Rationalizing Rape and Perpetuaters

A fifteen year old high school girl gets gang raped on school premises while waiting for her father to pick her up. In response to a posting of this story on a site, many commentators started speculating on the victim’s looks, gauging her intoxication level, and whether she had herself provoked the rape. (Broadsheet)

Needless to say, their speculations were deeply troubling in light of the evidence and account of the rape emerging.

Rape has to be undoubtedly one of the worst forms of violence against women. It is hard to imagine a young girl being brutally sexually violated by multiple men while others gather around jostling, laughing, and even taking pictures. And no one thought of calling law enforcement then and there.

Instead two hours later, the police came to find the girl unconscious and in such a critical condition that she was air lifted to the nearest hospital.

I remember in psychology 101 class, we learned that in the event of encountering violence, we should scream fire as opposed to help me I’m being raped. Human beings are more prone to run to someone’s help if they hear there are faced with natural disasters as opposed to violence perpetuated by other human beings.

That perplexing theory came to mind when I read about this incident in several news trades. How can so many people just stand around watching a girl being violated? What compelled them to witness and not report? What fear, hesitation, depravity prevented them from compassion?

Now, what becomes of the girl? What becomes of her life as she is left to reel from the psychological, emotional, and physical effects of her rape?

But far greater emphasis must be placed on the men who perpetuated this heinous crime. What compelled them to brutalize a hapless young female? What motivated them to resort to forced sexual violence? What form of perverse joy did they deprive from encouraging their peers to repeatedly engage in sexual violating the girl?

It remains to be seen how this rape narrative will be pieced together to make sense.

Are we hardwired to prefer young children?

Roman Polanski’s capture and imminent battle against US for raping and drugging a thirteen year old girl in the 1970s bounds to be in the same breath as the trial of the centaury. But his capture raised the phenomenon of sexual intercourse with minors that gripped and incited the media into a frenzy.

On the heels of myriad media discussions of Polanski’s behavior appeared Kate Harding’s of Broadsheet infamous piece that asked us as judges to not not forget that Roman Polanski raped and drugged a thirteen year girl against her wishes. http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/09/28/polanski_arrest/index.html
She raised several pivotal points about the act of adults having consensual and/or non-consensual sexual intercourse with minors. Points that were furthered verified and validated by more news pundits.

In comes MacKenzie stating that she and her father had a long-standing consensual sexual intercourse interspersed with drug abuse. She stated she still loves him dearly.

Both these accidents involving celebrities throw light on to the severely cloaked and veiled phenomena of child abuse. All over the world, the statistics for child sexual abuse is astounding. It happens everywhere, all the time,, to people who you know.

Even with strict laws targeting pedophilia, this phenomenon refuses to die down. This refusal to efface begs the question, are human beings sexually hardwired to prefer young children? A creeping thought that will send many of us to immediately cringe and dismiss it. Yet, why is it that we always hear of young children being raped, sodomized, molested by men and women in times of wars, peace, inside their own homes, by uncles, aunties, brothers, friends, neighborhood kids and so forth.

The western world still fights in curbing this war against pedophilia, but how does it look in our part of the world? Or even in our country? We inhabit a society that refuses to disclose and discuss sexuality out in the open. A woman exposing her kneecaps is deemed open to whistles, shouts, curses, and angry glares from passersby on the streets, But behind closed doors, the worst forms of sexual debauchery are being conducted upon hapless victims. Oftentimes, the prevailing ocean of silence prevents victims from voicing the violations they encounter. Oftentimes, the newspapers decline to print such material. Voices are lost. Crimes are largely ignored.

I often think if we are unconsciously but deliberately breeding a nation of sexual perversity and sexual abuse.. What are the odds that someone that I know has been sexually molested and/or groped at by an acquaintance at a young age? What seeds of self-loathing and fear do those episodes trigger in those victims?

Pro-Choice Death

A recent news item on NY Times and on Broadsheet about end of life decisions spurred me to contemplate on the issue.

As a person who firmly believes and advocates pro-choice in terms of controlling and deciding things that are good for my mental and physical well-being; having that same prerogative for choosing death never occurred before.

During a bio-ethics course in college, the case of Terri Schiavo was broached. She was a young woman completely surviving through life support. Essentially, her body was dead. Her family wanted to maintain her on life-support, probably hopeful that a breakthrough in modern medicine will bring their daughter back into their arms. Her husband, on the other hand, wanted to ensure she received a dignified death. The husband and her family fought an epic battle that riveted the American nation and even had the then President Bush interjecting his perspectives.

Undoubtedly, at this point in my life, I feel having the ability to choose what is good for my body is an essential human right. But does that same right encompass death as well?

In a hypothetical scenario where my body is ravaged and riddled with cancer, and I opt for death to ease myself of the pain and the inevitability of demise, am I right in doing so? Can I say I am in the "correct" frame of mental health to declare I choose death? Am I doing justice to my family and friends in wishing for death? What of their desire to be with me till the end?

Perhaps these question are of those nature that will be constantly debated and never fully answered. I cannot truly imagine how Terri felt, or how her husband and family felt when they hotly contended their views on her right to life and death. Neither can I predict how my loved ones will react to my pro-choice inclinations if I experience a similar fate.

But it certainly does make sense for a person to wish for a dignified death in any manner he/she deems appropriate. Who are we to deprive or thwart them from this basic right?

Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan

It is disconcerting to see how the failing war in Afghanistan is flashed across various media now. The failing war efforts, the failing war strategies, the failing tactics, the failing counterinsurgency, the failing troops morale, and the failing public support have gripped worldwide nations.

In the midst of this gloom, there are signs of revival in the form of General McChrystal new strategy in successfully combating the Taliban. However, we have yet to see if the US will whole-heartedly embrace this new vision.

Undoubtedly, failing to rid the Taliban from Afghan lands will lead to a global turmoil that will quickly spread into Pakistan and nearby conflict-riddled regions. Hence, winning the war in Afghanistan is imperative. Yet I wonder if the US public is willing to dispense more troops, invest more time and effort into a war that has claimed so many lives and seem far from over.

Not that there have much of a choice. It behooves the US to complete a war that was foolishly and ineffectively initiated by the Bush Administration. But at what costs.

Twenties and Spiritual Awakening

I recently came across a piece on NY Times on the emergence of young females fashioning themselves as self-help gurus. Although their fees are hefty, these females guarantee advice on all matters of the heart, mind, and soul.

Reading the piece made me think of the path of self-enlightenment that has infected my friends and I. Maybe this is a late-twenties phenomenon. My closets friends and I have been for quite some time exchanging, extrapolating, and discussing ideas and ideologies from spiritual books to enlighten our current need to further evolve into better human beings.

Lessons we learn from these profound books are swiftly disseminated among each other, quietly reflected upon, and are used to deal with challenging times, situations, and/or people.

But I wonder where this need to be spiritually awakened appears from? We can all attest that we have had degrees of experiences, ranging from trifling to harrowingly soul-challenging; some experiences similarly shared; others we can only empathize and locate a common understanding and compassion. But all of our shared and unique experiences are compelling us to tackle literature that will awaken and enhance our spiritual re-birth.

Knowledge that I see us quickly dispense to people who come to us for advice. Knowledge that allows us to ignore and gently expel negative energies transmitted by people who are struggling and drowning in their own self-imposed negative nightmares. Knowledge that allows us to stop reacting to situations as we once would and did but now coolly assess the circumstances and find positive solutions.

Our quest to become spiritually enlightened is having a profound impact on how we collectively display ourselves on the public domain. As well as an incredible effect on how we regard matters that are beyond our control, and make peace with not having control.

I suppose it must be a late-twenties stage. That need to nicely sum up the experiences we have had and make sense of the direction we are taking. But it certainly does feel rewarding to know that females out there around the world are collectively on the same path as we are on spiritual awakening.

Bangladeshi, Female and Doubly Marginalized

On the hot trail of a new research on violence against marginalized women in Bangladesh, I met with a few individuals who are physically disabled. One of them is legally blind, and the other is bound to a wheelchair.

In the midst of discussing the forms of violence encountered by physically disabled females, I realized as females we are accustomed to many modes of violence and discrimination, whether subtle or overt, but that very violence must be further amplified for the physically disabled.

A personal account I heard from one woman is of her dismissed from her graduate programme in a reputed national university. Her discharge came about on account of her failure to show her face at the Registration Office. The Office is located on the fourth floor of the building. She is in a wheelchair. And there is no provision for physically challenged people to move in, about, and out that building.

When asked why she didn’t pursue legal action against such blatant discrimination. The woman cited her university professor encouraging her to let the matter slide.

Why?

Regardless of her facing such an outright violation of her basic human rights to education, why would a supervisor, a supposed mentor, telling her to drop the matter? How does her silent retreat into the cloak of invisibility from the public domain aid her right to have access to education?

But this is just a single case. There are multiple and diverse forms of violence faced by physically disabled females in our country. The deeper and the more rural areas one ventures into, the worse the transgressions. Disturbing as it is, one must wonder what other forms and shapes violence against them take. Are physically disabled women also prey to sexual abuse and violation? And if so, what coping strategies and legal provisions are available for them to pursue to redress their grievances?

As an eminent legal expert in our country stated once, females are already marginalized in Bangladesh, but if they happen to be ethnic, religious minority or physically disabled, they are doubly marginalized and susceptible to violence without any chances of pursuing legal actions.

Are they really gay people in Bangladesh?

Granted working in sexuality rights in Bangladesh raises quite a few empathetic nods, but the eyebrows are raised when they learn of sexuality rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) community. Usually the first question I am asked is – are they really gay people in Bangladesh?

I wish I could flippantly answer no of course not because being gay is such a western construction. But I curb my tongue and remind myself that most people I encounter don’t have the faintest idea of the larger, somewhat thriving, yet cloaked LGBT community in our country. Most people would rather mock at seeing two men holding hands and walking on the streets (quite the norm in our country) rather than actually fathom that they are Bangladeshis living here engaged in same-sex relationships.

Their ignorance is, I will defend, justified. But their willful denial of the LGBT community possessing the same human rights and prerogatives as sanctioned by the UN Human Rights Convention is mindboggling misfortunate.

I have had people smirk at my work in advocating and promoting awareness and tolerance of the LGBT community. I have had people deplore their very existence. I have had people yell that homosexuality is the evil work of western exploitation. I have had people state that homosexuality is a mental disease.

Only after working with, meeting, and befriending many inspirational figures from the LGBT community, I have realized how supremely fortunate I am in being heterosexual. I recall a statement a friend made regarding same-sex relationship; that no matter what race, creed, faith, skin hue they are, being gay always incites violence, censure, and fear.

Can you imagine fearing for your life because you happen to prefer men/women of your own sex?

I ask many critics this question when they take it upon themselves to educate me of my misguided ways. They scoff at my idealistic notion of creating safe arenas where people of all sexual identities can emerge on the public forum without fear or censure.

At the midst of such disdain and open disapproval of empowering the LGBT community with rights and prerogatives that rightfully belong to them as human beings, I quietly tell myself that it took India ten years to decriminalize homosexuality. It may take Bangladesh far longer, or our country will never reach that goal, but it isn’t a lost cause at all.

On inspiration, writing, and fellow writers

Inspiration is always tricky. You can never foretell when you’ll be jolted by a powerful electric surge that sends you into a frenzy of creativity. Or what. It can be the most trivial object that you sighted upon the road, it can be a name, word, or even a lore that you happened to hear or read or watch one day, or it can be a life story of another being that you must capture in words. In essence, inspiration is difficult to define.

Writing is indeed a solitary activity, as many writers will attest. Writing involves sequestering yourself from the world, immersing yourself into a make-believe world, and plunging deep inside fictitious characters, stories, histories, plots. I often wonder if writers find it difficult to distinguish between the imagined world and the real world. Writing involves dedication and discipline to the art and joy of simply writing. It can be pretty exhausting as well. But just writing, just to be able to express a feeling, an idea, a person, an event, or even just a thought can be beyond cathartic.

You never know what to expect when you meet other writers. Writers are known to be eccentric and temperamental creatures. I am fortunate enough to know a group of talented writers who have become close friends and supporters. I have found associating with these fellow writers have cajoled forth inspiration lurking in the corners. I have found while writing alone, I am always mindful of the encouraging words and constructive criticism of my writing by my fellow writers. In short, I have found that while I may write alone, I am always comforted and encouraged by the inspiration I derive from my writer friends.

Every writer should have a network of wonderful and artistic writers that I have. It can be so rewarding and refreshing to bond with writers who are keen on crafting human stories. There is no greater joy than to know madcap writers who are obsessed about finding that perfect word, line, tone, pitch, adjective, verb, to describe perfectly the thought.

One woman defies, another woman accepts

While one woman draws the world’s attention on defying Sudanese law to punish her for wearing pants in public, another woman demurely accepts her punishment and even requests a public lashing to repent for her transgression of drinking alcohol in a Malaysian bar. Both of those women are facing public punishments for violating alleged Islamic laws, but their reactions to their supposed crimes cannot be farther apart.

Lubna Hussain, a journalist (who I now read is a Muslim), is garnering as much attention as possible on opposing the Islamic law that had her arrested for wearing pants in public. As she defiantly questions where in the Quran it is written women cannot wear pants (paraphrased).

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a Malysian model, is scheduled to be caned in public for being caught drinking beer at a bar. In Malaysia, Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol. Instead of defying the law, she complied with the punishment meted out and even asked to be publicly caned. Her rationale being she has no right to oppose Islamic law, and that her public caning will educate Muslims to stay away from alcohol.

One woman defies, another woman accepts.

Two Pink Lines Published

http://www.thedailystar.net/starinsight/2009/08/02/story.htm

I walked on Dhaka street

I walked on Dhaka streets yesterday. It felt so refreshing to be able to walk on pavements again. Even amidst the stares.

Pedestrians stared, police stared, rickshaw pullers and passengers stared, young children stared, beggars stared, people by roadside tea stalls stared, even passengers in cars fast speeding away stared.

Our clothes, our looks, our walk, our ethnicity, our class, even our past were being speculated by the passersby.

I walked with a friend deep in conversation. But we did hear the few snide comments. Ordinarily I would have stopped and castigated them. But then I thought why ruin this unique opportunity of actually walking through Dhaka streets by yelling at a random chauvinistic stranger?

So I walked, head held high, talking to my friend.

Perhaps it was Iffat Nawaz who said it, or perhaps someone else, but as I walked and now in retrospection, I feel it is just about time that we reclaimed our streets.

Perhaps the more young females are seen walking on the streets, the more sensitized people will become.

It is definitely worth a shot. Such a small pastime and a fundamental right feel like a luxury to us.

Jaycee Dugard and her Kidnapper/Rapist

The sad case of Jaycee Dugard and her captors raises several imperative questions. As the story goes, Jaycee was kidnapped right in front of her stepfather from outside their home in 1991. Eighteen years later, she is freed from her captor, Philip Garigo, who also by now happens to be the father of Jaycee’s two children, 15 and 11 years of ages.

Jaycee was 11 when she was kidnapped. If her two daughters are 15 and 11, that indicates her kidnapped raped her since she was 14.Plausibly, since the day he kidnapped her. So Jaycee at the age of 14 had given birth to her first daughter already.

At the time of arrest, Jaycee and her daughters were found to be living in a sound proof shed veiled by a false wall within a larger compound. Ironically, the local police failed on locate the false wall on a random property search a few years earlier. So, Jaycee and her daughters were living with their kidnapper and rapist for period of eighteen years without their neighbors knowing their actual relationships.

In addition, and this has to be one of the most frightening aspect of the whole story, the townsfolk, apart from a few suspicious ones, did not wonder of the nature of the relationship between Philip Garigo, another women who was booked as his wife, Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters.

The whole case reeks of a matter that dropped out of the public’s radar, perhaps to the detrimental effect on Jaycee and her two daughters.

Now that Jaycee and her daughters are finally emancipated, there are still looming issues for them to encounter. Least of all accepting and moving past the fact that they had bonded with a husband and father who raped Jaycee from childhood.

As this gruesome tale unfold, more unfortunate details will emerge of Jaycee’s life with Philip Garigo.

To make matters far worse, Philip Garigo is being investigated with past murders of prostitutes that happened in the same locales that he inhabited.

It must be deeply traumatic for Jaycee and her children to understand and accept their shared past,

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.

Feminization of HIV/AIDS

UNAIDS in conjunction with IUB held a seminar on the Feminization of HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, the seminar failed to deliever Bangladesh's version, if any, of feminization of HIV/AIDS. However, some important points were raised about contraception and protection in sexual intercourse by Bangladeshi partners.

Firstly, condoms are rarely used as forms of protection during sex. Instead, birth control pills are used to protect females from impregnanting. This raises the question that condoms in our society are still regarded as a form of preventing unwarranted pregnancies and NOT as a form of protection from acquiring and/or infecting STDs. The message that condoms are essential in protecting ourselves from diseases is not being widely and properly disseminated through society. As long as condoms aren't being used alongside with birth control pills, uninformed partners will continue to catch and pass along infectious diseases unwittingly.

Secondly, the gender demarcations in our society leave informed females powerless to persuade their male partners to wear condoms. Again, the power bestowed upon males makes them the lead decision-maker in sexual pursuits as well. In several cases, females (some of them living with HIV/AIDS) state their partners' (husbands, boyfriends, clients) refusal to use condoms caused them to become infected.

Thirdly, men's refusal to use condoms brings the danger of STDs closer to home. Again cases have shown that men, unknowingly, who have multiple sexual relations beyond their marriages/relationships tend to infect their wives/girlfriends with STDs by their refusal to use condoms. Undoubtedly this form of ignorant and irresponsible behaviour increases the chances of infectious sexual diseases rapidly plaguing the population.

Unfortunately, the UNAIDS report presented the problems but gave no precise solutions. One urgent message would be to effectiively disseminate the use of condoms throughout the social sphere. That is, ensure the message of promoting condom usage reaches males and females in grass-roots level. The usage of condoms alone will have an impact in lessening the flow of STDs in our society.

My Story Published

http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/06/04/fiction.htm

France and Burkha

President Sarkozy's proposal to ban the burkha in France as a sign of opression against Muslim females as to be one of the worst forms of discrimination agsint free choice.

Many Muslim females choose to dorn the burkha as a sign of their total submission to the will of Allah. Rarely, is the burkha forced upon the females. Yes, I am sure if one is to nitpick one may locate certain cases where females may state that they had no choice and were forced to accept the burkha by their husbands/families etc. But again, most females choose to wear the burkha.

So, it is indeed a sad sight to see a nation that gave birth to the principles of equality and fraternity consider robbing their Muslim female citizens of their volition. Why should the burkha be banned? What about the Muslim women who wish to wear the burkha? Who will protect their rights to do as they wish? Who will aid them in protesting against their suppression of free choice?I don't choose to wear the burkha but I wouldn't like my government telling me I can't wear it? What about my right to make my own decision?

Sarkozy is highly misinformed if he claims the burkha is a sign of oppression for Muslim females. The burkha is worn by females who choose to adorn it as their sign of total submission. Not as an obligation to their religion.

IRAN and Us

The past week has seen a massive crackdown on the demonstrators at Iran. Images of the Basij (paramilitray) force indiscriminately beating and trampling on the protestors epitomize the suppression of a democratic movement.

The demonstrations against the alleged election fraud was heralded by the international community as a long overdue national call for reforms in a theocratic regime. Watching thousands of thousands of Iranian nationals take to the streets protesting seeking new elections hit home for the viewers worldwide. In unity, we empthasized with the Iranians, watched in horror at the brutal retaliation from the government, and sympathzied with the countless martyrs that were killed for their beliefs and rights.

Faced with the massive throngs of people clamoring for their votes/voices to be heard, the regime obstinately stood by their decision to NOT nullify the election results that re-elected Ahmednijad. One would think that a theocratic regime that was borne of a revolution of young Iranians against the blatant corruption of the Shah's regime would think twice before disregarding the populace's stance. Yet the supreme leader, Khamenei, repeatedly condemned further demonstrations by the people as anti-government activites that would be harshly punished. As a result, mass demonstrations that took place after Khamenei's speech was met with brute force by the Basij.

It is inspiring to see so many young Iranian females clad in their hijabs and jeans march determinedly in the processions, screaming and shouting for their voices with the masses, refusing to give in when beaten by the Basij, and aiding the male comrades to fight back against the government's crackdown. Their active and fearless participation to place themselves in harm's way shows how the current generations of Iranian women born after the 1979 Revolution are indeed eager and courageous to fight for their rights.

Many prominent journalists are saying that the seed for a pro-reform revolution in Iran has been planted. Now only time will ripe the benefits. As we continue to watch and monitor the events in Iran, we can only hope that the Iranianscontinue to remain firm, fearless, and optimistic that their voices will indeed be acknowledged.

Iran and Technology

Undoubtedly the key players inciting, chanelling, and prolonging recent demonstrations in Iran have to be Facebook, Twitter, and text messages. Those three media have effectively initiated, harnassed, implemented, and monitored the various human processions that have erupted all throughout Iran. 

The government has belatedly banned foreign journalists to film demonstrations. The Iranian youth, deft in modern technology, are taking grainy and blurry shots of violence perpetuated by the secret police against them with their cell phones and disseminating through the internet. 

All international news agencies are urging Iranians to post videos, audios, and even to speak on air of the scenes they have witnessed. 

It must definitely be heady times in Iran right now. You can quickly spot young children among the millions of crowds roaming on the street shouting slogans, carrying banners, or remaining silent in mourning of the recent deceased. You can the sense that this is a revolution sprang from the under belly of the disenfranchised and disaffected youth who have been nurtured by progressive technology and western idealogies of freedom of speech. 

Even if Ahmedinajad is declared the actual winner of the election, the Iranian populace has achieved their goal. Governments only exists though the power of the people. The Iranian populace who had once overthrown the Shah on grounds of ineffectiveness and corruption has raised their voices against a government who has long ceased to cater to their needs. It is high time the Supreme Leader realizes the precarious ledge he is on. 

Emergence of Hate Groups

The American media alludes that the presidency of Obama has provoked the emerging visibility of hate groups in the United States.

Think the random shooting at the Holocaust Museum in DC by a white supremacist and the random killing of Dr. George Tiller, an abortionist, by a pro-life advocate.

In recent months, many Americans have taken law and order into their own hands at the dire results of others.

Dr. George Tiller was gunned down because he performed abortions. Oftentimes, he performed abortions on fetuses that were six months old. His killer, who is now proclaiming his satisfaction in killing Tiller, is a supporter of the pro-life movememnt. Before the fateful shooting that took his life Dr. Tiller was subjected to several death threats for his line of work. Far right wingers, notably Rush Limbaugh, had publicly decreed Dr. Tiller needed to be shot. Sometimes, our words do have the effect of persuading the masses to take drastic measures.

The Holocaust Museum shooting is nothing short of anti-semitism. The man, a noted anti-semitic, member of a white supremacist group, and earlier flagged by FBI, managed to shoot and kill a security guard at the door. His actual intent in opening fire at the Musuem is still unclear.

The American media is speculating that with the election of a black president, the racists, neo-nazis, white supremacists that thrive in the under belly of the United States are feeling things are out of their control. As a result, in order to regain their sense of control over a world that is rapidly changing, they resort to brute acts of force and murder. The news pundits speculate that since the election there has been a hike in the numbers of hate groups in America.

Apparently, United States needs to be wary and vigilant of enemies within their own lands.

Israel's Vision of Palestine

Netanyahu's vision of Palestine doesn't quite match the world's vision. Netanyahu, basically, envisions a Palestine that is left defenceless against its enemies. Yet Israel possess the right to bear arms. How can that be possible?

Can you imagine a state that is NOT allowed to defend itself against its enemies? Imagine in the 70s, Pakistan agreed to a state of Bangladesh, but without the right to defend itself? Essentially, Bangladesh would then be a puppet state, obliged to the whims and demands of stronger states that possess weaponry. We, Bangladeshis, would never stand for a ridiculous bargain as that. We would (and we did) demand self-autonomy and right to bear arms against any forms of foreign aggression.

Many news pundits termed Netanyahu's vision as a ghetto in place for a Palestinian state, and I have to agree. What would have been Israel's reaction if Palestine had decreed that Israel should be de-militarized? No nation can exist without having the rights to bear arms.

Probably due to pressure from Obama, Netanyahu agreed to recognize the necessity of a two-state existence; however, his interpretations will incite more displeasure and annoyance than positivity. Already pro-Palestine pundits are interpreting Netanyahu's policy speech has a impediment for the successful solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict. Already, his speech is generating ill fervour.

If Israel, indeed, wants a peace deal with Palestine that will encompass a two-state solution, then they must cease placing hypocritical and irrational bargaining chips on the table.

Iran Votes and Nothing Changes

Fueled by the change in the air, the rest of the world watched as Iranians went to the voting polls. With hushed voices, whispers behind closed doors, wringing hands, and restrained optimism, the world watched and hoped that Iranians would vote for a progressive and somewhat secular regime.

Iran voted.

The old regime stays put.

A growing sense of discontent is slowly settling above the Iranian land. Once the results were broadcast and Ahmadinejad was re-elected with an alleged landslide victory, protests and demonstrations eupted in some quarters of Tehran.

It felt eerily similar to the Americans re-electing Bush for the second term.

But was our optimism justifiable?

Yes, even though Lebanon elected a western-friendly, secular, and progressive party led by Saad Hariri, could we expect the same miracle recreated in Iran?

Iran has long embraced its Islamic identity and taken it to newer levels. The Republic was borne in the ashes of colonial exploitations of Iran's vast natural reserves of oil. Once successfully overthrowing the western shadows over its lands, the Republic set to work to overturn all laws and policies implemented and reminiscient of western ideaology. In the process, however, Iran managed to achieve skills and talents to develop nuclear arms. Now Iran is seen as a pivotal power in deciding the fate of the Middle East question. It is regarded as a possible threat, renegade, enemy in thwarting the successful settlement of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But realistically, what was the possibility that Iran would have elected a progressive regime? It has long been shrouded in western-hating rhetoric, that any indication of a party sympathizing with western ideaology is seen as a stern opposition to the Iranian ideolgy.

The only positive outcome of the Iranian election is that the power of the young people to collectively unite under one banner and seek change has emerged. Perhaps, in four years time, the younger generation will get their chance to change their country.

Fast Forward 20 Years

I was 7 when Chinese students engaged with the army at Tiananmen Square. All I recall of that gruesome period are pictures that have left indelible marks.

It has been twenty years since that day. Now I am cognizant enough to grasp the full historical context of that tragic demonstration against brute force.

However, the path to freedom in China isn't over.

Watching CNN, I was aghast at the extent the Chinese government reached to blanket all media interest in the Tiananmen Square. Plainclothes Chinese officials blocked international reporters from filming and reporting stories from famed Square. At internet cafes, social sites like Twitter were blocked. Even any mention of Tinanmen Square and China's past brutal history on international news agencies like CNN were blacked out.

But who in China will protest such violations of freedom of press?

The extensive tentacles of the Chinese government is indeed long, dark, and fearful.

Two US Journalists Under Trail in North Korea

Another story of two young female US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, being incarcerated and brought to a shrouded state trial for espionage in North Korea. 

The two journalists' families on US TV assert that their relatives had no intent to venture into North Korea illegally. Yet they were arrested in North Korea for being there without proper travel papers.

Even though currently the two journalists are under trial and their fate is garnering immense media attention, the US government hasn't taken any overt actions to come to the rescue of the US citizens. Perhaps similar to Roxana Saberi's case, there may be negotiating behind closed doors, however, the fate of the journalists is left uncertain and daunting. 

President Obama and Islam

Today President Obama, at the Cairo University in Egypt, gave quite the noted performance. His speech to say the least was electrifying, constructive, and expansive in terms of covered issues.

As many expected, Pres Obama admonished Israel from expanding and forging new settlements, which are in direct violations of Resolution 242. This clause clearly demarcates the areas of Isareli settlements; which Isarel for the last two decades has been chiefly ignoring with the support of the western powers. However, Pres Obama made clear that no longer will the US be supporting such negative and illegal occupation of lands that are rightfully Palestine's. 

President Obama, again, reminded Israel that a Palestinian state needs to be granted. However, I feel that this is one line that needs to be acted upon instead of repeated over and over again.

The President also proceeded to assert that the US is not at war with Islam, which bears repeating as much as possible. This is one perspective that has sunk into the collective minds of most Islamic states. Regardless of Pres Obama's promises, words, and actions, the past brutality and mistrust forged by the Bush Administration towards Islam cannot be easily forgotten by the Muslim world. 

Overall, President Obama achieved another historic event. He kept his promise during his presidential campaigns of reaching out to the Muslim world from a major Muslim state. 

More info about Pres Obama's speech can be attained from here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/world/middleeast/05prexy.html?pagewanted=2&hp

Hospitals Youtubing Live Operations

NY Times has a disturbing article on how hospitals to stay competitive in marketing themselves have adopted videoing and showcasing their patients' operations in real time.

Am I the only one who is super freaked out by this?

There are plenty of ethical issues tangled with these practices. Firstly, how are the patients consenting to this form of violation of their privacies? Are they getting paid, receiving discounts on their medical bills, or simply just eager for the notoriety gained at Youtube by their audacious videos? Secondly, how are the hospitals providing adequate care when they are parading their patients on the internet heavily sedated undergoing at times life-threatening surgeries? 

What happens if a patient dies on the table? Are we then rewarded by watching death live on the internet? How is that NOT going against the grain of proper social norms?

I'm also concerned why the insurance companies who leap at the chance to say no to critical procedures for ill patients are not vilifying this form of obscene violation? Are they getting a cut of the deal as well?

Most certainly, in my opinion, the hospitals need to cease exploiting their patients misfortunes for free publicity. By condoning these dehumanizing practices, we are one small step away from watching people die on tv. 

More Closed Doors Confession

Another military personnel came forth declaring the US military (she confessed to being an active participant) used abusive practices to coerce suspects into signing confessions. 

According to her interview with CNN, she exposed a known terrorist suspect who was imprisoned for seven years, repeatedly and regularly exposed to violent beatings and dehumanizing activities to a point where he willingly signed a confession stating he was a terror suspect. However now he is living safely in his own country after being fully exonerated by the US government.

The military woman further stated that she actually believed he was the enemy and at her own volition engaged in carrying out abusive actions against him only to find out that he was innocent of all charges. Now she feels compelled to state the truth about US's not so discreet manner of abusing suspects in prison. 

Her new account of torture in US prisons bags the questions what form of intelligence does United States utilize to flag and capture terrorists suspects? 

FBI Foiled Future Jihad Strike in NY

Today on AC360, Anderson Cooper interviewed a Repulican congressman from NY on the capture of alleged terrorists in NY. The congressman in his limited knowledge of the men kept on emphasizing several times that they are all MUSLIMS. He must have repeated the terrorists' religion at every third word. Obviously, one of the men being of Afghan descent and the other three being recent converts of Islam while in prison struck the nail on their coffins. Even after acknowledging that he had little information of the entire event, he kept on highlighting that they were MUSLIMS  and had supposedly planned on attacking a synagogue. 

The three men who converted into Islam in prison interests me the most. Which prison? Why were they there in the first place? Who are these men? What prompted them to convert? And how do newly converts automatically raise their arms in violence to protect their religion? 

Mass Rape in Liberia

Nicholas Kristof's NY Times column today exposes the cultural acceptance of rape in Liberia long after the war is over. He recounts the cases of minor girls who have been raped and now living in shelters for rape survivors. The inspirational part of his piece is the young Jackie declaring that she wants to one day become the president of Liberia and build houses for abused girls.

The most chillingly aspect of his piece is the thought that Liberian men have become conditioned to not regard rape as an awful act of brute power overcoming helplessness. Instead according to Kristof, when men feel like sex they just overcome the nearest girl. Forceful sex with unwilling partners isnt a terrible deed for Liberian men, it is a customary act of asserting and satisfying their power and sexual needs respectively. Unfortunately, the public health system does not seem capable to cater to rape victims. Many cases are transferred to the main hospital in Monrovia to adequately provide halthcare facilities. Hence in remote regions, raped victims are often left untreated which undoubtedly leads to sever health complications.

This form of social deconstruction of rape will wreck havoc for the females' movement and for their security. The prospect of generations of females being raped at minor ages is highly plausible. How many of them are like Jackie? How many of them have the courage and the determination to overcome the injustices and abuses imposed upon them? How many of them can have hopes for positive futures?

Iran First

Today Iran tried out a new short-range missile. Instinctively, the media started speculating how Iran's action affects the Middles East question and to Israel's security. I caught a few shows replaying the video of the missile shooting across the horizon with the ominous voice in the background stating the missile was capable of reaching Israel from Iran. Lately, editorials in top news sites have already started commenting on Iran's non-committal stance in response to President Obama's overtures of efficient and effective candid discussion between the two countries. The media has been portraying Iran as aloof, less eager thereby less keen, reluctant, and uninterested to actively resolve the conflict and tension spawned between the two nations and carefully nurtured by the Bush'a administration. When the question of Iran's right to bear arms sprouts, many highlight the hypocrisy of Israel possessing arms yet Iran being censured for talking about being a participant of the nuclear arms race. As one columnist in the NY Times stated prior to Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, it would be quite a hypocrisy on United States's behalf to admonish Iran for seeking nuclear arms while condoning Israel's cache of such weaponry. Yet, there we had President Obama, with PM Netanyahu adjacent to him, assert Iran possessing any forms of nuclear arsenal will be the harbinger of the end of days. A few days later Iran went ahead and carried out a missile.

It seems the more the West attempts to admonish, castigate, or simply frighten Iran to back down, the more Iran in a fit of teenage rebellion does the opposite. Perhaps, instead of publicly denouncing Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Obama administration can proactively reach out across borders and bring Iranian diplomats to the table behind closed doors. Or better yet, perhaps instead of massaging Israel by publicly vilifying Iran's actions, they can encourage a progressive and effective engagement among the three nations. 

Bangladesh's First Harassment Case?

Today I read about the epic court decision overturning a previous decision where victims of a sexual harassment case by a professor at Jahannigar University were expelled from their school and the perpetrator was fully exonerated. Yet today the court decided that the previous decision was erroneous, summoned a new investigation into evidence of wrongdoing by the University.

A couple of years ago, a few female students from said University filed a sexual harassment case  against one of their professors. However, their search for justice was thwarted by the overwhelming social sympathy for the male figure. In other words, the legal system penalized the female victims for voicing the misconduct of their professor, while rewarding and condoning the professor's inappropriate behavior by pardoning him. 

This legal case clearly delineats the patriarchal society which we still inhabit. Men get away doing worse things, while females are hindered and censured for standing up for themselves and highlighting the fallacies of their male counterparts. But, perhaps, with the overturning of the previous court's decision and the new inquiry into the University's actions and the victims' case can be used to crack the patriarchal ceiling. 

Females, especially victims, need a secure and safe platform to speak out against their perpetrators. The perpetrators of crimes must be taken to court and lawfully tried in order to thwart future smilar accidents occuring, and display the supreme fact that justice is indeed blind, and perpetrators must pay for their crimes. 

Jahangirnagar University Students Win Landmark Victory on Sexual Harassment Case

My friend emailed this to me today ----

High Court Holds Illegal University Decisions to Exonerate Teacher of Charges, Expel StudentsDirects Fresh Inquiry based on New Sexual Harassment GuidelinesSummaryThe High Court gave a landmark judgment today in the first application of its Sexual Harassment Guidelines pronounced on 14 May.One year ago, in May 2008, four women students at Jahangirnagar University made complaints of serial sexual harassment against their teacher and the Chairperson of the Drama Department, Sanowar Hossain Sunny. The University appointed three separate inquiry committees, which examined witnesses and issued reports with clear findings against the teacher. During this period, the students continued to face threats and harassment. In September 2008, the University announced that Sunny was 'exonerated of all charges of sexual harassment as they had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt'. Later the University also proceeded to pass orders of temporary expulsion against four of the women complainants, and two male students who had given evidence in their favour.Prof Sirajul Islam Chowdhury and others filed a public interest petition challenging the University's decision and actions. Later the victim-complainants and the two other students also became parties to the petition (Prof Sirajul Islam and others v Jahangirnagar University and others Writ Petition 9414 of 2008).Today the High Court held that the decisions taken by the University to exonerate Sunny on the one hand, and to expel the students on the other, were both without lawful authority. It also directed the University to hold a fresh inquiry into the incident, with independent persons, on the basis of the new Guidelines on Sexual Harassment pronounced in BNWLA v Bangladesh . Citing judgments of the Supreme Courts of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, the Court held that corroboration was not always required to prove allegations of sexual violence, and further that the standard of 'beyond a reasonable doubt' could not be applicable in cases of this nature, relating to disciplinary inquiries regarding allegations of sexual harassment. The Court also noted that Jahangirnagar University authorities had failed 'for reasons best known to themselves' to adopt their own guidelines on sexual harassment, and therefore in the absence of any applicable law, the High Court's new guidelines should be applied to any fresh inquiry.A Division Bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqi passed the judgment today.The writ petition was filed by eminent citizens Prof. Sirajul Islam Chowdhury and Kamal Lohani, and three human rights organisations, Ain o Salish Kendra, Nijera Kori and Kormojibi Nari.[1] Four women students of Jahagirnagar University who had made complaints of sexual harassment, and two others who gave evidence, were also joined as petitioners during the course of the hearing.Sara Hossain, with Ramzan Ali Sikder, Ainun Nahar Lipi and Abantee Nurul appeared for the public interest petitioners. Ruhul Quddus Babu appeared for the students.BackgroundComplaints: In May 2008, four women students submitted written complaints of serial sexual harassment against Asst Prof Sanowar Hossain Sunny of the Drama and Dramatic Theory Department. The University set up a preliminary inquiry committee, and then a further verification committee both of which made prima facie findings against the teacher. On consideration of their reports, the Syndicate established a Full Inquiry Committee under Section 44 of the Jahangirnagar University Act. This report was submitted to the Syndicate which passed a decision in September to exonerate the said teacher of all charges of sexual harassment on the ground that in the absence of eyewitnesses these had not been 'proved beyond reasonable doubt'. This decision was passed despite clear findings by each Inquiry Committee against the teacher, including findings by the Final Inquiry Committee of misconduct against the teacher, and that his behaviour was 'wholly improper and unbefitting of a teacher' and recommending action against him. The University, despite having powers to do so, had never suspended the teacher pending inquiry.Appeals filed by the students to the Chancellor of the University, also the President of the country, went unheeded.Expulsion and Threats: In October, the University then reinstated the teacher. Following his return to the campus, and an altercation with students, the accused teacher made a complaint against six students (two of whom were among the women who had made complaints against him and two of whom were male students who had given evidence against him). The Syndicate moved the same day to pass orders of temporary expulsion on these six students. A section of the Jahagirnagar University Teachers Association then held processions and meetings demanding the immediate expulsion of the students, and refused to hold classes unless action was taken. Some of these teachers were at the same time involved in the disciplinary proceedings against the students.During this entire period, the victim complainants and others witnesses had been subjected to repeated threats and warned that unless they stopped pursuing their claims against the teacher, they would face dire consequences. These threats were reported to the University Authorities but no action was taken.High Court Orders: On 27 October, the High Court issued a Rule Nisi on the University and also stayed the orders of temporary expulsion passed on the students. It asked Jahangirnagar University Authorities to show cause among others as to why its to exonerate Sanower Hossain Sunny should not be declared to be without lawful authority and why a fresh inquiry should not be held into the matter. It also stayed operation of the orders of the Syndicate suspending six students of the University including four of the women who had originally made complaints against this teacher and two other who had given evidence against him.The University in its response to the Court stated that it had acted with 'due process' and justified the action taken against the student victims of sexual harassment. As a result of the High Court's orders, it submitted copies of the reports of the three Inquiry Committees to the Court.
Sexual Harassment Guidelines: It should be noted that calls for formulation of Guidelines on Sexual Harassment had first come from students and teachers of Jahagirnagar University, in the wake of earlier incidents of serial sexual harassment, from more than ten years ago, involving both teachers and students as perpetrators. Although the JU Syndicate had mandated the framing of such Guidelines, it ultimately failed to adopt these Guidelines.In the meantime, in 2008, the University Grants Commission, in the context of the new reports of sexual harassment surfacing at JU and Dhaka University, and in response to calls from women's organisations, including Bangladesh Mohila Porishod, set up a drafting committee to prepare new Guidelines. This Committee drew heavily on the Jahangirnagar draft, and revised it following consultations with civil society organisations and academics. But ultimately the Education Ministry failed to adopt the Guidelines the decision. Earlier this month, it held that it would not proceed with the UGC guidelines, but instead called on each University to frame its own rules and regulations - leaving victims of sexual harassment with no effective redress. In this context, the High Court's Guidelines in Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association v Bangladesh, pronounced on 14 May 2009, have filled a much needed gap in the law, and today's judgment shows how they can be immediately utilised to open up new possibilities for legal protection and also to hold authorities responsible for creating a violence free educational environment.For further information, please contactSara Hossain, 01713 031828, sarahossain@gmail.comRuhul Quddus, 01711 434891[1] Represented by Sultana Kamal, ED, ASK, Khushi Kabir, Coordinator, Nijera Kori and Shirin Akhter, President KN respectively.

Children of the Streets

It can be daunting at times to encounter a bevy of young children (who should be under ordinary circumstances similar to their privileged counterparts playing with toys or finishing their homeworks) out on the streets selling flowers, books, trinkets, or begging for money. These children of the streets (poignantly captured and glamourized in Slumdog Millionaire) are, without a doubt, as street smart and savvy as they are robbed of childhood memories typical of your and mine. From an even younger age, most of these children are forced to earn their own and their families' livelihoods. Whether by begging or through selling trinkets, they are expected to return home with enough cash to guarantee some food in their bellies and another day of looking forward to the same challenges again. Let us not also forget that most of these kids who go home to their families at the end of the day are generally regarded as the fortunate ones. Oftentimes, you hear of horrific tales of young children being pimped out to lecherous clients for sex. With all of these harrowing and life-threatending prospects engulfing them each day, it is always a surprise and a relief to encounter these young urchins offering flowers with huge toothy grins and words of encouragment to buy. 

Islam and Homosexuality

I watched quite a poignant film at our workshop today. The documentary is titled "A Jihad for Love". The documentary displayed the lives of several Muslims who are homosexuals. The aspects of the film that stood out for me are:

• The people identified themselves as devout Muslims. They religiously practised and observed the rules and regulations of Islam. Yet they were quite candid about their homosexuality.
• The people attempted to reconcile their lifestyle through the Quran. Instead of (mis)interpreting the story of Sodom and Gomorah as God's punishment against homosexuals in general, the South African Iman interpreted it as God censuring the sinners who were engaging in transgression against human rights. I, for one, am more inclined to believe the Iman's interpretation then accept the Quran vilifies homosexuality.
• Finally, most of the gay folks in the film had absconded to different countries for refuge due to harassment or violence experienced within their own countries because of their identity.

Personally, I found the folks dedication to their religion quite interesting. I suppose as I don't define myself through my religion, I found others' constructions of their self via Islam quite an innovative outlook. However, their tenacity to accept, define, and believe in the righteousness of their own lifestyle and path was sheer inspirational. Why should their choice, their right to be who they are be denied, invalidated, abused, and censured by others, let alone by religion itself? 

I Spy

The fate of Roxana Saberi sends chills down my spine. Here is a young female, possessing a dual citizenship (both American and Iranian), living in Iran as a journalist. She reports on mundane news surrounding Iranian issues and lifestyle. She never advocated and/or engaged in any overt form of anti-government practices. Yet, one night she finds herself arrested for buying liquor. The next thing the media hears is that she has been accused of espionage, trialed, found guilty, and sentenced to eight years in prison. Within a short span, Roxana Saberi's life has been trapped into a dark box. 

Enough media attention hasn't been given to the trial proceedings of Roxana. You can see her name and story mentioned here and there accompanied by a picture of a young girl just like you and me. The accusation of espionage is indeed a grave topic. But the United States did not seem overtly concerned in extricating Roxana from this web. What is exactly going on?

Now, you hear of her lawyers appealing her case, and confident that the appeal will go through. That is a relief in many instances. But why isn't there an American outcry over the imprisonment of a American citizen? So, what if she is part Iranian. She is also American. Isn't that enough? Doesn't she deserve justice and proper investogation into the charges brought against her?

It is quite puzzling and disturbing to see the media's almost numbness in reporting on Roxana Saberi. Who is she? Why has this happened to her? What was she doing? And what will happen now? These are important questions that need to be asked, answered, and exposed now. 

A fear of Iran-United States stand off doesnt warrant juggling with the live of a young innocent female.

UPDATE -  She's freed! Yay! Whether due to covert political pressure or deals, Roxana Saberi is a freed woman!

Gay Rights in Bangladesh

In a country where it is the norm to see two men, even more, walk hand in hand down the streets, the prospect of gay rights or gay people in general ruffle quite the feathers. People prefering same-sex relations are of course plenty in Bangladesh, as elsewhere around the world. It is, afterall, quite normal to be attracted to your own sex and regardless of being hotly debated, scientists do claim of a gay gene. However, after all is said and done, non-gay people in Bangladesh squirm and wince at the thought of their next door neighbour, their cousin, or their friend being gay. 

In a country where women still have to fight for their rights, gay people are further marginalized. Hence, it is no surprise that when we hear of gay men, they are usually associated with the glam and glitz of the media world, where their behaviours are seen with a gentle sway of the head and a wry smile. However, as sexism is inherent in Bangladeshi men, I have noticed the innate dislike towards gay culture. Oftentimes, just as gays are negatively portrayed in foreign lands, Bangladeshi men consider gay men substantially inferior and open to mockery and degradation. 

Yet with the influx of western media upon Bangladeshi society and sensibility, one can dare to dream that the attitude towards gays and lesbians will be evolving as well. Afterall, without sounding cliched or trite, they aren't aberrations of nature, they are ordinary folks just like you and me. 

BRAC's Center for Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS is conducting a four-day workshop on a much needed issue such as gay rights and sexuality. Challenging as it may sound, gay rights and gay identity especially in regards to Bangladeshi men and women need to be showcased to the public at large. Why should ordinary tax-paying, law-abiding citizens be marginalized just because of their sexual orientations or predilections? Women, who have too often faced the brunt and bore the fetters of sexism, should wholly support and advocate for the rights of the lesbians, gays, transsexuals, and transgenders communities. 

The Acid Fight

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=16673

The government has created a committee essentially to keep track of the numerous cases of acid victims and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Definitely a progressive move on the part of the current administration to recognize, record, provide security, and thwart future acid abuses. However, more details about this newly formed committee must be released. Furthermore, I sincerely hope that the committee manages to adhere to their convictions and bring to a successful close the multitudes of acid victims cases still pending. 

Domestic Help and their Rights

Today's Star Weekend Mag had a compelling and warranted expose on the labour laws currently under regulation in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, those labour laws do not apply to domestic help. Domestic help must adhere to the rules set by their masters and/or mistresses. Calling them serfs depending on the people they work for isn't too much of a stretch. Sadly, domestic help, primarily young kids, are expected to work tediously long hours without suitable forms of breaks under the stern principle that any mistakes on their behalf will result in physical abuse from their employers. 

You always hear or read about horrific cases where young children, especially females, are brutally beaten by their mistresses, taunted and mocked by the children left in their care, and/or raped or molested by their masters or other male occupants in the house. It almost seems as if a young female is signing away her right to live once she agrees to work as a domestic help. The amount of stories depicting severe abuse whether phsyical, emotional, mental, and verbal upon hapless domestic help far exceeds the number of stories where domestic help are safely ensconed working with kind families.

It is quite shameful that these domestic helpers who work several long hours at usually terrible conditions are not subjected to labour laws that will ensure better working conditions and wages inclusive of holidays. The public must initiate a mass movement to guarantee domestic help are recognized as human beings entitled to good working terms and hours, decent treatment from their employers, and above all, entitled to voice their experiences if ill treated or worse. Would we, as employees ourselves, expect anything less from our employers?

Women in Quran

In the Quran, Satan asks Adam to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge. So, Adam and Eve(depicted as his wife) both eat from the Tree. It is of great significance that Satan is encouraging and thereby tempting Adam and NOT Eve to eat the apple. In the Bible, Eve has been vilified as the sole temptress in cahoots with Satan who beckons Adam to go astray. Yet in the Quran it is Adam that makes the fatal decision and fallacy.

Usually, when you hear of Islam and women, stories abounds in mainstream media how Islam, or rightly the fundamentalist strand, suppresses women's rights and identities. Women fall under the full jurisdiction of being contolled, dictated by, and living for and under the rule of their fathers or husbands. However, once you start reading the Quran, you will encounter, oftentimes, gross misinterpretations of the passages propagated by extreme Muslims. In many instances, the Quran dictates that women need to be taken care of and not subjected to the rigid control of men. Furthermore, the Quran heralds women as equal to men in all aspects.

Yet, fundamentalists Muslims strive to dominate and discriminate against women using the Quran as justifiable proof for their absurb and downright bizarre rules. The Shiite Law under contention in Afghanistan, and the video of a young Pakistani girl being whipped in public by men for a minor transgression such as leaving her home without permission or having an affair (the actual reason still shrouded in mystery) add credence to Islam being portrayed as the lone dissident against women rights.

Mainstream media loves a good story especially if it comes packed with tangible victims and villains. Too often, the very nature of Islam is seen as the ultimate villain when stories such as the above are making the rounds.

Bangladeshis in Iraq

NY Times ran this article about Bangladeshis working in Iraq. Surprisingly, even in Iraq amidst the turmoil and economic woes, Iraqis still find time to turn down jobs that they consider beneath them. This is where Bangladeshi workers swoop in to gladly take up those jobs and live in less than stellar accomodations. One of the cited worker mentioned he resided in a single room with other Bangladeshi men which can only be accessed by a ladder. The article further stated how the lives of these Bangladeshi workers tend to solely revolve around their jobs. They often dont see much of greater Iraq beyond their vicinity for rational fears of being killed or worse. Personally, I wonder what depraved conditions are those Bangladeshi workers in their own country for them to opt for working in Iraq?

Torture the Bush Way II

The Bush White House began planning for torture in December 2001, set up a program to develop the interrogation techniques by the next month, and the military and the CIA began training interrogators in coercive practices in early 2002, before they had any high-value al-Qaida suspects or any trouble eliciting information from detainees.

-Mark Benjamin, Torture Planning Began in 2001 @Salon.com

There we have it in a nutshell - the truth about torture under the Bush's regime. Contrary to what we have been told, the Bush administration did not seek redefining torture and implementing new torturing procedures as a last ditch effort to save mankind but was earlier conceived by Rumsfeld and others post 9/11. The most terrifying aspect of this report is how glibly President Bush defended and lied to the American public and to the greater world audience about their new torturing procedures. He assured that they were ONLY used in cases where the terrorist suspects had been taught to withstand and evade typical interrogation techniques. But the truth is far scarier and disturbing.

I wonder what happens now? There are already several lawsuits filed against the Bush administration by tortured victims from Guatanamo Prison who declared they were illegally interned and tortured. But with these new revelations and with the swarming of the global media around these reports and punditry, will it open the pandora's box for newer victims to come forth and testify their experiences in being interrogated using 'special procedures' devised by the Bush's regime?

Torture the Bush Way

The Geneva Convention has very clear, precise, and stringent rules outlining what forms of behaviors constitute as torture. Accordingly, all nations under the UN umbrella must adhere, practice, safeguard, and propragate the principles regarding human life decreeed by the Covention. However, with the release of the torture memos under the Bush administration, it is easy to discern how the rules of the Geneva Convention were manipulated, contorted, maligned, and at times even wholly disregarded in President Bush's path of capturing the perpetrators of 9/11. The memos are at once highly disturbing and intriguing to see the extent the Bush administration resorted to in utilizing any means to justify their ends or their causes. The fiasco of Abu Ghraib prison prominently comes to mind. But there are and must have been other Abu Ghraibs in different international locales propagating the Bush administration's newly defined terms of torture and applicable torturing methods. That said, it is quite encouraging to note that the Obama administration, in the pursuit of truth and transparency, have disclosed the memos. However, one can question, why shouldn't the masterminds of these blatant disregard of the Geneva Convention and of human life not be held accountable for their actions? What immunes them from being prosecuted for defining and perpetrating heinous crimes on humans in their pursuit of an ideal world? Even though the Bush administration is long past deceased, their actions over the last seven years carries far reaching and palpable consequences across the globe and through the age. The Bush legacy holds strong and travels far. It would be a great shame for the Obama adminstration to NOT create an impartial committtee that can thoroughly investigate any and all trangressions against human life conducted under Bush's regime. It may be all in the past, but we are now bearing the brunt of all the mistakes and miscalculations committed by President Bush and his cronies. They must be brought to justice.

Two Pink Lines

As the plane gracefully glided through the air, making large slow circles above the airport, I knew destiny had called me to the stand today. Suddenly I stood up, sat down again, felt self-conscious, anxious, stood up again, and walked to the nearest windows to look out. There were three small cargo planes stacked in a horizontal row on my left, and two huge jets neatly parked waiting for fuel. Or so I imagined. Lightly pressing my forehead against the glass panel, I prayed wordlessly in gratitude.

*

It was the hottest day of that year, I recall, the weatherman had issued a list of advisory precautions to defend against heat strokes and dehydration. Stay indoors, carry water bottles, move slowly, and don’t stay out for too long under the sun. By even six in the morning, you could tell by the heat that the day was going to be a killer. As I quietly re-checked your luggage mentally checking off all the items packed, I wished it was just an ordinary Sunday.

You were in the bathroom showering and shaving. I quietly entered and saw your naked body through the opaque glass doors. There were scattered spots of foam on the sink from your shaving which you had forgotten to wipe clean. Ordinarily that forgetfulness would have incited an argument between us, but today I couldn’t, didn’t, and wouldn’t care. Fear lodged in my throat, but I had promised us I would not cry. I could not cry. I had shed enough tears leading up to this day. I had pleaded, implored, cursed, threatened, and even prayed. But to no avail. You always gently and consistently explained you were obliged to serve your duty and that you had to serve your country.

As the water trickled to a halt, I quickly left the bathroom and went downstairs to make breakfast. Today of all days I wasn’t going to send you out on an empty stomach. The rooms already seemed empty, vague, and unfamiliar. The house seemed distant, distrustful, and almost a stranger. Were you feeling the same, I wondered? Were you, too, feeling the air of foreboding encroaching upon our tiny abode? For Chris sake Anira, I’m a shrink, just a shrink! How much action do you think a shrink sees in the military? Come here, don’t be ridiculous! All I’ll be doing down there is listening to the soldiers’ talk about themselves, that’s all. I won’t most certainly be in the front line fighting the damn Talibans by making them pour out their innermost secrets to me!

“Mmm, what smells so wonderful? Is it possible that Anira is actually preparing breakfast?” you jokingly asked, as you walked into the kitchen. You grabbed my waist and swooped down your head for a kiss.
“Ha ha, funny, funny,” I retorted, as I tilted my head to meet your mouth. “You’re not the only one who can cook, Sam.”

“I know,” you chuckled.

You picked up the plate of toasts and the pot of brewing tea and sat at the table. A large man, you were quite agile in your mobility. As I whisked the eggs I quietly observed you engaged in the morning papers. Five years ago if you had told me I was going to be with a shaada man, least of all a soldier, I would have laughed in derision. Reared in a family of soldiers, I grew up detesting the rigid disciplinary lifestyle imposed upon my brothers and me by our father. Departing to America was a welcoming emancipation from my family. My rigidly Bangladeshi family. They didn’t approve of you. I wasn’t surprised. Amma’s silence at the end of the line when I announced my engagement told me all. I had fooled myself into believing they would relent knowing you too were descended from a military lineage. But Baba didn’t care to know about you. As far as he was concerned I had betrayed my roots, my culture, and my past by marrying a shaada, a foreigner, non-Bangladeshi. I didn’t even dare tell them you were fifteen years older than me and a divorcee. I never got that far.

“Eggs need much beating, darling?” you asked, with a mischievous grin.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, was just thinking.” I shook away my reverie and proceeded to fry the omelettes.

“Hmmm.”

“Here you go, darling. A feast of delight, if I may say so myself,” I gaily announced, placing the plate of omelettes on the table. “It’s Spanish Frittatas.”

“I’m impressed….mmmm…it even tastes good,” you said, and with a gusto dived into the food.

I didn’t want to ruin this ordinary breakfast, I swear I didn’t, but I couldn’t stop the words as they propelled through my mouth. “So, where are you stationed again?”

You looked up at me, your chewing momentarily paused. As a shrink, I knew, you always took the time to carefully use the correct and unthreatening words to convey your point across. So, I was ready for your glib response.

“Darling Anira…I told you already. I’ll be temporarily stationed in Kabul. Perhaps if and when needed and as determined by HQ, I might be posted in one of the hotter regions. But that depends on whether they require my service.” Chewing ensued. “For now, baby, I’ll be safely cocooned in Kabul, far way from any form of action.”

I nodded. I had nothing left to ask.

*

There were several families clustered in a line saying their last goodbyes to their departing partners. We were one of them. As you were greeted respectfully by your subordinates, I hugged and kissed some of the wives I had befriended since our marriage. I was the youngest among them. The only brown one. But together we shared a bond that transcended color, age, and geography. Together we shared the fear, the longing, the uncertainty, and the inevitability of having your beloved depart for an unfamiliar and enemy-laden terrain without knowing if they will ever return. I knew I had their support to get me through the nights and days I found myself alone in our home.

“Darling, it’s time,” you softly whispered, as you cradled me once more in your arms.

I buried my head against your chest. I wrapped my arms around you and held on tight, embarrassed by my tears. I couldn’t speak. I was scared of the words that would fall out of my mouth. I was scared of my fears. I was scared of the unimaginable.

“Oh darling…oh my baby…” you whispered softly, “take care of yourself. You know how much I love you…don’t worry honey…oh don’t worry about a thing…I’ve been on so many missions like these and I always never see any action…please don’t worry. Oh baby…my precious…I love you so much..”

I grabbed you tighter unwilling to let you go. You can’t, you mustn’t, you won’t leave me here alone, I shouted silently.

“Baby, I must go…I have to go…Oh Anira, I’ll be back…you’ll see…in six months I will return.”

“Sir, we are boarding,” announced a subordinate, hovering anxiously, embarrassed at having to interrupt us.

You nodded and the solider quietly walked away towards the plane.
“Anira…baby…I love you,” you said one last time, as you pulled away from my embrace. “Take good care of yourself….stay safe…and I’ll call you as soon as I find a phone.”

I nodded, still too scared to say anything. I clamped my mouth shut. You leaned towards me and kissed my forehead. Then you walked away.

As you neared your plane, and turned back once more to look at me, I ran. I ran, I ran with sudden propulsion and flung myself in your arms again.

“Come back….promise…come back to me…” I implored.

“Promise” he muttered.

*
The instructions read two minutes for the results to appear. Two minutes. I placed the thin strip down on the counter and sat on the edge of the tub. I buried my head in my hands. How could this be? How could we be so careless? I tried to decrease my throbbing beats, taking slow deep breaths; I tried to concentrate on something, anything. Two minutes. I checked my watch and saw I had a minute and ten seconds left.

I never skipped a month. Never. That alone should have been a harbinger. But I was too naive. Oh, what will I do now?

I stood up, sat down, stood up again, and paced the tiny bathroom. I glanced at the strip to make sure it was still on the counter. I wish I could speak to someone. I wish I could speak to you. But you were stationed at Tikrit now. You rang consistently but oftentimes for three minutes or less. You sounded quite well. A bit agitated at the escalating violence, the desolation of your surroundings, the deteriorating conditions of the soldiers who sought your help; but you put up a good façade for me. You told me small snippets of your life there, what you ate, who you saw, in general, informing and assuring me that you were safe. Those brief calls did not allay my fears. However, I duly came to accept its presence. It is rational; I told myself, it is perfectly normal to have those fears. You told me so yourself.

One minute. I sat down again but my legs started shaking. Uncontrollably. What shall I do? What if..? No, I can’t be. I’m not ready. We aren’t ready. We had spoken about children once, when you were courting me, and we were trying to figure each other out. I was still in grad school. You came to our school to give a series of lectures on the modern affects of post-traumatic stress on the soldiers’ minds. You were the sole thing I took away from those lectures.

Forty seconds. What will you say? Will you be happy? Are you ready?

Thirty seconds. Am I ready?

Twenty five seconds. I think I’m ready. We had talked about this, and negotiated based on your age, and both our careers, that we could have two children. I wanted two girls.

Twenty seconds. I knew you wanted a son. A son with whom to play baseball and basketball, and other typical American games fathers played with their sons. You wanted a son to carry on your family’s military legacy.

Ten seconds. The phone started ringing. I glanced at my watch and knew it had to be you. You usually called around this time. I neared towards the strip. I had to receive your phone call.

Five seconds. Two pink lines appeared on the strip, growing pinkish by the seconds.

I crushed the strip in my hands and hurried to pick up your call.

*


You had kept your promise. You came back to me.

The descending plane smoothly graced upon the landing strip. As it neared its hangar, the cluster of subdued families moved towards our designated waiting spot. I recognized some faces, we quietly exchanged looks. Words failed us at this time.

I quietly followed the wives outside towards the hangar, panting slightly, carrying my enlarging body. Amma walked beside me, gently holding my arm. She was so concerned about me now. I heard her, last night, plead to Baba imploring him to convince me to go back with them to Bangladesh. But I couldn’t, I wouldn’t now. A few of the wives smiled at my expanding abdomen and whispered helpful hints to me. I nodded without hearing them. I do that now. Words have ceased to be of use to me. I just use them to speak to you when we are alone.

The air was thick with grief and disbelief. As the coffins draped with stars and stripes flags were gently lowered from the plane, I smiled. I was the lucky one, I told myself. I was the fortunate one among the rest.
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