You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Western Prejudices’ tag.
The misogyny of the past in the so called ‘civilized’ West is quite chilling. We often ascribe Female Genital Mutilation as am exclusive product of Islam and other cultures. We overlook the fact we had our own FGM establishment running strong and publishing articles in respected journals about the so called benefits of FGM.
The crisis in Pakistan is getting worse according to the CBC as new flood waters are displacing even more people.
“New flooding in Pakistan sent 150,000 people to higher ground Saturday as aid agencies struggled to help the millions of people already affected by the disaster. The evacuation of homes was carried out in southern Sindh province as the latest surge approached. Already, 600,000 people are in relief camps set up in Sindh province because of flooding over the past month.”
The unspoken question is why is the relief effort have such a low international profile? Admittedly, this state is starting to change, but if we look at the Haiti Earthquake and the magnitude and intensity of the aid response what is different? Conditions in Pakistan are certainly as dire or even more so considering the larger scale of the devastation.
“Howard Arfin, spokesman for the Canadian Red Cross, is in one of the worst affected areas.
“We’re seeing first-hand the massive destruction from a river that is five times its normal size. Homes are washed out all around us. We’re still seeing people up to their chests in water,” he told CBC News. […]
According to Arfin, six million people are already homeless, and there are upwards of 20 million people whose lives have been impacted.”
Six million homeless? That like 1/5 of the population of Canada. The scale of destruction is really hard to imagine.
“About one-fifth of the country — a chunk of land about the size of Italy — has been affected. The floodwaters now covering roughly 6.8 million hectares are blamed for killing about 1,600 people.”
There is some good news though:
“On Friday, the United Nations said it has raised about 70 per cent of the $460 million US it called for in its emergency appeal.”
So, the aid money is slowly being gathered, at least that is something. Distance is a part of the equation of why there has been a lethargic response to the floods in Pakistan the other variables are still clouded. Some of the more pessimistic ideas could be the negative associations Pakistan has with the Taliban and the War on Terror, I would like to think though that we could separate the need for aid out from our misguided imperial policies and prejudices.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…