Asia Bibi Needs a Smartphone

by Les May

RAHAF Mohammed al-Nun is an 18 years old woman who has renounced Islam, fled Saudi Arabia, claims that if she were returned she would be killed, has been declared a refugee by the United Nations and has been granted asylum in Canada. Asia Bibi is 52 years old Pakistani woman who was on death row for eight years before being declared innocent of blasphemy by the Pakistan Supreme Court.  Since 2 November last year she has been in protective custody to keep her safe from mobs who refuse to accept the verdict of the court and want to hang her.

Whilst Rahaf has been enabled to start a new life Asia is still effectively a prisoner separated from her children and her husband.  So why the difference? Why has Rahaf attracted world wide attention and Asia been largely forgotten?

There’s a clue in a long article by Janet Street-Porter (JSP) in today’s Independent.  JSP slants her article so that Rahaf is to be seen as a woman fleeing from a male dominated society.  She even manages to bring in the 120 or so women at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre who, like Asia Bibi are separated from their family, as no doubt the men are too.  Rahef’s ‘crime’ is to simply want to make decisions about her own life. Asia Bibi’s is to be a Christian in a predominantly Muslim country.   The option she was given was convert to Islam or be tried for blasphemy. There’s no ‘feminist’ angle here.  It is, or should be, a human rights issue and deserving of our support for that reason.

There are two other reasons why these two women have been treated differently. When Rahaf reached Canada she was greeted by a government minister who went on to praise her countries diplomats.  Giving her asylum will not improve relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has close ties with the UK, but Asia Bibi is something of an embarrassment to our government.   The Foreign Office has opposed offering her asylum, though it has been unwilling to go on the public record as to why it has taken this stance. Some people have viewed this as a willingness to ‘bend the knee’ to right wing extremists in Pakistan. I’m one of them.

The second reason is the simple fact that Rahaf has a smartphone and Asia Bibi does not. In one day Rahaf acquired 27,000 ‘followers’ on Twitter with her hashtag #SaveRahaf. For the Saudis the plight of one young woman had grown to an international incident overnight.

At present Asia Bibi is an innocent woman being held under what is effectively house arrest.  The president of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has shown himself unwilling to act to make sure she goes free immediately. Governments treat him with kid gloves in the hope of keeping him ‘on side’.  Saudi Arabia pumps money into the country to keep it solvent.   There’s little sign that the Bibi case will ever ‘go viral’ on Twitter. It seems being a Christian is seriously uncool amongst the Twitterati.

No doubt Rahaf’s story will get an outing in the Sunday papers this weekend and probably next week she’ll feature on Woman’s Hour.  As for Asia Bibi I’m not holding my breath as I wait for the feministas to notice.

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Corbyn & his Woman's Hour Horror Story

EMMA Barnett, a Woman's Hour presenter, gave Corbo a grim time yesterday as he giggled and fiddled with his i-phone desperately trying to to put a cost on Labour's plan for free childcare for 1.3m youngsters during an interview with BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
'It will cost... it will obviously cost a lot to do so, we accept that,' he said, before agreeing with host Emma Barnett that the figure was £5.3bn.

Stephen Bush, in the New Statesman, says:
'The interview is great radio – you can read the transcript here but it’s better heard than read – but is it a good way to cover politics?'

But should a professional politician be so ill-prepared that he doesn't have a note handy with the figures covering his party's flagship policy on? 

Perhaps Corbo thought he would have an easy ride, and didn't need to prpare himself properly to tackle Ms. Barnett, who after all is not an old hand like Jenny Murray.  I thought perhaps she was a new girl on the block, but Ms. Barnett was educated at Manchester High School for Girls and had an Orthodox Jewish background.

After the interview one tweeter declared:  'Zionist Emma Barnett (family lived off the proceeds of brothels) attacks Jeremy Corbyn on R4 this morning.'

In response to these attacks, Mr. Corbyn has said that she was only doing her job.

Adam Barr's Northern Ancestors etc?

Hi Brian (Bamford),

So first of all, you shouldn't make assumptions about people's backgrounds. I come from Hull, and am a proud Northerner. My grandad was a docker, and my other grandad was an upholsterer, as is my Dad. I am the first in my family to get the opportunity to go to university. Unfortunately my Dad failed his eleven plus and so only has one measly O level in woodworking. The fact he didn't get to the opportunity to go to university has been a source of great frustration to him. Please don't think I'm from the home counties or middle class. I'm really not. Also my name isn't double barreled! My middle name comes from my Grandad (the upholsterer one not the docker.)

It wasn't really a spat with Nick Heath btw, we just disagreed. It happens sometimes.

I bring up these organisations because they are on the Freedom Collective, and send delegates to our monthly meetings. They have input on what we publish and occasionally contribute to our output. Far from Freedom basking in the glory of these groups, they are a vital part of the collective. You seem willfully misinformed as to how things are here.

I have no idea which Friend you are referring to? Financing certainly is an issue and it's something we've been doing work on. I've been involved with Freedom for about three years (not that it really matters) so of course things that happened before that are before me time! They couldn't be anything else. It is certainly true that large donations we're apparently squandered, it's a source of great frustration to me that I have to run a freesheet and website on no money. Luckily we've got the 500 pounds together that we need for the website redesign so I'm very happy about that!

I've also read a lot of NV content, some of it is quite good, other bits rather lacking.  I especially like your focus on blacklisting, something that has affected a number of family friends.

From what I understand, again please correct me if I'm wrong, you've spent a good number of years feuding with various people associated with Freedom because you once had a disagreement with an old editor?  Seems a little petty to be honest with you.

I don't particularly care about your past. I care about what you're doing now. And what you're doing now is awful. I think I particular low point was the piece you had published in Private Eye, although that was probably authored by Chris Draper. What an uncomradely thing to do. I'd be really upset if I didn't already think you were a piece of shit.

By the way, I'd be interested to hear what you thought about the freesheet you picked up at the last London Anarchist Bookfair? I can also send you a copy of the new freesheet if you'd like to take a look. It's got a great piece from the Glasgow Anarchist Collective in it about their work against homelessness.

I'd extend you're criticism of the Friends of Freedom Press out from simply a matter of geographical location. Why is there only one woman? Where are the people of colour? Where are the trans people? Where are the disabled? Where are the queers? You've put forward a list of four white men.

Your proposal is a vague, ill thought out load of rubbish. Not much more to say about it.

Again, don't make assumptions on me or my class background. Don't make assumptions as to the class backgrounds of the members of the collective. You're wrong on both counts.

'Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth?'

by Les May

THERE was an interesting discussion about the book 'Why Rape Culture is a Dangerous Myth: From Steubenville to Ched Evans' by Luke Gittos, on today's Woman's Hour.  Closing the discussion the presenter said 'This will be debated on Twitter as some of you are beginning to do already'.



If there is one certainty in this world it is that nothing is ever debated on Twitter  which has become just a channel for denouncing other peoples views.  If we are to have a serious discussion about rape, it's not going to be on Twitter or Facebook.