Belarus 2020: A Female-led Revolution that the world desperately needs.

 

The protests against the dictator Alexander Lukashenko represent the most female-driven political revolution that I have ever witnessed.

Women are at the forefront of the rebellion against a patriarchal chauvinistic ruler whose misogyny can best be summarised in his comment that "Our society has not matured enough to vote for a woman opposition presidential candidate".

He gravely underestimated the power of women.

For it was a female (Svetlana Tikhanovskaya) that was the opposition candidate in the recent presidential election and her key campaign advisors were women. The response to police brutality and a rigged election was not stone throwing and smashed windows but flower-waving women dressed in white (symbol of hope) marching through the streets who, by their courage and leadership, became the rallying call for the rest of the Belarus nation to follow in what has been so far the most peaceful rebellion of the modern era.

A female-led revolution is what humanity needs now more than ever. When the Earth lies on the edge of the abyss due to the man-made Climate Crisis, the male leadership of Britain, China, India, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, USA, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are squandering the world's financial resources on a new machismo ("my missiles are bigger than your missiles") arms race instead of using these monies to tackle poverty, social inequality, pollution and biodiversity loss by dramatically increasing investments in health, education, renewable energies, reforestation and green sustainability technologies.

It is not surprising that the policies and comments of so many of these political leaders, as well as those of other countries including Brazil, Philippines and Somalia, are characterised by a lack of empathy and often open hostility towards women, religious/ethnic minorities and the environment. Bolsanaro, Erdogan, Trump, Putin, Mohammed bin Salman and Ayatollah Khomeini represent an arrogant macho culture that has nothing to offer the world but hate, division, aggression and greed.

It is no coincidence that so many of the countries that have coped best with the COVID-19 pandemic are led by women - Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Taiwan.

It is also worth reminding ourselves that it was the caring nurturing skills of (super)ordinary doctors, carers, first responders, hospital back-up personnel, social workers, teachers and gardeners as well as benign musicians, cleaners, grocers and community volunteers amongst others that got us through the pandemic not the violence of a military, nor the get-rich quick profiteering of property speculators or the brash in-your-face lifestyles of self-centred opinionated celebrities.

For most of the history of humanity, women were society's leaders and worshipped as the 'givers of life'.

But with the capability to smelt metal and create weapons of war from the Bronze Age onwards, it was the male warrior as the 'taker of life' that came to dominate religion and governance.

A patriarchal culture has been but a brief intermission in the over 200,000 years of hominid existence. It is time for it to finally end and to liberate women from all forms of servitude and rediscover a sense of connection and respect with the rest of Nature (Mother Earth) before it is too late.

All power to the brave women of Belarus for showing us all the way forward. Let the men of the police, army and government departments of their country have the awareness and common sense to now stand beside their daughters, sisters, wives, partners, girlfriends, mothers and grandmothers in the common struggle to end oppression.

The Renewed Enslavment of Women

Today on International Women's Day, it is sad to reflect on how little progress has been made on women's right.
If treatment of women was the litmus test of civilisation, then most countries would be judged barbaric.
Across the world, women are still denied political and economic status equal to that of men even though they do must of the work. On a domestic level, the cooking of food, the cleaning of a home, the nurturing and education of children, the paying of household bills, the provision of male entertainment and the sourcing/manufacturing of clothing is still the prerogative of the female.
But in the increasingly fundamentalist societies of Islamic Asia and Africa such as Sudan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Pakistan and Afghanistan the re-appearance of Sharia Law has meant that women are experiencing renewed oppression, being denied basic human rights such as education, travel and free association. Women are now being purged from hospitals, offices and schools in countries such as Iraq where until recently they were well represented. Males are using them the scapegoat for the ills of society as exemplified by the upsurge in so-called 'Honour-Killing', a horrible symbol of male dominance. For a female to walk the street with her hair uncovered or unaccompanied by a male relative now runs the risk of death.
Though it has to be said that many courageous women are fighting against this renewed onslaught by religious chauvinism. In Iran, the women's movement is probably the largest mass movement of opposition in the country. Likewise in Pakistan, professional women are leading the battle against government proposals to accept Sharia Law in the border tribal areas.
In the process they are becoming invisible beings, faceless, with no identity forced to obey all the whims of their male masters.
In areas of the world where Aids is rife, sex with a female virgin is often viewed as a cure for the disease.

But in the so-called developed world, the situation is some instances is even worse with females experiencing unprecedented exploitation and slavery.
There is an explosion in exploitative pornography fueled by the Internet, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ease in restrictions travelling between European countries.
Over the last two decades, Western Europe, North America and Turkey are the main destination for millions of young women from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa who have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, drugged and gang-raped often bey their own male compatriots before being sold and enslaved as prostitutes to led a life of servitude servicing the sexual desires of mainly rich white men. Thousands of these torture camps dot the landscapes of Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and the USA.
Governments do little to stem the flow or punish the pimps and the human traffickers.
The working life of a prostitute is light years away from the romantic image portrayed by Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Women'.

In Ireland, in spite of the fact that our President and Deputy Prime Minister have been females for decades, few women hold positions of power in the business and academic boardrooms.
Galway University where I work is often considered to be a vanguard in liberal values. However only 6% of professors are female which is the lowest representation in the Irish third level sector.
Yet it was not always like this. I am proud to state that in ancient Celtic Ireland women were often leaders and well represented in sectors that were considered male only preserves in other societies. Click here to read my previous article on 'St. Brigit and the Remarkable Power of Irish Celtic Women.