Gloria Steinem this week provided an excellent example of the idiocy of much of contemporary feminism when she revealed that it is not so much whether or not women are spared from violence and oppression, but rather the key point is who gets to save women from violence and oppression.
Back in June 2000, Steinem lent her support to a “Statement Of Support For The
Declaration Of The Essential Rights Of Afghan Women” prepared by a Paris-based Afghan women’s group called NEGAR-Support of Women of Afghanistan. According to that statement, which Steinem and others signed,
On June 28, 2000, at the initiative of NEGAR-Support of Women of Afghanistan, a Paris-based Afghan women?s association, several hundred Afghan women from all segments of the Afghan nation, assembled in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to draft and promulgate a “Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women” (see elsewhere in this web site). With this document, the Afghan women affirm and demand for themselves the inalienable rights that had been assured for them by the Constitution of Afghanistan. The Afghan women reject the false assertions of the Taliban militias that these rights are in contradiction with the religion, culture and traditions of Afghan society and nation.
. . .
This statement in support of the Afghan women?s Declaration is part of an international campaign by NEGAR-Support of Women of Afghanistan with the goal of five million signatures to be presented to the United Nations by NEGAR and a delegation of Afghans and their world-wide women and men supporters.
Congress, the US Mission to the UN and other US policy-making entities must support:
1. The integration of this Declaration as a part of the process for a just, honorable and durable peace for the legitimate country of Afghanistan for eventual inclusion in the Constitution,
2. Pressure on Pakistan to end its military, political, and financial support which renders the Taliban militias possible,
3. The denial of recognition of the Taliban militias.History has demonstrated that supremacist and totalitarian regimes such as the Taliban militias maintain themselves in power only if the rest of the world remains silent.
This week, however, Steinem apparently changed her mind. This time around she was listed as a signer of a statement, “We won’t deny our consciences,” which was published in the British newspaper The Guardian. That statement said, among other things, that,
The signers of this statement call on the people of the US to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world.
We believe that peoples and nations have the right to determine their own destiny, free from military coercion by great powers.. . .
We believe that people of conscience must take responsibility for what their own governments do – we must first of all oppose the injustice that is done in our own name. Thus we call on all Americans to resist the war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration. It is unjust, immoral, and illegitimate. We choose to make common cause with the people of the world.
. . .
In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime.
. . .
President Bush has declared: “You’re either with us or against us.” Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say not in our name. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare. We extend a hand to those around the world suffering from these policies; we will show our solidarity in word and deed.
Apparently after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Taliban were no longer religious totalitarianism, but rather a brave movement standing up to U.S. coercion. Steinem was apparently prepared to sign any number of declarations against the Taliban, but how dare those patriarchal forces in the White House actually get rid of the Taliban without clearing it with Steinem first? (And presumably, women in Iraq
To paraphrase a famous Steinem-ism, women in Afghanistan needed Steinem like a fish needs a bicycle.
Note that in addition to Steinem, Eve Ensler, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephanie Coontz, Starhawk, and Alice Walker also added their support to giving the Taliban a free hand in Afghanistan “free from military coercion by great powers.”
Sources:
We won’t deny our consciences. The Guardian, June 14, 2002.
Statement Of Support For The
Declaration Of The Essential Rights Of Afghan Women. June 28, 2000.