How could ANY mother do this to her daughter?

I simply cannot understand why some women behave the way they do.It completely baffles me.Women have been abused,exploited and made to feel inferior to men since time immemorial.All in the name of “culture”.They have been so completely brainwashed into believing that “culture” is so sacrosanct that no one should question the great “culture” that they belong to.Obviously they seem to think that “culture” however inhuman,barbaric and uncivilised it may be,must be protected against the onslaught of modernity and progress just because the concepts of modernity,progress and human rights(including women’s rights) have originated in the West.And they think that Western culture is inferior to their own culture that they want to stick on to some inhuman and shocking practices that will even make a man feel ashamed.

This post is all about one of the most shocking practices that I have heard of women being subjected to.It is called female genital mutilation or female genital cutting.

I cannot describe this horrible practice in my own words.Take a look at this wikipedia article for the whole story about this obnoxious practice.

Ofcourse,that article is scientific in nature,so it is not going to describe this practice in an artistic way.Art can describe inhuman and shocking practices better than science.Click on  this article from the Daily Mail to get a good artistic view about this “great cultural practice”.

Well,I have always suspected that one half of the female population is the greatest enemy of the other half and men are usually tools to be used by one half or the other.The more I read about such things,the more they reinforce that view.

All I can say is that if women want to harm themselves and other women,no power on heaven or Earth can save them.

Rabindranath Tagore said,”Into that heaven of freedom,my Father,let my country awake!”

I wish he had said,”Into that heaven of freedom of thought,my Father,let the women of the world awake!”

STOP the war in West Asia NOW !

Though I cannot completely imagine how mothers feel about their children,I think I know the truth about motherly love.It is supposed to be the greatest bond on Earth,a bond that no power on heaven or Earth can break,however hard they may try.

The most touching letter I have come across is this one from one affected mother to another on the two sides of a conflict zone.I am pasting what is a now a common letter on the internet below:

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Najwa Sheikh writing from occupied Gaza Strip

I spoke with him a little, but when he sees me he begins to cry … the situation in Sderot in general is very difficult, and I do not know how we can continue, how we can stay in the city.
- Sderot resident Rima Haimov, whose ten-year-old son Yossi was wounded by a Qassam rocket. (”Doctors save hand of Sderot boy hurt by Qassam; 4 Palestinians killed in Gaza,” Haaretz, 26 February)

Dear Rima Haimov,

When I read your words the only thing I can say is that I feel sorry for your son, and that I can understand you as a mother and the traumatic events that your child is experiencing. I cannot deny the fact that life becomes very difficult in such circumstances when you realize that you and your family are in danger at any moment; I fully understand your worries, your feelings and concerns. I am addressing this letter to you with the hope that you will understand my pain too.

Like I feel sorry for your son, I feel sorry for my Palestinian children who are born and will die in Gaza, unable to have the chance of seeing other worlds, and who have to face F-16s, Apache helicopters and the Israeli army’s brutal invasions into Gaza. However, my children are not fortunate enough to have the excellent medical care that your son has. My children do not have the chance to run to a shelter and there is no alarm to tell them that there is a strike coming. My children cannot be guaranteed the love and care that your son found because all of their family might be killed in one strike, they might witness the death of their parents, or any of their dear family members as the Palestinians are targeted everywhere, even in their homes and among their children.

My children cannot find the counseling that your child will have to help him deal with his appalling experience. They have to keep their pain inside them, and recall it day after day. Even in their dreams they suffer from remembering the things they have witnessed.

My children are not children anymore; they lost their innocence and are forced to act like adults so they can protect themselves. They no longer cry to their parents because they realize that even adults are scared and also need comfort and security. Instead they swallow their pain and deal with it on their own.

When your child is sick or injured he has the chance to go to the best hospitals to receive treatment while my children have to live with their pain and injuries because they cannot go to a good hospital like you have in Israel. In Gaza, they can only wait for the pain to pass or count the days waiting for the end. They have learned how to face death fearlessly, because they hope to find justice and a better life in heaven.

While your child enjoys his new schoolbooks, my children have to use old, disreputable books because the borders are closed and even schoolbooks cannot be brought in.

My children have to face the extreme temperatures because of the electricity cuts. They cannot enjoy sitting in front of the electric heater in winter or the fan in summer. While you as a mother can plan for your child’s future, I cannot because my child is locked in a prison called Gaza, and he cannot dream of having the chance to receive a better education and work outside of Gaza.

While you as a mother can give your child all the promises of a better life, I can not give my child these guarantees, simply because we are both eligible to die in any moment by an Israeli strike, without any plans, dreams, nothing.

After all of this do you think that my children deserve their pain only because they are born to Palestinian parents? Do you think it is fair that they are treated in this way? Is it fair to be subjected to the sanctions that your government has imposed on us? I hope you can understand my pain too.

Sincerely,
Najwa Sheikh

Najwa Sheikh is a Palestinian refugee from al-Majdal located just north of the Gaza Strip. Shiekh has lived in refugee camps in Gaza her entire life where she is married and has three children.

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I have no words of my own to express what those two mothers are going through.

I would rather put a bullet in my head than subject mothers and their children to so much pain.

But why do we support war? Why do we think war is necessary? Why do we ignore the perils and pains of war? Why do we not condemn war and genocide in the strongest terms? Why do we not wish that all kinds of oppression would stop so that there would be no wars but the whole of humanity can enjoy peace and prosperity and happiness? What on Earth is greater than the concepts of Liberty,Equality,Fraternity and Human Rights?

Questions . . . questions . . . questions . . . but no answers !

Are we so accustomed to the reality of life that we have given up on hope for civilisation? Can we all not join hands together to pull humanity back from the brink of disaster? Can we not put our brilliant minds together to find solutions to save our beautiful planet from total destruction?

There is no need to unite as one people representing humankind at all.We can still have our differences,our beliefs,our nations,our cultures,our systems and so on.We have to make the small effort to unite in thought to save our planet and ourselves ! That is all we need to do ! I simply cannot understand why we fail to do this simple thing though !

Orhan Pamuk: a true hero of our times!

The first Turkish national who comes to my mind is Orhan Pamuk. I think he is the greatest Turk of the present age and one of the greatest Turks of all time!

Yes, this post is about Ferit Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize winning Turkish novelist and professor of literature. He is one of Turkey’s foremost novelists whose work has been translated into more than fifty languages. He has won numerous national and international literary awards and is the first Turk to receive a Nobel Prize. He studied architecture briefly but went on to graduate from the Institute of Journalism at the University of Istanbul. I have not read any of his books so far, but I greatly admire him for another reason. Read more about this great man on this wikipedia article.

Orhan Pamuk-Photo: Wikipedia

So we would expect such a wonderful human being and a patriotic Turk to be treated as a hero in his own motherland, wouldn’t we? Afterall, here is a man who loves his country but more importantly, is a good human being who prefers to look at the truth.

But the reality is different from the truth! Very different indeed!

Orhan was treated like a criminal! A hate campaign was started and criminal charges were brought against him and he was forced to flee his country! But he made the most courageous decision to return to his beloved motherland and face the false charges against him! Due to an international outcry, the criminal charges against him were dropped! But some scoundrels did not stop with that! There was a group of criminal assassins who even plotted to kill Orhan and others!

But why was he treated like this? The only reason is because he chose to speak the truth!

In an interview, Orhan had stated, “Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it“. In another interview, he said that he wanted to defend the freedom of speech, which was Turkey’s only hope for coming to terms with its history, “What happened to the Ottoman Armenians in 1915 was a major thing that was hidden from the Turkish nation; it was a taboo. But we have to be able to talk about the past.“

Now, that is a courageous decision to stand up for the freedom of speech and for the truth by a man who is admired by many for his contribution to Turkey and the world!

But he was treated like a common criminal! Orhan is no killer or liar or cheat or anti-national! He is the exact opposite of those evil types!

It does not surprise me in the least, though. I know why he was treated like that by some of his own fellow citizens. This is the sad reality that honest people have to go through! Why do we do this to such wonderful people? Why do we ask them to shut up, abuse them, ill-treat them, batter them, hurt them, offend them, call them names, put them in prison, torture them emotionally and even try to kill them?

What wrong have they done? What crime have they committed? Why the hell should they be treated like that for daring to speak the truth? Why the hell should they be treated like that by people who don’t want to come to terms with the truth? Why on Earth should they be treated like that for speaking out against oppression? Is it such a great crime for a patriotic citizen to suggest that his fellow citizens should come to terms with the truth so that everyone in that country can have a bright future?

I always admire such great men and women! They are the only hope for our planet! They are the only hope for civilisation! When war, genocide, crime, corruption, greed and pollution are destroying our beautiful planet and all her sons and daughters, it is people like the brave and courageous Orhan who will save Mother Earth from the brink of disaster! They are the greatest heroes of our times! They are the greatest sons and daughters of their countries and of Mother Earth and Father Time!

Orhan, don’t worry about those people who have treated you the way they have! For every such person, there is another person who is more patriotic and more human who will defend you! Turkey is indeed blessed to have a son like you, Orhan! People like you are the last hope for their countries and for our planet!