Opinion

Hypocrisy!

Mandela “the terrorist” is revered globally as a symbol of resistance to subjugation and as an icon of peace and freedom. The West’s hypocrisy remains unparalleled.

By Mir Adnan Aziz | November 2021


A thousand years after the advent of Islam, France was holding a discourse to assess whether a woman was a human being. During the reign of King Henry VIII, it was declared that as she was impure, it was unlawful for a woman to read the Bible. On the death of their husbands, Hindu women were condemned to perform self-immolation.

In Europe and North America, more than sixty thousand women were executed or burnt at the stake on the mere suspicion of practicing witchcraft. Until the 19th century, women did not have the right to own property or obtain a divorce. European literature portrayed women as mere chattel. In “Taming of the Shrew”, she was meant to be reformed by man. Hamlet, addressing his mother Gertude, said, “Frailty, thy name is woman”; a line epitomizing the prevalent mindset.

When established, British universities such as Oxford, Wales and Cambridge, allowed male admissions only. France granted voting rights to women 155 years after its independence and till 1964, women needed their husbands’ permission to open a bank account or get a passport. Today, a woman choosing to wear a hijab in France may face a prison sentence of up to two years.

However, since the Taliban took over Kabul, the one thing that is tormenting the sanctimonious West and Modi, is their ignoble cling on women’s rights. This is despite the fact that none of the Taliban leaders boast a Modi, Macron or Trump, the ultimate alpha males, within their ranks.

Trump was propelled to office by what Micheal Kimmel, world-renowned sociologist on gender studies, describes as “the US’s angry white men”. White House Advisor, Sebastian Gorka, heralded Trump’s presidency as a “return of the alpha males”. Trump’s inaugural address site was packed with half a million women protesters the very next day.

Shirley Chisholm, author and the first Afro-American Congresswoman, was spot on saying the emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins as soon as the doctor says, “it’s a girl”. The fact is epitomized when Trump tells American-born Democratic congresswomen of colour to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came”.

Apart from calling Hillary Clinton a bigot, Trump referred to certain women publicly as “lowlife, fat pigs, slobs and horse-face”. He had far worse things to say throughout his presidency. Facing allegations of rape and assault, the POTUS gloated publicly that “he felt entitled by his celebrity status to grab women by their genitals”; an epitome of unparalleled hypocrisy of the alpha males regarding sanctity of women rights!

Timothy Weeks, an Australian professor at the American University in Kabul, spent three and a half years in Taliban captivity. He converted to Islam and was released in exchange of Anas Haqqani. He traveled to Doha to attend the first session of the Afghan peace talks on the invitation of the Taliban; Anas Haqqani was at the airport to receive him.

Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle, a Canadian couple, were Taliban captives for five years. They converted to Islam as did Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist. Western politicians and media dub it as the Stockholm Syndrome. (This is a condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors during captivity).

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