Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Yemeni Bra-Burning

It's their version of it:

"Yemeni women burn their veils to protest crackdown" by Gamal Abdul-Fattah Associated Press / October 26, 2011

SANAA, Yemen—Hundreds of Yemeni women on Wednesday set fire to traditional female veils to protest the government's brutal crackdown against the country's popular uprising, as overnight clashes in the capital and another city killed 25 people, officials said.

In the capital Sanaa, the women spread a black cloth across a main street and threw their full-body veils, known as makrama, onto a pile, sprayed it with oil and set it ablaze. As the flames rose, they chanted: "Who protects Yemeni women from the crimes of the thugs?"

The women in Yemen have taken a key role in the uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's authoritarian rule that erupted in March, inspired by other Arab revolutions. Their role came into the limelight earlier in October, when Yemeni woman activist Tawakkul Karman was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with two Liberian women, for their struggle for women's rights.

Wednesday's protest, however, was not related to women's rights or issues surrounding the Islamic veils -- rather, the act of women burning their clothing is a symbolic Bedouin tribal gesture signifying an appeal for help to tribesmen, in this case to stop the attacks on the protesters.

The women who burned clothing in the capital were wearing traditional veils at the time, many covered in black from head to toe.

The women's protest came as clashes have intensified between Saleh's forces and renegade fighters who have sided with the protesters and the opposition in demands that the president step down.

Medical and local officials said up to 25 civilians, tribal fighters and government soldiers died overnight in Sanaa and the city of Taiz despite a cease-fire announcement by Saleh late Tuesday. Scores of others were wounded....

Government forces also shelled houses in Taiz -- a hotbed of anti-Saleh protests -- killing five people, including four members of one family, a local official said....

Across town, a group of women supporters of Saleh marched Wednesday up to the U.N. office to voice their opposition to international pressure on the president to step down. The women entered the U.N. building to hand in their protest note.

During a meeting with the U.S. ambassador on Tuesday, Saleh offered to sign a U.S. and Gulf Arab-backed power transfer deal that gives him immunity from prosecution if he steps down....

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"WOMEN PROTEST IN YEMEN -- Hundreds burned their veils yesterday as they demonstrated against the government's crackdown on protesters, chanting "Who protects Yemeni women from the crimes of the thugs?" The burning was a symbolic gesture signifying an appeal to tribesman, and was not related to women's rights (Boston Globe October 27 2011)."  

I not only love the symbolism, I'm getting hot. Must be the fire. 

"Yemen urged to ban child marriages" December 09, 2011|By Associated Press

CAIRO - A leading international rights group urged authorities in Yemen yesterday to set 18 as the minimum age for marriage to improve girls’ opportunities for education and protect their human rights.

Human Rights Watch said widespread child marriage in the Arab world’s poorest country jeopardizes Yemeni girls’ health and keeps them second-class citizens.

A report by the New York-based group said Yemeni government and UN data showed that in some rural areas of Yemen, girls as young as 8 years old were married off. Some have told the rights group that they were subjected to marital rape and domestic abuse.

According to the 54-page report, which was based on field research, approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before the age of 15, and 52 percent are married before they are 18 years old.

Let's hope they survive the protests long enough to get married, 'eh?

--more--"  

Maybe I should start burning all the Muslims-hate-their-women items that come from my Zionist War Daily.