Die neuen arabischen Feministen

Was Frauenrechte angeht, kommt Bewegung in die öffentlichen Debatten der islamischen Welt. Auch Männer gehen dabei mit voran. Ein neues Beispiel: das Blog LA-HA.ORG (Leading Ahead Her Ambition), das sich mit “Ehrenmorden” und Genitalverstümmelung, aber auch mit alltäglicher Benachteiligung.
Aus der Selbstdarstellung:

The role of the LAHA initiative will be to network young activists, both male and female, who want to promote grassroots reform. LAHA’s core founding members come from Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, and the project hopes to attract a regional following.

One of the main issues that LAHA targets is so-called “honor killings,” where male family members “rid their families of shame” by killing a female relative whom they feel has “dishonored” their family. The problem is not simply social attitudes in some families. Courts in countries like Jordan and Syria routinely give light punishments to men who kill their female relatives. Murderers are often given only brief jail terms because judges claim to understand the motivation behind the killing.

Auf der Website findet sich zum Beispiel ein Essay über eine jordanische Richterin, die ihres Amtes enthoben wurde, nachdem sie einen Mann, der seine Schwester wegen einer angeblichen vorehelichen Affäre ermordet hatte, zum Tode verurteilte.
Die Richterin schlägt zurück und argumentiert als Muslima:

Fatima Habib considers the decision complete barbarism and primitivism. She adds that it will take us ages to convince people here that women are human beings, and they are as wise as men if not wiser sometimes. Fatima would never put her hands up and surrender. She said that she has the right to be a judge or even a prime minister without doing any harm to the criteria of justice.

“Extremists in our midst spread propaganda claiming that women’s liberation is a western thought aiming at eradicating Islamic morals. This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of extremism against women. Those extremists know nothing about Islam because one of the major messages of this religion is to defend women and give them their rights to be as equal as men,” says Fatima.

Auf lange Sicht werden sich Frauen wie Fatima Habib nicht aufhalten lassen.

Auch Websites wie mideastyouth und nohonor.org berichten regelmässig über Diskriminierung.