Sunday 22 January 2017

The Women's Marches: Triumph & Tragedy




The hot topic on social media for the last 24 hours has been the women's marches against Trump that took place not just in the USA but around the world including London. Over two million women are said to have participated. The reason for this is clear President Trump has made some unpleasant and thoroughly misogynist remarks about women and even our own Prime Minister, Theresa May has said that this is unacceptable and will not accept such attitudes.

All well and good so far. But that really is the point it's just so far. I'm no fan of Donald Trump and would rather not have seen him elected as President of the United States.  It is right and proper that he is pulled up about his attitude to women, but....

The first thing I do when I switch on my computer is check my e-mails and amongst the few that arrived overnight was a petition from Change that they thought I might be interested in. Sometimes I'm not but in this case I was. It was a call to save the FGM Help Centre in Acton which has assisted over 1,000 women who have suffered from the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation. Illegal in this country but still happens. I've signed the petition and included a link at the end of this post so readers can do so as well.

The reason I mention this is because I am disturbed by the attitudes of Western Feminists and the influence of Islamist inspired women within the "women's movement".

Like all demonstrations there were odd signs from people who haven't though things through such as "Free Melenia", a reference to Mrs Trump. Free her from what exactly? Beauty, fame and fortune? Seems quite an independent woman to me who doesn't need freeing.

But I'll tell you who does.

Women across the Muslim world oppressed by a backwards misogynistic theology and culture. It's called Islam. Women are second class citizens under whichever version of Sharia Law a particular country decides to implement.

Their testimony in a court is worth half that of a man. Women lack inheritance rights let alone having to cover themselves up in case they inflame the passions of the pious men who supposedly cannot control their libido if a woman so much as shows a stray hair on her head.

And yet idiots like Linda Sansour, one of the organisers tweeted:

"You'll know when you're living under Sharia Law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest free. Sounds nice doesn't it"

As one of my friends on Facebook noted:

"..... this is a complete misunderstanding of Shari'a finance, which charges interest in a backdoor manner. Basically, the bank buys the item for you, you then redeem ownership of the same via payments, which include... err... effectively interest in the form of various, largely spurious, charges on your original sum... What is worse, the full sum repaid is often higher than Kufur bank rates."

Undeterred by all the subsequent criticism Sansour responded:

"Sharia Law has been misunderstood and pushed as some evil Muslim agenda."

Let's hope she justifies that to the women stoned to death for "adultery" or for murdered for daring to stand up to Muslim patriarchs. After all, the Koran implores men to "only" beat their women "lightly".

Let's get one thing straight. The only way to defend not just women's rights but all human rights is to defend and build a secular inclusive society where people are individually free to worship or not as they please without fear of retribution from religious bigots who cannot impose their so-called values on those of us that do not believe.

When will western feminists start protesting about the rights of women in the 56 or so Muslim countries around the world?

It seems "locker room talk" is just a soft target when the real battle is elsewhere.

Further reading: Women's march and the selectivity of anti-Trump feminism/

Save Acton FGM Centre: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-acton-fgm-community-clinic?recruiter=37858166&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

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