Hugo Chavez in Venice

Oliver Stone's new documentary, "South of the Border," premiered at the Venice film festival on September 7. It is about the leftist revolution which is taking place in many Latin American nations, and Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez is the star of the movie. Chavez was present for the premier and walked the red carpet. Stone endorsed Chavez's socialist agenda and described American opposition to it as "predatory capitalism". Obviously, Stone is entitled to his opinion of this controversial leader, but it seems amazing to hold him up as a beacon of democracy when he has suppressed opposition in his country. Chavez is a controversial leader, but Stone explained that he felt no need to include any opposing points of view in his film. "A dark side? There's a dark side to everything. Why do you seek out the dark side when the guy is doing good things?"

Oliver Stone predicts he will have a difficult time having his film released in the U.S. because of a complex America has about our neighbors to the south. Do you think there is any truth to Stone's charges?

Prejudice against Islam

I just watched the piece from the Today show on Mukhtar Mai. For anyone who has followed this story for years, it will be remarkable to finally see her face and hear her voice. The site is:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32688575#32688575

There will be more on Dateline on Sunday night, NBC, 7:00 PM.

I am disturbed by one particular aspect of the story. According the reporter, the idea of gang rape followed by suicide by the victim is seen as honorable in the traditions of Pakistan, But, what is shown is men praying at a mosque!!! Rapes to recover family honor are not and never have been part of Islam. In fact, it was Mukhtar Mai's local Imam who encouraged her to go to the police and who accompanied her. And yet this reporting of the story seemed to me to be saying that it was Muslim tradition which allowed and encouraged rape as punishment. No wonder we have such a misunderstanding about Islam when a respectable news agency like NBC and a very fine reporter like Ann Curry can report in this fashion.

Please, someone watch this and let me know if I am overreacting.

Big News on Mukhtar Mai

From Nick Kristof (Who else?)

If you're up, watch NBC's Today Show Friday morning. Between 7 and 7:30, there'll be a segment about me and Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani hero of mine and a star of "Half the Sky." She used rape compensation money to start a school. Then NBC Nightly News will report on maternal health in Pakistan, also by Ann Curry. It's great to see a network treating global maternal mortality as a serious issue.


Honestly, would any of this be happening without Nick Kristof? Doesn't this show what the persistence of one person can do when matched with the courage of one remarkable woman?

Release of the Lockerbie Bomber

The decision by the justice minister of Scotland to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted in the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people on the plane and on the ground has caused great consternation on both sides of the Atlantic. Scottish law permits release on compassionate grounds. Mr. Megrahi is dying of cancer and has only months to live. Letting him go home to die among his family is surely an example of compassion which is not the same as justice. Many people including President Obama have raised objections and criticized the decision. I am not sure if people do not understand that compassion by its very definition is different from justice. Of course, this is not justice. Or, perhaps, people are upset by what our media described as a “hero’s welcome” when he arrived in Libya. From all I have read, the people at the airport were members of his tribe who turned out to welcome their family member home. There was no government recognition of the return nor government official present at his homecoming. I have even read that Scotland must be getting some economic benefit from Libya. I am going to suggest that this is just what it is said to be: a compassionate move in keeping with Scottish law.

Who thinks Scotland made a mistake?

Selling Afghan Women Out

Hamid Karzai, America's favorite candidate in the recent Afghan presidential election, issued a law (not through Parliament) which has restored Taliban like restrictions on women. These new/old regulations apply only to Shi'ite women, but who can say they will not become more widespread? The law permits child marriage, allows a husband to withdraw all support for his wife if she does give sex on demand and permits a woman to leave her home only for "legal reasons" in "accordance with local customs." So, if local customs do not allow women to go to school or work outside the home, what then? No doubt, Karzai issued this law to win the votes for the hard-line members of the Shi'ite minority. But, how can we continue to support him?

Can we continue to support the Karzai government? Is this why we are fighting in Afghanistan - to see women oppressed? Doesn't there come some point when we have to do what is right and not what is politically expedient?

The Zimbabwean Dollar Is Dead

I'm a little late with this. The Zimbabwean government stopped printing the Zimbabwean dollar on April 12. So, it is officially dead. The government replaced it with the U.S. dollar and the South African rand. Where does this leave the Zimbabweans who have only Zimdollars, as they are called? A bus ride in Harare costs 50 U.S. cents or 3 trillion Zimdollars. People without relatives outside the country to send them hard currency are using Zimdollars as IOUs or have returned to a barter system. One woman paid a bus driver with a live chicken! President Mugabe is demanding a return to the Zimdollar even though it was his policy of just printing up money which caused the hyperinflation crisis. However, the finance minister is a member of the opposition party who joined the government as part of the power sharing agreement between Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change. He refuses to return to the valueless local currency. Oh, by the way, there is one place where Zimdollars are doing well. The trillion Zimdollar notes are a favorite with collectors and are selling well on eBay.

What do you think? Can a country heal its financial problems by getting rid of its own currency? What can the average Zimbabwean do? Any thoughts?

Help for Women

This Sunday's New York Times magazine is devoted to women's issues around the world. Be sure to pick up a copy of it if you can. Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn wrote the cover story.

Their main thesis is that just as slavery was the most important moral issue the world faced in the 19th century and totalitarian governments of both the left and right were the the major moral challenge of the 20th century, in the 21st century "it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape."

Do you agree? In the 21st century, in many places of the world, half the population is still being kept powerless through lack of education and oppressed by some horrific practices which sound as though they come from the Dark Ages. Half the population!
Can we in the developed world do anything about this? Should we? Ideas, anyone?

If you can't get a copy of the newspaper, the cover story is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?_r=1&hp