THE MOVIE "SUFFRAGETTE" .........AND ISLAM

I went to see the film “Suffragette” in Malibu last night….it was a story Long overdue in the telling…..how come nobody knows this story?…we know the African American story--the Civil Rights story…as well we should…we are reminded of it constantly…yet, the hardfought and bloody battle to secure voting rights for women, half of our population, is a story that is vague…un-celebrated, and ignored….Shame on us all. This is all going on while we are watching NFL football on T.V. today...with beer and ham sandwich in clutch. Who cares if Buffalo beat Miami?

It should be compulsory in all public education. It should be interwoven inextricably into our nation’s story.….it should be drummed, and re-drummed into the hearts and minds of our children….It was less than 100 years ago …my grandma wasn’t allowed to vote until she was 26, before that women had no vote, no Voice. It is breathtaking.

More evidence that the struggle for women’s rights and women’s dignity is largely ignored, and wholly incomplete…..

“Suffragette” is mandatory watching for anyone who believes in fighting for dignity and sovereignty……we all know the much celebrated story of how we fought the British for independence, and representation, etc….it was a basic pursuit….not so with women…it took another 150 years. The Revolutionary War gave white men their Independence, but women had to be imprisoned, beaten in the streets, subject themselves to self imposed starvation….these were our mothers, daughters, sisters…..they had to risk everything just to be able to vote…and “voting” is a far cry from equality….and a far cry from dignity and respect…it is barely the first rung of the ladder.

“Suffragette” chronicles the struggle in England for women to secure the basic right to vote. It is a true story of a movement that was led tirelessly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s by Emmeline Pankhurst….played by Meryl Streep in the film. Carey Mulligan is masterful in playing the role of the main protagonist, and Helena Bonham Carter carries the torch with equal acquittal. In America, occurring at nearly the same time, Alice Paul was acting equally heroically and selflessly to procure those rights for women…it was a horrific time…(and, when 1 in 4 women can expect to be raped in this country, it STILL is a very horrific, and uncivilized time).

Here is a Social Science review course on the ERA:

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and Crystal Whitman. In 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and was submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. It seemed headed for quick approval until Phyllis Schafly mobilized conservative women in opposition, arguing that the ERA would disadvantage housewives.

Congress had set a ratification deadline of March 22, 1979. Through 1977, the amendment received 35 of the necessary 38 state ratifications. Five states later rescinded their ratifications before the 1979 deadline. In 1978, a joint resolution of Congress extended the ratification deadline to June 30, 1982, but no further states ratified the amendment and it died.

It is dead, and no one is gathering around to administer CPR...the Equal Rights Amendment is dead...as a doornail. Every other group in American has Equal Protection under the Law...but not women and girls!

Is there anything on the National agenda that is of lower priority than guaranteeing women equal protection under the law, than keeping our women and girls from being exploited, victimized and raped?

I don’t get it...and, across the globe…men are quite reluctant to give up the choke hold they have on women…they have been brought up to feel entitled, to “have” women, to ”take” women, to control women....in India, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa. It’s breathtakingly savage!

The objectification and subordination of women is easily the most glaring injustice in the world today…nothing comes even close!!! Did you know that African American (men) had the right to vote in this country a full 50 years before women? Women came in last! Our sisters, daughters, mothers, and wives.....came in last!

“the most serious and unaddressed worldwide challenge is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls. There is a system of discrimination, extending far beyond any small geographical region to the entire globe; it touches every nation, perpetuating and expanding the trafficking in human slaves, body mutilation, and even legitimized murder on a massive scale. This system is based on the presumption that men and boys are superior to women and girls” - Jimmy Carter, from the book, ”A Call To Action”.

Now, how is this related to Islam (not ”radical” Islam, but garden variety Islam)…well, juxtaposed against this small and largely to be ignored film, “Suffragette”, we have the giant influx in Europe of millions of people who espouse and practice (and enforce) institutional misogyny…I don’t care a bit if they call themselves ‘religious”…that is just a word to me…I care about your actions…any group can call themselves a “religion”. I often wonder why the KKK didn’t just call themselves a “religion” or a branch of Christianity...they would probably be thriving and have tax exempt status to this day. There is no litmus test to a ”religion”..and no definition. There have probably been more horrific transgressions committed in the name of religion than from all other ideologies put together....It’s just a word to me….and too often a dangerous one at that!

According to the latest data, 19 of the 20 worst places in the world to be a woman are Muslim-majority countries. That’s too strong a correlation to be a coincidence. (Note: The only country in the top 20 that isn’t a Muslim-majority country is Ethiopia, where more than a third of the population is Muslim.) And, of course, Syria is among the 19. So, we are exporting institutionalized misogyny..passed down for centuries…to the western world….into the fabric of the film “Suffragette”. Some would call it a giant slap in the face. The women’s movement is virtually dead in this country as far as I am concerned…there is no momentum…Gloria Steinem and many others have done many admirable deeds in decades past…but now, there is no coalition…like we have for virtually every other group, from PETA, to AIDS, to LBFGT rights, etc…women are floundering ….they are all out there in their individual life preservers (floaties). They are living in response to horrific Rap music and the Kardashian blitzkreig that would put them on their backs for as far as the eye can see. The only thing that women can build a coalition around with the support of men is, ironically, to save their breasts.

Are we being dangerously myopic to allow Western Europe and America to import what I feel is a terrible virus that not only makes the United States more vulnerable to terrorism…but a virus that promotes the denigration, subjugation…and control of women…?.

There has to be a better solution….You don’t fix one problem by creating a much larger and more insidious one….but, in the face of this crisis...it is paramount...not to confuse people with ideology...people deserve our compassion.....even in the face of embracing bad ideology. We should never target people...but don’t shirk for a moment to target the Ideology...be it racism, misogyny, Nazism, or any form of hatred, or you are part of the problem..you are an enabler, like the German citizens during WWII.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Winston Churchill

And, as far as Emmeline Pankhurst …and Alice Paul are concerned…….I don’t think I would have the courage or willingness to sacrifice my life the way these women, and so many others did….I pale in comparison to these courageous and fearless women…women who took it in the neck…lost their families, jobs, fortunes, etc., in order to give future women the chance at being heard. We need a constant reminder of this sacrifice…and, I hope that this movie serves tenaciously as such a reminder--inspiring more courage and more conviction….and fearlessness…in serving justice, and equality. And dignity….

Food for thought….

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill