Author: kyridou.1

Text Review: Girl, Woman, Other

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Girl, Woman, Other is a book by Evaristo Bernardine. It talks about the oppression of women, the inner and for the years of long-silenced thinking of women from different social categories and with different experiences. Bernardine Evaristo is making a universal book that shows things differently. It is a polyphonic novel with heroic women of all ages and social orientations, determined to come out with as much power and speak. Their stories experienced firsthand, are shocking and contain scary truths.

In this book, the so-called Ama takes an interest in the theater, making a play of her own, and gives her own battle against the social environment and her family environment. In vain does her father (originally from Ghana) try to infuse her with socialist ideals, since she knows that even politics is trapped in stereotypes, or her mother, who raised three other children besides her, seeks to understand her wild ambitions. Ama continues to fight, defending her lesbian identity, giving her own daily battle, changing the data at the National Theater of England, and establishing the dynamic of “Wild Women Theater”. Ama’s daughter, Yaz, has the same rebellious power as her parents, that is, her lesbian mother and her gay activist father. Various women gather around Yaz, such as the dynamic Muslim Waris, who experiences racial discrimination after 9/11.

All the heroines of the book are united, although they look completely different. The reason is, their confinement in the British territory, where they are anchored, as they are all children of the first or second generation of immigrants from the former British Empire in Africa and the West Indies. Their voices, however, resonate beyond any rule, breaking any prejudices and, above all, overturning clichés about female identity or literature.

Bernardine Evaristo is a writer and a creative writing teacher. She was the first black woman to found a troupe in England, and she is also the first black woman to win a Booker.

Yo Is This… (Podcast)-Women under Taliban rule (Anneta Kyridou)

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Women under Taliban rule

Ιn the summer of 2021, the world saw the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan. That fact has caused global terror with the country of Afghanistan being in complete collapse. After the departure of the President of Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan have surrendered to the mercy of the extremist Islamist Taliban. The Taliban movement has been repeatedly criticized by other governments as extreme, brutal, and extremist, especially in its application of Sharia to women.

Expected victims of the Taliban are thousands of women. According to the Taliban, women have no right to work and to participate in education. They are obliged to wear burqas and hide in their homes. When current women living in Afghanistan learned of the return of the Taliban, they were terrified and ran to hide their identities and degrees.

Muslims are followers of the Islamic religion. The Islamists believe in Allah, who dictated the Qur’an through Muhammad. The Qur’an is the holy book of Islamists and contains their beliefs. Islam is the official religion of Afghanistan, and every aspect of Muslim life is defined by the so-called “Sharia”. This is the Islamic law, contained in the Qur’an. Sharia is a code of life, and all Muslims are committed to abiding by it in their life. The Taliban translated Sharia in their own way and enforced strict rules restricting daily life and personal development

According to “Sharia”, every spouse is obliged to be attentive to and obedient to her husband, unless he wants something that is religiously forbidden. Women live in their husband’s houses. Without his permission, they cannot visit, nor have a free personal life. The wife is obliged to have a marital relationship with her husband. Unjustified denial of marital relations automatically gives the man the right to express expulsion of their marriage. The Qur’an allows men to punish women in cases of disobedience, non-performance of their duties, but also for reasons of character improvement.

Men in society are considered superior to women and the Taliban believe that men have the right to abuse women. Some inhuman and violent punishments are whipping, stoning, and poisoning. Some women have been known to take their own life by suicide because they are pressed psychologically and want to avoid being punished. The Taliban have the idea that the son is considered the pride of the family while the daughter is considered the “impotence” of men to have children. The boys in a family typically take on what their father does as their own career. When it comes to money, the family’s inheritance is given to the sons. On the other hand, girls may be given a small dowry so that they can get married easier and faster.

Women are forbidden to work, and they are allowed to move out of their house only accompanied by a male relative, therefore, they cannot live alone. The Taliban do not allow women to enter their balconies alone, because even that is considered an exit. The image of a woman is also censored. According to the Qur’an, women have to be dressed modestly. That means that they can not wear clothing that reveals the private body parts (Surat Al-‘A`raf [verses 26-38]), that imitates the opposite sex, or excessive clothing with silk and gold. Muslim women are required to wear burqas. According to the Taliban, however, women should be covered with clothing from top to toenails. Heels and painted nails are prohibited. Otherwise, they are punished. (Η Ένδυση από μια ισλαμική οπτική: New Muslim Guide)

Τhe position of women and children is very difficult in Muslim countries.  Women are considered “slaves” submissive to one person, their husbands. Women are treated as “object”, which is exploited by their husbands, and can neither react nor can defend themselves. The response of “no” is not included in their daily life. The answer to their husbands has to be “indeed”, which women use to accept to do what their husbands tell them.

Human rights are being violated in every sense by the Taliban. These are the rights that everyone has without exception, due to the fact that they are human beings. Everyone has the status of a human being, which means that they belong to the community called humanity. Human rights are fundamental, inviolable, and absolute (no human being can be deprived), universal (available to all people on Earth), and indivisible and interconnected (all kinds of human rights are equal) (Unricgreece, 2019)

The rights and achievements of women, for whom they have worked and fought for more than 20 years, are ignored under Taliban rules. The man has the upper hand in everything and women are deprived of fundamental rights.

 

 

 

Education is an inalienable human right and is a key factor, decisive and catalytic for the course of life and evolution. It leads to knowledge, which is not limited. Education allows and promotes the discovery of notifying elements of the individuals of a society and contributes to the creative expression of these elements. The Taliban do not allow women to be educated, and even if they allow it, education will be done under certain conditions. Thus, the right to education does not exist in Afghanistan.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security. Although in Afghanistan women live in slavery, in whole or in part. Slavery should be prohibited. No one shall be subjected to cruel, and inhuman punishment. Women are essentially slaves to men. They must obey them otherwise they will suffer the consequences.

Obviously, the right to freedom is trampled also. Women cannot have free opinions and expressions within society but also in their own families. The right not to be harmed, and the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas is also lost by the domination of the Taliban. In addition, the right to work does not exist. That leads to the fact that women can not have the opportunity to have their own money and be independent.

Women live in injustice since the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan. They have no basic human rights left. Their lives depend on men literally. Many women with the return of the Taliban said they feared for their lives and the lives of their children. These are injustices that do not exist in a civilized society. It is difficult to understand the conditions under which these women live. Women in Afghanistan wake up and are always going to be viewed as what de Beauvoir calls the “Other” that it is dominated and depended on the “One”, the men. Men hold them and they get to differentiate themselves as better than the women simply through inherited and religious beliefs. Women are also what Spivak calls the “subaltern”. Because women can not speak up and even if they do their voices are not taken into account and men can not understand them.

Anneta Kyridou

11.9.2021. – AU21 COMPSTD

Citation :

Τι Είναι ο Ισλαμισμός Και Σε Τι Πιστεύουν Οι Μουσουλμάνοι;, from https://www.gotquestions.org/Greek/Greek-Islam.html.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, September 26). Ταλιμπάν. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%AC%CE%BD.

Unricgreece. (2019, May 23). ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΗ ΔΙΑΚΗΡΥΞΗ ΓΙΑ ΤΑ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΝΑ ΔΙΚΑΙΩΜΑΤΑ. Περιφερειακό Κέντρο Πληροφόρησης του ΟΗΕ – Greece. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://unric.org/el/%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B7-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%B7%CF%81%CF%85%CE%BE%CE%B7-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B1-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B8%CF%81%CF%89%CF%80%CE%B9-2/.

Hodge, N., Alberti, M., & Alkhaldi, C. (2021, September 3). Women stage protest in Taliban-controlled Kabul. CNN. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/03/asia/kabul-afghan-women-protest-intl/index.html.

 

American Muslims after the terrorist attack of 9/11 (week 13)

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Twenty years have passed since the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001, the date two planes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York City. The individual terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks identified themselves as Muslims. They were part of al-Qaeda an international Islamist extremist network. Four planes were hijacked by 19 militants affiliated with this Islamic extremist group. Two of the planes collided with the Twin Towers and nearly 3000 people were killed. As a result, the United States initiated the war on terrorism.

After the attacks, the political environment in the Muslim world was altered dramatically. According to some testimonials, Americans spray-painted houses of Muslims and took hijabs or headscarves from Muslim women. Islamophobia in the United States remains a problem twenty years after the attacks. Since 9/11, Muslims have been “othered,” which has had a long-term impact on the lives of Muslim Americans and their feeling of belonging and inclusion in the fabric of American society. Although now there is a greater understanding of Islam, Muslim Americans say they continue to face discrimination and questions about their national loyalty. This could be a consequence of American nationalism.

Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at The University of Chicago says there is “this sense of being Muslim as a kind of important identity marker, regardless of your relationship with Islam as a faith”. In addition, Hanif an American Muslim says Your sense of who you were, not just Muslim, but American Muslim was becoming more developed. What set you apart as an American Muslim? Were you able to be totally both, or did you have to choose? There was a lot of deliberation about what that meant.

If someone takes a deep look at the Islamic religion, he will realize that only a very small subset of Muslims are Islamist extremists. These acts we perceive as “terrorism” are conducted by a tiny minority of Muslim people seeking power primarily in their own regions of operation, with other Muslims as their primary victims. The overwhelming majority of Muslims are opposed to violent extremism and terrorism. In conclusion, it is unfair for Muslims as a whole, to be subjected to this treatment by Americans.

 

 

Citation:

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase: Giannis Antetokounmpo

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Giannis Antetokounmpo is the child of a Nigerian family. His parents came to Greece from Nigeria with his older brother in their arms, but Giannis was born in Greece. He was selling glasses and CDs to help his family financially. He grew up as a black man in Greece. He was being bullied for his color, until he hugged a basketball in his hands, and it was like he was embracing the whole globe. He started playing basketball in Greece at the age of 7. Νow he is one of the best players in the world and he was named MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the NBA (National Basketball Association) finals twice.

Giannis grew up in Greek culture, learning the language and going to school. But when he was home with his family, he learned to live the Nigerian way. Although he was born in Greece, Antetokounmpo “will never be Greek” in the consciousness of some “Greeks” who cannot bear to see their ideas and worldviews collapsed by a black man.

Giannis in one of his interviews says “Greece is a country of whites; someone’s life can become difficult with the color of my own skin. I was going to many neighborhoods, and I was facing a lot of negativities, racism…. It has been difficult and always will be difficult to be black in a white country, there are times when you feel that you are not who you really are.” From this quote we can see the racism and the bullying he was facing.

Giannis grew up in the xenophobia of the Greeks and the racism. His color was making him to be the “other” because if you want to be the “One” in Greece you must be white. Racists were asking him “does an emigrant have the right to criticize Greece?”. In America, the problem of black oppression has been deeply ingrained for hundreds of years, starting with colonialism, and continuing with racial segregation. In Greece, the problem stems from the ignorance that prevails regarding the differences that are coming from foreign cultures. In my opinion Giannis

is now the “One”, the “Greek Freak” (his nickname after his successes) and the racists are the “others”. All human beings have the right to love as well as criticize a country, where they were born and raised or immigrated to, regardless of the color of their skin.

https://vimeo.com/441633447?fbclid=IwAR3b5O1GOsP39NcUnR7dPByF9BDAQnloe68q-HwP81CmdH0yUz8-oAv0vYs

 

  • “Γιάννης Αντετοκούνμπο: “Η Ελλάδα είναι χώρα λευκών” – Ο ρατσισμός και ο φόβος της απέλασης”. com.(2020, July 24)
  • Γ.Αντετοκούνμπο: “Δεν είσαι έλληνας. Είσαι Νιγηριανός γιατί είσαι μαύρος, μου έλεγαν”. (2019, March 6).
  • Sweet, J. “Giannis and identity”. Vimeo. (2021, November 5).