The Lady Vanishes, part 2

Welcome to my next, and last, entry on Rana Husseini's Murder in the Name of Honour.

Husseini, along with other activists, started a campaign, the Jordanian National Committee to Eliminate So-Called Honour Crimes. Their first form of action was a petition to bring Article 98 and 340 up to debate. In the petition there is an extraordinary statement which expresses my interest in Norma Khouri's book. It is a demand to raise the voices of victims:

"In the name of our sisters, daughters and mothers who do not have any voice, in the name of those who this minute unjustly suffer different forms of violence and injury to protect honour, with no one to protect them and guarantee their human rights, we raise our own voice." (35)

This is a critical statement. It is the voices of victims that need to be heard. And not only their voices, but those witnesses and perpetrators of violence. In traumatic events, all of these voices need to be heard. Not only for recovery and processing, but also for those outside of the event to understand.

Husseini received massive resistance, both from the Islamic Action Front and Al-Tahrir party. Each group claimed this was a western, even Zionist, plot to "to destroy our Islamic, social and family values, by stripping men of their humanity when they surprise their wives or female relatives committing adultery"(69).

The vote in Parliament to alter these votes did not pass. Yet in 2001, article 340 was expanded so that women received a similar reduction penalty as men (not a goal of the campaign). A new law called Khuloe gave women more rights for divorce. Slowly, courts started to investigate murders more thoroughly to determine if they were passion or honour crimes. Plays were performed in schools about these crimes and the public seemed to start listening.

This is where Norma Khouri steps in the pictures. Her book, Forbidden Love, was a critical hit in Australia at the time. Husseini received a plethora of emails, claiming that the men in Jordan were "animals with no feelings whatsoever" and promises that they would never visit Jordan...a country which relies on tourism.

Khouri's book tells the story of her friend being murdered for dating a man of a different religion. Khouri is a witness to this crimes, its build-up, and the aftermath. In my opinion, the book is poorly written, incredibly orientalist and anti-Arab, and reeks of exaggeration.

Husseini researched the book and found over 80 errors-including Jordan's geographical location, Khouri's supposed business, ect. During its publication, the debates regarding Australia's role in the Iraq war would be. Palestinian activist in Australia, Ihab Shalbak, gives this quote:

"Norma Khouri is providing what Bush, Blair and Howard failed to deliver which is the moral case of the war, for attacking savage Arab men and liberate Arab women and the feminized Arab world." (96)

How did this effect the cause? Husseini writes,

"She ruined our cause. Those who opposed change, who suspected that western agenda lies behind our activism, were suddenly presented with 'evidence' that crimes of honour were a fiction and exaggerations and sought to link our campaign to Khouri's book" (94)

The affect this book had in terms of the Western world is simple. It provided another over-simplified, hysterical and orientalist view of the Arab world. It establishes a divide between the "west" and "the Other." And despite the West's own history of both honour crimes, crimes of passion, and domestic abuse, it puts the west on a pedestal of moral superiority.

With this type of attitude, the Western world assumes a responsibility to solve this crisis. However, it is only grass root, local movements like Husseini's that provide substantial change. Instead of books like Khouri's, Husseini suggests another form of vocalizing these crimes: pictures of victims, interviews with families, attempts to humanize the victim.

What is my opinion? I agree that Khouri did irreparable damage for many years. Yet at this time, I believe her book has undeniable value because it provides the prospective of a witness. Yes, Khouri never lived her adult life in Jordan and spent most of it in Chicago. Yes, she never witnessed an honour crime. But as an Arab, she is connected to this culture and this issue. And it obviously concerns her. Thus she is a witness. To what degree, I do not know yet. But between the lines, there is a story. This is what I believed when I read this book.

None of my opinions are set in stone.

What about Husseini's book? Overall, I found the tone a bit too emotional. The anger is palatable, which is good in some cases, but it became overwhelming. Although it provided an image of a progressive Middle East, it often portrayed the "backwardness" in a way that Westerners could assume an image of superiority. I believe it is essential that none of us think our culture is better than this, because it simply isn't true. Here is one quote from a woman that I felt was unneeded:

"We are in a Middle Eastern society and I am for punishing women more than men because men cannot resist the seduction of girls who are dressed improperly...When women are punished, fear of their families will build up among them and they will think twice before committing any immoral mistake."

I worry about this quote. It should be included, but perhaps in a different document, where the language is not as emotional elevated. A reader gets caught up in Husseini's anger and reading this quote could easily send them into a tailspin. But to Husseini's credit, she does reveal that the Western world fights with their own demons regarding this issue. Perhaps that resolves the other issues I had with the book, I am not sure.

All the best! Article views will come up eventually.

Liz

The Lady Vanishes, part 1

Good morning,

I woke up to a pouring rain this morning. The minute I had my coffee ready, I sat down with my computer to start up my blog again. The topic for this morning? They book I finished a few weeks ago: Murder in the Name of Honor, by Rana Husseini. To keep these little ramblings short and sweet, I will install long ones into two parts.

While in Jordan, I had the chance to meet internationally known journalist Rana for her ideas about my thesis and the status of honor killings in Jordan. I made no indication that those ideas would be published, so I won't share them. Needless to say, she assured me the importance of Khouri's book in the movement and its continuing negative impact in Jordan. Ergo, my thesis isn't a total waste of time.

Her book is an impressive one. It addresses the status of the anti-honor killing movement in Jordan and their struggles in snuffing out the problem. Although I found her book interesting and informative, its tone is extremely hyper-emotional. This is understandable-this is an emotional topic. And as a journalist who reported on honor killings as a living, Rana has every right to be upset. This often distracted me from her major message. As an academic, I did not like this aspect. But as someone trying to learn about the conflict at a basic level, I enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone who is just starting to learn about honor killings (thus, I review it first off).

Rana begins the book by placing us in the context:
“Imagine your sister or daughter being killed for chewing gum, for laughing at a joke in the street, for wearing make-up or a short skirt, for choosing her own boyfriend/husband and becoming pregnant.” (xi)

For those who have a daughter, your daughter has most likely done some of these things. If you are someone's daughter, you probably have done the same. According to Jordanian police, about 25 women a year are killed through these type of honor killings. An honor killing is where a woman in the family has tarnished their reputation and must be "cleansed" to preserve honor. It is a mode of control-over a woman's sexuality, over choices in love, and over her movement. Even rape is considered punishable by honor killing.

Rana is a journalist in Amman, with a focus on crime. When she started reporting on these crimes, she received an onslaught of criticism from her readers for writing about this non-problem. Others told her she was wasting her time, considering their culture stagnant.

To her credit, Rana doesn't only represent the obvious victims of this culture, but the silent suppressed: the murderers. Now, obviously, they are not sympathetic characters initially. But the social pressure from parents and community to do the "honor" creates a Catch-22. Either way, your sister/daughter/cousin will die, you just won't be the one to do it. This killer that will be quoted below saw his sister die by his hand and then his life destroyed.

“I took the stand and told the judges that I had to kill my sister, because if I did not kill her, it would have been like killing more than a thousand men from my tribe.”

“No one wants to be the one to kill his sister, but traditions and society inflict things on us that we really do not want to do. If society would not have shunned us after her rape, we would not have killed her and instead locked her inside the house until she died or someone married her.”

True, it is hard to sympathize him as a westerner. We see the opportunities of free choice, to run away, ect. This just simply isn't an option. Especially when the legal punishment is not severe.

In her various court visits, she finds that Jordanian law grants leniency to these killers. The law states that those who murder in a "passionate frenzy" are granted leniency. Article 340 and 98 are two constitutional articles that preserve the rights of murderers. 98 allows a killer a reduced sentence if he kills someone in "a fit of frenzy." 340 allows a person to kill or injure another if they are involved in adulterous situation.

Rana, along with other prominent international actors and locals, started a campaign to target article 340. In my next post, I will elaborate more on this campaign, how it ended, and how Khouri played a role in its failure.

Much love,
Liz

On Ho!

Hello Folks,

I would like to introduce you to my thesis blog. In this long-long-long journey, you will read my ramblings, thoughts, and analysis. Before I begin my book review in the next post, here is a brief introduction to my topic.

My thesis centers around the book Honour Lost: Love and Death in Modern Day Jordan (please look at the commentary on the book) by Norma Khouri. In this now infamous book, Khouri describes her friendship with a Muslim girl. Based in Amman, Jordan, Khouri's friend is murdered by her family when it is revealed she has secret dates with a Christian boy. Khouri's life is then threatened and is forced to flee away from Jordan.

The memoir addresses the issue of honor killings, specifically in Jordan, and in the world as a whole. When it was published, a campaign ran by journalist Rana Husseini was working in Jordan to prevent the practice through constitutional changes. This memoir drastically hurt their campaign, because the tone is extremely anti-Jordanian, Muslim and Arab culture. It is rife with generalizations and gave the Western powers in the post-9/11 climate to attack the region. We will see in my next post while this became problematic.

The worst part? Rana Husseini and other prominent women activists and journalists proved that the memoir was false. Although removed from its initial publisher, it is still being published today.

My questions for my thesis include:

• How much harm did this memoir inflict?
• What repercussions will the continued publication of this book involve?
• How can the damage be undone?
• Does this memoir have a valuable role in the social and historical discourse on this issue?
• Have more false-memoirs appeared on this topic?
• What good did this memoir bring? What was its nature? Can we speculate what the movement would be now without it?

I will leave off here today. Tomorrow will be a commentary on the book, Murder in the Name of Honor by Rana Husseini.

All the best,
Liz