Bahrain: Humanity lost among sectarian divide.

On Facebook, a pic of a man on fire was displayed with the caption that he was a Shiia that caught himself alight while setting some tires on fire. The comments under it were a litany of disgusting and very telling opinions about how Sunnis and Shiia see each other during these days of blood shed. Most of the comments were along the lines of  he deserved what he got for being a protester/terrorist despite the fact that he was dying a most horrible death. My reply was this:

This man may have been "the enemy" or a Shiia before he set himself on fire and thus might possibly warrant every mean spirited comment left here, but the moment he set himself on fire is the moment all of that hatred should have been dropped and the humanity of this man allowed to shine through. At the end of the day Sunnis and Shiia must see each other as first human beings, then Arabs, then Bahrainis, and lastly (if you must) as Sunni and Shiia before any thought of peace can come to Bahrain. If a man on fire dying a horrible death cannot let you drop the hatred even for a moment and have a second of empathy for him then where is the future of Bahrain headed? Not towards peace that is for sure because each side sees the other as less than human...even during the last moments of an agonizing death. There is no peace to be had in that depth of hatred. 

Jimmy Carter...a voice of reason

In my search for some information on another topic I came across this by Jimmy Carter regarding men using religious speak to subjugate and oppress women...then declare that God orders it to be so. Its an interesting read and I advise others to give it a look.


"This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. It is widespread. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths."


He speaks from a Christian perspective but of course you can insert any religion, including Islam, into the space and have the same result.


"Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries. The male interpretations of religious texts and the way they interact with, and reinforce, traditional practices justify some of the most pervasive, persistent, flagrant and damaging examples of human rights abuses."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/12/jimmy-carter-womens-rights-equality


In case anyone hasnt figured it out yet...I havent a clue how to make a link...tried tried and tried again...no luck. I apologize for my ineptitude in all things bloggy.

Gotta Love This Post!!

I read quite an eclectic list of blogs and I have added and deleted as my interests are sparked or declined...but one blog has stayed on my list since I discovered it last year. She generally writes for POC and the crimes and racism that are enacted against them everyday...but writing about women in general is her main subject. She continuously amazes me with her insights and sharp tongue when it comes to "outing privilege" against whites in general and males specifically around the world.

Anyhow...this is her latest piece...on a subject near and dear to my heart (or maybe a bit lower down)...I would highly recommend all readers to check her out...shes got something to say and says it beautifully.

WOMANIST MUSINGS-by Renee

http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/04/of-course-something-is-wrong-with-your.html

Jesus loves you....but Christians...thats something else entirely.

I realized Im deeply entrenched in Christian country in this short time Ive been in Texas...Ive been here before but never really paid attention because I was here visiting and didnt need to worry about the long run...the future so to speak. However...recently two things brought it to my attention just how Christian it is here...and its got me bent out of shape a bit.

Now I generally dont bother myself too much with what Christians think about Islam...most of the arguing I do concerning Islam is with other Muslims on whose thoughts I dont always agree with. I figure I had enough to keep me busy just trying to figure out a way for all Muslims to basically see eye to eye and agree on things that really concern us as Muslims...then to worry what Christians may or may not be getting up to for or against us. I guess that was an easy thing to do...ignore Christians...while I was living in a predominately Muslim country. Now that the tides have turned and Im surrounded by Christians...the not so important issue has suddenly come right up into my face...and Im bent out of shape as I said.

Yesterday my daughter came home from school with two little booklets...like little stories in cartoon form. One was is basically about how all Muslims are going to burn in the fire because they follow an insane prophet that worshipped the moon and turned everyone away from Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savoir. The story showed how a typically irate mullah dude was praying and a Christian man and his son were observing him...the Christian man pointed out that the Muslim man was worshipping a false god and would expect Hell as his reward. The mullah guy over heard this comment and screamed the typical words of Jihad and "I will kill you...Islam is peaceful" etc at the poor Christian and his son. The Christian was calm and patient and went on to show the mullah the error of his ways and to relate the "true" story of Prophet Mohammed (sex fiend, insane, prone to extreme violence etc) to the unknowing and blindly lead mullah. Mullah guy was quickly convinced of the error of his ways and denounced Islam and slandered Prophet Mohammed and accepted Jesus as his savoir...and the world was right again. Another soul saved by the loving Christian heart.

The other story was about how all Muslims are terrorist wannabes and Christians particularly and the world in general need to see the coming disaster that is described as Muslims taking over the free world and forcing all of humanity to become either Muslims by force or slaves to Muslims. It described how Muslims that followed the doctrines of violence and blew up shit and killed people were in fact the "real Muslims" and those Muslims that lead peaceful lives were considered non practicing Muslims...or weak Muslims. It basically described Muslims in America similar to cockroaches...if you dont get rid of them when you first see them...it will be impossible later on...and you will be over run with them.

I asked my daughter who gave them to her and did that person know she was a Muslim...she said a girl at school and..yes..pretty much everyone knew she was a Muslim...so she assumed the girl did too. But she also noted that she didnt really see anyone else with those two booklets...but didnt really look for them either...hmmm.

Also, last night I went to her school for teacher parent meetings and got to look around the school as well. While in the library I made it a point to check out the religous section. I was not really surprised to note that from the 15 or so books on Islam...12 of them were what I would consider in the same vein as the cartoon books. 4 of them were about Jihad. Of the 3 that might be considered middle of the road or more accurate in describing Islam etc...2 were from Karen Armstrong and one was from an author whose name I cant remember but know about him.

So here is my question to any would be Christians lurking on my blog...WTF! I realize freedom of speech and all that...but seriously...WTF! Where is the loving Christian heart that wants all children of God to go to heaven...where is brotherly/sisterly love that is the foundation of Christian spirit? Sounds like a bunch of shit when I read such slanderous made up BS like that. And handing it out to kids...how sweet of you to get that hate going at such a tender age.

But then I sit back and think about all the shit Ive read from Muslims going on about Christians in much the same light...all though I must declare I have never read or heard of a Muslim saying even a single bad word against Prophet Jesus...so Muslims are one jump ahead Christians in one small way...but what it all boils down to basically is...we hate you cause you dont believe like us...and you hate us cause we dont believe like you...and we raise our kids pretty much along those lines as well.

So this tells me one thing with absolute certainty..humanity isnt advancing one step further in the "cant we all just get along" race as long as we are so hell bent on making the "other" into monsters and hell dwellers. Just what God was going for when He started this whole "I will create humans to worship me"...the only things human beings seem to really worship is the idea that they and they alone have the right answer...therefore everyone else is... by default...wrong.

Im starting to view religion along the same lines as I do guns. A gun is just an object...a thing...it only becomes dangerous in the hands of something that can pull the trigger. Therefore...religions are in and of themselves harmless...but in the hands of trigger happy "religous folk" they are down right dangerous.

Welcome to Texas...as long as your Christian...does that about sum it up?

Why?...Because its the law!

My youngest daughter does not have a passport at the ripe old age of 14. Previously she was on her fathers passport as a baby but when he had his renewed...she was old enough to have her own. Up until now I never had need to make her one but now the need has arrived and what I thought was going to be a fairly straight forward transaction has instead tuned into headache of brain squeezing proportions.

It would seem that her father is the only one allowed by law to make one for her...why? you might ask...as I did several times...well, apprently nobody knows exactly why...they just know its the law. Now why would there be a law...or even a need for a law..in which the father of a child is the only one that can make a passport for that child? What if there is no father...he died or walked off the face of the earth? Or maybe even abducted by aliens...then what? The child doesnt get a passport? Does the legal authority to make a passport for that child now fall on the shoulders of any uncles or brothers that child may have? How exactly does this work I want to know?

But really, my main concern...the one that is buzzing around my head like an angry bee trying to find its way out...is, why isnt the mother of a child legally allowed to make a passport for her child? What exactly is the point of being the mother of a child if you have no legal rights to do anything on behalf of your child? I find this absurd and extremely gender biased law a slap in the face of mothers of Bahraini children everywhere...Im surprised they dont protest and get pissed off about it like I am. What are they if not a legal guardian of their child until he or she reaches maturity...and as a legal guardian you have the right to do anything that is needed or required for your child. Does the presence of a father automatically negate the parental rights and legal authority of a mother over her children? Must she sit meekly by while all legal authority of her child is taken from her and given to someone else...possibly someone that doesnt deserve nor should have legal authority over that child?

My personal stake in this is that my childs father(such as he is) is no longer in the picture of our family. He has given up parental rights by force...not choice....when he decided his daughters were sexual playthings to use in whatever fashion excited him most. So, believe me when I clearly state that I want nothing to do with him nor do I want anything from him....and yet according to the law in Bahrain I must pick up the phone and call that animal and ask him to make a passport for his daughter...because even though he is scum and has no right to even be free walking the streets...he has more authority in the eyes of the law than I do over my child when it comes to making legal documents. Could someone explain this conundrum to me cause it just aint fitting into my head all proper and sensible like?

Now what should I do...or any mother for that matter...that had a less then happy separation and divorce from her husband...the result being much animosity and whispered prayers of a fire inspired punishment on the Day of Judgement for that "father" that treated his child/children in such a heinous manner...when I approach him and am forced to ask him for "a favour" such as making a passport for "our" daughter...what should I do if he just laughs in my face and tells me to forget it? What recourse do I have in this situation...will the Ministry of Passports see past the redtape and let me apply on her behalf anyway...or will they insist I make nice with dear daddy and get him to agree to do it for her? Do they even consider for a moment the hardships they inflict on women/mothers in this country by making such gender biased laws that officially give all rights to men/fathers...and almost no rights to women/mothers?

And what I really want to know is...why the hell arent Bahraini mothers or mothers of Bahraini children up in arms about this? Protesting outside some Ministry or another...taking time out on Fridays to go hold up a sign and chant slogans about reducing the role of mothers to housemaids and sexual slaves to husbands with no rights over their own children? It would seem Bahrain is not that much different to Saudi in a lot of respects...and with the antics of these Court of Jesters....er MP's....I fear we will be even more like Saudi before too long...and I wonder if Bahrainis themselves will sit quietly by while that happens...silence means acceptance. If you accept your rights being taken away...then you have no "right" to complain about it later...right?

Well...my solution is easy really....bypass the idiotic laws of this patriarchal govt that views women as mere child bearers with no authority over those children...and skip on down to the US Embassy and make her an American passport...a passport that will have more value for her in the future...than the Bahraini passport that is currently being handed out to every foreigner that steps foot on these sands...but not to Bahraini children themselves...if they dont have a father to sign on the dotted line...sigh!

Since When Does Progress Equal Regression?

In todays GDN there is an article from an expert at the UN, Rola Dashti, in which its stated that Arabs are slipping backwards in major areas...even while they continue to progress in other areas.

"THE sick are getting sicker, the literate are becoming illiterate and the middle class is getting poorer, as much of the Arab world slips backwards, says a UN expert."
Massive progress in improving health and education and combating poverty and gender discrimination is being undone, says UN Development Programme advisory panel member Rola Dashti.

I find this truly alarming as its generally believed that countries continue to advance once they "become enlightened" about certain necessitiies regarding what a country and its citizens need to progress. The illiteracy comment is truly scary...an illiterate nation are just sheep without any input either politically or, in most cases, economically...other than as menial labour.....which, of course, can then be traced to unemployment....and the circle continues.

What I dont understand is how can you start going backward once you have gained that forward momentum? Something truly cataclysmic must occur to stop the wheels of progress from turning...so we must ask ourselves, what has occurred in the Arab world that might be the cause of regression in literacy rates, equality, employment....I mean, the skylines of Arab countries are continually being changed by the addition of new skyscrapers over night almost....private schools are popping up all over the landscape...more women are joining the work force then ever before...so what the hell is causing this regression....and more importanly, why are the Arabs letting it happen? Maybe "letting" is to g eneric a word....why are they not doing more to stop it from happening?

I can only surmise that those skyscapers are being filled with nonarabs who have all the cushy jobs...thus "taking" money and jobs away from the Arabs...which would indicate that the private schools are full of the children of those nonarabs...and maybe not so many Arabs....these children are being forced to learn in govt schools that seriously need to update the education system if they want their children to be able to compete in the scholastic arena...right now its a shame what passes for govt school learning in many Arab countries. Are Arab children growing up with a less than adequate education...are they "learning" all the wrong stuff that wont give them the tools they need to advance themselves and their nations....are they even aware that they are missing out on what should be theirs by right...the best education the govt can afford...and Im pretty damn sure most of these govts could afford a hell of a lot more towards education then currently offered. They are only cheating themselves and their children...and the future of their countries by holding back on the one thing that separates a prosperous people and country from a "regressed" or "backward" one.

I might also point out that the surge in influence of the extreme type Muslims into the landscape may have something to do with it...if they had their way all forms of entertainment...all forms of mixing of sexes...all forms of enjoyment would cease to exist in the Arab/Muslim world...everything becomes haram or forbidden....or even bida/innovated....which leaves a once vibrant and advancing country....listless and unable to garner the energy it takes to give a damn about what happens tomorrow. They are unhappy and feeling powerless with their govts...their economy...their future for their children...and now even the few sources of entertainment open to them are deemed haram...so why fight it....just sit back...watch tv and let someone else worry about it....while all the progress you once made...slips slowly away...

I hope this report from the UN was rather inflated and things are not as bad as those statistics would imply...the Arabs have enough work to do without having to redo work that was hard enough the first time around.

Its Not What You Do...Its Who Your With

Opening the newspaper over here in the Arab world is a constant struggle for self control...the crime that occurs is much the same sort of crime that occurs in every corner of the world so thats nothing too shocking...all though being "Islamic" countries seems to suggest crime should be an exception and not the norm. So..no, reading about crime in the paper is not what puts my self control to the test...its the punishments the Sharia Courts mete out to those that have committed crime. There seems to be no ryhme or reason for sentences....no base from which each crime has a set punishment...but depending on circumstance it can more or less....but there should be a punishment that fits the crime...the worse the crime....the more punishment given. Something along those lines.

I will mention sex crimes here because thats the one area that seems to be completely out of whack when it comes to punishing the criminal. Several days ago a brother-in-law raped his 13 year old sister-in-law...he got 5 years. A man raped a 5 year old boy...he got 5 years reduced to 1 year. I see sodomy reported which can range from 1 to 3 years....molesting kids in the street maybe a few months to a year or two...the shock goes on with each new item reported.

However, seeing the paper recently added a whole new level of disgust to the whole "Sharia Law Charade"...it seems a Saudi girl went out with who I assume was her boyfriend...or at least a boy she knew. During the evening she was subsequently raped by a gang of men. So the punishment meted out by the Saudi Sharia courts was...jail terms for the rapists and lashes for the victim!! The saudi authorities cite that she was in the company of a nonmahrem and thats what she got punished for...

So, lets see....according to the judge who sat on this case...being with a nonmahrem warrants a more severe punishment then raping someone...? Is this for real? Now Ive never been lashed before, all though my father could swing a mighty mean belt from time to time...but I know for sure languishing in jail is a vacation to suffering lashes....and, get this, she gets 200 of them!! Originally she was meant to get 89 I believe but when her lawyer protested the punishment citing that she had been punished all ready...and he issued a statement to the newspaper...the judge decided she deserved more punishment for trying to use the media to her advantage. What the hell was her advantage....rape by a gange of men, impending punishment by lashing for that rape...and of course the always present slander and destruction of her reputation now....now she will not be known as the girl that got raped....she will be known as the girl that "had sex" with 5 or 6 men.

Now whether or not this girl could be deemed to have had reason for punishment is one thing....but what about the men that raped her...they had immoral sex....adultery, fornication...whatever you want to call it they had sex with a female they werent married to...so why no lashes for them? I have no idea if any of them were married but if so then according to "Sharia Law" they should be stoned...at least thats what happens to females living in Muslim countries today all over the Middle East have to face....I cant remember the last time I heard of a Muslim man being stoned for sex outside of marriage....all those women must have been having unmarried sex by themselves....hmmm?

So, if we just glance through any Arab newspaper from any country today we would come to the conclusion, quite rightly, that the so called Sharia Law that these so called Sharia Courts are basing judgments on is full of shit...excuse my french...or maybe the law is there but the judges themselves dont seem to care or understand the truly horrible crimes that sexual abuse and rape are...why else such light sentences...why else more punishment for the victim and not that much for the criminal...why else call it Sharia Law which indicates it has some sort of Quranic or Islamic backing...when in fact its Mans Law...which is made by man, for man and for no other gender or group such as women or children. This farce that is the Sharia Court system must be stopped and changed if the human rights abuse that is occurring in every single "Islamic" country today is going to even come close to following Gods Law...right now they arent even reading from the same book....much less practicing the same religion...and thats a damn shame.