Imagine
Alienation is it. Here’s some alienation for you.
The family and friends of an 18-year-old girl, doused with petrol and set alight in broad daylight by the man she refused to marry, led a silent march through a Parisian suburb yesterday. Chahrazad Belayni is currently fighting for her life in intensive care after suffering severe burns on 60 per cent of her body. She is being kept in an artificial coma…She knew her assailant. He was a former workmate of Pakistani origin who was angry about her refusal to marry him. The man and a suspected accomplice are on the run.
Gee – what a loving gesture. Hard to imagine why she didn’t want to marry him.
Several hundred people marched to the town hall yesterday behind a smiling portrait of Chahrazad and a banner calling for “justice, liberty, respect”. “We are here to denounce this horrible act,” said the girl’s brother, Abdelaziz, who criticised the lack of public outcry following the attack. “We are here, not to call for revenge but that justice is done. We are here to denounce all violence against women: women must be able to say No or Yes”.
Say it, Abdelaziz. What a welcome change from the brothers who kill their sisters or slap them around. Let’s just all keep patiently talking and marching and persuading until all brothers see things that way and wouldn’t dream of slapping a woman, let alone dumping gasoline on her and setting her on fire. That’s not so much to ask – that’s not insanely utopian – and it’s certainly not ‘racist’ or Islamophobic or anything like it. You’d never know it to hear some fools talk, but it’s not.
The march was co-organised by Ni Putes ni Soumises (Neither Whores, nor Submissive), an association that tackles growing violence against women, mainly in France’s suburbs. “We are here to tell Chahrazad’s parents that they are not alone in this fight. It is not just a family problem. It is a problem for the whole of France,” said Fadela Amara, founding president of the organisation.
Say it, Fadela. They are not alone in this fight. Not just a family problem, not just the whole of France, it is a problem for the whole world. Women are neither whores nor doormats; we’re people.
Ni Putes ni Soumises has more than 6,000 members and 60 local committees campaigning against the repression of girls in largely Muslim housing estates, where the choice is either to adhere to strict clothing and behavioural codes or be considered to have loose morals. Yesterday’s march was, it said, a “tribute to all the victims of machismo”. Ms Amara said the organisation was overwhelmed by calls for help from women suffering from violence or forced marriages, and asked the government to give more concrete help, notably through campaigns in schools. The French minister for social cohesion and sexual equality, Catherine Vautrin, described the attack on Chahrazad as a “horrible illustration” of male violence against women, which claimed the lives of 163 women in France in 2003 and 2004.
Let’s hope Chahrazad survives – and can have a decent life in spite of the scars. Let’s hope Ni Putes Ni Soumises has such success that it’s no longer necessary, and evolves into a giant book discussion group. Let’s hope branches of Ni Putes Ni Soumises are formed in countries all over the world – including the UK, Canada, the US – until they too are no longer needed. Let’s hope that in much less time than we think, the situation will change and it will become simply unthinkable for men to attack women, all over the planet.
Let’s not just hope it, but speak to create a climate where all opressing violence against women is condemned.
Have this group got chapters in other countries yet?
“What a welcome change from the brothers who kill their sisters or slap them around”
That sounded a little meanspirited, Op. I would think that the majority of brothers, even the muslim ones, belong to the Abdelaziz variety rather than the honour-killing type so he is hardly an exception.
Ref “brothers who kill their sisters or slap them around” – you say “I think mirax is very optimistic regarding brothers’ outlook, generally.” Can you substantiate this ? In terms of male on female violence within – or without family ? ..
“I would think that the majority of brothers, even the muslim ones, belong to the Abdelaziz variety rather than the honour-killing type so he is hardly an exception.”
Hmm. I’d like to think so, but I’m not so sure. Surely that’s the main reason Ni Putes Ni Soumises was founded in the first place – because violence against and coercion of women (by men) is so widespread in the banlieues. You think the majority of Muslim brothers would agree with the statement “We are here to denounce all violence against women: women must be able to say No or Yes”? Maybe so, maybe so; I’d be delighted to think so; but at least in the banlieues, I’m not sure that’s the case.
Still, I don’t know that it’s not, and what I meant was actually what a welcome change from stories about brothers who slap their sisters around.
On second thought – I take it back. Or at least modify what I said. Violence against and dominance of women could be widespread without being majority. I have an impression that it’s majority as well as widespread, but it now occurs to me that I’m not sure why I have that impression. Cumulative news articles that say it’s ‘pervasive’ and the like, perhaps? Probably.
I wonder if there are any stats anywhere…
It would be good if there were a male counterpart of Ni Putes – a solidarity thing. Brother and Friends of Ni Putes, or something.
OB / G Tingey
I think, at least on the evidence as reported in the UK Guardian,
(Several times, but here is one of the first
– Gang rape on rise among French youth
Jon Henley in Paris Thursday May 3, 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,482120,00.html)
-there is widespread brutality in the banlieues, committed by males often in gangs, on females, often who they already know (why this makes it worse, I’m not sure, but it does).
Part of the French ‘problem’ is that along with many other dire issues of these super-ghettos, the authorities choose to play them down or deny they occur.
My mistake perhaps was assuming G Tingey was making a generalisation accross the board about this.
OK – but depends what Mirax was saying that you disgreed with:
“I would think that the majority of brothers, even the muslem ones”
You say this is optimistic. Does that means you interpret it as ‘most men within organised religion’, or ‘all’ men generally ? Or just the ‘men within organised religion who have more power than their female counterparts’. (Not all men have more power within religious-social settings. Most do but not all, and that doesn’t mean they’re all wife-batterers anyhow.)
None of this should detract from the vile nature of what’s going on in Paris and elsewhere, but it’s daft to ascribe the actions solely to religion…