Mercedes Sosa

Via Otto at IncaKolaNews, the sad news that Mercedes Sosa is in critical condition. Listen to her here with Leon Gieco and reflect some of that warmth and strength back to her now.

Update: 6:00pm, 4 October - She's gone. As a commenter at this clip said: Gracias a la vida ... que nos dio la oportunidad de escucharte. (Thanks to life ... that gave us the chance to listen to you.)
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Assassination in a dirty war

What Digby said.

People always act like this issue is simple. But pregnancy is one situation in life that falls across all kinds of moral, emotional and rational lines, calling into question the autonomy of the very body in which we live and lifelong commitments made in the heat of the moment --- painful choices and primitive imperatives in the most basic human drive we have. Whether it's the idea that women should be "punished" with pregnancy for failing to use birth control, to the idea that adoption is a simple and painless alternative, to the insistence that women who carry a child for seven or eight months must be forced to give birth when the child has no chance at life, to the spectacle of the Octamom, the fact is that there is no broad brush answer that can be applied to all these different circumstances. Certainly, the crude instrument of the law isn't the answer as even the anti-choicers tacitly admit when they refuse to consider the women who have abortions murderers and instead focus on the doctors.

Indeed, the murder of Dr Tiller in a demented defense of a "culture of life" should be all it takes for everyone to see that this is not the simple, straightforward issue they'd like to believe it is. And once you recognize that it's a unique circumstance in which the moral boundaries are blurry and indistinct, the only possible course is to trust the person with the most knowledge of the circumstances, the symbiotic relationship to the fetus and greatest stake in the outcome --- the woman. [emphasis mine]

Pres. Obama was right in his Notre Dame address that it's unfair to impute to every individual who opposes abortion an ideological right-wing drive to coerce women and control their bodies and sexuality. That's true as long as we're dealing with individuals. But the anti-abortion movement as a political entity is waging a war on women's right to choose, to control their own lives. Their extreme fringe is literally waging that war.

My heart goes out to the family, friends, co-workers, and patients of Dr. George Tiller. May we honor his memory by calmly proceeding with the work of defending reaffirming women's right to choose.

Update: 12:30 pm, 3 June - If a war is being waged on us, why not make it a real war by fighting back with "whatever it takes"? Because, as usual, war is not the answer. It strengthens the already-too-strong state and its mechanisms of repression, which will be turned against us far more than against the right.

But neither is this moment a time for mawkish hogwash about finding common ground with organized anti-abortion, anti-choice operatives (there isn't any; they don't support contraception or sex education, either), or how abortion is always a difficult and painful decision (it's not). Dr. Tiller's murder is a clarion call to end apologetic, defensive retreat and affirm our rights as autonomous human beings. Abortion must be safe, legal, and available. Contributions to Medical Students for Choice or another pro-choice organization help make that a reality. [links via commenter John Protevi at michaelberube.com]
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Memorial Day

Two soldiers I'm remembering today:

Alyssa Peterson and LaVena Johnson.


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May justice be done.
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International Women's Day

These women inspire me. If they haven't given up hope, I have no right to.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Scores of women rallied outside a Baghdad hotel on Saturday demanding an end to violence and equal social status with men as part of the observations of International Women's Day.

"Stop neglecting women. Stop killing women. Stop creating widows," read a large banner that the women, from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, held at the Babylon Hotel in Baghdad's central Karada neighbourhood.

After the rally, the protesters joined a much larger group that included men and children at a hotel conference room to hear from various speakers.

One of the speakers was Nariman Mahmoud Othman, minister for women's rights, who led a delegation of women to the office of the head of Iraq's parliament, Mahmoud Mashhadani, with a list of issues concerning women's rights they wanted to discuss.

The list also called for more women to be appointed to positions of power, including ministries and embassies.

Another speaker was Maisoon Al-Damloji, a female member of parliament from the secular Iraqia party.

"We are united today in our desire to spread the peace in our country," she said. "We reject murder, torture and revenge."

Women in Iraq "suffered during Saddam's time and during the embargo, and now are suffering because of sectarian violence," she said.

Iraq's constitution reserves 25 percent of the country's 275 seats of parliament for women, though not all are currently filled because in some cases female candidates were unavailable.

Orbia Tawfiq, a professor at Baghdad's College of Arts, said "we demand that women be given their rights. They should not be oppressed and they should be treated like human beings. "Women must not be treated as commodities. They must be granted freedom in choosing their husbands and careers," she said.

Mohar Abdel Hamid, 38, said that the needs of widows like herself must be addressed. "I hope the government listens to us because women have always suffered in Iraq," she told AFP.

A recent report by US-based Women For Women International said the state of Iraqi women since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq has become a "national crisis."

According to the report, released Thursday, 64 percent of the women surveyed said violence against them had increased since the war. "When asked why, respondents most commonly said that there is less respect for women's rights than before, that women are thought of as possessions and that the economy has gotten worse," it said. The report also found that 76 percent of the women interviewed said that girls in their families were forbidden from attending school.

No, it's not a grassroots event. My cynical self knows it's taking place with U.S. encouragement and under U.S. guard. The occupiers may even hope that any demonstration by women will be seen as a sign that "we're bringing freedom." Nobody's fooled, guys. The occupation has been a disaster for the Iraqi people in general, but especially for Iraqi women.

Update: 5:30 pm, 8 March - Speaking of which: Accounts of daily life for non-elite Iraqi women. Be warned, those of you with a heart; these stories will make you want to rip it out.

I'd advise my Iraqi sisters demanding more women be appointed to positions of power not to put too much stock in the results of that. Too few of the women in power here seem to want to end the occupation any time soon.