On this International Women’s Day 2013, there are so many women around the world who must be honored: from Egyptian women who stand up against agent provocateurs attempting to keep them from participating in public protest to Mayan women who defy genocide & femicide in Guatemala to Yemeni women who stood so bravely against the US-backed dictatorship to Palestinian women who stand up against Israeli soldiers & tanks & bullets with such resolute defiance. Revolution is not like a beauty contest; in social transformation we are all sisters & brothers and by no means competitors. But the women of Bahrain seem something very special, almost another species of social rebellion. Or am I wrong? And do I underestimate the rest of us?
These mothers, daughters, sisters have played a central role in what the BBC calls a “failed uprising” but what the rest of see as an intransigent struggle against tyranny. We have witnessed them for over two years now often stand alone & defiant against tanks & tear gas. Mostly, we have seen them school their children (and us) in the fire of revolution. Here one Bahraini woman views depictions of 20-year-old Mahmoud al-Jazeeri who was killed by a shot in the head from a tear gas canister fired by riot cops.There have been protests for at least two weeks to retrieve his body from the cops for respectful burial--& most photos of those protests show women leading the charge.
This isn’t just the honor given to sons & daughters but to martyrs--to those who gave their lives for human freedom. Our fullest respect & solidarity with the women & the men of Bahrain on this International Women’s Day.
No US aid to Bahrain! Bring the Fifth Fleet home now!
(Photo by Hasam Jamali/AP)
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