Feisty Aphrodite Archives
Feisty Shout Out Newscast for Week Ending on 7/15/07
Taking a look at this week’s headlines concerning women’s issues around the world, honoring our Feisty Aphrodite media activist of the week and featuring music by independent artists provided by the Podsafe Network.
Listen to the Podcast
This week's featured Feisty Aphrodite: Sisterz of the Underground
Some of this week’s headlines:
Poll: Record Support for Impeaching Bush, Cheney
Paycheck Fairness Act Moves in the US House
New Armed Services Sub-Committee Chair Challenges Sexual Harassment in the Military
Bush to Veto Bill To Extend Health Insurance to 3.3 Million Children
Clinton, Edwards Plot Excluding Candidates From Debates
The Case of the Jena Six: Racism in America Prevails
LA Firefighter Wins $6.2 Million Harassment Case
Maliki Aide Accuses U.S. of Human Rights Abuses
Iranian Feminist Activist Sentenced to Lashes, Prison
Presidential Candidates In First Ever Gay Debate
Psychologists To Review Stance On Gays
This week's news contributors:
Free Speech Radio News
Feminist Daily News Wire
Women's ENews
365GayDotCom
GayWiredDotCom
Democracy Now!
BBC News
Inter Press Service News Agency
RuralPovertyPortalDotOrg
Uprising Radio
On Capitol Hill
Senate Panel Probes Weak NOLA Infrastructure
by Leigh Ann Caldwell
Free Speech Radio News
A US Senate panel is investigating why public works programs in New Orleans have not been rebuilt. The sewage system remains spotty, the drinking water system is on the verge of collapse and schools, libraries and firehouses remain abandoned. Officials blame FEMA and federal policy.
Poll: Record Support for Impeaching Bush, Cheney
Democracy Now!
A new poll shows record public support for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. According to the American Research Group, forty-five percent of Americans would back impeachment proceedings against Bush, while fifty-four percent would back the same against Cheney. A measure to impeach Cheney has attracted nine co-sponsors since Ohio Democratic Congressmember Dennis Kucinich introduced it earlier this year.
House Iraq Pullout Bill Leaves Thousands of Troops Behind
Democracy Now!
The House has approved a measure that would begin withdrawing combat troops from Iraq within the next three months. The final vote was two hundred twenty-three to two-hundred and one, mostly along party lines. Before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged lawmakers to vote “yes.” Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich was the lone anti-war Democrat to vote against the bill. The measure would remove most combat troops by April of next year but still leave tens of thousands soldiers behind.
GOP Senator Block Rest Measures For Returning Troops
Free Speech Radio News
Senate Republicans killed two measures on Wednesday to extend troop rest and recovery time. One would have given returning soldiers a minimum rest time equal to the length of their tours of duty. Both measures fell short of the 60 vote threshold imposed by Senate Republicans to force debate on any legislation regarding the Iraq War and the Defense Authorization Bill.
Paycheck Fairness Act Moves in the US House
Feminist Daily News Wire
The US House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protection held its second hearing Wedsnesday on the Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 1338). Representative Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), who introduced the bill, said in her written testimony, "In the more than ten years, I have spent working on these issues, we were not able to get a hearing on the bill. Now we have had two hearings in just three months. I am very proud of the momentum we are building."
Dr. Evelyn Murphy, a PhD economist, the former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and current president of The WAGE (Women Are Getting Even) Project, also testified at the hearing. Dr. Murphy explained that the existing gender wage gap will result in a young woman graduating from high school today making $700,000 less over the 35 years a woman typically works than a young man graduating at the same time. The disparity increases for women college graduates, who will lose $1.2 million over their work lives, and for those with law, medical, or MBA degrees, who will make $2 million less than their male counterparts.
With 224 cosponsors, it is anticipated that the Paycheck Fairness Act will be voted on in the House in the near future. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in the Senate (S 766), where it currently has 22 cosponsors.
Contempt Charges in Motion Against Former Bush Aide Miers
Free Speech Radio News
A House subcommittee set contempt charges in motion against former Bush Aide Harriet Miers. Claiming executive privilege under President Bush, Miers refused to testify before a congressional subcommittee on the firing of federal prosecutors. According to Reuters news service, internal documents reveal that Miers was involved in a plan that led to the dismissal of nine US Attorneys. The committee voted seven to five for contempt.
New Armed Services Sub-Committee Chair Challenges Sexual Harassment in the Military
Feminist Daily News Wire
Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), a member of the male-dominated House Armed Services Committee, announced that she plans to attack head-on the issue of sexual harassment in the military. As the newly named chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, she will now have the power to direct formal oversight of the issue. "Unfortunately, it is not just the enemy that women must defend themselves against. There have been far too many cases of military sexual trauma perpetrated by their male colleagues and commanders," Davis told Congressional Quarterly.
In 1990, the Department of Defense released the first major study of sexual harassment in the military, in which two-thirds of the active duty women who were interviewed reported being victims of some form of sexual harassment. The forms of harassment varied from pressure to perform sexual favors, to touching, to rape and attempted rape. Seventy-one percent of women who reported being harassed said they had suffered three or more forms of harassment.
The 2005 National Defense Authorization Act required the military to create annual reports on the prevalence of sexual assault. In the first year of the study there were 212,000 women in active duty in the military and 1,700 allegations of sexual assault. The second annual report showed a 40 percent increase, with 2,374 allegations of sexual assault, though the military says the rise may simply reflect an increase in reporting. The third annual report, released March 2007, showed a rise again, with nearly 3,000 reported cases, and the report also noted an increase in the punishment of offenders.
Bush to Veto Bill To Extend Health Insurance to 3.3 Million Children
Democracy Now!
In news from Washington, President Bush is threatening to veto a bill that would extend health insurance to an additional 3.3 million low-income children. Two weeks ago Senators reached a bipartisan agreement to add thirty five billion dollars to the Children's Health Insurance Program over the next five years by increasing federal taxes on cigarettes. Senators said the extra funding would help cover some of the nation's eight million uninsured children. But last Saturday the White House said President Bush would veto the bill.
Former Surgeon General Reveals Political Interference in Medical Decisions
Feminist Daily News Wire
Richard Carmona, the first surgeon general appointed by President George Bush, testified Tuesday that the Bush administration interfered with and censored his speeches on health issues, including stem cell research and sex education, in order to fit a political agenda. Carmona, who served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a House committee, "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," according to Reuters. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party."
During his time as surgeon general, Carmona oversaw a breakthrough report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. Even this, he said, was delayed for political reasons, the Los Angeles Times reports. Information on mental health, emergency preparedness, and global health was also subjected to political interference. When Carmona offered information on stem cell research, he said that he was "blocked at every turn" and told to "'stand down, don't talk about it,'" the Washington Post reports. His opinions on emergency contraception and disagreement with the administration's promotion of abstinence-only education were also blocked.
Carmona's testimony came just two days before a Senate committee held hearings on Bush's new nomination for surgeon general. The nomination of Dr. James Holsinger, who has written that homosexual activity puts people at risk for injury and disease and that lesbians and gay men can be "cured," had drawn sharp criticism and opposition from many public health and advocacy groups, including the Feminist Majority.
Senate Dems Move to Block Cheney Funding
Democracy Now!
Senate Democrats have taken steps towards cutting off funding for the office Vice President Cheney over Cheny’s refusal to comply with laws governing the handling of classified information. Cheney has tried to duck national security disclosure rules by arguing his office isn’t within the executive branch. He also tried to shut down the oversight office that asked him to comply. On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved to freeze nearly five million dollars in Cheney’s office funding until Cheney drops his refusal.
Concerns Raised Over FBI Spy Scheme
Democracy Now!
Meanwhile, privacy experts are raising alarm bells about a new FBI program that would pay private companies to hold millions of phone and Internet records the FBI is barred from keeping itself. Companies would be responsible for at least two years of network calling records. The program would allow the FBI to skirt laws banning the collection of data not directly connected to a criminal investigation or intelligence matter. The proposed companies involved are Verizon, MCI and AT&T.
Feminist Hypocrisy Watch: Sen. Vitter Exposed as Patron of Escort Service and Brothel
Feminist Daily News Wire
Louisiana Senator David Vitter (R) has admitted to patronizing a high-end DC escort service and has been implicated as a patron of a New Orleans high-priced brothel. On Monday evening, Sen. Vitter, who won his Senate seat in 2004 and will be up for reelection in 2010, released a statement acknowledging that he had been in contact with Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who released the phone records of her escort service earlier this year. Following Sen. Vitter's admission, former New Orleans madam Jeanette Maier, who pled guilty to running a brothel in 2002, revealed that Vitter had also visited her operation as a client, according to the Los Angeles Times. Many are pointing out the hypocrisy of Vitter's extramarital discretions, particularly because he ran for office as a self-described "conservative who opposes radically redefining marriage, the most important social institution in human history," according to the New York Times.
Palfrey, known as the "DC Madam," turned over the phone records of what she called her "legal, high-end erotic fantasy service" to ABC News earlier this year when facing charges of running a prostitution ring. Her strategy was to let the news channel "out" past clients who would serve as witnesses, supporting her claims that no prostitution occurred. A gag order was placed on the records, but has since been lifted. Hustler owner Larry Flynt has spearheaded the efforts to comb through the records and expose "moral hypocrites," the Washington Post reports.
In late April, when the records were first released, Randall Tobias, President Bush's former director of US Foreign Assistance and administrator of the Agency for International Development (USAID), was also implicated as a patron of Palfrey's service. An outspoken critic of programs delivering aid to sex workers and a stalwart advocate of abstinence-only sex education programs, Tobias quickly resigned from his post. Ironically, Sen. Vitter first entered national politics in a special election to replace former Representative Bob Livingston (R-LA). Rep. Livingston, who was one of the strongest critics of former President Bill Clinton's relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky, resigned after it was made public that he had also been involved in an extramarital affair. Read the entire story here.
Other U.S. News
Clinton, Edwards Plot Excluding Candidates From Debates
Democracy Now!
Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator John Edwards have been caught discussing an apparent plan to exclude other Democratic candidates from future debates. On Thursday, Edwards and Clinton were speaking privately after an NAACP Presidential Forum in Detroit. Unaware their microphones were still on, Edwards is overheard saying “We should try to have a more serious and a smaller group.” Clinton agreed, responding, “We’ve got to cut the number...They’re not serious.” Clinton also indicated the two had discussed the plan before, telling Edwards “we’ve got to get back to it.” In response, Ohio congressmember and Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich said, “No matter how important or influential they perceive themselves to be, [candidates] do not have and should not have the power to determine who is allowed to speak to the American public and who is not. Imperial candidates are as repugnant to the American people and to our Democracy as an imperial President.”
Top U.S. Firefighters’ Union Urge Opposition to Giuliani
Democracy Now!
In other campaign news, the nation’s largest union of firefighters has released a new video urging members not to support the campaign of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Titled “Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend”, the International Association of Fire Fighters video criticizes Guiliani’s handling of the 9/11 aftermath. The video blames Giuliani for faulty equipment that hindered the recovery and accuses him of prioritizing a search for bank-owned gold buried beneath the rubble over recovering the remains of the victims. Watch the video here.
Delaware Legislature to Lift Time Limit for Sexual Abuse Victims
Feminist Daily News Wire
Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner will soon sign a bill eliminating a two-year civil statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases. The bill, which is described as the strongest of its kind in the nation, passed through the Delaware House and Senate last month on a unanimous vote, reports The News Journal, a Wilmington newspaper.
Because it can often take years for victims of sexual abuse to press charges, the bill will also provide a two-year period for victims to renew claims that were previously barred by the time limit. “Our children are very lucky to be protected,” Minner told The News Journal. “Some states have practically no law at all.”
California was the first state to pass this type of bill in 2002. Approximately a dozen other states have considered pursuing similar legislation, and an initiative in Washington, D.C. looks likely to pass.
Nebraska Judge Declares Mistrial in Rape Case after Language Ban
Feminist Daily News Wire
District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront declared a mistrial Thursday in a Nebraska rape case in which the alleged victim would have been unable to say certain words, including "rape" and "assault". Tory Bowen has accused Pamir Safi with raping her in 2004 when he allegedly knew that she was too intoxicated to give consent. Her trial, which was slated to begin next week, drew national attention after Judge Cheuvront banned several terms, supposedly because they would prejudice the jury. Bowen pledged to do her best to follow the language ban, but refused to sign a statement that she would comply. Both Cheuvront and the Nebraska Supreme Court refused to hear motions challenging the language ban.
The trial would have been the second against Bowen's alleged attacker. The first, which also included the language ban, was in 2006 and ended in a hung jury. Lawyers for the accused maintain that Cheuvront's language ban was essential to ensuring Safi's rights. Cheuvront made his ruling based on a 35-year-old state law that allows judges to bar terms that risk misleading the jury.
If Bowen fails to obey the language restriction in a courtroom, she could face jail time. She still would not sign the formal statement, saying, "I want the freedom to be able to point to [Safi] in court and say, 'That man raped me,'" according to the Associated Press. Advocates for sexual violence victims are outraged by the judge's decision, saying that it discourages rape victims from bringing their cases to court. It is now up to the county prosecutor whether or not to pursue another trial, reports the Beatrice Daily Sun, a Nebraska local newspaper.
Battered Women in U.S. Face Higher Risk of Abuse During Pregnancy
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
One in 20 pregnant women in the United States are abused or killed during their pregnancies, totaling 324,000 each year. Four pregnant U.S. women--Tasha Nowlin, Dawna Wright, Jennifer Nielsen and Jessie Davis--were killed in a six-day span in June, highlighting the level of violence. Women in abusive relationships often experience escalating violence during their pregnancy.
The Case of the Jena Six: Racims in America Prevails
Democracy Now!
Last December, six black students at Jena High School were arrested after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The six black students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The Jena Six, as they have come to be known, range in age from 15 to 17 years old. Just over a week ago, an all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17 year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison. Black residents say that race has always been an issue in Jena, which is 85 percent white, and that the charges against the Jena Six are no exception. The origins of the story can be traced back to early September when a black high school student requested permission to sit under a tree in the schoolyard where usually only white students sat. The next day three nooses were found hanging from the tree. Read/Watch the entire interview with parents of the Jena Six, along with some of the documentary by Big Noise Films, by clicking here.
Racial Discrimination in Mortgage Lending
Uprising Radio
A new report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition has found that racial discrimination persists in the mortgage loan industry. Upon examining major metropolitan areas in the nation, the NCRC concluded that black and Latino minorities were disproportionately more likely to receive high-cost loans than whites. Based on 2005 data from the Federal Reserve the report also found that the highest disparity between minorities and whites existed in middle and upper income levels. For instance, middle to upper class blacks were found to be twice as likely to have high-rate loans. According to the NCRC, high-rate loans which start out low but climb higher over the course of eighteen months leave minority communities especially susceptible to foreclosures. As a result of the study’s findings the NCRC is calling on Congress to pass two key pieces of legislation to reform lending laws and end racial discrimination. Listen to the entire story here and view the report here.
Friday Marked the 40th Anniversary of the Newark Rebellion
Democracy Now!
Forty years ago, Newark erupted. Followed by Detroit, then city after city across the United States exploded in spontaneous uprisings by disaffected African American communities who were met with brutal violence by police and National Guardsmen. In Newark, 26 people were killed and 43 in Detroit. Thousands more were injured. At the height of the Detroit Rebellion on July 28th, 1967 President Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to investigate the root causes of the unrest. Their final report known as the Kerner Commission Report famously concluded that the United States was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.” Listen to the entire program about the history of the Newark Rebellion along with interviews from participants and victims presented by Democracy Now! by clicking here.
LA Archdiocese to Pay $660 Million In Sexual Abuse Trial
Democracy Now!
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay at least 660 million dollars to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating back as far as the 1940s. The settlement is the largest in any Roman Catholic diocese. Attorney Ray Boucher said the final payout could be even larger. Overall the Catholic Church in the United States has so far paid more than two billion dollars in settlements and legal judgments to victims of sexual abuse and their families. Cardinal Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese issued an apology on Sunday.
Jury Sides with Fresno State Women's Volleyball Coach
Feminist Daily News Wire
Lindy Vivas, Fresno State's women's volleyball coach, was awarded damages on Monday after alleging that the school discriminated against her based on her perceived sexual orientation and because she advocated for better access to sports facilities for women athletes. Vivas sought the case in 2004 after her contract was not renewed just two years after she led the team to the best year in its history, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. Still, Fresno State officials have announced that they will appeal the decision, upholding their position that the decision to fire Vivas was based on poor job performance.
"The jury saw exactly what was happening," Vivas told the Associated Press. "[School officials] were targeting me, but what keeps getting lost in all this was there were 14 student-athletes who were caught in the crossfire." The $5.852 million award was based on Vivas' back-wages, future lost pay, and emotional distress. Vivas' lawyer, Dan Siegel, told the AP that this may be the largest sum of money granted to a coach suing under Title IX.
LA Firefighter Wins $6.2 Million Harassment Case
Feminist Daily News Wire
In the largest in a series of recent discrimination cases against the Los Angeles Fire Department, a jury sided with a woman firefighter who said she endured harassment on account of her gender, race, and sexual orientation. In addition to her $6.2 million award, Brenda Lee also won $2,500 in punitive damages by the same court. Lee, 39, who served at Station 96 in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles, claimed that her superiors made derogatory remarks about her and forced her to participate in arduous drills without adherence to proper safety protocols. Additional harassment allegations included the mixing of urine into her mouthwash, Lee told the AP. However, when she sued the LAFD for discrimination in 2005 she was promptly declared unfit for duty.
The AP also reports that two others firefighters who worked with Lee have won jury awards after filing lawsuits contending that they were punished for supporting her. In 2006, a LAFD department audit performed by Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick reported that 87 percent of the African Americans and close to 80 percent of the women surveyed said that they were aware of or had been the victims of discrimination while serving on the force.
Iraq/Afghanistan News
Poll: 70% Favor Iraq Withdrawal by April ‘08
Democracy Now!
A new poll from Gallup and USA Today shows more than seven out of ten Americans want a full US withdrawal by April of next year. President Bush’s approval rating has also fallen to a record low of twenty-nine percent.
Iraq, Afghan Wars Costing $12B/Month
Democracy Now!
Meanwhile a new Congressional estimate says the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now costing around twelve billion dollars a month. Congress has spent four-hundred fifty billion dollars on the Iraq war alone.
Urging War Support, Bush Repeats 9/11 Link to Iraq
Democracy Now!
The House vote to begin bringing some of the troops home came hours after President Bush released an interim progress report that says the Iraqi government has failed to meet most key benchmarks set by Congress. These include the passage of a U.S.-backed oil law heavily criticized by Iraqi unions. Speaking at the White House, Bush dismissed recent polls showing seventy-percent of Americans back a withdrawal and called on Congress to continue funding the war. The president also repeated his erroneous linkage of the Iraq war to 9/11 saying, “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that's why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”
Report: Nearly Half of Foreign Militants in Iraq Are Saudi
Democracy Now!
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that nearly half of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops in Iraq have come from Saudi Arabia – one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East. Of the 19,000 prisoners being held by the U.S. in Iraq only 135 are foreign-born fighters and half of them are Saudi. U.S. officials have so far refused to publicly criticize Saudi Arabia's role in Iraq. Meanwhile in Washington the Democratic-led Senate has unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Independent Senator Joe Lieberman to censure not Saudi Arabia but Iran for complicity in the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Lieberman said the Senate has a "choice between turning a blind eye to the murder of our troops and confronting those who are murdering them."
Hundreds of Iraqis Killed at Checkpoints In the Last Year
Free Speech Radio News
Military statistics obtained by a McClatchy Newspaper reporter reveal that US soldiers wounded or killed nearly 430 Iraqi civilians at checkpoints or near patrols in the past year. The figure does not include the number of Iraqi civilians killed by US forces in raids, detentions, or in crossfire during fighting with insurgents.
U.S. Fingerprinting, Scanning Thousands of Iraqis
Democracy Now!
Privacy concerns are being raised over a U.S. military program that is taking fingerprints and eye scans from thousands of Iraqi men and inputting them into a Pentagon database. USA Today reports Iraqis have been stopped at checkpoints, workplaces and sites of attacks and scanned by U.S. troops. Between five to ten thousand Baghdad residents have been scanned since March. Iraqis face being barred from their neighborhoods if they refuse the biometric scans.
Witnesses: U.S. Chopper Kills Iraqi Civilians, Journalist
Democracy Now!
In news from Iraq, at least sixteen people were killed Thursday in clashes between U.S. troops and Shiite militias in Baghdad. The dead included a photographer for the Reuters news agency and his driver. They apparently came under fire from a U.S. helicopter. Residents say the remaining dead were civilians, including at least two children. An Agence France Press journalist who interviewed witnesses on the scene said the helicopter appeared to indiscriminately fire on any gathering of people in the area.
Maliki Aide Accuses U.S. of Human Rights Abuses
Democracy Now!
Meanwhile a top adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused U.S. forces of human rights violations in part for carrying out bombing raids that have killed innocent civilians. Hassan al-Suneid also criticized the U.S. for arming former Sunni insurgent groups in an attempt to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.
U.S. Intensifies Air War in Iraq
Democracy Now!
This comes as the U.S. continues to intensify its air war in Iraq. The Associated Press reports the Air Force and Navy aircraft dropped five times as many bombs in the first six months of this year as it did in the same period in 2006. The Air Force has also been expanding its air bases in Iraq and adding entire squadrons of attack planes to its fleet in Iraq. Meanwhile the Air Force is preparing to start using a new robotic fighter jet in Iraq known as the Reaper. The AP describes the Reaper as a hunter killer drone that can be operated by remote control from thousands of miles away.
UN Launches Urgent Appeal for Iraqi Refugees
Democracy Now!
In other Iraq news, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has issued an urgent appeal for more funding to aid Iraqi refugees. Nearly four million Iraqis have been internally displaced or left Iraq. The UN says that number is growing by around two thousand people fleeing their homes each day.
3 Killed in Attack on Baghdad Green Zone
Democracy Now!
Meanwhile in Iraq, three people including a US soldier were killed in an attack on the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad. It’s believed to be the most intense mortar fire the Green Zone has seen to date. Eighteen people were wounded.
Military Judge OKs New Trial for Watada
Democracy Now!
A military court has issued a new judgment in the case of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to serve in the Iraq war. Last Friday, Lieutenant Colonel John Heed ruled military officials have the right to charge Watada for a second time. Watada’s lawyers had argued a second trial would amount to double jeopardy. Watada’s first trial ended in a mistrial. Watada faces six years in prison if convicted.
Army Falls Short of Recruiting Goals
Democracy Now!
And finally, the US army has announced its failed to meet recruiting goals for the second straight month. A Pentagon official said the military was more than one thousand recruits short of meeting its goal for June.
International News
Iranian Feminist Activist Sentenced to Lashes, Prison
Feminist Daily News Wire
An Iranian women's rights activist was sentenced on Monday, July 2, to 10 lashes and nearly three years in prison for her participation in a 2006 protest at Tehran Square. Delaram Ali, 24, along with nearly 70 others, was detained for several days after being arrested for protesting Iran’s discriminatory laws against women. Among other demands, the women called for divorce reform, equal inheritance laws, and the equal treatment of women’s testimonies in the eyes of the court in Iran. Read the entire story here.
More Arab Women in Israel Seeking Assistance for Surviving Sexual Assaults
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
The Nazareth-based organization Women Against Violence, as a direct result of media coverage of the rape case against former Israeli president Moshe Katsav, reports that the number of Arab women seeking assistance in dealing with sexual assault rose 23 percent in May and June, compared to the same period last year. About 100 Arab women approached the group, director Aida Toma-Suleiman said, noting that Arab women are often reluctant to report sexual crimes.
1-Year Mark of Israeli War on Lebanon, Amnesty Calls for War Crimes Charges Against Israel and Hezbollah
Democracy Now!
In other Israeli news, this week saw the one-year anniversary of Israel’s month-long attack on Lebanon. The invasion came after Hezbollah fighters killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a raid near the border. Hezbollah said it launched the attack to recover its prisoners captured in previous Israeli cross-border raids and to ease an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. More than twelve hundred Lebanese died in the ensuing war, most of them civilians. One-hundred fifty-eight Israelis were killed, most of them soldiers. One year on, Lebanese professor Amal Saad Ghorayeb says Hezbollah maintains its high standing in Lebanon.
In a report released to mark the war’s first anniversary, Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into war crimes committed by each side. The report criticizes both Hezbollah for firing nearly four thousand rockets at Israeli cities and Israel for bombing civilian areas and dropping more than a million cluster bombs, most in the last few days of the war. Amnesty says Israel should hand over maps of areas in Lebanon where the cluster bombs were dropped. Amnesty also says the UN should impose an arms embargo on both sides until restrictions can be imposed to ensure compliance with international law.
Men Can Mend Maternal Care
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
In commemoration of World Population Day on July 11, the United Nations Population Fund has called on men around the world to become partners in maternal health care. "Experience shows that men's involvement and participation can make all the difference. By discouraging early marriage, promoting girls' education, fostering equitable relationships and supporting women's reproductive health and rights, progress is made," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Population Fund's executive director. "It is time for all men as fathers, brothers, husbands, community and religious leaders, and government officials to become partners in maternal health."
About 525,600 women die annually from pregnancy and childbirth complications. Every minute, a woman loses her life. And for every woman who dies, 20 experience serious complications such as obstetric fistula, a debilitating childbirth injury that affects more than 2 million women around the world. The U.N. will work with governments and other partners to guarantee that every woman has access to three reproductive health services saving women's lives: voluntary family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care if complications arise during delivery. For instance, international relief groups are training Darfuri midwives to help reduce Sudan's maternal mortality rates, currently the fifth highest in the world.
Kudos to Kenyan Women: How the Kenya Women Finance Trust Became a Model Lender
RuralPovertyPortaldotOrg
Sometimes, numbers speak louder than words. Six years ago, the Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) was losing around US$290,000 a year. By 2006, it was posting annual profits of US$1.87 million and changing the lives of more than 100,000 poor women. By any standard, this is a remarkable turnaround. As its name suggests, the Kenya Women Finance Trust is a microfinance institution established by Kenyan women and offering services only to low-income Kenyan women. The UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Belgian Survival Fund, has been a major donor since 1992.
The trust now has 46 rural branches in eight regions of Kenya, compared with 24 branches in four regions in 1998. More than 100,000 low-income Kenyan women are running small businesses with loans from KWFT, compared with just under 29,000 in 2000. The women report that their lives have improved as a result of their relationship with KWFT. It is not just the women who benefit, but their husbands, children and extended families.
The number of loans managed by each credit officer has grown to 404 from 287. Member savings have soared to US$16.8 million from US$2.2 million. IN 2006, KWFT disbursed US$52 million in loans to its clients. Clearly, in the past six years the trust has surpassed all of its development objectives by a significant margin.
Equally importantly, KWFT is still reaching its original target group of poor women. While some women have advanced through many loan cycles, creating bigger businesses and taking out larger loans, most of the trust’s borrowers are poor women. First loans for newcomers still start at US$100 to US$200. The fact that most of the trust’s clients continue to borrow, loan cycle after loan cycle, shows that they consider KWFT’s services beneficial for themselves and their households. Read the entire story here.
"Nairobi Call to Action" Plan to Increase Women's Rights in Africa
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
A 10-point action plan, the Nairobi Call to Action, was developed by 2,000 delegates from 95 nations during the International Women's Summit on HIV and AIDS that concluded in Kenya on July 7. The 10 points call for meaningful involvement of women in health policy and political decision-making; promoting gender equality and the human rights of women and girls; ensuring their physical, sexual and psychological safety and security; and ensuring their education, economic security and access to resources, including the right to own and inherit property. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa's deputy president, urged African journalists to "rebrand" Africa by taking into consideration the "positive social, political and economic development witnessed all over the continent".
Child Bride Symbolises Reasons Why Millenium Development Goals Will be Missed
by Stephanie Nieuwoudt
Inter Press Service News Agency
The woes of the child bride in many ways illustrate the conditions underlying the failure of African countries to achieve many of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The recently released United Nations report entitled "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007" states that "although there have been major gains in several areas and the goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms". Many of the MDGs deal directly with children and women, such as targets to reduce child mortality, maternal mortality, increasing enrolment at primary education level and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
African newspapers regularly feature articles on the plight of child brides. In societies where girl children as young as ten years are married off, there is a failure to meet the MDG which makes provision for primary education for all children by 2015 (MDG 2). Young brides are taken out of school to meet the demands of their husbands. When a young girl of 12 or 13 becomes pregnant, there is also an increased risk that she may die in childbirth or during pregnancy. Not only is her body not yet properly developed to carry a child to term, but lack of access to medical care in the rural areas further increases her chances of dying.
MDG 5 is aimed at the improvement of maternal health and reducing the maternal mortality rate by three quarters by 2015. Pregnant women of all ages are at risk, but a young girl even more so. Lack of education and early marriage draw the child bride into a spiral of poverty, addressed in MDG 1 which is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. According to MDG 3, gender equality and the empowerment of women should be promoted. Needless to say, a girl who marries prematurely probably has little experience of equality in a marriage and will probably not be empowered. MDG 6 is aimed at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The child bride is at increased risk as she is often the third or fourth wife of a much older man. This exposes her to the HIV virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. Due to her young age and lack of knowledge, she may also be more vulnerable to other diseases.
Although HIV infections have decreased in the developing world, deaths from AIDS continue to rise in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the 39,5 million people who have the illness worldwide, live in this region. Africans dying annually from AIDS rose from some 200,000 in 1990 to two million in 2006. The sharing of contaminated needles in drug use has emerged as a worrying new cause of HIV infections in especially Mauritius, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. Globally an increasing number of married women are becoming infected with some 48 percent of people infected with HIV being women.
The report also shows that prevention measures are inefficient, that most young people do not have a comprehensive grasp of HIV and that only 11 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women in low- and middle income countries were receiving services to prevent the transmission of the virus to their newborns. However, HIV prevalence has shown a slight decline between 2000 and 2006 in sub-Saharan Africa. At a recent international summit in Nairobi on Women’s Leadership on HIV/AIDS organised by the Young Women’s Christian Association, World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan said that gender inequality and domestic violence are among the factors which drive the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She pointed out that 500,000 babies are born with the virus every year and 80 percent of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. Read the entire story here.
Indian Religious Board Issues Fatwa Against Women Praying in a Mosque
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
After a group of women were invited by a cleric to pray in a mosque in Howli, India, the mosque's board issued a fatwa order declaring that women could not pray there. During the June 29 prayers, the women were careful to stay in a separate enclosure from the men, but the fatwa said it was un-Islamic for them to pray in the mosque at all.
Red Mosque Standoff Ends
by Aura Bogado
Free Speech Radio News
Pakistani security forces have completed their raid of Islamabad's Red Mosque after storming the compound early Monday morning. The controversial mosque had been the site of an eight-day standoff with Islamic militants, which started with a shoot out between religious students and Pakistani security forces last Tuesday. At least 100 people died in the takeover, including eleven soldiers. Clerics at The Red Mosque have been advocating for the implementation of strict Islamic Sharia law in the Pakistani Capital and students from the Mosque's religious school recently kidnapped six Chinese nationals for running a massage parlor. Neither the press nor the student's parents have been allowed near the compound and hospitals have also been sealed off, making the official death toll hard to confirm. The massive raid has put President Pervez Musharraf in a difficult position – between Radical Muslims who want an Islamic Republic, and secularists who want a democracy. Since the mosque raid, at least 70 people have been killed in suicide attacks by pro-Taliban groups. Listen to the entire story here.
Turkey's People To Vote on Electoral Referendum
Ezgi Saritas
Free Speech Radio News
Turkey stands at the brink of launching a military operation in Iraqi-Kurdistan as it amasses 140,000 troops at Iraq's northern border. A Turkish military invasion of northern Iraq poses the threat of postponing parliamentary elections, scheduled for July 22. However, Turkish media has recently reported that the government could request parliament's authorization to send in the military as early as this week. Meanwhile, Turkey's highest court has rejected an appeal by the president to quash an upcoming referendum on electoral reforms. The reform package, put forth by the ruling Justice and Development Party, would make it possible for the president to be elected by a popular vote. The office of President is currently elected to a seven year term by the Turkish Parliament. Listen to the entire story here.
Turkey's Brothels Produce Two Election Candidates
by Nicholas Birch
Women's ENews
Two former prostitutes are running for seats in Turkey's July 22 election to raise awareness about the stigma sex workers face in the nation's Muslim culture. With little chance for political victory, they say their goal is to change society instead. Raped by her uncle when she was 9 and sold into prostitution by a man who had promised to marry her, Ayse Tukrukcu remembers her first day at a state-controlled brothel in the southern Turkish city of Mersin like it was yesterday. It's been more than a decade since she paid off the $12,000 price she was sold for. Now, in an effort to draw attention to the plight of Turkey's 3,000 state-registered prostitutes, she's running as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections on July 22.
Running for political office from the margins, Tukrukcu is one of thousands of candidates in an election that has been defined by a national debate over Turkey's delicate balance between its staunchly secular state and popular support for a conservative government that has its roots in political Islam. Analysts expect that women will double their ranks and win about 10 percent of the seats and the Justice and Development Party will maintain control of parliament. Its first task following the election will be to select a president, and the prospect of a government fully dominated by the Islamic faction has heightened political tensions over the past two months.
For Saliha Ermez, who escaped in 2002 from another state-run brothel in southern Turkey and is now standing alongside Ayse Tukrukcu as an independent candidate, the worst thing about having worked as a registered prostitute in Turkey is that you're labeled for life. She's not just talking about those ex-prostitutes who fall afoul of this predominantly Muslim country's conservative morals, sacked from new jobs when their former identity became clear. She's talking about the way her daughter's hopes of becoming a police officer collapsed when her mother's record was revealed in a background investigation. A statute passed in 1930 requires prostitutes working in official brothels to register with the police. Though the records are theoretically secret, they can be used in cases of national security, such as investigating the identities of people joining the security forces.
The obstacle to change is not necessarily the Islamic government. Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party has pushed through some of the most significant legal reforms benefiting women in the 84-year history of the Turkish Republic. In 2004, a constitutional amendment guaranteed equality between men and women. That year also saw major reforms to the nation's penal code that criminalized marital rape and sexual harassment in the workplace, and stiffened penalties for honor killings. The government also launched programs to address domestic violence and improve access to education for girls. The problem, as is so often the case in Turkey, lies in a legislation that is opaque and frequently ignored by state officials contemptuous of the rule of law.
While both candidates admit they have almost no chance of winning the 60,000 votes needed for a parliamentary seat, they say they've been overwhelmed by the support they've received by ordinary people on the street. Baskin Oran, a dissident university professor who is also standing as an independent candidate, says that five years ago Tukrukcu's and Ermez's campaigns would have never happened without the reforms spurred by Turkey's bid to join the European Union. "People who before were too frightened to speak out are beginning to make their voices heard," he says, "and there are people out there willing to listen." Read the entire story here.
Russia Suspends Cold War Arms Control Treaty
Democracy Now!
Russia has suspended a key Cold War arms control treaty in part to protest U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty limits the number of heavy weapons deployed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Urals mountains. Russia's decision comes five years after the Bush administration withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Kosovo Independence Contentious Issue at U.N.
Haider Rizvi
Free Speech Radio News
Diplomats at the UN are locked in tough and cumbersome negotiations to decide the future of Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province which has been administered by the UN for the past 8 years. A draft resolution is under discussion these days in the UN Security Council to allow Kosovo Albanians to achieve a relative independence from Serbia. But its sponsors, the United States and its European allies, have so far failed to convince Russia to go along with them. The Russians and Chinese say no resolution for Kosovo's supervised independence would be acceptable unless both the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians reach an agreement with each other. For his part, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, has warned of negative consequences in the Balkan region and Europe if the Security Council fails to resolve this issue soon. Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999, when it took charge of the territory following a NATO bombing campaign targeting Serb forces. Kosovo, a province of the former Yugoslavia in the south of Serbia has a population of of over two million people, who are predominantly ethnic Albanians seeking separation from Serbia.
Head Cameras 'Help Tackle Abuse'
BBC News
Police officers in England and Wales will be issued with head cameras in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour and violence in the home. The move comes after a report was published into a pilot project conducted in Plymouth. The Home Office will fund the £3m rollout, following the success of the Devon scheme, where action against offenders rose by more than a third. Police Minister Tony McNulty said the devices were "very effective". Headcams record video pictures, giving an eye-level view of incidents, onto a portable computer drive. The cameras means video can be used in court as evidence giving offenders less opportunity to deny their involvement. Sandra Horley, chief executive of charity Refuge, which helps victims of domestic violence, said she welcomed the use of cameras to obtain evidence against those who commit domestic violence. "Domestic violence has the highest rate of repeat victimisation than any other crime and every week two women are killed." However, Ms Horley did say the use of headcams was still in its early days and that their effectiveness still needed to be proved.
In January, British Crime Survey figures for "intimate violence" suggested in the previous year 60,000 women had been raped, 660,000 women had been sexually assaulted and 120,000 women had been partially choked or strangled by a partner. And last month the British Medical Association warned that domestic violence was on the increase and urged health professionals to look out for signs of abuse. Some UK Domestic Violence Statistics: One woman in four is physically abused by a partner during her life; Two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner; In 90% of incidents children are in the same or next room; Domestic violence affects all races, classes and both genders. Read the entire story here.
London Begins Rewards for Tips to Prosecute Female Genital Mutilation
Jacqueline Lee & Nouhad Moawad
Women's ENews
London's Metropolitan Police has offered a $40,000 reward for information to prosecute female genital mutilation. The penalty for arranging or performing the procedure is up to 14 years in prison, but no one has been prosecuted under the laws that ban it so far. An estimated 66,000 cases have occurred in Britain, primarily among immigrant communities where the custom is practiced in the sending nations.
Mass Legal Action Over Equal Pay
BBC News
Legal action to secure equal pay for women in the public sector is being launched by Wales' largest trade union. Unison, which represents more than 95,000 members in Wales, 65% of them female, said its campaign was on behalf of thousands of underpaid women. It said local councils had not stuck to the April 2007 deadline of a three-year deal agreed to end pay discrimination. Councils have said they are committed to equal pay but have warned of the financial effect on their services.
The union said it has been left with "no alternative" to mass litigation. The deal, made in April 2004, had seen councils commit to negotiating new equal pay salary structures. But none of the 22 unitary authorities in Wales had so far introduced this, according to the union. This was despite Neath Port Talbot and Torfaen councils paying out £11m compensation to more than 4,00 women employees for past pay discrimination. As well as taking action in cases where there were "reasonable prospects" for success, the union said it also intended continuing discussions with councils to arrive at a settlement.
Unison and the GMB warned in March that Welsh councils may face legal action unless their female employees were paid the same as men. At the time, the Welsh Local Government Association said councils were committed to equal pay but warned the £300m bill could affect council projects such as school building or road repairs. Unison has said that local government trade unions will lobby Welsh MPs for additional funding to help councils meet the added financial burden of bringing in equal pay. Tuesday will mark a decade since councils signed an agreement with trade unions committing them to ending pay discrimination. Read the entire story here.
Garnier, Adecco Fined for Racism
BBC News
The French cosmetics company, Garnier, and Swiss employment agency Adecco have been found guilty of carrying out a racist recruitment campaign in 2000. A French appeals court overturned an earlier acquittal and ruled both companies had colluded to find only white women to sell make-up in Paris. They were fined 30,000 euros ($40,865) and a former Adecco employee was given a three-month suspended jail sentence. Garnier's parent company, L'Oreal, said it was not racist and would appeal. Adecco, the world's biggest employment agency, said it was astonished by the ruling and was considering an appeal.
The Paris Appeal Court found that Adecco had complied with what prosecutors said were coded instructions from Garnier to find only young, white women for its counters in the capital. The court was shown a Garnier memo requesting "BBR" women - an acronym for "bleu-blanc-rouge" or "blue-white-red", the colours of the French flag in French. Prosecutors said the term was a racist code for excluding black, Arab or Asian women. The term is also used in the literature of the far-right National Front party in France.
Therese Coulange, a former Adecco employee, was given a three-month suspended prison sentence. However, the former Garnier director, Laurent Dubois, and another Adecco employee were acquitted. The ruling was the first time in France that blue-chip companies have been convicted of racial discrimination in hiring. The charges had originally been dismissed by a civil court in June 2006 on the grounds that there was sufficient doubt about their guilt. Read the entire story here.
Filipinos Brace Themselves for the Human Security Act of 2007
Uprising Radio
This weekend, the Government of the Philippines will enact the so-called “Human Security Act of 2007.” The legislation, which officially attempts to increase security using tough measures against domestic terrorism, will grant newer and broader authorities to state and police forces. Despite President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s insistence that the Human Security Act will be implemented with full respect for civil liberties, human rights activists are very worried. Critics of the legislation point to its broad and vague definition of a terrorist crime. Under the act, eleven crimes are listed as terrorism so long as they attempt to create “a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give into an unlawful demand.” The definition fails to include crimes of state terrorism, which worries human rights activists as they see the law’s implementation within a context of hundreds of extrajudicial murders and disappearances in the past six years. Finally, under the Human Security Act, a person punished for terrorism crimes will serve a mandated prison term of forty years without the possibility of parole.
Thousands Protest U.S. Trade Agreement in Peru
Democracy Now!
In Peru, thousands of people turned out for protests across the country to call for better working conditions, more social spending and the rejection of a pending trade deal with the U.S. Public school teachers and farmers were among the largest contingents to take part. Listen to the entire story and interview featuring Crispin Beltran, Filipino Congressperson and labor leader; Kuusela Hilo, a member of Anakbayan - Los Angeles, and Deputy Secretary General of Bayan - USA; Pia Rivera, member of Anakbayan Seattle
