Disguising Oppression as Liberation: “Rescuing” the Muslim Woman

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, debunks the myth that foreign wars are being fought to secure more freedoms and rights for Muslim women.

Writing on his blog, Imperium, he states:

“Western media is awash with reports about Taliban mistreatment of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan that feature countless voices in support of the war to secure a 'brighter future for women's rights'. This week's Time magazine cover story is a case in point.

"If Western wars 'liberate' Eastern women, Muslim women would be - after centuries of Western military interventions - the most 'liberated' in the world. They are not, and will not be, especially when liberty is associated with Western hegemony.”

He continues:

“The same Orientalist civilising rationale that was used over centuries to justify bloody colonial wars is being used nowadays to manipulate a war-averse public into supporting military escalation in Central Asia.

"Western man's long-held fantasy of 'rescuing' veiled women from their repressive captors is being exploited to promote the idea that war can free women from the wrath of the 'bearded terrorists', as it 'liberates America' from their terrorism.

“Those who seek military solutions to social problems fail to make the distinction between Islam and the Taliban or between the cultural and religious aspects of life in Central Asia. Furthermore, they fail to explain why or how women's rights can be attained by military means.

“A century after English poet Rudyard Kipling first invoked the 'White Man's Burden' to explain the US' invasion and occupation of the Philippines, Washington and London continue to justify their military interventions, and occupation, on more of the same debunked falsehoods.

"It is scandalous that after the sham of the 'White Man's Burden' was exposed with the blood of millions, more of the same violence is justified under the pretext of a 'White Man and Woman's Burden'.

This is especially the case when many advocate the bombing of other cultures into social parity or cultural affinity with the West. Such dangerous eschatology that hopes to build on destruction will end up destroying entire Muslim societies for the charade of attaining women's liberty as the West fancies it.”

Writing on Muslim women, Bishara observes:

“As for Muslim women, there is no room in this war for what they stand for, their hopes or aspirations. Their voice is progressively silenced by the deafening sound of bombs and explosions.

"Eastern women have been the first civilian casualty of wars. How many mourning widows, mothers, sisters and daughters will it take to reject wars of choice and expose their alleged civilising mission? After decades of war, Iraq and Afghanistan are now nations of widows - five million and counting, according to some reports.”

Closer to home, we see the disconnect between the liberation narrative and reality when there is a widespread moves across Europe to ban the wearing of the burqa (the Islamic face veil) by women who choose to do so. If we are really in favour of liberating women then should we not allow them to make their own choice on whether they want to wear the burqa? These recent moves in Europe place restrictions on a woman's right to choose. France has voted to ban the burqa; Belgian lawmakers passed a ban on the burqa; Spain is following similar lines and Tory MP, Philip Hollobone, stirred similar sentiments in Britain when he introduced a private members' bill which would make it illegal for people to cover their faces in public. He has also expressed a refusal to see female constituents who wear the face veil.

On the antics of Philip Hollobone MP Immigration Minister, Damian Green, told the Sunday Telegraph that introducing measures that those taken in France and Belgium would be at odds with the UK's "tolerant and mutually respectful society".

A YouGov poll conducted on behalf of Channel 5 after these remarks showed that “67% of respondents agree that the burqa should be completely banned in Britain, with 42% of those in agreement feeling strongly”

Returning to Bishara's article, if we are to liberate Muslim women, should we not begin by putting our own house in order first?

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