By Barry Rubin
The answer to that headline is, “No. But seeming to answer ‘yes’ proves the West is hypocritical about supporting human rights.”
Oh, wait, what if a democratically elected government decides to enforce such a system in a law legally passed by a democratically elected government? I guess that’s just democracy in action.
The Western media is obsessed with whether the new, Islamist-dominated Egyptian government will let tourists wear bikinis. When some Islamist leader says that there will be no dress code for tourists–due to the desire to keep getting tourist dollars–journalists pronounce the Muslim Brotherhood to be pragmatic, as in this Los Angeles Times article.
While Brotherhood leaders seem to disagree on this issue, I can see the outlines of a “deal” that will prove to Westerners that the Brotherhood is going to be “moderate” in power, nothing to worry about, and therefore an organization that should be spoken of sympathetically. Ready to hear the “deal?” Here it is:
A few hundred visiting Western women will be able to wear bikinis on isolated beaches in expensive resorts where almost no Egyptians will see them.
Tens of millions of Egyptian women will be forced to wear all-enveloping black robes and veils.
Sound fair enough?
Then the Islamist-ruled countries will have a motto to parallel Karl Marx’s Communist slogan of 1848. The new one goes:
Burkas of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your lack of chains!
So cheering the return of Egyptian women into near-slavery is just fine as long as the rulers show how modern and pragmatic they are by letting visiting Western women dress as they please. That’s a really good example of how contemporary Western “liberals” practice their claims of sympathy for Third World peoples.
Where is the Western feminist movement at the moment that tens of millions of sisters desperately need its support, and for many things other than just being able to choose their own wardrobe?
Of course, many Egyptian women already do dress that way either voluntarily or due to family and social pressure. Those who don’t will either be made to do so by regulations or, more likely, through the fear of being beaten up by Islamists, either Brotherhood, Salafist, or both. An Islamist regime–through propaganda, education, etc.–will also harden family’s demands that women dress that way even without a law being passed. If a woman persists, and few will, she might just be killed and the state courts will either not persecute or not punish the perpetrators.
Note: The title of this article is a play on Jonathan Swift’s sarcastic 1729 essay on how the British could “humanely” solve the problem of hunger in Ireland, by having the Irish eat their own children.
By the way, MEMRI has done something that any Western media outlet (highly financed, highly staffed) or think tank could have done during the last year but didn’t. It just went to the official Muslim Brotherhood website and translated some of the many antisemitic, anti-American, and extremely radical articles there. Note that this is an official site and nothing goes on it unless it meets the group’s ideological and policy requirements. To coin a phrase, a translation is worth 10,000 words of blather about “moderate Islamists.”
You ask, where are the Western feiminists? If the MB claimed to be Republicans, I am sure the Western feminists would be screaming at the top of their lungs about how the Republicans are misogynists. But since the MB are Muslims, then for the Western feminists, there is nothing to see here, just move on.
The liberal western non-response is simply cultural relativism run amok. If you don’t value your own culture, then why should anyone else’s be any worse? Who are we to ‘impose’ our values on others? Why, that is imperialism of the worst kind! /sarcasm…
I am truly worried about Egypt. They are running out of money, are unable to feed themselves and are headed down a path that will only further impoverish and radicalize the population. I fear we will see a(totally unnecessary) disaster of epic proportion.
Of course infidel westerners can wear bikinis. As one Australian imam said, backed up by prominent others, they’re just meat asking to be raped. Superior Muslim women, however, must dress modestly.
Liberals don’t believe in universal human rights. Our culture is no better/worse than theirs. As long as Western women get to expose bare flesh and drink alcohol in Egypt, who cares if Muslim women there can’t dress as they want, get an education and have equal opportunity in their society?
No one.
Just slightly off topic, but a reminder of who the MB are, and what they’re doing in the US, with the help of CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, ACLU, NAACP…and the Dhimmicrat Party.
Quote from ‘An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America,5/22/1991′, produced by the Muslim Brotherhood. Manifesto:
4- Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America:
The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.
Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. But, would the slackers and the Mujahedeen be equal.
Original and translation:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/445.pdf
Since none of these things has happened and is not any more likely to happen than it is they won’t happen, this qualifies more as a short science fiction story than anything else.
You say secularists and Christians are fleeing Egypt and at the same time the BBC is reporting that secularists are fleeing Jerusalem due to orthodox Jews who are the equivalent of salafis. Large advertisements in Jerusalem are being defaced and what does this sound like, from the BBC article:
“…residents pelted the police with stones and eggs, slightly injuring one officer, and rubbish bins were set on fire. A television crew attempting to film in the town were also surrounded and harassed – the second alleged attack in two days on journalists.”
That wasn’t Egypt but Beit Shemesh a few weeks ago. Seems you have just few things in the backyard to take care before peering into other’s.
First off, they are not Orthodox, but Ultra-Orthodox, and they make maybe 5-6% of the population. Now, what would the BBC and you say if the Ultra-Orthodox Jews of all varities won the elections in Israel with a solid majority in parliament? But apparently to you how an Israeli minority behave in neighborhoods where they are a majority is a serious cause for concern, even if the Israeli police confronts them, but when Islamists win the election in Egypt it’s a great day for democracy and any concern is purely science fiction. In fact, it’s you who live in your own fantasy movie.
I thought we were talking about morality here and not doling that morality out by numbers. Those “ultra” orthodox Jews are no different than salafis. They are out growing more secular Jews in Jerusalem and so it is a problem in your future. Patting yourself on the back because the numbers are yet small is not the same thing as morality and order.
I’m glad that it is now standard Western practice to tar everyone with a single brush. I thought thisi s where bigotry comes from. I’m one of those “ultra-Orthodox” Jews (a prejorative term, by the way), and those thugs don’t represent us.
Oh, by the way, one of the press photographers spit on some of the residents; some of the “enlightened” demonstators in Beit Shemesh beat up Yeshiva students. “Ultra-Orthodox” children are being spit on and assaulted in Jerusalem. Instead of calling for calm, the politicians poured gasoline on the fire.
Y’know, growing up in New York, I was spit on, beaten, even had a friend killed – all for being Jewish, all by Catholics. I have no hatred for Catholics, not would I expect the media to attack all Catholics in New York.
I thought the root of a Western democracy was not to blame the many for the actions of a few. Isn’t that what Jews have been fighting agaisnt all of these years?
It’s death to tourism in Egypt.
By the way, one of the “ultra-Orthodox” parliament memebers suggested a law to ban the burka – but the trick was how to ban it for Jewish women and leave Arab women alone.
One critical thing is left out. Did the MB specifically allow women tourists to wear bikinis, or did they allow tourists in general to wear bikinis. The difference is crucial, because the MB might not have a problem with men wearing bikinis. The authors need to be more specific
Denim shorts, hot, bikinis, tan, sun, sanuks, beach, boys, cowboy boots, crop tops, parties, no sleep, freedom. I’m ready for summer again..