On Violence Against Women in Iraq -- and at Home

Lucinda Marshall at Feminist Peace Network has been doing some important writing about ongoing violence against women in Iraq. She also ties the growing expense of the war to underfunded programs in this country.

Start with “The Specific Impact of the Violence of War on the Lives of Iraqi Women,” which was reprinted at AlterNet, and also read “Girl, Age 11, Stoned to Death in Iraq,” “I’m in a Bad Mood – Part 1,” and “I’m in a Bad Mood – Part 2,” in which Marshall writes:

At what point do we truly stand with these women and say enough? At what point do we stand with the women in our own country and say enough? Catherine Miller, writing in the summer edition of Spheres Magazine points out women are 50% of the world’s population and we give birth to the other 50%. As she eloquently and succinctly says, “We are not powerless to stop wars.” And as a local activist friend recently pointed out, those of us who oppose this war in this country are now very much in the majority, it is time we started acting like it.

In October we will observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month. One of the things that we need to be aware of is that there is a direct connection between the money we spend destroying the lives of Iraqi women and the money that we don’t have to spend on domestic violence programs in this country. This year when we “Take Back the Night”, let’s do it in a 24 hour spanning the world kind of a way and take back the night for women everywhere.