the misogyny law
in a break with established tradition here on this blog, and because this is important, and because i cannot write about it in its due length over at my other blog, i am going to degrade the otherwise elevated level of discourse on this blog and offer my two cents on a matter of current affairs: the afghan “misogyny” law.
not on the law itself, mind you, and its many demerits – with which the law is riddled through and through, and there i am equally abhorred by it as is everyone else. but rather about the fact that there is something deeply sinister about the coverage and controversy that has been accorded to this law alone, while a number of equally disappointing and democracy-polluting laws have been passed, signed, put into implementation -take the media law, to name just one.
the timing of the release of this law to the public and the media, the way the media has lapped it all up and made quick work of a narrative that conveniently ties into the western world’s presence in afghanistan as defenders of women’s rights and democracy, the way the government has presented it, the fog that surrounds its actual contents -all these, and more, smack of something deeper at work. also the way it has been presented as a measure of last resort for a president who has his hands tied over the matter and is only appeasing the feared, oh so traditionalist, and oh SO united shia minority in advance of the next elections -right. as transitionland put it, these folks have bigger worries and in survey after survey of the people of afghanistan by the asia foundation, the attitudes of this particular constituency of the electorate towards democratic and even liberal values and women’s rights stand in stark contrast to what this convenient narrative purports.
that’s right -something deeply sinister at work. and you read about it here on this blog first. and if my speculations are correct, this is just the beginning and we shall see that the story will dominate headlines out of the country for quite some time to come. and now back to biscuits and green tea and a 112 page document.
Hamesha 
[…] Hamesha adds the following, which is important to keep in mind as the story develops: the timing of the release of this law to the public and the media, the way the media has lapped it all up and made quick work of a narrative that conveniently ties into the western world’s presence in afghanistan as defenders of women’s rights and democracy, the way the government has presented it, the fog that surrounds its actual contents -all these, and more, smack of something deeper at work. also the way it has been presented as a measure of last resort for a president who has his hands tied over the matter and is only appeasing the feared, oh so traditionalist, and oh SO united shia minority in advance of the next elections -right. as transitionland put it, these folks have bigger worries and in survey after survey of the people of afghanistan by the asia foundation, the attitudes of this particular constituency of the electorate towards democratic and even liberal values and women’s rights stand in stark contrast to what this convenient narrative purports. […]