Segregated prayer?

An all-male committee of Saudi clerics recently pushed to ban women from praying at the Kaaba - part of the Haj pilgrimage - due to overcrowding. They backtracked on the proposition however, and actually expanded two areas for women's prayer. While the segregation of prayer sites seems ridiculously sexist to most Westerners, does the fact that they have bowed (slightly) to pressure by women activists reveal a growing sense of gender equality in Saudi Arabia?
It seems a small step to me, but a step in the right direction. Obviously, the culture is still offensively sexist, but perhaps this aversive reaction to the clerics will spark further efforts to treat women as equals in all facets of life, not just religion. What do you think?

Perils of Obedience?

Pretty much all of us like to tell ourselves that "it couldn't happen to me". We all like to imagine that we wouldn't have went along with the Nazis or, for a less extreme and more germane example, we wouldn't have shocked someone just because a guy in a lab coat said so. That was forty years ago, right? We're modern and educated, that wouldn't have fooled us.

Well, maybe not. Here's a very good and very disturbing article in the link above: (it'll take 10-20 minutes to read). Granted, the individual in question targeted people who were trained to be submissive to authority and wouldn't question him. Still, it's sickening that in this day, people can still be so easily taken in by this.

Only 3 weeks to "Save" Darfur?!

One of today's NYT's editorial reads: "Three Weeks to Save Darfur".
Oh really? Wow...a timetable? What a concept. Darfur will not be saved because there is no international will to save it. There is a lot of talk, but not much action. To boot, the African Union peacekeeping forces are set to leave Darfur at the end of this month. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has made it clear that he will not allow UN peacekeeping forces into his country.
So where does that leave the people of Darfur? Probably with more of the same as in the picture above. (this picture was taken by a colleague of mine who was working with the UN in Sudan during the summer months -- the picture shows a village in Darfur shortly after a Janjaweed attack)...

Child Brides in Afghanistan

A high proportion of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the legal age, according to reports from the Ministry
of Women's Affairs and NGOs. As many as 57 percent involve young women under 16 years of age, some of them as young as nine. More often, than not these young girls are married to middle-aged men who have had wives in the past and may even have children from previous marriages.

I did some independent research and found that according to Afghanistan's new constitution, the minimum age of marriage
for females is 16 and for males 18. However, in rural and even some urban areas the tradition of marrying off daughters while young in order to receive money remains common among the poor.

Are these young girls then seen as a commodity that can be sold off? How desperately poor would her parents be that they need to marry her off in order to be able to provide for themselves?

Pinochet: Full Circle

The Chilean Supreme Court has stripped former General/Dictator/President/Senator Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution for the torture of political activists and ordinary Chilean civilians in the 1970s. An estimated 3,000 Chileans were killed during Pinochet's 17-year rule of terror (1973-1990).

In an unbelievable full-circle, the current president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet and her mother were victims of Pinochet's infamous Villa Grimaldi prison in the 1970s.

But the debates in Chile are not so clear cut. Some still view him as a "necessary evil" -- he was able to jump start the Chilean economy through sometimes brutal neo-liberal reform. He ultimately relinquished the presidency peacefully after a mis-calculated plebscite that voted him out of office. He was able to command power, however, until 1998 as army commander-in-chief.

So, is Pinochet evil? or should he be revered as a "savior of the nation". After all, Chile is doing very well economically today, and it is a democracy. Should Pinochet be tried for his crimes against Chile or should be be pronouced a hero?

Secret CIA Prisons: Human Rights Violations?

On September 6, 2006 President Bush admitted to the presence of secret CIA detention centers located in other countries. Since he has recently transfered 14 prisoners to Cuba, the question remains: How will the terrorists be tried? President Bush expresses his hopes and views in this article. What do you think?

Guantanamo: A Violation of Human Rights?

Today the Bush Administration announced the transer of 14 key terrorist leaders to the US military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "The announcement from Bush is the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which had been reported in the media and the subject of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe."
The existence of Guantanamo Bay has sparked the debate over the rights of suspected terrorists and whether or not the United States is violating human rights through detention centers such as Guantanamo Bay. "The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees," not only in Guantanamo Bay but through 'extraordniary renditions.'
It will be interesting to see how the public as well as law makers view the public announcement and acknowledgement of Guantanamo Bay.

What is Evil?

Are humans inherently evil? Are they born that way? Do they suffer from the sin nature?
Can we overcome that? If so, how? Is looking out for your own interest evil?
Does the enviroment determine whether you are good or evil? What determines evilness?
Are people evil or are actions evil? Food for thought? What do you think?

Should Elvira Arellano be deported?

The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting article about the deportation order for Elvira Arellano -- the illegal Mexican immigrant holed up in her church in Chicago. A single mom, her son was born in America, and hence is an American citizen. Unfortunately, she is not. The issue really is at the heart of the illegal immigration debate on-going throughout the US right now. Should Elvira be deported? What happens to her US citizen son? Should he go with her back to her country of origin or should he stay here?
She is here illegally -- actually she entered the U.S. twice illegally and was once already deported. She is therefore bared from re-entering the US for at least 10 years. Her son, Saul, is 7 years old -- that means he would be 17 years old before he could come back to America with his mother -- although he could come back to the US at any time. His mother could actually win derivative status from her US citizen son -- but only once he turns 18 years old.
So what is right and what is wrong here? Should Elvira be sent back to Mexico, or should she be allowed to stay in the US with her US born son? what do you think?

The U.N.: Still a Useful organization?

In a recent Washington Post editorial, there was a suggestion that maybe the UN was still a useful organization -- just look at Lebanon and Darfur -- everyone turned to the UN for peacekeeping. Well, let's just look at that. It's quite striking to me that the war in Lebanon even took place to begin with and then was allowed to last so long. And Darfur? Well, the killing still continues on a daily basis -- African Union peacekeeping forces or not. So should we rate this as a success? After all, what other alternatives do we have, right?
That's just the point. The UN has failed miserably at peacekeeping and peacemaking. Should we be surprised? How could we be given the configuration of the international system? The UN is not meant to succeed -- and given its current configuration -- it never will.
Now this is not to suggest that we should turn to world government -- but if we truly want to have a more effective organization to curb war and human rights abuses we need to give it more power -- and by the way -- it can't simply be the lackey of any particular country or countries....