How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?

[shira]

Every year at about this time, radical Islamic students -- aided by radical anti-Israel professors -- hold an event they call "Israel Apartheid Week." During this week, they try to persuade students on campuses around the world to demonize Israel as an apartheid regime. Most students seem to ignore the rantings of these extremists, but some naive students seem to take them seriously. Some pro-Israel and Jewish students claim that they are intimidated when they try to respond to these untruths. As one who strongly opposes any censorship, my solution is to fight bad speech with good speech, lies with truth and educational malpractice with real education.

Accordingly, I support a "Middle East Apartheid Education Week" to be held at universities throughout the world. It would be based on the universally accepted human rights principle of "the worst first." In other words, the worst forms of apartheid being practiced by Middle East nations and entities would be studied and exposed first. Then the apartheid practices of other countries would be studied in order of their seriousness and impact on vulnerable minorities.

Under this principle, the first country studied would be Saudi Arabia. That tyrannical kingdom practices gender apartheid to an extreme, relegating women to an extremely low status. Indeed, a prominent Saudi Imam recently issued a fatwa declaring that anyone who advocates women working alongside men or otherwise compromises with absolute gender apartheid is subject to execution. The Saudis also practice apartheid based on sexual orientation, executing and imprisoning gay and lesbian Saudis. Finally, Saudi Arabia openly practices religious apartheid. It has special roads for "Muslims only." It discriminates against Christians, refusing them the right to practice their religion openly. And needless to say, it doesn't allow Jews the right to live in Saudi Arabia, to own property or even (with limited exceptions) to enter the country. Now that's apartheid with a vengeance.

The second entity on any apartheid list would be Hamas, which is the de facto government of the Gaza Strip. Hamas too discriminates openly against women, gays, Christians. It permits no dissent, no free speech, and no freedom of religion.

more...
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0310/dershowitz_apartheid_week.php3

[LeftishBrit]

1. There are some real campaigns against the injustices mentioned

E.g. with regard to Saudi Arabia in particular:

Contrary to a certain stereotype, Amnesty International does *not* only complain about Israel! Here is a link about its campaign re Saudi Arabia:

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:jy73Ed1E67MJ:www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/saud-a26.shtml+women+campaigns+%22human+rights%22+saudi+arabia&cd=77&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

An organization that campaigns for women's rights in many places, including Saudi Arabia, is:

www.equalitynow.org

Wajeha Al-Huwaider is an amazing Saudi woman, who has started the Black Ribbon campaign for greater gender equality:


http://www.alwaref.org/en/figure-of-the-month/191-wajeha-al-huwaider-a-brave-heart

http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=black+ribbon+campaign+saudi&d=4642382974097248&mkt=en-GB&setlang=en-GB&w=ca49af05,7d6b20e8

We should neither ignore human rights campaigns with regard to some of the world's most oppressive countries because we are too preoccupied with I/P issues *nor* through an assumption that they don't exist because everyone else is too preoccupied with I/P issues.

[shira]

2. but these real campaigns aren't a priority at the UN and when I google 'apartheid'...

and "middle east" guess what country comes up the most frequently (and by a long shot)?