Identify your main enemies first
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Ameer Hamza
It's curious that men like Amini can get away with propagating the hate-culture of 'Jahiliya' - the age of ignorance - even while claiming to be believers in Islam. Do he and his kind not understand the essence of Surah IV, Verse 1 'O Mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and towards the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a Watcher over you.' Translation by Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall, Mentor Books 1953) The Quran reminds the faithful over and over again that men and women are of the same human status. But who would convince these, clearly mentally challenged, and misogynistic lot that women are 100 per cent human and equal? On the eve of the 100th International Women's Day in March, a discussion meeting of some of the foremost gender-sensitive organisations in Bangladesh, made no mistake in identifying religion as well as, what they called, 'market-based fundamentalisms,' as the main enemies obstructing the true emancipation of women. Indeed, there is an entrenched patriarchalcapitalist construct that keeps women shackled. If this cannot be dismantled and replaced with a more wholesome and humane socio-political and economic order that can uplift all - children, women and men - human freedom in the real sense is bound to remain as elusive as a 'Sonar Horin'. Directly and indirectly, women's weal is inextricably linked to all other facets of humanity, and all sections of society must be made to understand and appreciate this profound truth. The discussants were particularly critical of the prevailing 'political religion' which seeks to keep women in cages using various man-made strictures, stigmas and prejudices for their psychological subordination. Reactionaries resent women who stand up for their rights [women's rights are human rights] equating them with 'Western' feminism and 'Godless' socialism, and hence with 'trouble'. They are faulted with disrupting the status quo, the family, and even propagating atheism! So the movement to establish gender justice has a long way to go. It must recognise this difficult situation and go about the job more sensitively, if the movement is to bear wholesome fruits - real progress for women, and children and men as well. Apart from these rigid societal attitudes, the other obstacle holding back women from true progress is the wholesale commercialisation of life itself by the so-called free market. It does worse harm with its cunning money-making methods which, despite decades of feminist protests, still manage to reduce women into mere products and brands that consume or are consumed by the great 'conveyor-belt culture' all around. Decades of passionate work has given the feminist movement a better- worded Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain, 2000, the Domestic Violence Bill, 2010, countless empowerment projects, and relentless activities in the hope of realising the dream of a more humane society, where caring and sharing gender relationships become the norm. But all these achievements have had little impact on society. It is evident in the most horrific violence, including sexual crimes against women and children, taking on almost epidemic proportions these days, with very little justice being served, if at all. However, Bangladesh, in the latest HDI (Human Development Index), scored 116 out of 138 countries on the Gender Inequality Index. This 'loss in human development' is said to be 'due to inequality between male and female achievements' on account of reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity. Bangladesh's activists, struggling for a more just society and humane gender equations, certainly have a lot more sensitising to do to bridge the gap - cutting across all sections of the population, from the ruling classes down to the grassroots - not to forget the Aminis and their disciples, who are obviously taught a pathological interpretation of Quranic teachings. They can then be used like a herd, by assorted puppeteers from hither and yon! E-mail : nyew@bol-online.com
It's curious that men like Amini can get away with propagating the hate-culture of 'Jahiliya' - the age of ignorance - even while claiming to be believers in Islam. Do he and his kind not understand the essence of Surah IV, Verse 1 'O Mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and towards the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a Watcher over you.' Translation by Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall, Mentor Books 1953) The Quran reminds the faithful over and over again that men and women are of the same human status. But who would convince these, clearly mentally challenged, and misogynistic lot that women are 100 per cent human and equal? On the eve of the 100th International Women's Day in March, a discussion meeting of some of the foremost gender-sensitive organisations in Bangladesh, made no mistake in identifying religion as well as, what they called, 'market-based fundamentalisms,' as the main enemies obstructing the true emancipation of women. Indeed, there is an entrenched patriarchalcapitalist construct that keeps women shackled. If this cannot be dismantled and replaced with a more wholesome and humane socio-political and economic order that can uplift all - children, women and men - human freedom in the real sense is bound to remain as elusive as a 'Sonar Horin'. Directly and indirectly, women's weal is inextricably linked to all other facets of humanity, and all sections of society must be made to understand and appreciate this profound truth. The discussants were particularly critical of the prevailing 'political religion' which seeks to keep women in cages using various man-made strictures, stigmas and prejudices for their psychological subordination. Reactionaries resent women who stand up for their rights [women's rights are human rights] equating them with 'Western' feminism and 'Godless' socialism, and hence with 'trouble'. They are faulted with disrupting the status quo, the family, and even propagating atheism! So the movement to establish gender justice has a long way to go. It must recognise this difficult situation and go about the job more sensitively, if the movement is to bear wholesome fruits - real progress for women, and children and men as well. Apart from these rigid societal attitudes, the other obstacle holding back women from true progress is the wholesale commercialisation of life itself by the so-called free market. It does worse harm with its cunning money-making methods which, despite decades of feminist protests, still manage to reduce women into mere products and brands that consume or are consumed by the great 'conveyor-belt culture' all around. Decades of passionate work has given the feminist movement a better- worded Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain, 2000, the Domestic Violence Bill, 2010, countless empowerment projects, and relentless activities in the hope of realising the dream of a more humane society, where caring and sharing gender relationships become the norm. But all these achievements have had little impact on society. It is evident in the most horrific violence, including sexual crimes against women and children, taking on almost epidemic proportions these days, with very little justice being served, if at all. However, Bangladesh, in the latest HDI (Human Development Index), scored 116 out of 138 countries on the Gender Inequality Index. This 'loss in human development' is said to be 'due to inequality between male and female achievements' on account of reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity. Bangladesh's activists, struggling for a more just society and humane gender equations, certainly have a lot more sensitising to do to bridge the gap - cutting across all sections of the population, from the ruling classes down to the grassroots - not to forget the Aminis and their disciples, who are obviously taught a pathological interpretation of Quranic teachings. They can then be used like a herd, by assorted puppeteers from hither and yon! E-mail : nyew@bol-online.com