuned.
February through April 2002 - Boys posture pose fight shoot bomb
rape kill maim in their attempt to set up a civil society.... But then, you know how
difficult it is for a bunch of men to work together....
George Bush has refused to support the expansion of the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF), which both UN and Afghan officials believe is the only real way
to keep peace through its efforts to encourage disarmament, mediate conflicts among
warlords, restore womens rights and human rights, and deliver humanitarian services.
Women are still afraid of rape and beatings and wear full-length body coverings for
protection. They have no real say in how the society or government is structured.
Uncivility rules.
Anti-women pamphlets are being spread by Afghani men which warn Stop
sending your women to offices and daughters to schools. It spreads indecency and vulgarity
Stand ready for the consequences if you do not heed the advice.
Recommended Actions (from Equality Now)
Please write to the President of the Security
Council asking him to circulate your letter to the other Security Council members. Call on
the Security Council to authorize the immediate expansion of UN-authorized security forces
in Afghanistan and to post these forces throughout the country with a mandate to disarm
warring factions.
Please also write to the President of the United States, urging him to reverse
United States opposition to the expansion of the security forces and noting the special
responsibility of the United States Government to help rebuild Afghanistan following the
destruction caused by US bombing in the war. Urge him also to ensure that the funding
commitments made by the United States and other donor countries in Tokyo are honored and
delivered without further delay.
Letters should be addressed to:
Security Council President
for May
H.E. Mr. Kishore Mahbubani
Permanent Mission of Singapore
231 East 51st Street
New York, NY 10022, USA
Fax: 1-212-826-2964
Email: sgpun@prodigy.net |
Security Council President
for June
H.E. Dr. Mikhail Wehbe
Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic
820 Second Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10017, USA
Fax: 1-212-983-4439
Email: syria@un.int |
|
|
Security Council President
for July
H.E. Sir Jeremy Quentin Greenstock, KCMG
Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom
One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 28th Floor
885 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017, USA
Fax: 1-212-745-9316
E-mail uk@un.int |
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500, USA
Fax: 1-202-456-2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov |
insite suggests you read Prof.
Robert S. McElvaine's
Eve's Seed
for
insight into the history of male hostility towards women and each other. We think
it's one of the most amazing books ever written.
After reading Eve's Seed you'll
never look at a farm, the bible, feminism, rock 'n' roll lyrics, mass consumption, or Bill
Clinton in the same way.
- Paul R. Ehrlich, Bing
Professor of Population Studies,
Stanford University, and author of Human Natures: Genes,
Cultures, and the Human Prospect.
Jan. 25, 2002 - Over one month into the six-month term of the interim
government, the Afghan Women's Ministry, headed by one of only two women in the new
Afghani leadership, Dr. Sima Samar, has been given neither an office nor funding to hire
staff or to initiate programs. The Ministry for Womens Affairs is the only ministry
without pre-existing resources and without funding from donor nations, the Ministry will
not be able to function, jeopardizing womens rights initiatives in the country.
Surely, if the Ministry is to succeed in helping the women and girls of Afghanistan to
regain their rights and participate fully in the rebuilding of the country, it is
imperative that the Women's Ministry receive immediate and significant funding.
Please e-mail your Congresspersons, UN Secretary General Representative to Afghanistan Brahimi and President Bush and Secretary Powell and urge them to
support and fund the Ministry for Womens Affairs, so that women and girls have a
chance of being protected from daily violence, getting back on their feet and into a
healthy role in their society.
Jan. 20-21 - Japan - President
Bush decides that Afghan interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and his government will
receive $278 million of US tax dollars in aid and a total of $4.5 billion from around the
world. This was decided at a meeting in Tokyo, where US women's rights groups were
denied admission even though they have been championing the cause of Afghani women since
1995 (when no one else was listening) and their presence was requested by Afghani
women. It is important that US dollars (or any dollars!) not be used to perpetuate
the horrible oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Jan. 18 - Physician's for Human Rights send Letter to
President Bush Urging $1 Billion per Year for Reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Jan. 15 - Afghan
interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai signs the Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, which
was written by Afghani women in June of 2000. It affirms womens right to
personal safety, right to physical and mental health, right to institutional education,
right not to wear the burqa, and right to equal protection under the law. However,
it's imperative that we make sure these rights are not hollow promises, enforced in the
breach. In fact, most women still do not feel physically safe without the burqas.
Jan. 10, 2002: Bush names James Dobbins US
Amabassador to Afghanistan
2002 - Human Rights
World Report on Women 2002 points up just how much U.S. and Europe really care about
women's human rights as they use the Taliban's mistreatment of women for their own
purposes:
"THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The war in Afghanistan mobilized international
attention to women's human rights in that country, with the U.S. government and its allies
giving women's rights a prominent place in the propaganda war against the Taliban.
In 2001, however, there seemed to be a disconnect between the U.S. and the
international community's rhetorical commitment to equality and a willingness to adopt and
implement policies that fully integrated attention to women's human rights. In 2001,
U.N.-sponsored meetings addressed critical issues such as the gender dimensions of racism,
gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum, and an international protocol on the
collection of forensic evidence in cases of sexual violence.
At the same time, the U.S. and the European Union took steps on trafficking,
international treaty ratification, funding for women's health, and trade that marginalized
or ignored women's human rights. Women's rights activists found that many of these steps
were tentative and inconsistent, and hoped that the international community's concern for
women's rights in Afghanistan would be long-lasting and would result in stepped-up efforts
to recognize women's human rights violations and curtail them also in other parts of the
world." (wrong...)
Dec. 22 - Germany - The Afghan interim government was sworn into office for 6 month term.
Dec. 19 - Please email President Bush and Sec. State Powell and ask that they
name a woman to be US Ambassador to Afghanistan, as requested by the sole female
Afghan Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Sima Samar, head of "Women's Affairs."
This will go a long way to ensure that Afghani women - who already have been treated as
tokens in the post-Taliban government coalition - will be afforded humane treatment in the
rebuilding of Afghanistan. Dr. Samar also asked that the U.S. send more humanitarian aid
to the Afghani people.
Dec. 18 - Well, things are sealed as far as the Afghani government
goes and "window-dressing" is what women got - they were given but token roles
in the post-Taliban government as set up by the participants at the
Bonn Conference. The new government includes only 2 women (although women constitute over
60% of the Afghani population): Dr. Sima Samar, one of five vice
chairs under Pashtun Prime Minister Karzai, who will oversee women's affairs (of course);
and Suhaila Seddiqi, a medical doctor and former general in the Afghan army under both the
king - she is a relative - and the communists, who will head the Ministry of Public
Health.
More horrific is that fact that Northern Alliance members - most of the Northern
Alliance are Pashtun - and former members of the Taliban are going to be in charge of the
country once again. As is noted by an Afghani woman below,
women's plight under the Northern Alliance was not much better than under the Taliban.
Unfortunately, one can expect many more years of violence against women and
men.
Let's not forget that it is not all men who are committing this violence against
women, but rather, the aggro-elite, who also terrorize less aggressive men. It's
just that it is often the case that when the less powerful men are abused, they tend to
then take it out on the women in their households. And, under a regime of patriarchy, this
violence is seen as a male "right." However, this gender violence is not
only in direct contradiction of the Koran, it is in violation of the most basic human
rights as defined by the United Nations. This gender aparthed would not be tolerated
by the rest of the world if it were perpetrated against a distinct ethnic group,
rather than the gender group of women.
Read WorldWomen (UK) Article "Peacebuilding Minus Women in Afghanistan." (PDF file
- need Adobe Acrobat reader)
Seeing that the rights and capabilities of women were largely ignored at the
mostly-male conference, women from around the world - in including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Mary Robinson, met in Belgium (in an important meeting which got little press coverage) to
discuss the needs of women and girls. They created a Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, of which
Section IV reads:
"This Declaration developed by Afghan women is a statement, affirmation and
emphasis of those essential rights that we Afghan women own for ourselves and for all
other Afghan women. It is a document that the State of Afghanistan must respect and
implement. This document, at this moment in time, is a draft that, in the course of time,
will be amended and completed by Afghan women."
Please sign and send a Statement of Support of this
Declaration to let your government representatives know that you support the equal rights
and opportunities of women in Afghanistan. After all, our governments are going to
pump in billions of dollars of aid to the men in charge of that country, and we should
have some say as taxpayers on the basic conditions tied to that money. The
recognition of basic human rights and the equality of women - as recognized in the Afghan
Constitution before the Taliban takeover - should be a minimum requirement.
It also is still imperative that you email the UN and President Bush and Sec. State Powell and ask that they
continue to keep women's rights and safety at the top of their agenda in Afghanistan and
condition U.S. aid on the respect for basic human rights in that country.
Dec. 13 - Six delegates from the Afghan Womens Summit, held
in Brussels December 4-5, meet with members of the U.S. House and Senate as well as the
State Department to garner support for the Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, the
Summits plan for Afghan reconstruction.
The delegates, hosted by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS),
presented the Proclamation to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and attended a lunch
meeting with other members of the Senate, hosted by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
(D-SD). The women also briefed members of the House on the Declaration, which addresses
education and culture, health, human rights, and refugees and internally displaced women.
Dec. 4-5 - Afghan women leaders
meet in Brussels to conduct a roundtable meeting, sponsored by the United Nations
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Belgian government, on Building Womens
Leadership in the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. They issue the Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women, which calls
for the full participation of women in all aspects of the reconstruction process and the
successful implementation of services to meet womens healthcare and educational
needs.
Participants also called for the creation of a Human Rights Commission in
Afghanistan, to monitor potential human rights abuses within Afghanistan and in Afghan
refugee camps in neighboring countries, and a judicial system capable of prosecuting
perpetrators of human rights abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The Afghani women leaders also call for the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force
into Afghanistan and highlight the need for voluntary repatriation of refugees, and the
need to implement solutions for mass social problems caused by years of gender apartheid.
Women are to be central in meeting these needs, as participants called for
integrating women into all aspects of nation building on a sustainable basis.
As a result of the roundtable, UNIFEM will
establish a Fund for Afghan Womens Leadership to benefit the capacity-building of
Afghan womens organizations.
Nov. 30 - Emma Bonino, a member of the European Union from Italy,
calls for a World Day of Fast
& Nonviolence for Women in the Provisional Afghan Government on December 1
to show support for the inclusion of women in all areas of the new Afghani government.
More than 5000 people, including nearly 200 dignitaries, from over 100 countries will
participate in the fast.
Now, if we really want sustainable peace in Afghanistan, we must ensure that the
country is reconstructed in a way that values all citizens equally, not just men and
boys. If that doesn't happen and the civilizing elements of women are not embraced
at the highest level of government, it's a good bet that the country will once again
devolve into a country of violence and death.
Nov. 30. -
Physicians for Human Rights urges Secretary of State Powell to appoint a high-level
Special Envoy or Ambassador to deal specifically with Afghan women's rights, especially
their right to health. The recommend the following program:
"We recommend that your Special Envoy be
the advocate and coordinator on the following issues: 1) protecting those most vulnerable
to abuses, including rape and sexual violence; 2) reconstructing and developing the health
sector, including proper obstetric and gynecological care; 3) developing humanitarian aid
strategies to provide health services to women and children in all parts of Afghanistan;
4) initiating Afghan-run mental health services to address widespread trauma and
depression among women of all ethnic groups and socioeconomic status; 5) reviving medical
education for women, including training for doctors, nurses, traditional birth attendants,
surgeons, paramedics and community health workers; 6) assuring the participation of women
in any future government, and the respect for and protection of women's human rights by
any future government. 7) collecting information on well-known perpetrators of abuses
against women, including those in the Northern Alliance, so that such individuals may be
excluded from positions of authority in any future government; and 8) monitoring,
reporting, and accountability for gender violations and discrimination."
Nov. 28 - Things
are not looking good on the government front - not only are the Northern Alliance not
excluded from the new government, they are actually running the show at the Bonn talks.
Indeed, they have rejected a UN peacekeeping force, which, of course, would help
ensure the safety of women and non-aggressive men, and the building of a society
respectful of human rights. The Northern Alliance representatives also have
stated that select Taliban can rule in Afghanistan. (It is currently
reported that the Taliban are now fleeing Kabul and kidnapping women and girls.)
Left to their own devices, the male ruling class of Afghanistan will deny women the
basic UN-declared human right to participate in their own destiny through suffrage.
For example, in the November 28 election for
mayor of Herat, a city in Western Afghanistan that our US taxpaying dollars helped
free, NO woman was allowed to vote. The men promptly elected a former Taliban municipal
officer!
So, this is a very dynamic situation and thus imperative to keep those emails
flowing to the UN, to your reps, to President Bush and Sec. State Powell. And the process
will be a long one. We actually got a nice snail mail letter back from our US
Representative, Carolyn B. Maloney, stating that she was doing everything she could to
ensure women full representation.
While the US media seems focused on the fact that Afghan women are now allowed to
"makeup" their faces instead of covering them with cloth, the important rights
and capabilities of these women are getting lost in the Revlon furor.
Of the 70 some delegates to the Bonn Conference, only 4 are women. These women also
are forced to cover their hair with a chador.
So, please email
the UN and the President Bush and Sec. State Powell
and ask that they prohibit the installation of the anti-democratic, misogynist, all-male
groups, such as the Taliban and the Northern Alliance (who
in some ways were more abusive to women), in the new Afghani government and that
they guarantee women - who are the majority of the population in Afghanistan -
proportional representation, not just window-dressing roles...
Ask that they support the reinstatement of the
1964 Afghanistan Constitution, which guaranteed universal suffrage, equal rights for
women, and separation of powers with an independent judiciary. Afghan women were members
of the judiciary, parliament, and cabinet, and were 50% of Afghanistan's civil service
government workers. Women also were 70% of the country's teachers, 40% of the
doctors and the majority of health care workers
Not only is equal
participation in public life fair and democratic, it is the best way to ensure an end to
the cycle of violence in Afghanistan and its evolution into a more civilized and
productive nation.
Even General MacArthur
recognized the civilizing power of women when he demanded they be accorded equal treatment
in the post-WWII Japanese Constitution.
Heck, even Laura Bush recognizes that some women don't want to work in the home...
Nov. 19 - A RAWA spokeswoman talked to CNN about the horror of living under the
Northern Alliance.
Nov. 14 - Afghani women afraid they will be left out of
meaningful role in post-Taliban government.
Nov. 13, 2001 -
The Revolutionary Association of
the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) issued a statement decrying the Northern Alliance takeover
of Kabul.
Oct. 30, 2001 - Citing its findings that more
than 90% of Afghan women and men recently interviewed in Afghanistan support women's
participation in government, Physicians for
Human Rights (PHR) called on the ongoing Conference for Peace and Unity in Afghanistan
(CPUA) -as well as participants in the upcoming Loya Jirga, or grand council-to include
women in the transition process and insure that members from each of Afghanistan's many
ethnic groups are represented. The current composition of the CPUA does not include women
or representatives from the numerous ethnic groups. Furthermore, as it works to design and
implement a transition government for Afghanistan, the CPUA should formally affirm its
support for the protection and promotion of women's human rights in Afghanistan.
The vast majority of women and men interviewed
by PHR expressed the view that women's human rights are essential to the health and
development of the Afghan people.
Oct. 29, 2001 - Human Rights Watch releases
report showing that Afghan women
are likely to face further suffering at the hands of warring factions in Afghanistan and
to endure some of the most serious humanitarian consequences of the U.S.-led military
action, Human Rights Watch said today.
1999 - Physician's for Human Rights issues the first report on
the War Against Women in Afghanistan.
¤¤¤¤¤
Now, we would be remiss of course - and not a
bit ethnocentric - if we failed to mention that, in the United States of America, American
men kill 3-4 American women every day and American men commit 4.9 million attacks against
their American wives and girlfriends each year - that's an American guy beating his
"lover" every 13 seconds....very Talibanish, don't you think? - US Dept. of
Justice
Additionally, based on reported violence, 55% of all U.S. women - that's
over 100 MILLION women - have or will be raped or physically assaulted in their
lifetime. Keep in mind that less than 1 in 3 women in the U.S. even report their
rape or sexual assault. - US
Dept. of Justice
In 2000, in our nation's capital alone - right there with all the lawmakers - there
were over 22,500 calls to the police reporting violence against women. In fact,
violence against women made up almost 50% of all reported violent crimes in D.C. Most of
this violence is never investigated or prosecuted. See Colby I.
King, Washington Post
As we are recommending the full participation of women in the post-Taliban
government, we also recommend that the US Government contain more than 14% women (the US is ranked 49th in the percentage of
women in its government, behind countries such as Senegal, Spain, Cuba, Mozambique,
Germany, Vietnam, Rwanda and China). |
Patriarchal Justice
News Articles
Womb Envy & World
Institutions
A Man's Country?
Living in a World
Without Women
Northern Alliance - Modern
Brutes
Afghan Women Absent
from Post-War Talks
Afghan Women Angry at
Exclusion
Afghan Peace Hinges on
Human Rights
Lifting the Veil
Give Afghan Women
Economic Power
Afghanistan's Missing Women
& Girls
Bye Bye Burka
Afghan Widows
Equal Society = Peaceful
Society
Men Can
Help Stop the Cycle
Organizations
RAWA -
Revolutionary Association of the
Women of Afghanistan
RAWA
Congressional Testimony
Help Afghan Women
Afghan Women's
Mission
WAPHA - Women's Alliance for
Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan
Global
Fund for Women
Physician's for Human Rights
European Women's Lobby
Soros Foundation Network
An Afghani woman and a Northern Alliance tank
Tahirih Justice Center
Doctors Without Borders
Visit
a Refugee Camp - Virtual Tour
Beijing +5
DAW
- UN Division for the Advancement of Women
UNIFEM - UN Development Fund for Women
INSTRAW- UN Research & Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women
Women Action
Gender
Reach
Equality
Now
Jackson Katz
European ProFeminist Men's Network
Afghani university women pre-Taliban 1995
Photo by A. Raffaele Ciriello
"Afghan society is like a bird with two
wings. If one wing is cut off, then society will not function."
- an Afghani elder, interviewed by Sima Wali of
Refugee Women in Development,
reprinted in the
US Dept. of State Report on the Taliban's War
Against Women
"If we commit ourselves to creating a world free from violence
against women and girls, our children will say we stopped the most universal and
unpunished crime of all time against half the people of the earth."
.
- Noeleen Heyzer,
Executive Director of the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
¤¤¤¤¤
For pictures of Soraya Parlika, the jailed
leader of the Afghan feminists who have been fighting the Taliban for years (now the the
head of the newly formed Union of Women in Afghanistan) and other women fighting for
self-determination, see the Time Magazine Photo Essay. You'll also get to see the commodification
of women in Kabul Western-style.
There has got to be a way to define women other than either by
their sexiness or their lack of sex. And women have got to have a voice in
order to create that definition.
¤¤¤¤¤
NOVEMBER 25
INTERNATIONAL END VIOLENCE
AGAINST
WOMEN DAY
"Violence against
women is the most pervasive form of human rights abuse in the world today. It includes
assault, battery, rape, sexual slavery, mutilation, and murder. It is not a new
phenomenon. It is not tied to poverty or economic upheaval. It is not related to the
social displacement of peoples. Instead, it cuts across social and economic situations and
is deeply embedded in cultures around the world- so much so that millions of women
consider it a way of life."
.
-
US
Agency for International Development, 1997
"In no society are women secure or treated as equal to men. Personal insecurity
shadows them from cradle to grave. . . from childhood through adulthood, they are abused
because of their gender."
.
.
- 1995 UN Human Development Report, 1995
Gender violence causes more
deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44
than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war..
- World Bank Discussion Paper 255
Every third woman in the world has been beaten or sexually abused because of her
gender.
- The Johns Hopkins University, USA,
2000
"The abhorrence with which the whole world has rightly regarded [race]
apartheid is an abhorrence born of the simple moral proposition that a peoples' rights and
opportunities - where they can live, what education and health care they will receive,
what job they can do, what income they can earn, what legal standing they will have -
should not depend on whether they are born black or white.
"Yet it seems that
the world is prepared to accept, with none of the depth and breadth of opposition that has
been seen during the [race] apartheid years, that all of these things can depend upon the
accident of being born male or female."
'
- James Grant,
Then-Executive Director of UNICEF
CURRENT READING
Here are some of the books/articles we are
currently reading, have recently read or have on the desk ready to read. Good places to
buy used books are AbeBooks.com, Half.com and Strandbooks.com.
Robert S. McElvaine - Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of
History
George Soros - On Globalization
Susan George - The Lugano Report
Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen - Inequalities Reexamined
Fernand Braudel - The Structures of Everyday Life:
Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century. Vols. I to III
Jeremy Rifkin - The Age of Access:The New Cult
of Hypercapitalism Where All of Life is a Well-Paid for Experience
Benjamin R. Barber - Jihad vs. McWorld: How
Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World
Thomas Friedman - The Lexus and the Olive
Tree: Understanding Globalization
Martha Nussbaum - Women's Capabilities and Social Justice
Diane Elson - Gender Justice, Human Rights and
Neo-liberal Economic Policies
Alan Greig, et al. - Men, Masculinities &
Development: Broadening our work towards gender equality
Anne Phillips - Multiculturalism,
Universalism, and the Claims of Democracy
George Soros - Open Society: Reforming
Global Capitalism
William Leach - Land of Desire:
Merchants, Power and the Rise of the New American Culture
Benjamin R. Barber - A Place for Us: How
to Make Society Civil and Democracy Strong
Mary Scott & Howard Rothman -
Companies with a Conscience: Intimate Portraits of 12 Firms That Make a Difference
Anita Roddick - Business as Unusual
Noam Chomsky - Necessary Illusions
Judith M. Green - Deep Democracy: Community, Diversity and Transformation
Hamilton, Madison, Jay - The Federalist Papers
Ross Terrill - 8,000,000: The Real China
Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity
Bill Shore - Revolution of the Heart: A New Strategy for Creating Wealth and Meaningul
Change
Harvard Business Review - we subscribe (no kidding)
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman/Gloria DeGaetano - Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill
US Advisory Committee On Voluntary Foreign Aid - "Meeting the
Challenge: Strategies for Gender Equality in International Development"
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