"Holding Up the Sky" by Charleen Touchette 1987Honor Women and the Earth
by Charleen Touchette-September 1, 2010
"Calling Home the Bees-Maiden, Mother, Grandmother"
by Charleen Touchette 2009
Realizing the Dream's Liesette Paisner, Charleen Touchette and Martin Luther King III in 2008
"Peace" Photograph by Jennifer Esperanza
_____________________________
“A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors or strong its weapons.” Cheyenne Orator
“I have found that those who do achieve peace never acquiesce to obstacles, especially those constructed of bigotry, intolerance, and inflexible tradition.” Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007)
Women are the source and nurturers of life. Nobody alive came into being without having been born of a woman. Yet since the overthrow of matrilineal cultures over 2,000 years ago, women and their children have endured oppression and dominance by men in most cultures, religions and political systems across the globe. At the same time, our Mother Earth that gives us everything we need to live has been violated, poisoned and disrespected. Indigenous values of living in balance and right relation to each other and Earth, Sky and Water have been replaced by the unbridled lust and greed for money and power of the super-rich minority. The conquering mind has colonized the land bases, bodies, hearts and minds of the world's people and each conquered nation has been plundered for natural resources, work forces, knowledge and ideas. Conquered and colonized people are turned into consumers of the products of the military-industrial complex and become complicit in the devastation and exploitation of the remaining intact indigenous peoples. Media instills fear and fuels the fires of discord into wars that make big bucks for arms manufacturers and merchants, as well as the companies that rebuild after the destruction. People around the world want Peace. But leaders who teach Peace, Love and Human Rights are targeted as dangerous to the status quo. They are hunted down, harassed, surveilled, threatened, or assassinated like Jesus, Sitting Bull, Aung San, Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Robert F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Sister Dorothy Stang, Ingrid Washinawatok, Lahe'ena'e Gay, Terence Freitas and Benazir Bhutto.
"The men of today are a lot less intimidating than the women around. Might have to turn that statement around these days." Walter Crane
As if. Unfortunately, too many men today blame the Second Wave of Feminism of the 1970s and women and People of Color entering the workplace for curbing their previously unfettered privilege as white men. Don't let anger at an unreasonable woman boss or a controlling wife or mother blind us to the continued oppression of the majority of women worldwide. Don’t think that situation comedies full of men portrayed as silly and incompetent who have to be bullied by overbearing wives and moms portray reality for most U.S. families. In fact, in most of the world, including the West, women continue to be oppressed.
"Women in whole of the world own approximately 1% of the world's real estate. Women are still suffering because of our economic and patriarchal systems, particularly indigenous women and women of colour. Do not judge us by a few token women of privilege." Shar Starr
The stark reality is that women are still, as John Lennon wrote, "the niggers of the world."
Those who ignore the facts of women's oppression and think "...men of today are a lot less intimidating than the women" should try telling that to the 75% of women in the U.S. military today; the Sabine women, the Armenian, Salvadoran, Cheyenne and other North American Indian women, the women of Croatia and Herzegovina, the women workers in the Mexican maquiadora, the women of the Congo and those around the world through the centuries who are victims of rape and genocide as a weapon of war. Tell that to the women in India who are burned with acid for refusing arranged marriages and the widows sacrificed on funeral pyres, the girls in Afghanistan who are gassed, poisoned and doused with acid and otherwise terrorized for going to school and the Islamic women who are forced to cover with burqa and buried to the neck and stoned to death for violating Islamic "laws". Tell the women and girls in America who are denied control of their own bodies and safe contraception, the mothers and daughters among the over 40 million living below the poverty line in the U. S. that things are so much better for them than for their mothers and grandmothers. Tell the millions of women around the world who have no access to clean water, air and food, or dignified employment and women everywhere who are subjected to toxic chemicals, hormones, GMOs, herbicides, chemicals, plastics and petro-chemicals in the environment that women are "more intimidating than men". Examples of women and children's historic and continued oppression go on and on and on. Rich men start wars for power, plunder and profit and women and children pay with their freedom and lives.
The oppression of women and their offspring is directly connected to the violation and disrespect of Mother Earth. When men everywhere grow up and stop resenting their mothers telling them what to do; when they start holding rapists, plunderers and war profiteers accountable and begin to protect women, children and the Earth and all our relations, then, and only then, will the world be a safe place where women are honored, respected and able to live productive lives as free people on equal ground with their husbands, fathers and sons sharing a fruitful and nourishing Earth. Human rights for everyone will never be a reality as long as women, who comprise over 51% of the world, are second-class citizens and too many remain victims of oppression, genocide, environmental degradation and poverty.
Stand up for Peace and Human Rights for everyone everywhere. It always was, and still is, dangerous to teach Peace and Love, but it is still essential and even more crucial in these times of fear and violence. Take heart in the inspiration courageous peace activists provide and know that, as Dr. King said, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
____________________________________
Additional Resources-
"Heroines of Peace-The Nine Nobel Women"-
Wikipedia-"List of Assassinated People"-
"Of Woman Born" by Adrienne Rich-
"Backlash-The Undeclared War Against American Women" by Susan Faludi-
“A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors or strong its weapons.” Cheyenne Orator
“I have found that those who do achieve peace never acquiesce to obstacles, especially those constructed of bigotry, intolerance, and inflexible tradition.” Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007)
Women are the source and nurturers of life. Nobody alive came into being without having been born of a woman. Yet since the overthrow of matrilineal cultures over 2,000 years ago, women and their children have endured oppression and dominance by men in most cultures, religions and political systems across the globe. At the same time, our Mother Earth that gives us everything we need to live has been violated, poisoned and disrespected. Indigenous values of living in balance and right relation to each other and Earth, Sky and Water have been replaced by the unbridled lust and greed for money and power of the super-rich minority. The conquering mind has colonized the land bases, bodies, hearts and minds of the world's people and each conquered nation has been plundered for natural resources, work forces, knowledge and ideas. Conquered and colonized people are turned into consumers of the products of the military-industrial complex and become complicit in the devastation and exploitation of the remaining intact indigenous peoples. Media instills fear and fuels the fires of discord into wars that make big bucks for arms manufacturers and merchants, as well as the companies that rebuild after the destruction. People around the world want Peace. But leaders who teach Peace, Love and Human Rights are targeted as dangerous to the status quo. They are hunted down, harassed, surveilled, threatened, or assassinated like Jesus, Sitting Bull, Aung San, Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Robert F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Sister Dorothy Stang, Ingrid Washinawatok, Lahe'ena'e Gay, Terence Freitas and Benazir Bhutto.
"The men of today are a lot less intimidating than the women around. Might have to turn that statement around these days." Walter Crane
As if. Unfortunately, too many men today blame the Second Wave of Feminism of the 1970s and women and People of Color entering the workplace for curbing their previously unfettered privilege as white men. Don't let anger at an unreasonable woman boss or a controlling wife or mother blind us to the continued oppression of the majority of women worldwide. Don’t think that situation comedies full of men portrayed as silly and incompetent who have to be bullied by overbearing wives and moms portray reality for most U.S. families. In fact, in most of the world, including the West, women continue to be oppressed.
"Women in whole of the world own approximately 1% of the world's real estate. Women are still suffering because of our economic and patriarchal systems, particularly indigenous women and women of colour. Do not judge us by a few token women of privilege." Shar Starr
The stark reality is that women are still, as John Lennon wrote, "the niggers of the world."
Those who ignore the facts of women's oppression and think "...men of today are a lot less intimidating than the women" should try telling that to the 75% of women in the U.S. military today; the Sabine women, the Armenian, Salvadoran, Cheyenne and other North American Indian women, the women of Croatia and Herzegovina, the women workers in the Mexican maquiadora, the women of the Congo and those around the world through the centuries who are victims of rape and genocide as a weapon of war. Tell that to the women in India who are burned with acid for refusing arranged marriages and the widows sacrificed on funeral pyres, the girls in Afghanistan who are gassed, poisoned and doused with acid and otherwise terrorized for going to school and the Islamic women who are forced to cover with burqa and buried to the neck and stoned to death for violating Islamic "laws". Tell the women and girls in America who are denied control of their own bodies and safe contraception, the mothers and daughters among the over 40 million living below the poverty line in the U. S. that things are so much better for them than for their mothers and grandmothers. Tell the millions of women around the world who have no access to clean water, air and food, or dignified employment and women everywhere who are subjected to toxic chemicals, hormones, GMOs, herbicides, chemicals, plastics and petro-chemicals in the environment that women are "more intimidating than men". Examples of women and children's historic and continued oppression go on and on and on. Rich men start wars for power, plunder and profit and women and children pay with their freedom and lives.
The oppression of women and their offspring is directly connected to the violation and disrespect of Mother Earth. When men everywhere grow up and stop resenting their mothers telling them what to do; when they start holding rapists, plunderers and war profiteers accountable and begin to protect women, children and the Earth and all our relations, then, and only then, will the world be a safe place where women are honored, respected and able to live productive lives as free people on equal ground with their husbands, fathers and sons sharing a fruitful and nourishing Earth. Human rights for everyone will never be a reality as long as women, who comprise over 51% of the world, are second-class citizens and too many remain victims of oppression, genocide, environmental degradation and poverty.
Stand up for Peace and Human Rights for everyone everywhere. It always was, and still is, dangerous to teach Peace and Love, but it is still essential and even more crucial in these times of fear and violence. Take heart in the inspiration courageous peace activists provide and know that, as Dr. King said, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
____________________________________
Additional Resources-
"Heroines of Peace-The Nine Nobel Women"-
Wikipedia-"List of Assassinated People"-
"Of Woman Born" by Adrienne Rich-
"Backlash-The Undeclared War Against American Women" by Susan Faludi-
"A Tribute to Ingrid Washinawatok El Issa-
"Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn-
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