AGENDA #74 – Rape

Poems will be considered for publication in Agenda 74, which will be published in the beginning of December 2007.

Poetry can be but does not have to be on the theme of rape.

Length of contributions: Poems have to fit a full page of Agenda (slightly bigger than A5)

Submission deadline: 14 September 2007

Submission requirements:

1. All submissions must be emailed to editor@agenda.org.za.
2. All submitted poems must come with a short bio and contact details of the author.
3. If you would like to publish anonymously please state so clearly in your submission.

Please feel free to forward this poetry call to anyone you think might be interested.

This is an article I wrote that is also published over at Wiretap Magazine; Find more stuff @ Kameelahwrites

______

I have been convinced that many large public schools function like factory systems. You pop in one student and with the appropriate manipulations, the necessary conveyor belt rides and some pedagogical alchemy and you get the school product: a depoliticized consumer who is more prepared to select the next game system to buy then to think critically about the social context that shapes his financially struggling neighborhood. John Dewey alludes to it, and Paulo Freire explicitly discusses it.

Sure, there is something more nuanced going on here with respect to student agency and the specificity of the school site etc., but follow my logic, even if incredulously so. Maybe, these are just the cliff note ramblings of Marxist critique or the strategic staging for the theatrical introduction of radical pedagogy, but ramblings and stagings that should not be so hastily abandoned.

Humor me for a moment, if we think about this factory model of education seriously, is it possible that schools are a site of (re)production? Do schools try to make certain type of students? What are the implications of this process? A new Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) report found that teachers tend to view the behavior of black girls as not “ladylike” and therefore focus disciplinary action on encouraging behaviors like passivity, deference, and bodily control at the expense of curiosity, outspokenness, and assertiveness.

Based on two years’ observation at a Texas middle school, the Ohio University study found that teachers’ class-and-race-based assumptions of black femininity made them more likely to discourage behaviors and characteristics that lead to class involvement and educational success.

Sadly, reports like these never seem to surprise me and now I have converted that management of surprise into excavating for deeper ideas and questions. This study makes me laugh, in a serious way of course, at how so many folks want to latch on to this idea of a “culture of poverty” of “hip-hop” or whatever to blame for the academic achievement of Black students, but what about the cultures of gendered muteness, and racialized womanhood rearing that explicitly train young Black women in behaviors that militate against their “educational success”?

[Read more…]

A tribute to Sajida Khan, who fought against global capitalism at the continent’s largest rubbish dump - a fight that cost her life. Sajida was a key activist against carbon trading and died as a direct result of the toxins emitted from illegal medical waste in an incinerator and waste from a nearly paper mill and sugar factory on her doorstep. The landfill site will continue to emit toxins for the next 27 20 years.

Below is the Google Earth rendition showing the landfill and the surrounding houses in Durban including her family’s.

Sometimes when lives are judged by visual victories, we see failures, and after all, the dump remains right outside Sajida’s front door after her 14 year fight. But on the other hand, if a life is judged by a legacy that endures and is built upon, hers is one of multiple larger victories: of a woman standing against male domination of nationalist politics, of knowledge about global capitalist ecology over amnesia, of ordinary people harnessing the most incredible forms of expertise so as to enter forums usually dominated by people with multiple degrees, and of a political ecology that is a politics of all the people. Whatever you might say about her race and class privilege, the final denominator is that she’ll die fighting the cancer infection, and fighting the dump that gave her that cancer. This was not a death of privilege, it was murder Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada [Ashwin Desai]

The government had repeatedly broken it’s promise to close the dump and the practice continued unchecked in the post Apartheid period. In 1996 a landfill in Umhlanga, white suburb in the north of Durban, began closing down. And where did the waste previously destined for Umhlanga go? To Bisasar Road.

According to Carl Albrecht, research director at the Cancer Association of SA,

‘Clare Estate residents are like animals involved in a biological experiment.’

Sajida Khan documented 70% of Bisasar Road households with tumor cases, not to mention severe respiratory problems. Bisasar Road toxic dumps are replicated across the continent and no one knows how many poor people, many unaware of the dangers of the air they breathe, have died and continue to die from this practice.

Sources:
see CCS also for an interview with Sajida and more on her work as an eco-feminist activist.

“Trouble in the Air: Global Warming and the Privatised Atmosphere” A Civil Society Energy Reader edited by Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada.

Links: South Africa: Durban’s perfume rods, plastic covers and sweet-smelling toxic dump

Tags: Sajida Khan; Africa; Carbon Trading; Toxic Waste; Durban + South Africa

Also, check me at: kameelahwrites

The invite to a party in Manhattan thrown by Maxim and Israel’s Consulate.
A photo of former Miss Israel Gal Gadot. This I remind you is a FORMAL invitation.

Israel, the country’s government wants you to know, is not just about wars, occupation and suicide bombings. There are women here, too, and some of them are as hot as the conflict zone they live in. read more

I honestly should be asleep, but could not pass up the opportunity to write about this. So, if I could not already be more disgusted by the propaganda ventures of Israel, they hit me with another one: using bikini clad former soldiers to promote a positive image of Israel abroad to the 18-38 male demographic. And who better to help in this project than Maxim magazine, an international men’s magazine that carries the tag line “Hot Girls, Sex, Sports…” The logic follows:

* Problem: “Israel’s image among men aged 18-38 is lacking,” an Israeli official noticed, according to Israeli Insider.
* Solution: Form an alliance with the magazine that rules that demographic, Maxim. read more

According to a Guardian article entitled “Women soldiers in their underwear: Israel’s image boost,” David Dorfman, an adviser at the consulate in New York, told the Associated Press: ”

Males that age have no feeling towards Israel one way or another, and we view that as a problem, so we came up with an idea that would be appealing to them.”

David Saranga, the consul for media and public affairs at the Israeli consulate in New York came up with the idea after looking over poll numbers that showed his country was not particularly well regarded in the United States, especially among the 18 to 35 crowd. Apparently, the Jewish state was perceived as “too religious and too militaristic for the tastes of most.” What better way to soften up this image than bikini clad women and sunny landscapes.

Maxim stated that “We are pleased with the result of our work together,” and produced a spread featuring four former soldiers photographed in their underwear in various locations throughout Tel Aviv. One of the women, Yarden talks about how she “enjoyed firing her M16 rifle before she entered the military intelligence corps.”

Maxim initially refused, but was swayed when provided with photos of 12 of Israel’s top models and two lobby groups, the American-Israel Friendship League and Israel21c, offered to subsidize the cost of flying a camera crew to Tel Aviv for three days of photography. While the magazine was in Israel, flights, hotel rooms, a bus and a tour guide were all paid for.

Not everyone is excited about the unholy tourist promotion alliance–especially Colette Avital, the first woman to seek Israel’s presidency last week. She said “This pornographic campaign sponsored by the Foreign and Tourism Ministries is an outrage.” Avital has already approached Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik and demanded an urgent meeting be called to discuss the campaign which Israel’s Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said the ministry has no connection to.

She additionally argued that

“Israel’s image has been tainted by sex-scandals involving high-ranking officials as it is. I wonder if the best way to encourage tourism is by advertising sex.”

Seconding Avital’s feelings is MK Zahava Gal-On who has said:

“It’s unfortunate that the Israeli consulate chose to emphasize Israel’s relevance with a portrait of a half-naked woman, instead of with one of women of substance and accomplishments.”

Ambassador Arye Mekel, consul-general of Israel in New York, has responded:

The pictures aren’t anything you wouldn’t see at a pool or a beach. Israel is always mentioned in the context of wars and violence. We want to show there is a normal life. Among the beautiful things we have are our women. We came there from 120 countries. Anytime you have a mix from any continents, you get very beautiful people. We don’t see having beautiful women as a problem. read more

Despite all the accusations, one of the models, Tali Handel, a former air force sergeant, believes that “this particular bit of bikini modeling draws from the same spirit as the original Israeli settlers.” She even said that it is “an act of Zionism.”

Handel further states that “[t]he fact that I can represent this country makes me very proud” and expects that the article will be “serious”–serious enough to encourage young Jewish males living in the United States to consider moving to Israel.

She finishes it off with saying:

I don’t see anything negative about it. Nothing else brings [people] here, not Jerusalem, not the beautiful nature. People are not interested. So, I think it’s okay to use something else to bring them.

Irrespective of the complaints, the “Women of the Israeli Defense Force” is due to drop in July on the tail of earlier accusations of using sex to sell Israel.

According to the Guardian article, the Maxim project the first time Israel has use sex to sell itself. The Israeli ministry of tourism has an advertising contract with Arsenal FC to promote Israel which features women in swimsuits.

Allegations of sex tourism were lodged earlier this year when it was announced that Hooters restaurant chain would be opening its first Israeli branch on the Tel Aviv beach fron later this year.

The Israeli government has taken the propaganda project to a new level with a MySpace page to promote its image and tourism.

I am looking forward to see what is next.

All of the outrage is hinged on a critique of objectifying women and the promotion of sex tourism. I believe that these are valid concerns and sites of organic outrage. However, what is more troubling about this situation is the way in which sex is being used not to promote tourism, but to promote and legitimize Zionism, as well as obscure the realities of Israeli subjugation, apartheid and colonialism. This is a propaganda project to rebrand Israel to shed a positive light on a very negative and destructive situation–a tits and ass diversion. So before Avital and Gal-On get on their high horses about feminism and the sexual exploitation of women, they should take a moment to examine how they reify other forms of exploitation. But, shhhhh! we cannot talk about that.

Update!

Former Miss Israel Gal Gadot, in New York yesterday, defends the photo shoot that her nation’s consulate reprinted on the invitation. She argued that she was just using her “assets” to improve Israel’s war-torn image and did not intend to offend anyone.

She had this to say:

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Israel is a democracy and that’s what it’s all about.”

I cannot even get started on how Israel is NOT a democracy.

“I’m not involved in politics, I leave that to the politicians.”

When you agree to a do a photo spread that tries to mythologize Israel and distract the public from ghastly realities then you have involved yourself in politics.

And Israeli Consul-General Arye Mekel had this to say:

“This is the first time we used the word ’shoot’ in connection to Israel and we’re not talking about killing people.”

Wow.

It is definitely bed time.

Israel
Maxim Magazine
Sex Tourism
Propoganda
Gender
Feminism
Politics

Fikirte who blogs at The Concoction has set up a new blog VAW: Do Something!
The site is an excellent resource with links to books; a guide for activists and researchers; types of violence and signs on what to look out for; campaigns, organisations and blogs as well as reportage and commentary. She explains the reason behind the blog as

A year ago when I was taking a course to become a volunteer advocate for survivors of violence against women, I naively said that I didn’t know a single woman who was a victim. The course opened my eyes to recognize the variety and degrees of abuse against women and now I see it everywhere. Not so surprising as the statistics is that one in three women is a victim of abuse.

A week after a very close friend of mine confided in me about the violence she and her thirteen year old daughter endured at the hands of the husband, the news about Kamilat Muhisin, a 21 year old Ethiopian woman who was a victim of acid attack, came out. (Updates of Kamila’s story are on Meskel Square and Ethio-Zagol. So, the least I can do is creat a blog with some information about violence against women, the types of violence, the campaign against a victim (it’s premeditated), global and local efforts to stop VAW , what individuals can do to stop VAW, policies needed…

This blog is also dedicated to raise funds for the organization where I volunteer, Harbor House.

Please help in any way you can - spread the world, share your stories, share what you know, help raise funds… Do something.

Fikirte list 16 forms of violence against women and girls. I believe we all know someone who has experienced violence whether in the home or on the streets at work or in social settings - whether it is physical, psychological, sexual or emotional - violence it is.

Fikirte’s challenge is for us to speak out, break the taboos of silence in our communities, silence the phallic women who tell us to “shut up” “put up” and “go home”! I cannot even count on my hands and feet the number of women I have personally known, including myself, who have been subjected to male violence of one form or the other. I remember the first time I was slapped. I remember it as clear as if it happened an hour ago. There were indications, warnings such as extreme jealousy; warnings from my father most of all but hey who listens to fathers (now he’s a teddy bear but growing up the man was was scary)? I was young and I didn’t see them or I didn’t want to.. It was in the car late at night coming home from a club in Lagos, just after driving over Eko bridge - something about I was flirting with other men. It started as an argument and whack, a back slap, there it came and I was silenced. I didn’t stay silent for long enough, and so it went on and got worse and worse until I finally left. This is a story repeated everyday all over the world for millions of women and only in telling our stories can we stop the conspiracy of silence that normalises violence against women.

If my speaking about this is read by one woman who takes courage from it and is able to care for herself and her children then it will be worth it.
[Read more…]