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UNSEEN AND UNHEARD: THE GEORGE BUSH ONGOING ASSAULT ON WOMEN!
TvNewsLies - 18-Jan-2004
Believe it or not, there really is a bit of opposition to George Bush being broadcast on the media. If you listen closely, and look really hard, you might find discussions out there about some outrageous policy of George Bush. Somewhere, on off hours and primarily on public media, you might hear a lone economist challenge the Bush tax plan, a group of activists attack his disregard for the environment, or an angry senior argue the privatization prescription plans. If you listen even closer, somewhere, in the wee hours of the night, you might even hear the Bush War on Iraq bravely challenged. Well and good.
But nowhere, at any hour, and only minimally among the democratic candidates, is there any outcry about one of this administration’s most crucial and potentially disastrous policies: the George W. Bush ongoing assault on women!
- The Assault on Women in the United States!
For starters, remember this photo:
As you read this editorial, focus on the President surrounded by an all-male chorus line of GOP legislators as he signs the first ban on an abortion procedure. It’s simplistic in its clarity: George Bush and his backers know what’s good for American women. Keep it in mind as you read of his disdain for women in other countries as well.
Now consider this: On January 17th, George Bush used his executive authority to appoint Charles Pickering to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bypassing Senate opposition, he placed a man on the Federal Bench whose record screams of anti civil rights and anti abortion views. Keep that image in mind as you absorb the frightening reality that the next president of the United States will most probably nominate FOUR NEW JUDGES TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Warning: The next election will place thirty years of advances in the struggle for women’s rights in jeopardy. A slim 5-4 minority has protected American women from a reversal of Roe v Wade. If he remains in office, George Bush will appease his supporters by packing the Supreme Court with right wing conservatives. That’s for sure.
Keep thinking about that. Please.
- The Assault on Women in the Third World!
Think about this absurdity: In the midst of a horrific AIDS pandemic, the Bush administration remains obsessed with blocking abortion and preventing family planning! Despite a pretense at concern for helping fight AIDS in his last SOTU speech, George Bush has placed a prohibition on government funding of any organization that performs abortions or advocates for the liberalization of abortion laws! An NGO that supports abortion laws similar to those in the United States, cannot get a US federal grant for the provision of condoms as part of a pregnancy-prevention strategy. Third world women are in desperate need of birth control information and devices, but George Bush knows what’s good for them. Remember that.
More to ponder: an article from Intervention Magazine, this past summer. The story revealed that “Over half of Nepal's women listed as maternal mortalities have died from unsafe abortions. This makes Nepal's the fourth highest maternal mortality rate in the world [and] today, George W. Bush's anti-abortion crusade is directly connected with increasing the death rate among the women and girls in Nepal. Under pressure from the religious right, Washington has even cut funding for condoms, jeopardizing Nepal’s family planning and also the success of the much ballyhooed US anti-AIDS campaign…� Remember these women. Please.
- Assault on the Women of the Bush Wars!
First and foremost: understand that women are the greatest victims of war, always. If you have any reservations about that, click on http://www.unfpa.org/emergencies/psa/film_english.html . It erases all doubts. Of course, George knows what’s best for women when he wages preemptive war. Just think about that.
Women in Iraq: Too few people know that Iraq women enjoyed the greatest freedom of any women in the Moslem world before the recent invasion by George Bush and company. As the San Francisco Chronicle outlined this past May, “… [the Baathist regime] allowed Iraqi women personal rights and freedoms unparalleled in the Persian Gulf. Women could drive, travel abroad alone, study in universities, serve in the army and work side-by-side with men. Iraqi women, who make up at least 55 percent of the population and are among the most educated in the region, can become anything, from college professors to lawyers. They choose whom to marry and whether to marry at all.� NOT ANY MORE!
Think about some of the under-reported and largely ignored headlines about the present plight of Iraqi women TVNL has featured (Bush’s Assault on Women):
- IRAQI WOMEN WARY OF NEW UPHEAVALS
- NO PLACE FOR A WOMAN
- IRAQI WOMEN RECEDE FROM THE PICTURE!
- IRAQI WOMEN NO BETTER OFF, U.N. OFFICIAL SAYS
- RAPE (and Silence About It) HAUNTS BAGHDAD
- IRAQ WOMEN, KIDNAPPED, RAPED
- BAGHDAD SEXUAL VIOLENCE ‘RISING’
- WOMEN LOSING FREEDOMS IN POST WAR IRAQ
Not to worry. George Bush knows what’s best for the women he “liberated.� Think about that. Please.
Women in Afghanistan: And what about an Afghan woman, the forgotten victims of Bush’s failed ‘war on terror�? The war lords are back in power everywhere, but we see only US protected Kabul. From an article about “post war� Afghanistan:
“Two years after the beginning of the military action against the Taleban, the women of Afghanistan are still subject to horrific abuses, from honour killings to forced and underage marriage, virginity testing, and prosecution and imprisonment for adultery, said Amnesty International in a major new report published today (6 October 2003). - 'No one listens to us and no one treats us as human beings: Afghanistan - Justice denied to women is based on interviews with women in many parts of Afghanistan and finds that the day-to-day lives of many Afghan women are little changed from oppression they endured under the Taleban.�
No matter. The Afghan war has been pronounced a ‘success.’ The media hardly covers the ongoing deaths and the ongoing oppression. Remember that. Please.
There’s Very Little Time!
For more than four decades, women’s issues have been in the forefront of American society. Over that time, women in this country have found greater opportunities in the workplace, greater inroads into the corporate structure, and a greater voice in the political arena. But all the progress is in peril, and everything that has been gained over all this time is on the verge of collapse. The right wing agenda has the potential to set women back many generations. That must not happen.
Without question, the battle for equality is not limited to women. But no administration in history has launched an assault on women with such ferocity and such success. The assault is ongoing on women here at home, and on women around the world. It is a silent war, waged with media complicity and in almost total obscurity. Keep that in mind as you approach November.
The response has to be loud and clear. Presidential appointments to the Supreme Court must become a major campaign issue over the coming months. The influence of the right wing on Bush foreign policy decisions must be confronted and broadcast throughout the nation. The assault on women must be aired, discussed, and publicized. If not, the America we know will be altered as never before. Think about that, and remember it. Please.
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