Radio Free Europe has an article on gender violence in South Asia and for the article, the reporter Antoine Blua has picked stories of abuse from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. All of them are real horror stories and a shame on society. But towards the end comes a line out of the blue
Coomaraswamy said she believes South Asian men feel threatened by social and cultural changes, partly spread by globalization and the mass media. And women are bearing the brunt of men’s fears. [South Asia: Recent Killings, Violence Underscore Lack Of Progress In Gender Justice]
This seems to be some Praful Bidwai kind of logic where everything has to be blamed on United States or on Globalization. So were there no Islamic honor killings before the spread of globalization ? Were there no rapes before the arrival of mass media ? If this is true, rapes should not be happening in globalized countries. But if you look at any evening newscast in United States, it starts with a a few crimes and gruesome child abuse. and what is the explanation for that ?
In another news Christian Aid has come out with a report saying that liberalization is causing the death of Andhra farmers and Alex Singleton at the Globalization Institute has a rebuttal
It is totally regrettable when anyone commits suicide, but the Christian Aid report misses the point. Christian Aid ignores all the millions of lives saved from starvation in India because of liberalization. If saving lives were the point of the report, Christian Aid should be firmly backing liberalization. This report is about backing up ideology.
When the sort of policies Christian Aid advocates were followed in the 1960s and 1970s, India’s economy stagnated and living standards fell. Many starved. Now, by following liberalizing policies, India’s economy is experiencing some of the world’s fastest economic growth. Christian Aid is effectively saying that India should grow more slowly. This would not be in the interests of poverty-relief.
Christian Aid seems to blame the suicides on Britain’s Department for International Development for its support of Andhra Pradesh’s privatization policies. Yet the report says the suicides are by farmers, not by workers at newly-privatized companies. Indeed, because India taxpayers are paying for fewer loss-making state industries, the government has had more money to spend on its priorities – including on helping farmers. [Christian Aid’s report on Indian suicides]
