An Unspeakable Response to September 11th:
Truth, Justice, and Equality
October 5, 2001

As two who rose amongst 500 women in Ottawa this week-- advocates, anti-violence workers, and academics--and cheered in response to Dr. Sunera Thobani's courageous speech we felt a sense of relief: finally a perspective that encouraged compassion, justice and equality in response to the September 11th attacks. We applauded her for breaking a deafening silence about the tragic legacy of US foreign policy in the Third World and Middle East. After all, how are we as a Canadian public to make an informed decision about our response to September 11th when vital historical facts are suppressed?

Dr. Thobani's address was indeed consistent with the theme of the conference: resistance to violence against women and girls. Every woman, who rose in support of Dr. Thobani's words, understood and feared that women and girls in Afghanistan will not escape the extreme violence of US military action. As feminists we collectively recognize that women and girls of Color in both the Third World and the Middle East have suffered a long and devastating history of US economic sanctions and military action. We think of the girls who have starved in abject poverty because of crushing US economic sanctions on Iraq. We think of the girls who suffer the hideous long term health effects (cancers, birth defects, internal bleeding) of depleted uranium used in US weaponry in the Gulf. We wonder how many women and girls were raped during the US invasion of Iraq. We know rape is and will always be a weapon of war.

Just as the US did not liberate women and girls in Afghanistan when they supported the rise of the Taliban to fight Soviet Forces in the 1980's, they will not liberate women and girls by bombing them now. Let's face it the US is has little interest in the liberation of women and girls in Afghanistan but instead seeks to maintain control of the Middle East in order to protect their access to oil.

Premier Gordon Campbell's claim that Dr. Thobani's speech was motivated by hate was an astonishing (and perhaps strategic) inversion of reality. It is plain to any fool that her speech, and indeed all of her work to date, is about opposing hatred and violence fostered by systems of inequality including global economic and military domination by the Western world. Dr. Thobani's speech encouraged us to learn from history and called for a more just world order that does not rely on greed, domination, vengeance and war. Sadly, these ideas have become increasingly radical in a suffocating climate of US militarism and war mongering.

It is no coincidence that various media and politicians have saved their most vicious attacks for Dr. Thobani, a woman of Color. Several have suggested, sometimes blatantly and other times more subtly, that Dr. Thobani is an "outsider" in Canada. For instance, references to her country of origin and suggestions that she should go back, are common racist tactics designed to discredit and silence her. No one acknowledged her substantial credentials to speak on these issues or her outstanding contribution to Canadian society as a leading feminist in this country. Instead her words were described as "cheap sloganeering", "manipulative", "ranting", and so on. Women and girls who speak out are very familiar with these sorts of insults when we name unpopular or difficult truths.

Dr. Thobani's speech was a gift to us all. She named the shameful truth of US foreign policy and challenged us to strive for peace, justice, and equality around the world. For the sake of women and girls world wide, we can only hope that one day soon these notions will not be viewed as extreme.

Joanne Butowski & Annabel Webb
Justice for Girls