Wednesday, May 30

Power, Politics, and Gender


Injustice is a cosmic plague. Countries can be imperialistic and oppressive while others are weak and helpless. Dictators abuse their powers within their countries. And likewise men and women fit into this cycle. You can not tell which leads to the other: Is it the weakness of the weak which tempts the powerful to take advantage? Or the absolute power in the hands of the powerful which causes others to submit in fear?

Whether it is this or that, democratic countries have invented a system which helps in the prevention of power abuse. They have constructed systems which would enable the public to supervise the performance of their rulers and give them the power to share in decision making. They also invented something called "voting", to guarantee that whoever comes to power has the approval of the public.

However, this did not stop dictators from having their way inside their countries. Their elections are rigged. Their parliament is mere décor. Their media is under control. Their laws enable them to do the most horrible crimes legally. Thus, the public in those countries are in such a vulnerable position that they don't even know their rights to ask for them.

Powerful countries do the same with developing and under-developed countries. They dictate their demands, and even enforce them when necessary. They use the weakness and poverty of those countries for their own benefits. They don't bother with big words like "human rights", "equality", "justice", "world peace", …etc. As long as sabotaging those weaker countries secures their superior state, they will stop at nothing to reach their goals. They have the UN under their power. The have the veto. They can even break international resolutions, like the US did in its war on Iraq. Who can do anything about it? To hell with the international community, do they have any power to stop me?

People, like countries, can get drunk with power. We live in a sexist society, where men resemble Israel and women resemble Arabs. Every day Israel takes more lands from Arabs. It can kill them and bomb their homes at any time. Then those Arabs will simply yell and scream, jump up and down, but what can they do about it? They will go to the Security Council? So what? The former Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin , once said it: "As long as the Arabs haven't learned to stand in a line, they don't pose any threat to us". Meaning that Arabs will never see the true reasons behind their weakness. They can't see that they're weak cause they don't work on improving themselves. They are just begging for justice from other powerful countries. They worship their leaders although they humiliate them. They don't value time or hard work. They are far from scientific thinking and organized action. Such people can wait thousands of years for a miracle to liberate them, but they don't even deserve this miracle.

Women likewise will never receive liberation from their oppressors who thrive upon all the advantages they derive from their superior position. As long as they have got all the power in their hands they will never give any of it up, but will always seek to gain more. Unless women stand up on their feet, define their weaknesses and work on improving their condition, they will never gain any of their rights. Begging for our rights won't lead us anywhere. Only slaves liberated slaves, and only women can liberate women. No one can feel your pain except a woman like you. But the endless waiting for a miracle.. waiting for men to change.. waiting for society to change.. waiting for an upper hand all the time.. waiting, waiting, waiting, will only make us weaker and cause us to lose the respect of society. Are you happy with being the doll you are? If no, then get up and do something about it. Wake up women!.. It's too late already!

11 comments:

The Alien said...

the powerful take advantage of the weakness of the weak and always work to keep her/him weak

i said it before and i am saying it again, if u r waiting, then u will wait for ever.

i think u should translate ur posts to arabic because that will make it easier on alot of girls who should read what u write

by the way,
it is always have fun at the end of my comment so,
have fun

Egypt Rose said...

it is never too late !!! females make up about one half of humanity, they will change sometimes, they will, In Egypt, and for me working with women for a long time in the field of Development and Gender, the problem IS that women them selves do not feel (even feel) that there is something wrong with them .. this is a disaster real one .. if she feels that she is humiliated of mistreated and could not do anything about it, it is ok we can understand it, but here they think they took more that they deserve..

Fantasia said...

the alien:
It's true. There's no good in waiting which only makes us weaker.
Thanks for suggesting an Arabic version of my posts. I welcome anyone who is willing to translate them. I can have a mirror blog in Arabic, but I can't type in Arabic that's the problem.

Fantasia said...

egypt rose:
I guessed it right then. Reading your blog, I thought you worked in a related field. Good luck.
Now, you've raised an essential point here. Women who are unaware of their inferior position in society, or just live in denial and claiming that they are receiving more than what they can normally get. This is a result of the continuous brainwashing that girls in our society are subjected to. They tell you "You are precious," "You are a gem," therefore we must put u in a satin box! Now, some girls buy this crap, without bothering to analyse it or put it to the test. The idea of being a precious pieace of jewlery becomes so appealing to them that it blocks their mind from realising that they are being objectified, reduced into an object. That's why woman's work for instance becomes a kind of suffering that a woman doesn't need. She must stay in her stain box while the man goes out to work. And so on. Also the percentage of illiteracy among females in Egypt which is I guess 59% makes women unable to figure out what's wrong with their present conditions. It needs a LOT of effort to bring half of the population up to its feet.
The reason I say it is too late, is because I talk with the international development race on my mind. Women conditions can determine a country's place on the development scale. If things don't change fast enough, with the gap between us and the developed world rapidly growing, there will come a time when it becomes impossible to catch up with modern civilization. The movement of history now is acceralting in a way which makes the fall down and up rise of countries take several years instead of decades or centuries. As painful as it sounds, a country like ours might be wiped away from the map. We need incredible growth rates already to be able to cope with this new situation. Stability with everybody running by our side means that we are moving backwards. We have to run 10 times as fast as other countries did years ago to achieve their present position.

Anonymous said...

dear fantasia,
u r right in what u said...nobody can feels a woman except a woman like her although sometimes this can be tricky specially with jealousy nowadays which is also present among women
nobody wants to see anyone else happy or rich
jealousy eats us all
so when someone like u comes and deliver a message to all women to fight for their rights even women look at u with doubt saying what does she want?why she 's doin so?she is a woman like us
sure she has some intentions and u find u r being accused of things u havent done and all of what u wanted to say is to deliver a positive message
people have this thing about their way of thinking
they tend to alter a positive message and make a big deal about it and in the end u find it a negative thing
the way of delivering the message can ensure its success specially among those who r narrow minded or raised up a certain way
u can say the same message through different ways but not all the way can ensure its success
nobody can tell someone what they can do
we can only give advice and put facts
the action always comes from within the person and whether or not she wants to see a change in herself
we can have so many dreams but unless we act upon them...they will remain just dreams

Dr. Eyad Harfoush said...

Dear Fantasia,

I surely agree we do live in a sexist society, in such a society women usually are the direct victims. Yet, men as well suffer and take the 2nd position as victims. Only among them who is enough sensetive will feel it. Don't limit your call to action to women. Several men will be more than interested. Do not forget the male feminist over our history, Qassim Amin, Rashed Reda, Mostafa Abdel-Razeq, Mohamed Ghazaly...etc

Thank you for your ongoing inspiring articles

Dr. Eyad Harfoush said...

Dear Fantasia,
You are kindly invited to see the updates and the final post addressed to you here:
http://eharfoush.blogspot.com/

Fantasia said...

agenda:
I totally understand your point. Yes, some girls tend to see a conspiracy in anything. If another girl gives her a sincere advice she can't believe that this other girl really wants what's best for her. There is this stereotype of cat fight which was created for male entertainment, until we believed it among ourselves to be true! What a pity!
This however does not stop me from speaking my mind frankly with my friends, cause I truely care about them. Fear wouldn't let me swallow my tongue and watch my friend as she walks to her doom. Let me be the evil witch for sometime, so what? She will then know that I was sincere. Truth is always painful. Sometimes girls even go on with their wrong choices because they are stubborn and want to live in denial. If they quit fearing what others will say, they will be strong enough to admit they were wrong and they will have a chance to make better choices.

Fantasia said...

Eyad:
Thanks for your encouragement. I will later write about men who called for women rights, I can't call them male feminists though. Good that you brought up the issue.
It is your right to see men as victims, they might be so, but in a totally different sense. We are talking here about sexism, not political or economical injustices.

Fantasia said...

eyad again:
You got a comment in "On Marriage and Slavery". Check it out.

Anonymous said...

dear fantasia
i totally agree with what u r saying,we shouldnt allow fear to stop us from caring about our friends and telling them the truth even if it's gonna be painful cause it is our duty to our friends to help them
maybe in time they will realize we care about them with no hidden intentions
infact fear is the main problem in our society if fear disappeared ,women will start to know their rights and fight for them
they always fear their parents,their reaction if they spoke their mind
i think gradually they should shed this fear away to be able to get to the core of their true self and be themselves without any masks they hide behind

"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid" - Audre Lorde