Wear Trousers, Get Arrested

Lubna Hussain, a Sudanese woman, was arrested recently for wearing 'un-Islamic" clothing in public. The immoral clothing in question was a pair of trousers.

Sudan sanctions a sever public dress code for females. However, those laws are only applicable for Muslims. Thus that law does not apply on Christians like Lubna Hussain.

In a recent interview with Al-Jazeera, Lubna Hussain vehemently challenged the moral grounds upon which her arrest took place. She questioned why Sudanese female police and government officials are allowed to wear trousers as part of their uniform; but a civilian like herself cannot.

She said before the hearing: 'Thousands of women are punished with lashes in Sudan but they stay silent. The law is being used to harass women and I want to expose this.'

If convicted, Lubna Hussain will face up to 40 lashes in public. However, she is determined to fight the law in court. She has used her arrest to highlight the unfair legal practices in her country. Even the circumstances of her arrest come into scrutiny, as an UN employee, Lubna enjoys legal immunity. However, she has agreed to resign from her UN post to ensure her case received a fair hearing in court.

This mere arrest over wearing trousers in public could very well lead to an epic battle in legal courts on the power of absurd laws based on ambivalent sense of immorality. Moreover, it could also showcase the disparities between the laws that are forced upon Muslim females and Christian females. Even if Lubna manages to lose the battle and endure 40 lashes, she will at least have voiced her concerns over the absurdity of laws in Sudan. Perhaps her arrest will lead to Sudanese women to unite and fight against discriminatory laws against them in their country.

More Thought on the Hijab Wearing Option

I came across this piece on a UK police division unit introducing an hijab/head scarve for its female police officers. According to the article, the headscarf/hijab will come in handy in covering the females' heads and/or shoulders when they have to enter places of worships of all religions. However, Broadsheet blogger, Judy Berman, raises a few questions on the effectiveness and conditions of these new additions to the police unforms.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/07/28/police_hijab/

Oldest Mother Passes Away

The oldest mom in the world gave birth two years ago to twin boys and only recently passed away. Her demise begs the question – was it wise for her to give birth so late in her life?

I believe reproductive rights, whether to have children or not, should be chiefly left in the hands of females. That is, their bodies give them the right to determine and decide what and how they wish to act.

However, as hypocritical as my statement will sound, I do fear for the welfare of those orphaned twin boys now that they have no parents. A father figure was never in the picture as their mom opted for a sperm bank. But now that she is no longer alive, who takes responsibility of those boys?

Obviously if the mother was still alive, then they would be no judgment of her decision to have the children so late in her life, but now that she isn’t, I wonder if she was a tad bit selfish. Of course, she wasn’t aware that she would pass away so soon after giving birth, but a woman in her sixties must have weighed her mortality at one point.

In any case, I wonder how the twin boys will fare now.

Breaking the Silence

An Israeli group published a report allegedly based on the first-hand accounts of Israeli soldiers who engaged in the incursion into Gaza earlier this year. A swift media storm soon enveloped the release of the report. Israeli army spokespeople categorically denied the allegations in the report that Israeli soldiers repeatedly used Palestinian men as human shields. Due to the strict anonymity of the soldiers’ accounts, the Israeli army spokespeople condemned the report as false and misleading.

However, the stories published in that story as recounted by Israeli soldiers corroborate with stories from ordinary Palestinian men who have claimed they were used as human shields. One Palestinian man on a CNN story took the reporters on the route he was taken by Israeli soldiers as they scouted the area looking for Palestinian renegades; furthermore, the man also showed how he was positioned in front of the Israeli solider with the gun resting on his shoulders.

As heinous as those stories are, Breaking the Silence needs to be read, spoken, and written about more in the media and by ordinary citizens like you and me. These types of violations and abuses of human rights need to be brought to light and further prevented from future occurrences.

Excerpt from Echoes

The moon was behind a gossamer veil as you laid me down on the ground. It was a windless night weighed down by murky moisture. The dark trees were clustered together daring brave souls to pass between their legs. I wasn’t afraid anymore…

I heard our disembodied voice echoing memories from long ago…

“But Amina, my love, how can we be married if you don’t even want to spend time with me?” you would plead. I bowed my head and offered no explanation. “Amina, I won’t hurt you I promise. I won’t do anything against your wishes. I just want to be with you alone….without all these people around us all the time. Come to me please.”

“I can’t, Kurshid. Not now, we don’t have to wait so long, just a couple more months,” so went my weak justification.

“Amina, you know you are the only girl for me, right? When I first spotted you that day at Javed’s wedding, I knew I had to get to know that girl.”

I laughed in delight as I melted into his mouth.

New Writers Blocks Website

www.writersblock.com

Aftermath of Queer Politics

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20090731261503300.htm

A great article on the aftermath of the decriminalization of consensual homosexuality in India. This historic judgment opens the door to probing, questioning, and discussing questions regarding society and sexuality. Suffice to say, gender and sexuality are both society’s constructions. Both facets have been borne in the bellies of the social beliefs and traditions and fed to the masses from birth. In order to define sexuality and gender, and perhaps neutralize it, one must start questioning the origins of those perspectives in comparison to current stances. For example, a school in Thailand has established a bathroom for the third gender i.e. transgenders. A city in Japan (I want to say Tokyo but could be wrong) marvels at the high number of effeminate men who gleefully embrace feminine characteristics and even proudly look, dress, and act in ways that are neither men nor women. These blatant rejections of society’s definitions of gender and sexuality act as catalysts in re-defining constructions and conceptions that are hopefully more gender-neutral and not hell-bent on labeling proper forms of sexuality.

Iran Iran Iran

As a person who loves to watch revolutions from the confines of my telly, I was glued into the events that unfolded in Iran. Showing my solidarity with the Iranian green movement, I posted stories, articles etc relevant to their cause in order to encourage people to stay abreast of their historic struggle.

So imagine how upset I felt when I saw the state beat and brutalize their people into fear and eventually reluctant submission. Now the streets have been cleared of all marchers and dissent. The only form of dissonance is expressed through nightly collective shouts of Allahu Akbar by brave Iranians from their roof tops, a slogan directly taken from the heady days of the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s.

Now with President Ahmadinejad speaking out against western agents working in conjunction to topple the glorious empire that is their theocracy, as well as arresting British diplomatic staff as foreign agents, some pivotal Islamic clerics have spoken out in mild tones in support of the people. They haven’t denounced the president or their supreme leader, but have protested against the harsh police brutality against the demonstrators.

It sure does feel like Iran’s rigid political and religious hold on the population is slowly unraveling.

Justice Rabbani, Sodom, and Homosexuality

On the heels of the epic decriminalization of homosexuality in India, Justice Rabbani of Bangladesh decided to spew in local Bangla newspapers his view on the matter. Among his colourful rant, is the claim that homosexuality is against Islamic law. One of the trite debates that have been tossed around in conjunction with the story of the town of Sodom that was demolished by Allah for being a hot bed of inhumane activities to exemplify how the Quran preaches against homosexuality.

Naturally people from both sides of the debate have their own conflicting interpretations of the story of Sodom. Some say the homosexual residents engaged in sexual acts of rape and bestiality, and even tried to rape one of the messengers of Allah. Others say Allah was displeased with the residents because they were inhospitable. And others have far different interpretations.

Yet, this story is utilized repeatedly as the crux to denote when and how the Quran tackles the issue of homosexuality. Religion obviously is injected into this issue to either exonerate or disclaim homosexuality. Yet, it’s puzzling that a story that has myriad interpretations and misinterpretations is always used as the standard in approving or disapproving of the lifestyle.

China and Social Sites

So China went ahead and banned social sites such as Flickr, Twitter etc. A country that has notorious nefarious practices in suppressing hallmarks of freedom of speech cannot be expected to do anything far less. However, the Chinese people's lack of apathy is troubling. Or perhaps the media hasn't deemed it news worthy to report on any growing dissent within the Chinese populace. Or maybe Chinese anti-government rants are strictly kept wrapped. In any case, I saw the news item once or twice in the last following days. Perhaps the Chinese government, upon realizing the potency of social sites to ignite, provoke, forge, group, and strategize the population into action as encapsulated by Iran's recent upheavals, has taken pre-emptive actions to avoid such future occurrences within their country. A preemptive move that is at once cunning, daring, and downright suppressive. Yet what is the point of us beyond the borders of China analyzing and lamenting over the country’s recent decision when Chinese citizens seemingly has calmly accepted their government’s action?

Sexuality Rights in India

Now that India with one final sweep of the hand has toppled all opposition to consensual homosexual acts, the onus is on United States to follow the example.

On July 2nd 2009, the New Delhi Supreme Court decriminialized 'consensual acts' of homosexuality, thereby, making the archaic British-imposed s377 obsolete. This particular clause stipulated that individuals caught in 'carnal' acts that went against stated norms were eligible for imprisonment. However, the New Delhi SC decided that the application of s377 directly impinges on individual's freedom.

Such a momentous decision in a thriving new power is definitely a sign to herald for other nations that are still striving for equal sexuality rights and acceptance. For example, in Bangladesh, the news was met with much approval and optimism that similar legal stances will occur in our country as well. However, for us who work to advocate and promote sexuality rights, we must be careful not to expect a similar shakedown of s377 take place in our country that has yet to accept homosexuality.

Instead, we must rejoice in the historic decision and feel emboldened to create plans that will ensure succcess in our fight. Bearing in mind that even in the country of the free and brave, United States has yet to completely remove all legal impediments imposed on homsexuals. If the country that paved the way for gay rights movement to evolve cannot efface legal and social abhorrence of homosexual lifestyles, then we can't expect a developing nation as ours to take the brave stand so soon. Yet there is always hope. As long as we slowly but determinedly walk towards it hand in hand.