I am by no means a feminist. Not by any standard. Feminism in Europe or Philosophy is a very difficult and most of the time a quite laughable matter. Not so much because of it’s subject, but because of it’s vocabulary on one side and their hatred for men on the other. It is not something I like delving in. (I have been rendered sensible to the cause of the feminists by my former PhD consultant who must have had a dislike of women… but I never enthusiastically entered the feminist cause.)But when I see the various ‘social’ manifestations here in Paris planned for this week, I feel like writing something. And here I am. Today it is the turn of the students to protest against the new educational law… again. Of course they all end up in my quarter here. And I see those 16 year olds being manipulated by their left students association (yes, in France the students associations are politically orientated, something that in Switzerland would never be possible. In Switzerland every organ representing a mass of employees or students or whatever must be declared politically, religiously etc. neutral). Why did they have to demonstrate today? Why on this international day for the Women? You’d imagine that after the horrific images of the Turkish Police beating of peacefully assembling women (I am offering an Aljazeera.net link because this incident has been badly covered in the news, and they’re the only one with a picture :S) the well suited students of France could for once forget their whining sob stories of the ‘nouveau bac’ and cut down courses for a greater cause. No, of course not.
And while women in Kuwait demonstrate for the right to vote, I feel badly for the youth of my generation. It makes me sad to see that they are more readily on the streets against the US or for their own little prerogatives than for the greater reasons. I highly doubt that their right to be heard and to exerce their public voice will ever be heard for something other than prefetched judgements and ideology.
But there is a silent pale blue revolution taking place and one would be not too daring stating that this new century is starting to be the one of changes and the peaceful changes. The Velvet, The Orange, The Cedar and now the Pale Blue Revolution. (Again very badly covered in the news). And how fitting it is that none of those changes or silent upturns took place in ‘old’ Europe, but in the New parts of the EU and in the Middle East. Now that’s a thought to remember.
And although I am not a feminist or a fervent defendant of the women’s cause (I simply don’t think that their course of action is any better than the one of the discriminating men in this world…), today my thoughts go out to the Arab women across the globe fighting for their autonomy, their right to speak in public, dress how they want and choose their own way of life… it all starts with the right to vote. Women in Switzerland had to fight almost 90 years (from 1890 to 1971) until they were allowed to vote. Let’s hope that neither the Kuwaiti women nor the Turkish ones will have to fight that long until granted basic human rights.
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