The Stoning of Soraya M.

[petite]

Just a quick "chime in" to say this movie is important and should be seen by all. We need to know what is happening in the world and work for world justice. An international legal system based on human rights could make this kind of thing less acceptable. And, yes, perhaps the US would finally stop it's capital punishment programs.

I agree with this. All capital punishment needs to end.

I have a friend who works for ending capital punishment, a cause he eventually came to fight for after years of struggling with his own mother's murder. His journey took from being a person who fought for victim's rights and an advocate of the death penalty to the realization of how wrong it is. Now he's become a spokesperson and he organizes protests against capital punishment. He's an incredible person. He's a real life hero and someone I'm honored to know.

 

[tray22nc]

I agree with this. All capital punishment needs to end.

I have a friend who works for ending capital punishment, a cause he eventually came to fight for after years of struggling with his own mother's murder. His journey took from being a person who fought for victim's rights and an advocate of the death penalty to the realization of how wrong it is. Now he's become a spokesperson and he organizes protests against capital punishment. He's an incredible person. He's a real life hero and someone I'm honored to know.

YOU are an incredible person, and I am certain that your friend is honoured to know you too! :wink:

 

[petite]

YOU are an incredible person, and I am certain that your friend is honoured to know you too! :wink:

Aw, that was so sweet! :kiss:

 

[hud01]

There is a statement that I'm sure everyone has heard that I feel is applicable here. It was spoken by Pastor Martin Niemöller in1946:
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

As long as no one speaks up, nothing will change.

This is a great quote, but the problem is this goes on in much of the Muslim/arab world. We can attempt to change issues within our own countries, but to affect change in such a large area is almost mind boggling, especially since much of the muslim world is actually going more conservative and radical, not less.

A good part of the middel east relies on archaic laws and customs, such as the fact that israeli women can not get a divorce, the husband has to grant it.

Then again in the west, there is a church which still forbids condom use and it clergy marrying...

Common thread somewhere.

Hope this wasn't too much of a threadjack. The treatment of women in many countries astounds me to this day.

 

[D_Tina_Ciao]

I think because women are innately "softer" and more sensitive to brutality and unfairness (men are the ones who have to fight the wars and are, therefore of necessity, hardened somewhat), unfairness and abuse appall us. I loathe any sort of abuse, be it animal or human, and I cannot, in fact, understand how anyone can conceive of such things - it is totally beyond my comprehension.

Stoning, clitoral removal/mutilation, and other cultural aberrations are signs of societal illness or unenlightened concepts/behavior. That does not, nonetheless, make them any more acceptable or tolerable. I don't WANT to have to live in a world where women are stoned or animals are slaughtered for their fur - yet I find myself here and have little control over circumstances on a grand scale.

I *will* do whatever I can, on my limited personal scale - give money, write letters, pray - to have an impact. There's way too much "bad stuff" going on that a person with ANY mind or heart should be able to recognize as just wrong - I do get so weary of this world sometimes.......

 

[tray22nc]

This is a great quote, but the problem is this goes on in much of the Muslim/arab world. We can attempt to change issues within our own countries, but to affect change in such a large area is almost mind boggling, especially since much of the muslim world is actually going more conservative and radical, not less.

A good part of the middel east relies on archaic laws and customs, such as the fact that israeli women can not get a divorce, the husband has to grant it.

Then again in the west, there is a church which still forbids condom use and it clergy marrying...

Common thread somewhere.

Hope this wasn't too much of a threadjack. The treatment of women in many countries astounds me to this day.

Oh, I def recognize that what happens in many Muslim nations will never change, just as some things in Christian nations, etc...
The quote that I used was meant more for those who commented saying that they refused to watch the film solely based on the fact that it was a disturbing/emotionally charged film. That they were essentially putting their own emotions before the lives of others.
I also understand that no amount of protesting will change some things, but hopefully it will bring awareness to issues that need it.

I'm not sure where you got the information that Israeli women cannot be granted a divorce unless her husband allows it? Judaism has always been accepting of divorce. In ultra orthodox marriages, a man is allowed, and is sometimes required to divorce his wife under certain circumstances, but a wife is also allowed to divorce her husband.

 

[dolfette]

The quote that I used was meant more for those who commented saying that they refused to watch the film solely based on the fact that it was a disturbing/emotionally charged film. That they were essentially putting their own emotions before the lives of others.

unless watching the film alone will save a life, that statement is utter rot.

putting your emotions before the lives of others would be joining in to shake heads at how terrible it is, get that satisfaction of not being one of those bad people, and then carry on your life without putting your money where your mouth is.

everyone posting in this thread should agree to donate some time/money towards protecting the defenceless. it'll be a bit more productive than bitching at people for not choosing to look at images on a screen.

 

[sbat]

Oh, I def recognize that what happens in many Muslim nations will never change, just as some things in Christian nations, etc...
The quote that I used was meant more for those who commented saying that they refused to watch the film solely based on the fact that it was a disturbing/emotionally charged film. That they were essentially putting their own emotions before the lives of others.

Nonsense. Watching or not watching that film has nothing at all to do with the viewers values outside of the film. I don't have to watch simulated murder to know that I don't want it to happen in real life.

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

No one HAS to watch it. It was a life changing movie for me as a viewer. I have a stomach to handle more than most can. It was more of the character development and the main character who does not get killed who gives you hope throughout the movie. There is more than just the ending.

 

[dolfette]

No one HAS to watch it. It was a life changing movie for me as a viewer. I have a stomach to handle more than most can. It was more of the character development and the main character who does not get killed who gives you hope throughout the movie. There is more than just the ending.

exactly.

now help me guilt trip these fuckers into forking out!

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

LOL you crack me up. I am not sure what groups are even out there that could help these sorts of things that happen moreso in the isolated villages. They won't even allow this best selling book of the movie into their country. I'm not sure they would have a lot of charity groups around to help out with that cause.

Let's see what we can find out though....

 

[dolfette]

amnesty international would be the most obvious. they fight injustice everywhere, including the middle east.

there's also some groups that offer shelter & protection to middle eastern women in the UK, who sometimes find themselves at risk of forced marriage & honour killings.

i'm going with amnesty.

 

[sbat]

amnesty international would be the most obvious. they fight injustice everywhere, including the middle east.

there's also some groups that offer shelter & protection to middle eastern women in the UK, who sometimes find themselves at risk of forced marriage & honour killings.

i'm going with amnesty.

I thought they just wrote a lot of letters to governments who have political prisoners?

 

[dolfette]

I thought they just wrote a lot of letters to governments who have political prisoners?

no

 

[tray22nc]

Actually, I wasn't saying or suggesting that anyone HAS to watch it nor was I bitching about anything. I, personally, just don't like the excuse that someone doesn't want to see something because it might upset them. I just feel like that is blissful ignorance (just my opinion, and just like those that choose not to watch the film, I have the right to it). Thats all...nothing more, nothing less. No intention to offend anyone.

 

[curiousvirgin]

exactly.

now help me guilt trip these fuckers into forking out!

Dolfette i love you!

Its easy to be armchair philosophers and have knowledge about all things good yet take no action because we feel our hand are tied by our current lives and obligations. Its only one in a million that put their words into action and does something drastic to initiate change.Not everyone can be that way though,but everyone of us make a difference, how little it is doesn't matter, In fact even discussing about it and lifting the veil of ignorance about this issues is a step towards change. i am very sure that everyone that posted here is already doing what they feel can help according to their current budget and ability. We cant save the whole world alone but every little bit we do may make the world a better place

Also don't do it for them, people who are in hardship and suffering are plentiful.Do it for yourself and soon the happiness you feel just by giving a helping hand whenever there is a chance will be as addictive as a drug.

 

[hud01]

I'm not sure where you got the information that Israeli women cannot be granted a divorce unless her husband allows it? Judaism has always been accepting of divorce. In ultra orthodox marriages, a man is allowed, and is sometimes required to divorce his wife under certain circumstances, but a wife is also allowed to divorce her husband.

My last threadjack. Please read this.

Under Israel's Divorce Laws, Men Get The Final Word : NPR

"According to Jewish law, a man has to agree to grant the divorce of his own free will before the legal separation can proceed"

 

[dreamer20]

Islamic belief does follow on from the Torah, most of which is in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. And there are lots of stoning, slaves, concubines, mass-murder, genocide, gross mistreatment of women and so on in the Torah. Am I not right?

My view, shared by many, is that it's not possible to be Christian (Jewish, Muslim) and feminist. Because patriarchal religious beliefs (the all-seeing all-knowing single male God) evolved purely to subjugate women.

Islam is indeed a branch of Judaism - the latter religion being the source for laws prescribing capital punishment for sex offenses, e.g. adultery, in Islam and Christianity.

Irrespective of religion, the world has had a long history of females being subjugated by and living under the patriarchal rule of male supremacists. However seventh-century Islam actually advanced the rights of Muslim women as it granted them political, legal and social rights then unheard of, rights, in fact, that women in the U.S. and elsewhere still struggled for in the 20th century. Early Islam based these new rights, such as the equal right to education, to own property, to conduct business, and not be coerced into marriage, on the equality of men and women before God--this when the rest of the world considered women chattels.

Nor is there anything in the Quran that would prevent women from voting in an election, driving a car, associating with males in public , or working outside the home (the Prophet's wife, Khadija, was a successful businesswoman). The countries with the largest number of Muslims-- Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Turkey have each elected a female head of government; this is a distinction that neither any Arab state, the United States can claim.

Hence formative seventh-century Islam empowered its women with the aforementioned rights. But in male chauvinist dominated societies, such as the Taliban's, those rights were suppressed and reformers therein face a difficult challenge in regard to reclaiming those rights for women.

Middle East Online

​

 

[B_dxjnorto]

I think of Islam as more of a political movement than a religion.

 

[NEWREBA]

So much horror has come from the "desert" religions. It's hard to begin to fathom it.