Day 16-Int'l Human Rights Day-Moving on from Justice for Nadine

At the end of 16 days of blogging to eliminate VAW, today was Int'l Human Rights Day. Today Global Voices has an interesting discussion of the Elders and their new Campaign, Every Human has Rights. BTW, I hope that Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elder, and Grameen Bank President, Dr. Md. Yunus will consider giving Cyclone Sidr devastated borrowers --predominately women--a longer break from their micro credit debts-payments than until March.

Take Back the Tech wants us to revise & recast /or take steps to feministing Wikipedia by adding our research & sources. I hope that any posters will do this carefully and mindfully b/c Wikipedia can be a very powerful resource. Unfortunately too many students in my classes are just cutting and pasting Wikipedia as their own work without doing the necessary research and work. I hope that people who have built my bridges and did my surgery have not just looked it up on Wikipedia.

For those who have been following the Justice for Nadine saga (and ignoring the many other cases of domestic violence and VAW in our own communities), I strongly encourage you to read Abdul Kargo's concluding and profound essay (and esp the last three paragraphs): Lessons Have Been Learned. Now it’s Time to Pick up the Pieces and Move On., on this saga, and also in response to 157 comments (including 3 by me) on his earlier post, What's a Woman's Worth Meaured Against.

He concludes: "Accept that it happened. Acknowledge that it was terrible. Then pick up the pieces and move on. That’s what I intend to do."

My concluding remarks--on this case until he's arrested and had his day in court: alleged abuser and rapist Sajid Huq, is still a fugitive, wanted by New York City on these felony charges. The warrants for his arrest remain open. Until there is justice & safety for Nadine and other abused women from their abusers, none of us will be safe from the Sajid Huqs of the world.

I hope that all who have participated in this saga will reach out to one another and their communities to end this violence-adda-gossip and support those activists and ordinary people who are doing the hard-difficult-everyday work in this area.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****


Last but not least:

• Please check out the today's and earlier VAW posts on Bangladesh from Our View (English) and Amader Kotha blogs (Bangla). These young women (and men) give me hope.
• Best wishes e doa to Sheikh Rumana for her surgery & tara tari recovery so she can return to her work for women migrants' rights
  
• To Shawn about making a difference btw, the voting is still open on his contest video.....'To Phil, From Bangladesh'--and in second place.
• All those bloggers who have posted on VAW and the 16 Days Campaign
  
• Those unnamed, cannot be named for their safety, and not so famous people doing the hard work to make sure that all of us have human rights

As for me, it's been a long 16 days, I have a satchel of seminar papers to mark, and Take Back the Tech kittens to feed.

Justice for Nadine delayed again--fugitive Sajid Huq again no show in NYC court 3 Dec

NEW RESOURCE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN JANUARY 2008:
NEW BLOGSITE OUT AGAINST ABUSE TO EDUCATE AND ORGANIZE THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY ABOUT DOMESTIC-GENDER ABUSE--PLEASE READ, COMMENT, AND SHARE THIS RESOURCE

In regard to (lack of) Justice for Nadine:

Her alleged abuser and rapist, fugitive Sajid Huq, missed a second court date on 3 December in New York City. An erstwhile Columbia University graduate student, he has been absconding since missing his first court date (1 Nov--warrant issued). Meanwhile, he (and his friends) have been posting his rationalizations for his abuse-rape on various blogs via a variety of names. See for example, in mid November, the excellent post on the case by Abdul Kargo and the ensuing comments--some by Sajid et al in T'ings 'n Things "What is a woman's worth measured against?". See my own recent post on the case and coverage in Bideshi Blue and other posts-links in the last month.

You can read more about this case on the Justice for Nadine facebook page, 9,411 and counting members from around the world, including pictures of Nadine post assault and also picture of Sajid. Pls inform the police and/or call 911 if you see him.


My thoughts are with Nadine and her family-friends during this difficult time.

Beyond this case, please reach out: listen and learn more and join community discussions and programs on domestic violence and violence against women VAW such as OUT AGAINST ABUSE ...where ever you are.

Day 4/Media, Sexism, VAW & Blog Coverage Justice For Nadine

On this day, we look the media & sexism in its mixed coverage of rape, dowry, and domestic violence. Media coverage can be complicated in countries such as Bangladesh with little reliable data on VAW and where legal and advocacy organizations must rely on news stories to count incidents and severity. In Bangladesh, most data on sexual assault and domestic violence come from newspaper story compiled by NGOs and human rights organizations such as Odikhar, Mahila Parishad, and Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association. These counts depend on the willingness of media reporters to write the stories and of the survivors to talk with reporters and/or people outside of the family. Some reporters can provide reliable reports and understanding of the power-gender dynamics, while others write stories with a sensational nature, victim-blame or as entertainment. Often coverage of any one case ends after the initial article and readers have no sense of the legal resolutions of cases as happened in the case of tortured-murder Rahela, a garment worker in 2004 among others.

An ongoing case that exemplifies these issues is the media and less than critical blogosphere coverage of a domestic violence-rape case filed in New York City in September against a Bangladeshi graduate student, Sajid, who allegedly beat and raped his wife, Nadine. He failed to show up for his court hearing in NYC in beginning of November and is a fugitive, who has continued to blog under his and a variety of fake names. Rather than to deny the charge, in his trail of blog posts-emails, he has described-justified his behaviors, which originally resulted in his arrest by NYC police. In turn, he has made a series of allegations about Nadine, none of which would stand as a defense against his abuse and rape charges in USA courts.

Concerned about the brutality and events in this case, others set up a Facebook page, Justice for Nadine, which provided support & information & post-abuse photos about her case and has responded to Sajid's et al ongoing postings. Soon they refused to get into point-counterpoint discussions and ceased responding to an onslaught of emails and pseudonym posts by Sajid et al. Missing from most of these blogs--any understanding of issues surrounding marital rape, domestic violence, and the gender power dynamics. Instead, many of the posts read like adda or gossip.

After an initial flurry of posts in October, most bloggers had ended their coverage until the middle of November when, Abdul Kargo wrote an excellent post, "What Is a Woman’s Worth Measured Against? Blogger Kargo has thoughtfully and deftly dealt with the variety of comments-issues generated by his readers and the reappearance of Sajid et al, who closed down his blog about the time Kargo wrote his post. During this month, some of the comments by Sajid et al have become repetitive intellectual excuses for his criminal behaviors and insulting language directed toward Nadine and those who seek an end to VAW. Others have challenged such comments, discussed the dynamics of VAW and responses when women speak up. They called for a change in in the nature of the comments posts and more community action to combat VAW. Today, I posted this comment #99, which expresses my sentiments on this case and the thread:

"Last night I wanted to say bash/shesh–enough, stop. Allowing fugitive sajid et al another forum to repeat their bogus pomo excuses over and over again creates ‘revictimization’, esp for survivors of abuse who may be reading. This also gives others the cautionary tale of what might happen to them if she speaks up, files charges, etc. or if their abuser-rapist is still at large b/c he did not show up for his court hearing. Dec 3 is his next opportunity.

From 25 Nov-10 Dec is the International 16 Days Campaign to Eliminate Violence against Women. Today—day four—asks people to look at their media (blogosphere) for coverage of violence against women and to note sensationalistic coverage & posts. As we’ve seen in this ongoing thread and other blog coverage, these ‘discussions’ ignore that most rapists & abusers know their victims; in such posts, abusers and some bloggers reduce the case to titillating & entertaining details, and ignore the unequal power relationships in rapes and domestic abuse that result in lingering physical, socio-emotional injuries and even death.

As reflected in others’ comments, I also encourage people to educate themselves more about these issues and get in involved community discussion and action such as recently initiated by Adhunika and Sakhi in NYC.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

For more info about the 16 days campaign:
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/home.html

and to use ICT-blogs to end violence against women:
http://www.takebackthetech.net/frontpage"

Finally, I reiterate the points that I made in comment #5 in early November:

1. Sajid is a fugitive, who skipped his court hearing over charges filed in USA (they will not be transferred to Bangladesh!). Next hearing date: 3 December.
2. None of his posts-rationalizations about his USA felony charges will work in any USA court defense.
3. Any people who have been hiding him from police and the court can be subject to charges of obstruction of justice.
4. If Sajid is on a student visa at Colombia University and has not been attending classes because he is in hiding, then he is violating the terms of his student visa and subject to deportation. Immigration and SEVIS are probably very interested in finding him, too.

International Day Against Violence Against Women--16 Days Campaign

Today, 25 November 2007 is International Day Against Violence Against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (25 Nov-10 Dec).

You can read more about this campaign, history, and get materials from the Center for Women's Global Leadership, [Rutgers University-USA] including the 2007 Take Action Kit & the 2007 International Calendar. This site also contains a library on related resources on VAW and even a map to situate and log your activities. This site has materials in English, Spanish, some French and even Italian.

An interesting ICT action, is Take Back the Tech or Reclaiming ICTs to End Violence Against Women. Link here to learn more about what are the issues of ICTs & VAW From the website: "Both ICTs and VAW affects our capacity to completely enjoy our human rights and fundamental freedoms." This site has materials in French, Spanish, and English.




The website contains daily activities such as ka-Blog (blogathon, postcards, digital story telling, digital media resources, and GIFs to use in your website or blog during the campaign. On today- Day one, today's activity: share a number of your local shelter or resource centre.

Both sites want to hear more about your stories and actions and you can also learn more about actions-stories in other locales-sites.

As readers already know, I have been very interested in Justice for Nadine (survivor of spousal abuse and rape) and Rahela (the late tortured garment worker) as detailed in previous posts and links to websites. Most recently, Abdul Kargo wrote movingly about Nadine's case, "What is a woman worth. " If readers would like to know more about domestic violence issues-support in USA or Bangladesh, see this link. The next hearing for Rahela's case will be in January 2008in Bangladesh.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

Finally, Bangladesh continues to recover from the Category 5 hurricane, Cyclone Sidr. In such disasters, women have special health and security issues, especially post disaster for women without husbands and children who have lost their parents--suffer from insecurity and vulnerability to abusers and traffickers. I described a few issues here and as Sidr was heading to shore. See also Nari Jibon blog.I will post more on these topics coming days. Meanwhile, go to other previous posts-links on where you can donate for relief efforts.

Nari Jibon Project, change-making, and justice

I would rather write about:

The powerful and wonderful girls & women at the Nari Jibon Project who are learning alternative skills such as literacy in Bangla, tailoring rather than sewing, literacy in English, how to use, write and create with, and repair computers, and finally writing thoughtful posts and taking photos-videos about their lives on the Nari Jibon blogs in English and Bangla. These girls & women are doing all these activities in an affordable, safe, secure, caring environment at Nari Jibon in classes and the women-only cyber cafe!

The joys of receiving emails, photos, videos, and blog posts from Nari Jibon students and staff who come from a country stereotyped as poor and uneducated in computer technology.

The joys of seeing older women write their first letters, words, and stories in Bangla and for young women to show me how they can use different fonts on the computer.

Also the caring female and male staff who make this possible and the daughters and sons who come to the Nari Jibon with their sisters, mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and male guardians: brothers, uncles, fathers, and husbands.

I would rather write about these activities, blog posts, and grants to fund this project, my stories and experiences in Bangladesh and elsewhere, my flowers, and of course, my kittens.

Why write so much on violence against women?

I write because:

• a social litmus test for societies is how they treat women and children
• until all women are safe, no women are safe (as well as the rest of their society)
• all of us come from women: mothers, grandmothers and we also have aunts, sisters, daughters, and female relatives
• 1/3 women in their lifetime will experience some form of violence-abuse
• nothing justifies such violence against women, children, and men—not assorted rationalizations, misinformation--nothing
• domestic violence is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality

What to do?

In recent posts on this blog, I have given links to websites on resources and groups that challenge violence and can provide support in USA and Bangladesh. I have given information on some recent and not so recent cases of domestic violence and violence against Bangladeshi women, petitions about these cases, and places-gatherings for more information. Finally, I have encouraged everyone to educate themselves about resources, discuss these issues with friends, family, classmates, and colleagues before, during, and even after marriage, and to provide support (funds, volunteer, donate) to groups that do the hard work and advocacy to end violence against women.

In the words of Audre Lorde (African American poet, writer, teacher, & activist), “your silence will not protect you”:

"I have come to believe over and over again, that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.... My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.... and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken."
Audre Lorde (The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, Sister Outsider.

Let's start speaking up!

Justice delayed....

In regard to Justice for Rahela and Nadine, Justice has been delayed once again.

Earlier this week, witness(es) in the Rahela (tortured-murdered garment worker) case DID NOT show up in court. According to the Facebook group, Justice for Rahela (and other sources) the court proceedings have been DELAYED until first week of January 2008. Perhaps various petitioners and women's groups in Bangladesh should request a SPEEDY TRIAL for Rahela's case, who died in September 2004.

Today, according to Facebook group, Justice for Nadine, her accused husband, Sajid Huq, a graduate student at Columbia University did not show up for his hearing in New York City in response to his many charges for the abuse/rape of his wife (Nadine). A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Much speculation about where he might have fled. If you know of his whereabouts, please inform the New York City police or authorities where ever you are. Pictures of him can be found on the Justice for Nadine website (as well as her non-photoshopped pictures post abuse).

My thoughts are with Nadine (and her safety) and for the soul of Rahela (and other working women who risk their lives going to and from work and ordinary activities).

Beyond signing up for a Facebook group, here are some other things that all of us (women and men) can do:

• For all of us, reach out to one another and do not suffer alone with abuse or knowledge of abuse (for the sake of honor, izzat, family name or fear of what stories people might say).

• Listen to and believe women, especially the brave ones who speak up despite all the taunts-misinformation hurled at them as well as threats to their families (as has occurred in Nadine's case). Talk with your family and friends about these issues and problems before they occur, during discussions of marriage, and afterwards. Domestic violence still occurs at a much higher rate in Bangladesh than in most other countries; women in the migration-diaspora also experience domestic violence as has occurred in Nadine's and others' cases.
  

• Provide time and support to organizations in your community-city-country that work on such issues, because many of them need allies-translators-advocates from your own groups. Know about these organizations, because you and/or your friends may need them for information and help. Share this information with your family, friends, blog, and your Facebook wall!
  

• Work to make sure that Bangladesh and other countries enact and enforce real laws against domestic violence, which leads to many other consequences such as higher maternal mortality, lowered life expectancy among other problems (no such law exists in Bangladesh despite many years-funds-meetings-protests).