The murdered Dutch documentary maker, Van Gogh’s piece “Submission” is available for viewing here. Harry’s Place was kind enough to offer a link.
I watched it and it’s quite powerful. If you have about 10 minutes to spare it’s probably worth a look in.
The oppression of women has long been an objectionable facet of certain Islamic sects - very often Wahhabi Islam is employed as set of manacles to ensure patriarchal dominance and I am sure that moderate muslims will attest to the fact that this is a repulsive perversion of the religion’s base.
The story of this documentary is no doubt one which has many other instances around the world, however it should not be considered the be all and end all. Rape and physical abuse are mercifully rare and the lesson should not be taken from this documentary that these anything like common aspects of Islamic marriage - what ought to be considered is that where these abuses occur, religion is sometimes used to perpetuate and legitimize the barbarity and it is concerning such practice that protest must be lodged.
Just as it is wrong for Islam to be used as a grounds for killing, so is it wrong for it to be used to normalize the oppression and enslavement of women. This goes for any religion and Van Gogh’s work makes the point well.
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at November 10, 2004 02:29 AM | TrackBack