Ah, the Religion of Peace...

[gae]

Afghans Throw Stones at Women Protesting Rape in Marriage Law

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

April 15: Afghan Shiite counter protesters shout slogans in Kabul, Afghanistan.

KABUL ? A group of some 1,000 Afghans swarmed a demonstration of 300 women protesting against a new conservative marriage law on Wednesday. The women were pelted with small stones as police struggled to keep the two groups apart.

The law, passed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse ? a clause that critics say legalizes marital rape. It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home alone.

Women's rights activists scheduled a protest Wednesday attended by mostly young women. But the group was swamped by counter-protesters ? both men and women ? who shouted down the women's chants.

Some picked up gravel and stones and threw them at the women, while others shouted "Death to the slaves of the Christians!" Female police held hands around the group to create a protective barrier.

The government of President Hamid Karzai has said the Shiite family law is being reviewed by the Justice Department and will not be implemented in its current form. Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labeled it "abhorrent."

Though the law would apply only to the country's Shiites ? 10 to 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people ? it has sparked an uproar by activists who say it marks a return to Taliban-style oppression. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home without a male relative.

Shiite backers of the law say that foreigners are meddling in private Afghan affairs, and Wednesday's demonstrations brought some of the emotions surrounding the debate over the law to the surface.

"You are a dog! You are not a Shiite woman!" one man shouted to a young woman in a headscarf holding aloft a banner that said "We don't want Taliban law." The woman did not shout back at the man, but told him: "This is my land and my people."

Women protesting the law said many of their supporters had been blocked by men who refused to let them join the protest. Those who did make it shouted repeatedly that they were defending human rights by defending women's rights and that the law does not reflect the views of the Shiite community.

Fourteen-year-old Masuma Hasani said her whole family had come out to protest the law ? both her parents and her younger sister who she held by the arm.

"I am concerned about my future with this law," she said. "We want our rights. We don't want women to just be used."

As the back-and-forth continued, another demonstration of Shiite women who said they support the law began.

"We don't want foreigners interfering in our lives. They are the enemy of Afghanistan," said 24-year-old Mariam Sajadi.

Sajadi is engaged, and said she plans to ask her husband's permission to leave the house as put forth in the law. She said other controversial articles ? such as one giving the husband the right to demand sex from his wife every fourth day ? have been misinterpreted by Westerners who are anti-Islam.

I AM anti-Islam if this is how they treat women. What year is this??

[Lew]

Um.....I sorta thought that already was the law here in Ohio.....oh boy the LewMan may be in TRU-BULL....

[Beachcomber]

I'm sorry but I have always found "marital rape" to be a really gray area. On one hand no means no. On the other, if the wife says no and the husband forces the issue what's the big deal? Is it because she was "violated" by it? I don't see how if they are married they have done it before, it's not like he is forcing her to do something she hasn't already done countless times. I'm not saying it's OK, I'm just saying to classify it as "rape" is wrong. Upon the same line of thinking, can a wife accuse a husband of being a peeping tom if he watches her undress? breaking and entering if he comes home and startles her? grand larcency if he writes a check without her permission? A married couple is one entity if I understand the law, and "rape" no longer is a legitimate term to use. To me rape is someone forcing himself on someone who does not have an on-going sexual relationship with him and is not married to him.

[gae]

Beach, you make some very good points, but keep in mind that these are Shiites. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything about their sect, but I really doubt that respecting women is very high on the list.

I agree that using the word 'rape' is possibly a misnomer, but if we keep in mind that most civilized people consider that rape is less about sex and more about control and degradation, I think it might be accurate in Afghanistan.

[Beachcomber]

Shiite, Sunni makes no difference. Throw them all in a big bag and shake it up and you still have nothing but a filthy bag of shit.

[Big Bad Lin]

I'm a newbie (this is my first post!) and I was wondering how many of you have ever lived in a Muslim country, spoke any Muslim languages, had read the Quran, any Muslim scholars, been inside a mosque, talked with any Imams or even had any Muslim friends?

I've lived in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, speak quite good Turkish, a little Urdu and a very small amount of Arabic. I've read the Quran, read works by Muslim scholars, been in a mosque quite a few times, spoken with several Imams and have a couple of Muslim friends (as well as Christian, Jewish, Hindu, pagan and atheist ones - and I'm married to an agnostic!)

The Afghans are some of the most backward and primitive people in the world, sadly. Judging Islam by them is a bit like judging Christianity by the Ku Klux Klan or Judaism by Rabbi Kahane.

I'm a Christian and proud of my faith but I'm also a firm opponent of dogmatism and intolerance.

As a gypsy, I know all about what happens if you go down that road. My own uncle was a porajmos survivor (what we Romanies call the gypsy holocaust and he lost his parents, brother and sister in Auschwitz because of their ethnicity.

There are millions of Muslims in the world and they are just as different as any other religion or ethnic group.

Still, as the saying goes, 'watch out - the paranoids are out to get you.'

As Thomas Jefferson said, 'a nation that puts security before liberty will end up with neither.'

As Samuel Johnson said, 'to be prejudiced is always to be weak.'

[travelinman]

New person, right. But if you are:

Our guns are bigger

Our planes are faster

Our ships are more powerful

With all that said, we will still lose in the end. Mass liberalism and the destruction of personal liberty, something Islam rejects (yes have been there done that) will overcome individualism every time. All you need to do is read a little history.

Now go back and stop bothering us.

[Lew]

But what if it really IS a newbie? Granted, but I mean, what if it is? Don't send them back Trav, welcome them.

Unless it's another alter of GL.

I like newbies.

I like GL.

I don't like alters.

[Beachcomber]

A warm hello to Sean Perry aka "Big Bad Lin". Your tone clearly betrays your true identity but you also mentiioned your Gypsy heritage a long time ago (some things I do remember). While I appreciate what you are saying, I also say it's a crock of shit. Western Civilation is under assault by a foe every bit as dangerous as Hitler's Nazi Germany was. You can talk all you want about not judging a whole race or group by the actions of a few, fact is islam is a backward, barbaric race that would like to see the clock turned back to the 9th or 10th century. No Sean, do not sully your own heritage by comparing it to modern islam. I know Gypsies were treated badly, so were jews and Blacks in this country, and Native Americans. None of them are even remotely similar to the savages practising islam.

[eniyan]

hi frnds... this is ur new frnd.