Middle East Report 230 Editorial

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MER 230 Table of Contents

Middle East Report 230 (Spring 2004)
Sexuality, Suppression and the State

Editorial

�An educated wife and mother is a better wife and mother. No husband is better off because she is chained by ignorance. No son is better off because his mother cannot read.� Students of Middle East history might guess that these are the words of Qasim Amin, the Egyptian lawyer whose writings at the turn of the twentieth century foreshadowed that common trope of Middle Eastern nationalism and state feminism linking partial women�s liberation to national liberation through the benefits of both to men. Perhaps L. Paul Bremer, the US viceroy in Iraq, received a briefing on Amin�s ideas before leaving Baghdad, several journalists in tow, for the shrine city of Karbala, where he spoke these words to a gathering at one of ten �centers for women�s rights� newly opened with funds from the US-British occupation authority.

More likely, Bremer�s visit was part of an early February public relations initiative by US officials intended to highlight the wonders invasion and occupation have worked for Iraqi women. In the week preceding the proconsular junket in Karbala, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao both made the trip to a similar women�s center in the southern town of Hilla. Quoting a woman who told him she saw no contradiction between her hijab and women�s rights, Wolfowitz wrote in the Washington Post: �In such words, we find the hope of a new Iraq.�

This latest public relations campaign, so reminiscent of First Lady Laura Bush�s speeches justifying the Bush administration�s first war in Afghanistan, evokes the impassioned expos�s of the �chattel� status of Muslim (and Eastern Christian) women penned by countless British and French colonial officials and American missionaries ministering to earlier generations of benighted natives. In the post-September 11 era, questions of women�s rights and gender politics have once again assumed a central place in the ambient chatter about the urgent necessity of democratization in the Arabo-Islamic world. Aside from the crass propaganda value of claims to have lifted the yoke of male dominance from the shoulders of Afghan and Iraqi women, the administration�s neo-conservatives may like to focus on women and gender because these issues fill an otherwise perplexing gap between their intellectual acceptance of �clash of civilizations� theory and their running political skirmish with State Department Arabists who insinuate that Arabs and Muslims prefer autocracy to �freedom.� The exigencies of the latter compel the administration continually to assert that the downtrodden peoples of the Middle East do not differ in the slightest from Slovaks, Bolivians and Texans in their visceral yearning for democracy. Yet the coherence of �clash of civilizations� theory requires the construction of an essential difference between Islam and the West. In to bridge the logical chasm walk the oppression of women and the illiberal attitudes toward gender equity in the Arabo-Islamic world, so palpably incongruous with the heavily female medical schools and the ubiquitous mini-skirts of the cosmopolitan West. According to Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris, who gave statistical flesh to this �sexual clash of civilizations� with data from the World Values Survey in the March-April 2003 issue of Foreign Policy, �the values separating the two cultures have much more to do with eros than demos.�

Any open attempt to deploy the eros-related results of the World Values Survey to justify US policies of regime change in the Arabo-Islamic world would certainly encounter difficulties. Inglehart and Norris, for instance, find 12 percent of respondents expressing tolerance for homosexuality in predominantly Muslim societies, as opposed to 53 percent who profess tolerance in the West. Presumably then, the constitutional amendment opposing gay marriage with which Bush�s handlers hope to club the Democratic nominee in the November election is being drafted in the culturally eastern wing of the White House. The survey finds similarly large gaps between the Muslim East and the West in levels of tolerance for divorce and abortion. This result obscures the endlessly bitter battles that rage within the US over the questionnaire�s litmus test for tolerance: �Abortion can always be justified, never be justified or something in between.� One of the survey questions under the rubric of gender equality asks participants if they �strongly disagree� with the statement that �on the whole, men make better political leaders than women do.� In the West, 82 percent strongly disagreed, compared with 55 percent who vehemently said no in Muslim societies. Yet Pakistan, the current object of Western fears of Islamic fundamentalism run amok, has 7 percent more women serving in its parliament than there are women in Congress. So-called Western values, by themselves, do not translate ipso facto into greater political participation for women�but, as per the logic of immutable difference posited by the �clash of civilizations,� the Bush administration does not necessarily believe it can implant them.

The gender assumptions grounding the Bush administration�s mission civilisatrice run more along the lines that Afghan and Iraqi women are a natural constituency for American-style liberalism who, as a matter of course, will see US soldiers as liberating them from their own fathers, brothers, husbands or sons. In the rhetoric of Paul Wolfowitz and Laura Bush, the simple act of removing totemic male oppressors�first, the Taliban, and then, the regime of Saddam Hussein�inspires in these women sufficient gratitude to overwhelm the terror many of them felt during the crashing thunder of US bombardment and the lasting trauma left by war. The longings of women for liberation are tied solely to symbolic self-expression. Hence, the alleged empowerment of Afghan women to rip away their burqas, or the construction of centers where Iraqi women can speak freely in the post-Saddam political order, trumps any concerns the women may have about wartime disruptions of systems of drinking water, medicine and transportation. Such things are not �women�s issues.� Neither was the doubling of the maternal mortality rate in Iraq from 1989-1998, largely as a result of US-led sanctions starting in 1990. Finally, as Afghan women and girls have learned, the paternal attentions of the United States are fleeting. Once US military intervention has erased the legal prohibition on their education, it matters little to the Bush administration (or the American media) if they cannot walk to school without being physically assaulted. Now that the Afghan constitution passed by a loya jirga on January 4 contains a provision mandating equality of the sexes under the law, it matters little if the law is not enforced.

The Bush administration echoed human rights groups in applauding another provision of the Afghan constitution setting aside 25 percent of the seats in the lower house of Parliament for women. Again, �sexual clash of civilizations� theory would imply that such stipulations are only necessary in societies with low tolerance for gender equality, but should this measure be implemented, Afghanistan�s legislature would be 4 percent more female than Pakistan�s, and 11 percent more female than Congress. Perhaps this irony, in addition to the instinctive Republican revulsion for quotas, helps to explain why Paul Bremer and Elaine Chao told women in Karbala and Hilla that the 40 percent set-aside rule in the draft Iraqi Fundamental Law is excessive. (Bremer has said he might countenance 20 percent.)

Underlying these disagreements over the size of quotas are two other unspoken assumptions of the discourse on the relation of gender politics to democratization, namely that putting token women in positions of power will improve the lives of ordinary women and that redressing the �gender deficit� necessarily renders the polity as a whole more democratic. Here the evidence from the Middle East is mixed. In mid-February, George W. Bush and his secretary of state took pains to praise Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the first Arab head of state to visit the White House since Bush proclaimed his grand Middle East democratization initiative, for his country�s progress in extending women�s rights. Indeed, the Tunisian personal status law is a model for the region, and Tunisia boasts the second-highest percentage of women deputies in parliament in the Arab world. Yet Tunisian elections, of both women and men, are rigged to maintain majorities for Ben Ali�s ruling party, casting doubt on the one-to-one correspondence between state feminism and more general democracy. First place in the Arab female representation derby belongs to Syria. Enough said.

In Iraq, the contradictions within the neo-conservative �forward strategy of freedom� for the Arabo-Islamic world are again exposed by the disagreements over how far the Fundamental Law�envisioned as the basis for the first post-Saddam Iraqi constitution�will go in enshrining protections for women�s rights. In some ways, the late December 2003 decree of the Iraqi Governing Council that repealed relatively progressive personal status legislation fits perfectly into the Bush administration�s preferred narrative of women�s liberation by American tank and bureaucrat. Decree 137, rammed through while the nominally liberal members of the council were courting their friends on the banks of the Potomac, would relegate such matters as divorce and inheritance rights to the judgment of the clerical authorities of Iraq�s diverse religious sects. In theory, this could allow a Sunni man to divorce his wife by simply saying aloud, �I divorce you,� three times in succession. Sunni women would not have the same prerogative. The measure cannot go into effect unless it is signed by Bremer, and so far, the proconsul has not signed it, allowing him to appear responsive to protests of Iraqi women that erupted when the document was made public. The embarrassing fact that Decree 137 is the brainchild of America�s Shi�i allies in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) is counter-balanced by the fact that America�s Kurdish allies emphatically reject the measure. Hence Wolfowitz can argue, against detractors who would have the administration put down the white man�s burden, that Arabs and Muslims want civil rights and democracy, �and we should do everything we can to help them.�

At the same time, Bremer has coyly refrained from pronouncing Decree 137 a dead letter, possibly to maintain leverage in ongoing closed-door debates with SCIRI and other religious parties over whether Islam will be �a source� or �the source� of Iraqi law in the proto-constitution. If it becomes �the source,� many Iraqi women fear, SCIRI and its supporters may write their own regressive personal status law after the US-British occupation authority dissolves on June 30. One can already hear Bush administration officials explaining away such a development with recourse to the language of the �clash of civilizations.�

MERIP OP-EDS
Sects and the City
New York Times Magazine
May 17, 2010
Moustafa Bayoumi

I had almost forgotten I’d sent in an application when the e-mail message appeared, like Mr. Big, out of nowhere. “Hi, Moustafa,” it began, as if we were old friends. “Thank you for e-mailing us regarding your interest in working on ‘Sex and the City 2.’ ”

No way. Last August, I half-jokingly answered an e-mail message posted on a list-serv requesting “lots of Middle Eastern men and women” as extras for the second “Sex and the City” movie (opening this week). Although I must have been one of the very few in the tri-state area to possess all the talents requested in the e-mail (legal to work, Middle Eastern and between 18 and 70 years old), I still never thought I would be selected. Two months later, I got the call. Full Story>>

A Web Smaller Than a Divide
The New York Times
May 14, 2010
Sinan Antoon

At first glance, there’s a clear need for expanding the Web beyond the Latin alphabet, including in the Arabic-speaking world. According to the Madar Research Group, about 56 million Arabs, or 17 percent of the Arab world, use the Internet, and those numbers are expected to grow 50 percent over the next three years. Many think that an Arabic-alphabet Web will bring millions online, helping to bridge the socio-economic divides that pervade the region. But such hopes are overblown. Full Story>>

A New Conversation Peace
The National (Abu Dhabi)
April 9, 2019
Chris Toensing

Iyad Allawi, the not terribly popular interim premier of post-Saddam Iraq, is in a position to form a government again because he won over the Sunni Arabs residing north and west of Baghdad in the March 7 elections. The vote, while it did not “shove political sectarianism in Iraq toward the grave,” as Allawi would have it, rekindled the hopes of many that “nationalist” sentiment has asserted itself over communal loyalty. Full Story>>

Arming Yemen Against Al-Qaeda
The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
January 21, 2010
Sheila Carapico

Americans got a crash course on Yemen for Christmas.

That’s because we’ve wanted to know more about the little-known, dirt-poor country in southwestern Arabia where the “underwear bomber” who tried to blow up a plane—bound for Detroit from Nigeria on Christmas Day—says he was trained. President Barack Obama says, correctly, that “large chunks” of Yemen “are not fully under government control.” So it seems to make sense to strengthen the Yemeni government, to get at “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” as the local gang of Islamist extremists is known. Full Story>>

Christmas is Bittersweet in Bethlehem
The Milford Daily News (Milford, MA)
December 24, 2009
George Rishmawi

Bethlehem, Palestine is a special place to celebrate Christmas. It’s home to the Church of the Nativity and the field where shepherds, tending their flocks by night, spotted the star heralding Jesus’ birth. But apart from the historical mystique, here in Bethlehem we celebrate Christmas much like Christians throughout the world. We hang lights from the rooftops. We erect a tree in Manger Square. We host a Christmas market. Our children carol and perform Christmas pageants. Christmas in Bethlehem, as elsewhere, is a time for family, peace, love and joy. Full Story>>

More Troops Won't Do It
The Herald (New Britain, CT)
November 13, 2009
Chris Toensing

For the past two months, President Barack Obama has been weighing Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request to send an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al-Qaeda. That same effort, according to Obama, entails ensuring that the Taliban can’t regain control of the country. But a military strategy alone won’t beat al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Achieving lasting stability in Afghanistan will require national political reconciliation, the establishment of a functioning, accountable political system, and a credible government. In this respect, the outcome of Afghanistan’s presidential election, marred by cheating, was a step in the wrong direction. Full story>>

Fort Hood Shootings: Again We Will Be Judged for Acts We Didn't Commit
The Guardian
November 6, 2009
Moustafa Bayoumi

So much is still unknown about the shooting at Fort Hood Army base and the motives of the alleged shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, but still I have that same queasy feeling in my stomach that I've had before: this will not be good for Muslims. Full Story>>

Western Sahara Poser for UN
Reuters (Africa Blog)
April 28, 2009
Jacob Mundy

Morocco serves as the backdrop for such Hollywood blockbusters as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Body of Lies. The country’s breathtaking landscapes and gritty urban neighbourhoods are the perfect setting for Hollywood’s imagination.

Unbeknown to most filmgoers, however, is that Morocco is embroiled in one of Africa’s oldest conflicts - the dispute over Western Sahara. This month the UN Security Council is expected to take up the dispute once more, providing US President Barack Obama with an opportunity to assert genuine leadership in resolving this conflict. But there’s no sign that the new administration is paying adequate attention. Full Story>>

Letters, He Gets Letters
Bitter Lemons International
March 26, 2009
Chris Toensing

Shortly before assuming office, President Barack Obama was handed a missive signed by such Washington luminaries as ex-national security advisers Zbigniew Brezezinski and Brent Scowcroft, urging him to “explore the possibility” of direct contact with Hamas. One month after he entered the White House, Obama received an epistle from Ahmad Yousef, a Gaza-based spokesman for the Islamist movement, making the same recommendation. “There can be no peace without Hamas,” Yousef told the New York Times when asked about the letter's contents. “We congratulated Mr. Obama on his presidency and reminded him that he should live up to his promise to bring real change to the region.”

There is no word, as yet, on how the foreign policy doyens' message was received, but Yousef's occasioned a huffy US rebuke of the UN Relief Works Agency, whose top official in Gaza, Karen Abu Zayd, passed the letter to Sen. John Kerry while he was visiting the devastated territory in mid-February. Even a single sealed envelope, it seems, creates the appearance that the Obama administration is breaking with the US vow, enunciated first under President George W. Bush, not to speak with Hamas until it agrees to renounce violence, abide by previous Palestinian agreements with Israel and recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Full Story>>

Elections Are Key to Darfur Crisis
The Montreal Gazette
March 7, 2009
Khalid Medani

It has been quite a week. For the first time, the international community indicted a sitting president of a sovereign state. Omar al-Bashir of Sudan stands accused by the International Criminal Court in The Hague of "crimes against humanity and war crimes" committed in the course of the Khartoum regime's brutal suppression of the revolt in the country's far western province of Darfur. Having indicted two other figures associated with the regime in 2007, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo began building a case against the man at the top, and on Wednesday, the court issued a warrant for Bashir's arrest. Full Story>>

Out of the Rubble
The National
January 23, 2009
Mouin Rabbani

Speaking to his people on January 18, hours after Hamas responded to Israel’s unilateral suspension of hostilities with a conditional ceasefire of its own, the deposed Palestinian Authority prime minister Ismail Haniyeh devoted several passages of his prepared text to the subject of Palestinian national reconciliation. For perhaps the first time since Hamas’s June 2007 seizure of power in the Gaza Strip, an Islamist leader broached the topic of healing the Palestinian divide without mentioning Mahmoud Abbas by name.

At a press conference the following day convened by Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the Martyr Izz al Din al Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, the movement went one step further. “The Resistance”, Abu Ubaida intoned, “is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Full Story>>

The Horrors of Israel's Peace
Al Ahram Weekly
January 22-28, 2009
Samera Esmeir

Three weeks after the war on Gaza, Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire but refused to terminate its so-called defensive operations. In response, Hamas declared a ceasefire for one week, until the withdrawal of Israeli troops has been completed. For many in the West, the ceasefire might seem like an occasion to celebrate, for the cessation of military hostilities on both sides will perhaps renew the peace process. But there are reasons to be critical of this ceasefire, since it continues the situation in which Israel acts unilaterally. What we are actually witnessing is a new phase of the catastrophe in Gaza. While the characteristics of this phase are not yet known, Israel's violence has become ever more evident. And perhaps this is why Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not mention the word "peace" once in the speech he gave to announce the ceasefire. The "peace process" might soon be revealed as the other side of the coin to war -- its continuation by other means -- that simultaneously feeds it. Full Story>>

A Battleground for the Foreseeable Future
Bitter Lemons International
September 11, 2008
Chris Toensing

Bob Woodward’s four books chronicling the wars of President George W. Bush are sensitive barometers of conventional wisdom in Washington. Whereas the first volume, published in 2002 at the height of the self-righteous nationalism gripping the capital after the September 11, 2001 attacks, hailed Bush’s self-confidence in acting to protect the homeland, the 2008 installment depicts the same man as cocksure and incurious. This much is not news. More educational are Woodward’s hints about the worldviews that will outlast this unpopular administration, embedded in the organs of the national security state. Full Story>>

Egypt Stifles Debate in the United States
Northwest Arkansas Times
August 27, 2008
Bayann Hamid

The Egyptian regime has once again succeeded in stifling freedom of speech, this time not in Egypt, but in the US. Earlier this month, an Egyptian court convicted a prominent Egyptian-American activist for his outspoken criticism of the regime’s poor human rights record in American public fora. The court accused Saad Eddin Ibrahim, of "tarnishing Egypt's image" abroad. The conviction referred primarily to writings he published in the foreign press; most notably among them an August 2007 op-ed in the Washington Post in which he criticized Egypt's human rights record and questioned the reasons behind US aid to Egypt. Full Story>>

Want to Fight Terrorism? Think Globally, Act Locally
Globe and Mail (Toronto),
August 4, 2008
Khalid Mustafa Medani

Militant Islam is under global scrutiny for clues to conditions that foster its rise, and to strategies for reversing that growth. But the key is not in Islamic doctrine, US foreign policy or formal ties to various nations, as many analysts have asserted. It lies at the community level, with clan and local leaders. Full Story>>

Iraq’s Kurds Have to Choose
Globe and Mail (Toronto)
July 30, 2008
Joost Hiltermann

Kurdish parties have become kingmakers in Baghdad , and they know it. As no federal government can work without them, they are pulling every available political lever to expand the territory and resources they control, trying to build the foundation of an independent Kurdish state. But even more than territory, they need security. If everyone acts quickly and wisely, that understanding could help resolve one of the Iraq war’s thorniest issues. Full Story>>

Exiting Iraq Is Easier Than They Say
The Nation (web-only)
July 16, 2008
Chris Toensing

The debate over the war in Iraq follows a yellowing script: The minute someone suggests that the US move to withdraw its troops, war supporters cry “Havoc!” True to form, when no less a figure than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated he wants a timeline for a US pullout, John McCain summoned the specter of dire consequences. “I’ve always said we’ll come home with honor and with victory and not through a set timetable,” McCain said. In his major foreign policy speech on July 15, Barack Obama affirmed his support for a withdrawal timetable, adding that the US must “get out as carefully as we were careless getting in.” Obama’s position is the correct one, but he, like many other war critics, has done too little to counter the refrain that withdrawal is simply “cutting and running,” a recipe for disaster. Full Story>>