...In the "No Shit, Sherlock,"

...In the "No Shit, Sherlock," category.
 

NAIROBI, Kenya - Sudanese Arab militiamen rape women
and girls as young as eight in the violent campaign intended to hurt,
humiliate and drive out black Africans from the troubled region of
Darfur, a human rights organization said Monday.  The Sudanese
Janjaweed Arab militiamen sometimes torture and break limbs of women to
prevent them from escaping rape, abductions and sexual slavery, Amnesty
International said in the report titled: "Sudan, Rape as a weapon of
war in Darfur." Thousands have been killed and more than a million
black Africans have fled their homes in the face of attacks by the
government-backed Arab militiamen known as Janjaweed, or "horsemen" in
the local dialect. The Janjaweed "are happy when they rape. They sing
when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can
do with us how they wish," a 37-year-old victim, identified only as A.,
says in the report. Sudan on Saturday ordered that committees of women
judges, police officers and legal consultants investigate rape
accusations and help victims through criminal cases in the Iraq (news - web sites)-sized
Darfur region. The Arab militiamen routinely kill black African men in
the western region and target women and girls for sexual violence,
Amnesty International said, citing hundreds of interviews human rights
workers conducted in camps sheltering people who fled the atrocities in
Darfur. "Women and girls are being attacked, not only to dehumanize the
women themselves but also to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear
and displace women and to persecute the community to which they
belong," the London-based group said. "In many cases the Janjaweed have
raped women in public, in the open air, in front of their husbands,
relatives or the wider community," the group said. "The suffering and
abuse endured by these women goes far beyond the actual rape ...
survivors now face a lifetime of stigma and marginalisation from their
own families and communities."

What's not so odd about this is that I can picture some
frizzy-haired, knit-wearing woman in the Amnesty International
office in London brimming with outrage over this and demanding that
they do something!
  What, exactly, can Amnesty International do about it,
other than open their mouths? Moreover, do they think the
government of Sudan will actually do anything about prosecuting
these cases, other than making a good show of pretending to care? 
Even if you believe Sudan is operating with the best of
intentions,  will appointing female judges and police
officers to investigate do anything in the massive scheme of
things?  Will it make warfaring men think twice
before forcing themselves on an innocent woman?  Does Amnesty
International think it can actually stop this sort of thing from
happening again with their legalistic maneuvers, particularly in Darfur
or any other place like it, where the men who are waging war are
gallivanting about on horses?  Does Amnesty International actually
think that they can prevent men who probably can't read or write, or
even drive a car from using rape as a weapon when they can't comprehend
the methods meant to deter them from such an act?  
  No, I don't think they can.  I hate to underestimate
anyone's intelligence, but facts are facts: Western Sudan is not
London.  Illiteracy, while low for a nation of Sudan's stature, is still prevalent.
If these men have ever seen a magistrate or a judge in their lifetimes,
I would be very much surprised.   I would be even more
surprised if they could read the charges against them, or even be
afraid of the ramifications of such a case.   Rape has been the
primo weapon in war for millenia.  This isn't anything new in the
scheme of things.  That little tidbit of historical relevancy
doesn't make the act any less abhorrent, but it's nothing new. 
And it's a particularly potent weapon in an Islamic society, because
the shame of the act is attached to the victim, not the
perpetrator.  But do I see Amnesty International harping on about
the virulent evils of the treatment of Islamic women?  Do they
lash out at Islam in general?    No.  Here's what they call for: 
 

All parties to the conflict to stop and publicly condemn the use of rape as a weapon of war and to put adequate mechanisms in place to ensure the protection of civilians.

The Janjawid militia to be disarmed and disbanded and placed in a position where they may no longer attack the civilian population.

An international Commission of Inquiry to be established immediately to examine evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law including rape, as well as allegations of genocide. The perpetrators of attacks on civilians, including sexual violence against women, to be brought to justice in trials that meet international standards of fairness. The safety of victims and witnesses must be protected.

The problem is Islam, not a lack of law.  One could easily say there's an overabundance of law and order in Darfur, in the form of Shari'a.  International Commission of Inquiries aren't going to solve the problem, which is that there is no centralized organization within Islam which dictates how Islamic Law is to be meted out.  There is no central boss-man in Islam, like in Catholicism.  Yet there are thousands, if not millions, of local councils and imams who are more than willing to incorrectly interprete the Koran and the resultant laws.  Imams and local councils who are more than willing to look the other way if a husband, father or a brother decides they can't live with the shame of a wife, daughter or sister who has been raped and then does something about it.   It's no small wonder that the Janjaweed militias have used rape as a weapon: it's a powerful tool to get people to flee, and there will be little or no religious recourse to what they are doing.  I would even be so willing to say that they will be praised by their local religious leaders.   Islam places men above women.  Rapists above the raped. Shari'a has no pity and it takes no prisoners, yet the recipients are judged subjectively, and in that there is no fairness of the sort Amnesty International thinks will be doled out by asking the government of Sudan to appoint people who are undoubtedly Muslims (if they have jobs in Sudan, they most likely are) to investigate simply because they think they'll get a fair shake from someone of the same faith. It's ludicrous in the extreme.     I'm not one of those people who thinks Islam is evil.  I think it simply a semi-organized religion.  Nothing more, nothing less.  The problem with Islam is in the interpretation of its Holy Book.  This, to my mind, is no different than fundamentalists who declare homosexuality is evil because it's written in the Bible.  My problem is with people who are so lacking in faith, no matter what their religion, that they choose not to listen to their hearts about God's message, but instead put their faith in a book written by men about what God has said.  This is the problem with fundamentalists of all sorts.  They use the book as the path---not as a map.  And when that book is interpreted incorrectly by people who are one step up from illiteracy, well, then we have a problem, because then it becomes subjective; the message is converted into whatever form will bring about the best result for their petty ends.   The interpretation of Islam is the problem; not the solution, and I fail to see where anyone would think that this is something that should be respected as a valid culture, particularly when it comes to the treatment of women.  Otherwise, in our efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, all we're curing is the symptom, not the disease.

What's the solution, then?  Well, it's rather simple: there will be no equality for women in Islam until said women stop taking this shit.  I hate to be frank about it, but that's really what it comes down to, isn't it?  They have to stop subjecting themselves to this form of justice.  They must stand up, or barring that they must run.  They must put themselves first, because it's patently obvious that the minute they are violated, no one will do it for them, if they bothered in the first place.   I have an inordinate amount of pity for Islamic Women who live in rough places, like Darfur, because I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. But there is a point where you simply have to say, are you going to keep following a culture which promotes your own denigration, or are you going to demand better, no matter what the costs?    Particularly when the costs aren't more expensive than what you're paying now? 

Posted by Kathy at July 1, 2004 01:18 PM | TrackBack