Oh for the love of ....!

I decided a while back that I would not share a lot of the horrible stories that are going around the world so as to allow us to take a level-headed approach to our topics.

But, in the last couple of weeks, the stories have been getting more and more harrowing, and it's no longer possible to keep an dispassionate look on what is going on.

I am truly outraged at these stories. There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for these injustices!

It's absolutely devestating, disheartening and heartbreaking that life is getting to be so incredibly hellish for so many millions around the world!

What or who is to blame for this?!

Here are the two stories that got me all fired up:

From today's news on the BBC:

Acid attack on Afghan schoolgirls

Attackers in Afghanistan have sprayed acid in the faces of at least 15 girls near a school in Kandahar, police say.

They say that the attack happened shortly before at least six people were killed in a bomb blast near a government building in the city.

Doctors say that the six girls were wearing Islamic burkas or veils which provided them with some protection.

Correspondents say the attack is likely to have been carried out by those opposed to the education of women.

A spokesman for the Taleban denied involvement in the attack.

The former Taleban government - ousted from power in 2001 - banned girls from attending school.

'Not safe'
"We were going to school on foot when two unknown people on a motorcycle came close to us and threw acid in our faces," 16-year-old Atifa told the BBC.

"I want to ask the government that why they cannot protect us, we girls want to study but the the government is not helping us. We want better security."

She said that the attack took place on Wednesday morning outside the Mirwais Nika Girls High School.

Officials say that that two attackers used a toy gun to spray the acid and fled as soon as people came to the assistance of the girls.

Atifa said she did not know why anyone would have attacked her and the others.

"I don't know why they did it," she said. "Kandahar is not safe. But we can't stay home, we want an education."

The BBC's Ian Pannell in Kabul says that the incident has shocked ordinary Afghans.

Nato-led forces in Afghanistan condemned the attack as cowardly.

COWARDLY??? That's all they can say? These attacks were cowardly?? Where is the outrage? Where is the justice? How are women supposed to get anywhere in life, if everytime they try to get ahead, they are killed, maimed or burnt??

And, here's the other story from last week's news:

Somali Girl stoned to death


http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7707000/7707683.stm

13-year-old Somali girl raped and stoned

(Trigger warning.) Last week, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, a 13-year-old Somali girl was stoned to death by insurgents because she was raped. They called it adultery.

"Reports indicate that she had been raped by three men while traveling on foot to visit her grandmother in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu," Unicef, the United Nations children's agency, said in a statement.

"Following the assault, she sought protection from the authorities, who then accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death," Unicef added. "A child was victimized twice -- first by the perpetrators of the rape and then by those responsible for administering justice."

As if that wasn't terrible enough, she was killed by 50 men who buried her up to her neck and pelted her with rocks until she died. In a stadium in front of 1,000 spectators. The details of this crime are just wrenching. At least some in the crowd tried to stop it:

Inside the stadium, militia members opened fire when some of the witnesses to the killing attempted to save her life, and shot dead a boy who was a bystander.

Cara at the Curvature and Tracy at Broadsheet have more. Cara writes,

But in the end, whether she was killed because of a rape, because of consensual sex, or because of sexual contact neither consensual or non-consensual because it was entirely imagined, it's not the point. To emphasize that Asha was murdered because she was raped, and that's why her death is a tragedy is to suggest that it would be less tragic if she actually had committed consensual adultery. Asha's life was taken from her, quite simply, because she was a woman.

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women has a letter-writing action:

You can write a letter to the representatives of Somalia, the African Union, and various UN human rights offices to encourage them to take action by investigating this murder, bringing the perpetrators to justice, and denouncing the actions of these insurgents.

None of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow's killers have been arrested.

Source: http://www.feministing.com/archives/012146.html

You can hear more about the case, and first hand accounts, from the BBC at this link here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7707000/7707683.stm

For any students who are reading this, what do you think?

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