It feels like a slap in the face of humanity: a new Afghan draft law effectively legalising domestic violence against women and children. If it were a movie this bill, which will automatically become law later this month unless President Hamid Karzai refuses to ratify it, would be called "The Patriarch Returns". So are we to take it that this is the price of peace?
[A COMMENT] People who think of themselves as progressive start saying things which amount to "They're a bit brown, a bit Muslim and, well, a little bit savage, and you can't expect any better and it would be unreasonable to try."
Astoundingly, the argument that all human beings are capable of behaving well towards other human beings then becomes a unreasonable, racist assumption. It's just bizarre the way in which western liberals are willing to throw eastern women under the bus rather than criticise eastern patriarchs. [Guardian Cif] Read more
