Hi Angie,
>> that - did Chris? My recollection is that he said
>> feminists (unspecified
>> as to who they were) have been guilty of focusing on
>> the burka, and posted
>> an article about a female Afghan general.
>
>i was just trying to get you all to clarify--are "The
>Western Feminists" harpin' on the burqua? or is it
>really the mainstream media & anthropologists (who sit
>around and ponder "what does the veil really mean?"
>while women are getting acid thrown in their faces
>&organizing revolutionary movements . . .)
I don't want to speak for anyone else. So here is my take: the mainstream media in the US has focused on the plight of Afghan women under the Taliban, but has been relatively silent on the treatment of women by the Northern Alliance. The fact that the Taliban forces women to wear the burqua is usually highlighted, and receives more attention than, say, the lack of educational opportunities for women, although those problems do get mentioned. No doubt they have picked up this political football from the Bush Administration, which is using the Taliban's treatment of women as one more example of how evil they are in order to maintain public support for the bombing campaign. I don't know what feminists are saying about the Taliban and the burqua.
>If you would like to know how US feminists are
>organizing with women in other parts of the world,
>just ask us :)
Since you bring it up, I would like to know what some of the perspectives of feminists are when it comes to the Taliban. I have a passing familiarity with RAWA, but that's about it.
>I can take criticism, & learn from it,
>if it is fair. I agree w/a lot criticism of the Fem.
>Majority Foundation, for example. But its not fair
>for people who are not involved in these movements to
>accuse us of "harping on burquas" and "saving our
>brown sisters," when they really have no idea what
>we're doing, & when they base their criticism on
>mainstream media's (and anthropologists who aren't
>involved in activism)interpretations of feminism.
This sounds perfectly reasonable.
>and ya know, you *can* support feminism AND oppose
>imperialism, racism.
Agreed.
Brett