>yoshie and abu, i agree with you up to a point, what you say about US
>imperialism is certainly very true, but don't islamic culture and islamic
>men have to take some resposibility for their sexism and patriarchalism,
>and patriarchal afghani men responsibility for the Taliban, etc? after all
>the US did not teach the Taliban to be patriarchal assholes they got there
>on their own. what really interests me is how patriarchal
>capitalism/imperialism is so two-faced when it comes to women; pushing
>liberal feminism for the US and europe while patriarchal fascism is quietly
>supported or tolerated in the 3rd world.
>--
>"solidarity means sharing the same risks" - Che
>( la solidarita significa correre gli stessi rischi)
Sure, men in poor nations must bear their own share of political responsibility. Liberal feminists in the West carping about sexist guys in the Third World won't change things for better for Third World women, though. What will help feminists in poor nations definitely is for us to challenge imperialism. Remove the external forces of capital (economic, political, & military) that distort the social formations in poor nations. In this sense, the fight against the Structural Adjustment Programs of the IMF, to take just one example, is a feminist fight, though this may not be obvious. In other words, create material conditions under which feminists in the Third World can fight a good fight for themselves.
Yoshie