Category Archives: Feminism

Constitutional Smoke and Mirrors: Illegal Occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge – Native News Online

The Hammonds and the County of Harney have neither invited nor welcomed Bundy and his group of militiamen. Nonetheless, the militiamen are referring to themselves as ‘patriots’ and are encouraging all who value the constitution to come join their fight-which directly contradicts the property clause of the Constitution. Article IV, section 3, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution states, “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States ….”  Although there are some parts of the Constitution that may seem vague or up for interpretation, this particular clause is not one of them. Additionally, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge lies on land that was formally designated for the Paiute tribe. Conflicts in the region between Native Americans and ranchers led the federal government to discontinue the reservation in 1879 and relocate the Paiutes under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. In 1908 Teddy Roosevelt declared the area a wildlife refuge for birds and other migratory animals.

Source: Constitutional Smoke and Mirrors: Illegal Occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge – Native News Online

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | American Singer-Songwriter and Afghan Poet Debut New Song on January 29th in New York City!

Both writers have learned from their collaboration. “Eleanor and I are two different women, with different age, from different continent,” says Hajar. “But we both are sick of men controlling our emotions and body. We both want independence.”Dubinsky found she gained a lot from the work itself: “I am following the winding road of a creative process.  We are adjusting the lyrics and melody together, so it’s really a joint process.”Dubinsky also reflected on what’s special about their collaboration: “We are two women who are creative and strong, from quite different backgrounds,” she said. “I am Jewish, Hajar is Muslim, we talk some about that. There are some restrictions about privacy, including being careful about using her full name. And I feel we are working not only for us, but also with the frame of AWWP, and I hope that what we do helps AWWP to get the word out.”

Source: Afghan Women’s Writing Project | American Singer-Songwriter and Afghan Poet Debut New Song on January 29th in New York City!

Burns Paiute Tribe Reacts to Takeover of Ancestral Land by “Group of Clowns” – Native News Online

“We as a Tribal Council, believe it is important to set the record straight: the land prior to 1890 belonged to the Paiute, not ranchers as Bundy has stated,” said Cecil Dick, tribal council member.“WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF A GROUP OF NATIVES HAD GONE OVER THERE TO TAKOVER THE LAND? I THINK PEOPLE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THAT AND WE DON’T NEED SOME GROUP OF CLOWNS TO COME IN HERE TO SPEAK FOR US…THEY NEED TO GET OUT. WE ARE HARD-WORKING PEOPLE. WE CAN STAND UP FOR OUR OWN RIGHTS,” STATED JARVIS KENNEDY, TRIBAL COUNCIL MEMBER AND  OF THE BURNS PAIUTE TRIBE.Charlotte Rodrique, tribal chairperson of the Burns Paiute Tribe. Photo from FacebookRodrique, who has been tribal chairperson of the Burns Paiute Tribe for the past five years, disputes that any group of ranchers were ever rigthful owners of the land. While the land was never ceded by the Paiute, she said the wildlife refuge land was part of a the Treaty of 1868 that was never ratified by the U.S. Senate, but both parties have  upheld the language fo the treaty.

Source: Burns Paiute Tribe Reacts to Takeover of Ancestral Land by “Group of Clowns” – Native News Online

′No one is asking the women in Cologne what they feel′ | News | DW.COM | 06.01.2016

“No one is talking about the fact that this is happening to women every day,” Tanja, an activist and one of the initiators of the event told DW. Most of the attacks took place in and around the main station in Cologne”People are insisting on making this a political story, trying to shift the focus on pro- or anti-refugees. But in fact, no one is listening to what we have to say – the women – who suffer from this violence in the streets on a daily basis long before refugees even came here,” she says.The violence on New Year’s Eve was not different from any other big-scale celebration in the city, according to Tanja. “Because refugees are now a burning topic, the media all of a sudden report about these events, but what nobody wants to admit is that these things happen all the time. I’m sorry to break this to you, but German-born men also harass and rape.”

Source: ′No one is asking the women in Cologne what they feel′ | News | DW.COM | 06.01.2016

Caribbean Journalists Prepare to Report on Climate Change | Inter Press Service

“Scientific information must be published in clearer language, and we must talk about the real impact of climate change on people’s lives,” journalist Amelia Deschamps, an anchorwoman on the El Día newcast of the Dominican channel Telesistema 11, told IPS.She was referring to the communication challenges posed in the wake of COP21 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris to produce the first universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curb the negative impacts of global warming.

Source: Caribbean Journalists Prepare to Report on Climate Change | Inter Press Service

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Racist, Shame on You!

God created us as equal humans, but we divided our humanity into thousands of categories of color, race, tribe, culture, tradition, and religion because of our ethnocentric thoughts.

God created us, but we created racism, and we let it divide our homes, our countries, and the world.

I want to use my words to take a stand against racism, to say:

Shame on you, racism.

Shame on you, racists!

The virus of racism affects our families, friends, schools, universities, and offices, as well as relationships between our tribes and nations. I lose sleep thinking of it and get up at night to write about how it makes me feel. Tonight I sat up until midnight trying to forget the racist words I heard today from an educated and stylish Pashtoon man who sees me as inferior, a freak, based on my tribe. Cheap Tajik, he called me.

Often people in our tribes have cultural differences in that they know different languages and wear different styles of clothing or some tribes have facial features that appear more Asian.

Pashtoons are one of the most populated tribes of Afghanistan. They consider themselves as the native citizens of Afghanistan, as “real Afghans.” Some of them will imply that people who are Tajik, Uzbek, or Hazara are non-native Afghans from central Asia. They think these groups are the descendants of Chinese warlord Ghengis Khan.

Some Pashtoons like to point out that they descend from kings and rulers of Afghanistan for hundreds of years. They often are conservative about their views of women. I think Tajiks are often more openminded—men and women can eat together and shake hands.

All four tribes have cultural differences, but we all share the same religion and our national languages of Dari and Pashto.

Pain fills my chest and sorrow fills my thoughts, and I wish I could banish that man’s words from my mind. I write to empty my heart, to put the bitter words on paper. How sad and disappointing to experience racism from an educated person; what can we expect from the uneducated?Racist, burn your clothes and throw away your tie, your name-brand shoes. Shame on you.

I suffer an escalating shock every time I experience racism. I will take a stand against it. Racism is the seed for the crop of un-civilization. Civilization emerges from fair thinking. Racism is not civilized at all.

Racists of the world, wherever you are, when you look at me you seem to forget that I am like you: one head, two legs, two arms.

When you look at me you see a label, a single word tied to a tribe or color: black or white, Tajik, or Hazara. Hazaras were long oppressed but today Hazara girls are being educated more than some other groups that still believe in old, discriminatory practices against women such as honor killings.

You categorize me by caste and class and religion. You ignore my human value and try to bully me for my own heritage, all because of a single word.

Shame on you, racists!

Shame on you, racism!

By Paana

Photo by Balazs Gardi

Source: Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Racist, Shame on You!

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Impossible Desire

I want to be born again,
in a place where there is peace.
I want to born again where I could live more simply;
where I would know the route for my life—
where I would be able to laugh and get excited
to ride a bicycle in the road,
in the rain.
I want to be born again;
and live like a bird, fly over the blue sky
free from every bond.
I want to be a singer
shouting my pain out of my heart.
I want to be a painter with a paintbrush in my hand,
painting the oldest tree of the city,
or a rainbow after rain.
I want to be a poet
disappearing in the world of words,
or in the village with small garden,
with a gray cat lying under sun.
But I know I will not be born again…
I was born in the shadow of war and
I will die in the shadow of war.

By Farida

Photo by Argya Diptya

Source: Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Impossible Desire

‘The Jungle’: Christmas in a Refugee Camp | Masha Alekhina

As a child you were told, “If you behave, Santa Claus will bring you a lot of gifts, and if you misbehave — nothing.” What is good behavior? Do not skip school to return home on time. And what would you say to Santa Claus if you’re not allowed to enroll in school, and if, instead of the house every night you go back into an icy tent?At Christmas you can dream of a miracle, or you can try to be the miracle for someone else.”To Avrist from Pussy Riot and the Belarusian Theatre” — I wrote on a white piece of paper and put a note in a black guitar case. Buying a guitar in Calais — that was a quest that deserves a separate story. The city only has one music store, it is not on the map, and all the others are closed down because they do not bring profits.Miracle — it’s not just a word in a book, but also your purchased ticket to the refugee camps, it is your gift, your two hours in which you listen to the story of one of the refugees because he wants to tell it. Miracle — it means not turning away someone you don’t understand.

Source: ‘The Jungle’: Christmas in a Refugee Camp | Masha Alekhina

Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

I swear I was taken in a trance. I still couldn’t believe this is happening. I am sitting in the house of Nawal Saadawi. Nawal herself is there asking me friendly questions caring so much about my comfort as if I was a little princess that she has just found. And Youssef; That giant man in his presence. Suddenly became just a man sitting opposite the queen of all women.Of course it wasn’t too long until his aura took over the presence of the setting. There is an unbelievable power in his presence. His tone and voice is very pleasant to the ear.They were busy talking about them. About Egypt. About her. About him. There was this race of a conversation that could last for three days not three hours. Her eyes talk faster than her mouth. So keen. So intelligent. So much every word of every book she wrote. Somehow I knew her. What she was saying wasn’t new to me. The fact that she herself was saying it all to me was enough to keep me quiet and in that state of non-belief.

Source: Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education – The New York Times

The proliferation of private schools in the South “was a gigantic event, and it blew the minds of civil rights folks and took the wind out of their sails,” said Douglas A. Blackmon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center who is working on a documentary about the effects of segregation academies.“But in a minute, it was over,” he said of the effort to combat such schools. “And the well-intentioned work Hillary described was no match for the absolute insistence of millions of Southern whites that their kids never go to school with black kids.”

Source: How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education – The New York Times