Arab Women In Shengal March To Demand Freedom For Öcalan
New
Age Islam News Bureau
29 October 2023
• Arab Women In Shengal March To Demand Freedom For
Öcalan
• Pope Francis’ Gathering Urges Guarantees Over Church
Governance Roles For Women
• UN Hosts Special Meeting About Afghan Women
• This Indian Woman Fled To Kabul For Love In 1989,
The Sex Life There Repulsed Her
• Israel Detains 20 Palestinian Women In West Bank
Escalation
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Arab women in Shengal march to demand freedom for
Öcalan
29 Oct 2023
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A march was held on Saturday in the village of Barê in
Shengal. Organized by the Shengal Arab Regions Women's Council, the march was
part of the Freedom for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and Autonomy
for Shengal initiative.
Arab women pointed out that the support for the
Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and Autonomy for Shengal initiative is increasing
every passing day and added: “As women living in the border regions, we condemn
the isolation imposed on Leader Öcalan. The reason why Leader Öcalan is
targeted is because Turkey wants to target the people, cultures, beliefs and
especially women living in the region. Because Leader Apo is the greatest
defender of peoples, freedom and women.”
The women continued: “Leader Apo's physical freedom
will mean putting an end to injustice and promoting peace in the world. On this
basis, we, as Arab women, will continue the struggle for Leader Öcalan's
freedom. We have been organizing and educating ourselves on the basis of Leader
Öcalan's thoughts for 7 years. For this reason, we know that if we do not
increase our struggle for his freedom, we will lose Shengal. Leader Öcalan's
freedom is the guarantee of peace and solution to the problems in the Middle
East. With Leader Öcalan's physical freedom, we can make Shengal's autonomy and
women's freedom permanent."
Source: Anf English.Com
https://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/arab-women-in-shengal-march-to-demand-freedom-for-Ocalan-70046
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Pope Francis’Gathering Urges Guarantees Over Church
Governance Roles For Women
28 October 2023
Vatican Pope. Picture: PA
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Pope Francis’ gathering of Catholic bishops and
laypeople has concluded that it is “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation
of women in church governance, and called for research on allowing women to be
deacons to be released within a year.
After a month of closed-door debate, Francis’ meeting
on the future of the Catholic Church ended with the approval of a 42-page text
on a host of issues that will now be considered at a second session next year.
Each paragraph passed with the necessary two-thirds
majority, but the ones involving women and priestly celibacy obtained the most
“no” votes.
Organisers and participants alike had tried to temper
expectations for any big changes to emerge, especially on hot-button doctrinal
issues such as the church’s views on homosexuality.
They have insisted that the mere process of forcing
bishops to sit down at round tables to listen to ordinary Catholics for a month
was the important novelty of the gathering.
But there was no denying that Francis’ Synod on
Synodality, as the meeting is called, and the two-year canvassing of
rank-and-file Catholics that preceded it, has indeed generated expectations.
Progressives have hoped the gathering would send a
message that the church would be more welcoming of LGBTQ+ people and offer
women more leadership roles in a hierarchy where they are barred from
ordination.
Conservatives have emphasised the need to stay true to
the 2,000-year tradition of the church and warned that opening debate on such
issues was a “Pandora’s Box” that risked schism.
Another session is planned for next October, with
final recommendations or conclusions from that meeting presented to Francis for
his consideration in a future document.
In his vision of a “synodal” church, the faithful are
listened to and accompanied rather than preached at by an out-of-touch
“clerical” hierarchy that has suffered a credibility crisis over clergy abuse
scandals around the world.
In a novelty, he allowed women and laypeople to vote
alongside bishops, putting into practice his belief that the “People of God” in
the pews are more important than the preachers and must have a greater say in
church decision-making.
That mission and his call for “co-responsibility” has
inspired in particular women seeking the restoration of female deacons, a
ministry that existed in the early church.
“Though some seem to think it is possible to talk
about co-responsibility in mission without addressing the elephant in the room,
the fundamental equality of women and their access to all ministries of the
church is a question that will persist until it is attended to with fierce
attention to the Gospel,” said a statement this week from Women’s Ordination
Conference, which has been staging events, marches and protests in Rome all
month.
But the mere inclusion of laypeople as voting members
in the meeting prompted some to question the legitimacy of the gathering
itself.
They note that the “Synod of Bishops” was created to
provide the pontiff with the reflection of bishops, the successors of the
apostles.
Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, whom Francis appointed as a
member of the synod but has not hidden his opposition to it, said the gathering
could hardly be called a Synod of Bishops “when lay people have the same voice,
they have the same time to speak, and they take away opportunities for the
bishops (to have) the possibility to speak”.
In an interview published on Saturday in the National
Catholic Register, Cardinal Mueller outlined a scathing critique of the meeting,
saying it was a manipulated, theologically light gathering claiming to be the
work of the Holy Spirit, but really aiming to undo church teaching.
“All is being turned around so that now we must be
open to homosexuality and the ordination of women. If you analyse it, all is
about converting us to these two themes,” the German theologian was quoted as
saying by the Register.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, a British
Dominican whom Francis asked to provide spiritual reflections periodically
during the meeting, had a far different take. He praised the inclusion of
laypeople as truly reflecting the spirit of a synod.
“There’s a gathering of representatives of the College
of Bishops, but it also shows the bishop not as a solitary individual, but
immersed in the conversation of his people: Listening, talking, learning
together,” he said.
“It’s a synod that gathers to see how we can be church
in a new way, rather than what decisions need to be taken,” he told reporters
this week.
Source: Lbc.Co.Uk
https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/a76ba112c679489ca45d16e773d26098/
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UN Hosts Special Meeting About Afghan Women
By MetraMajeedi
29-10-2023
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Participants in the meeting criticized the
restrictions against women in Afghanistan and said that women are
systematically excluded from society.
“For two years now, the de facto authorities denied
women and girls rights including to education, work, movement, and assembly,”
said SimaBahous, executive director of UN Women.
some former government officials who participated in
the meeting emphasized the importance of women's presence in meetings related
to Afghanistan.
“Bring women to the table if there is negotiation or
there is an engagement or whatever please bring women to the table and do not
talk on behalf of Afghan women, they can talk themselves,” said Habiba Sarabi,
former minister of women.
“Afghan women have faced many challenges and hardships
over the past two years, but they have not been passive victims of their
circumstances, instead they have been active advocates demanding change and
couragously standing up for their rights and refusing to be silent,” said Adela
Raz, former Afghan ambassador in Washington.
“The UK continues to work with the international
community to press the Taliban to reverse the decision on the commitment that
they have made,” said a UN representative.
But referring to the presence of women in some parts
of society, the Islamic Emirate said that women's rights are secured in the
country.
“All their claims are not true. We must remember that
there is a field of work for women. Our sisters are busy working both in the
government and outside the government, especially in business, which has become
more prosperous,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
Previously, twelve members of the United Nations
Security Council have also criticized what they consider human rights
violations, discrimination, and deprivation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Source: Tolo News.Com
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185763
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This Indian Woman Fled To Kabul For Love In 1989,The
Sex Life There Repulsed Her
SushmitaBandyopadhyay
29 October, 2023
The Taliban has persecuted me unremittingly. I had
escaped to Pakistan earlier but was caught. Then I escaped again a month later.
Kakoli came to see me before my second escape, and seeing her reminded me of
how a man often sleeps with two wives in the same bed. My body recoiled in
revulsion. How twisted their conjugal life is. The thought disturbs me
constantly. Thinking of the woman who is forced to become the second victim of
the night makes me rebel. This is unbearable humiliation for a woman.
I have repeatedly invited danger upon myself in trying
to gain plaudits. Because people at home like my cooking, my brothers-in-law
often invite guests and force me to cook for them, beating me up if I refuse.
Torturing women is an act of great velour for any man
in this society. I have no space in my husband’s house for a moment’s quiet
reflection. No woman in Afghanistan has any space to think or analyse. Eat,
chat, and go into your rooms with lanterns as soon as it’s dark. Battle against
poverty and unemployment. Fight the stifling shadow of traditions and
fundamentalism and ignorance and lack of education. How will seeds of new ideas
sprout here? How will anyone learn to think differently?
Privacy is one of the greatest gifts of modern
civilisation, but no home in Afghanistan offers it. This suffocating life
stands in the same place every day, refusing to move on.
There’s no privacy, but there’s loneliness. Ironic,
isn’t it? In six years, the Kabul evenings have not once brought me a spring
breeze. It has never felt romantic here. Only insufferable. Especially from
December to February, when it snows every evening. There’s darkness
everywhere—not a song in anyone’s heart, not a word of love in anyone’s head.
All I want is to go back to my room in Kolkata and sing along with Tagore’s
songs or read Nazrul’s or JibananandaDas’s poetry.
Had they been born in Afghanistan, would Kazi Nazrul
or Jibanananda Das have become poets? For all you know, they wouldn’t even have
been capable of writing a letter. As men, all they would scream is, ‘Bring me
food. Wash the clothes. Light the lamp. Give birth. Clean the snow. Submit your
body at night.’
Initially, the sex life in Afghanistan appeared
repulsive to me; it made me nauseous. But after six years, even that has become
attractive. There is probably some sort of perversion in the relationship
between women and men in this country, or so it seems to me. But in this
perversion lies everyone’s pleasure, perhaps their only form of entertainment.
Life here is nothing but war and arid deserts. Maybe sexual perversion is the
only oasis. I try to remain indifferent to the harshness of sex here, I try to
preserve the faith and the values, the likes and dislikes, of my Bengali self.
And this has been possible only because of Jaanbaz.
Sometimes I wonder—the extreme torture the Taliban
submitted me to, the way they beat me till I was half-dead, even tearing off my
clothes—was it all because I offer primary medical treatment to people? Does
the desire to punish me stem from my sowing the seeds of rebellion among
people? Is there no other provocation? I feel there are other reasons. To the
Taliban, I am a Kafir. A Hindu, someone from another religion. A Bengali. A
woman. And the Koran has repeatedly warned against marrying a Kafir.
Source: The Print.In
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Israel detains 20 Palestinian women in West Bank
escalation
By FayhaShalash
28 October 2023
The Israeli army has escalated its detentions of
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as popular anger over its deadly air
strikes on Gaza continues for the third week.
In the aftermath of the surprise Hamas-led attack on
southern Israel on 7 October, which killed 1,400 people, the Israeli army has
unleashed a ferocious campaign against Palestinians in occupied territories.
In addition to the aerial bombardment of Gaza, which
has so far left 7,703 Palestinian killed, concurrent measures in the occupied
West Bank have included the killings of dozens of Palestinians, by both Israeli
soldiers and settlers, and the detention of hundreds.
Those detained included 20 Palestinian women,
according to the media spokeswoman for the Palestine Centre for Prisoner Studies,
Amina al-Taweel. Some of the detained women have been released under the
condition of house arrest and others transferred to administrative detention.
On 26 October, dozens of soldiers raided Barghouti's
house in the town of Kobar, north of Ramallah, searched it, vandalized its
contents, then arrested her, her son told Middle East Eye. This is the second
time she has been detained.
Her eldest son, Asif, who lives in the same town, told
Middle East Eye that he woke up to the sounds of military vehicles storming the
town at 2am on Wednesday. They then surrounded his mother's house and dozens of
soldiers stormed it.
"They vandalized the house and told her that she
was under arrest. They brought more than 11 detainees into her house that they
had arrested from the town at the same time. They tied her hands and took her
to a military vehicle."
The next day, a lawyer told her family that she was
held in Ofer Prison and would be transferred to administrative detention and be
sent to Damon Prison, where female prisoners are held.
Known as Om Asif among the Palestinians in the West
Bank, she is the widow of Omar Barghouti, who spent more than 30 years in
Israeli prisons. Om Asif is also the mother of Saleh Barghouti, who was killed
by Israeli soldiers in late 2018 after carrying out a shooting attack near the
Ofra settlement east of Ramallah.
Then in 2019, Israeli authorities arrested her other
son, Assem, and sentenced him to life imprisonment after he carried out a
shooting attack that killed four Israeli soldiers days after his brother's
death.
Her youngest son, Muhammad, was also arrested several
times, the last of which was five months ago, and he remains in administrative
detention until today.
Also on Wednesday, dozens of Israeli soldiers raided
the home of writer Lama Khater in the city of Hebron. Khater, 46, is the mother
of five children.
Her husband, Hazem al-Fakhouri, told MEE that more
than 20 soldiers stormed the house and vandalized its contents, then informed
her that she was under arrest.
"They were very violent. They insulted us all the
time and terrorized our children. They made me sit on the ground and started
screaming. The officer in charge of them said, 'We are here to take revenge on
you. Our goal is revenge,'" he said.
Khater was able to speak to her lawyer briefly 24
hours after her arrest, when she said that the method and conditions of her
arrest were "very bad", without explaining further.
Khater had been arrested in mid-2018 for 13 months in
connection with her writings, which Israeli authorities described as
inflammatory.
On the night of 26 October, the Israeli army also
arrested two female students at Hebron University, and the following night it
arrested a woman and her husband from the town of Dura, south of Hebron, along
with a woman from Jenin to pressure her husband to surrender himself.
On Saturday, Palestinian journalist Sujud Darassi was
detained in an attempt to pressure her husband, journalist Mohamed Badr, to
surrender himself to Israeli authorities.
Commenting on the latest detentions, Taweel, of the
Palestine Centre for Prisoner Studies, said that the Israeli army "has no
red lines in arresting Palestinians".
"The goal of arresting women is to carry out a
policy of deterrence, intimidation and emptying the West Bank of active and
influential feminist elites who are a part of the struggle against the
occupation," she told MEE.
Taweel said that increasing the number of female
prisoners is related to concluding any upcoming exchange deal with the Hamas
movement, which holds more than 200 captives. The female prisoners will be used
as a bargaining chip in any negotiations, she said.
At least 15,000 Palestinian women have been arrested
since 1967 and subjected to various types of physical, psychological and moral
abuse, Taweel's organisation has documented.
Source: Middleeast Eye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-detains-20-palestinian-women-west-bank-escalation
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/arab-women-freedom-calan-shengal/d/131000