Feminist Peace Network

May 18th, 2007

Democracy for Women (Not) in Iraq and Afghanistan

Madre’s Yifat Susskind reminds us not to forget the stoning death of Du’a Khalil Aswad in Iraq and points out that,

“The US also destroyed the Iraqi state, including much of the judicial system, leaving people more reliant on conservative tribal authorities to settle disputes and on unofficial “religious courts�? to mete out sentencing, including “honor killings.�? At the same time, however, while the US saw fit to violate international law by eradicating most of Iraq’s legal system, it maintained Article 130 of the penal code, which provides vastly reduced sentences for “honor killings�? (as little as six months, as opposed to life imprisonment, which is the minimum sentence for murder).[iii]

Although the US is obligated, as the occupying power, to protect Iraqis’ human rights, including the prevention and prosecution of “honor killing,�? it has not done so. Official negligence promotes “honor killing�? because perpetrators are confident that they will not be prosecuted.”

She goes on to explain that culture provides a context for understanding honor killings, but it is not in and of itself the reason that they occur,

“In fact, culture alone explains very little. Like all human behavior, “honor killing�? does have a cultural dimension, but like culture itself, “honor killing�? is shaped by social factors such as poverty and women’s status that change–and can be changed–in ways that can either help combat or promote “honor killing.�? For instance, poverty-inducing economic policies, such as the 2003 US decision to fire all public-sector workers in Iraq (40 percent of whom were women), have contributed to the rise in “honor killings.�? Increased poverty has made people more dependent on tribal structures for jobs, housing, and other scarce resources and compelled more women into polygamous, forced, and abusive marriages, where they are at greater risk of “honor killing.�?

Therefore, culture is a context, but not a cause or a useful explanation for violence, in Iraq or anywhere else. It makes much more sense to examine gender, a system of power relations whose number-one enforcement mechanism is the threat of violence against women. There is nothing “Muslim�? about that system, except that its Muslim proponents, like their Jewish, Christian, and Hindu counterparts, use religion to rationalize women’s subjugation. In Iraq, those championing “honor killing�? as a means of social control and moral policing are the ones that the Bush Administration has propelled to power.”

For more on what has happened to women in Iraq, see also Truthdig’s interview with Yanar Mohammed who puts it all in context with this comment, “(T)he myth of democracy has killed already half a million Iraqis…”

One ray of sunshine, women in Iraq have formed a new peace group, Balad al-Salam Bas lil Unf, which means Abode of Peace…No More Violence. The Gateway Pundit has a wonderful picture of women protesting in Iraq on May Day.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, widows struggle to survive. See this article as well.