At the end of October, the Village Voice ran an interesting article by Sharon Lerner examining feminist attitudes toward the war against Afghanistan. In hindsight some of the comments look downright silly, but women’s rights advocate Hibaaq Osman’s take on the war is downright chilling.
Lerner notes that last year Osman gave a speech at the United Nations in which she said that the only place in the world where military force might be justified would be to overthrow the Taliban. But with such a war actually underway, Osman had a change of hart. She told Lerner,
I said it, but I was just making a point. This predicament is a test for feminists. We have seen our worst nightmare — women being dehumanized and shot in public — and it makes us more radical. It makes us angry enough to entertain the idea of war. But do I support war? No. No. No. War is not OK under any circumstances. The whole thing simply breaks my heart.
Which, of course, is precisely what people who hang prostitutes in stadiums filled with thousands of people (as the Taliban did) want to hear.
Meanwhile, the article also quotes Susan Sontag who wrote a controversial New Yorker criticizing the war against Afghanistan. Sontag tells Lerner that, “I continue to wish with all my heart for the [Taliban] regime to be overthrown; I just don’t think the U.S. military can do it.” Apparently military analysis is not exactly Sontag’s forte.
Source:
What women want. Sharon Lerner, The Village Voice, October 31 – November 6, 2001.