The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, has been assassinated.
When I heard that she had been wounded while at a political rally this morning I thought of her family.
People lost a loved one today.
When I heard that she was critical and in surgery I thought of Pakistan, the country that she knowingly put her life on the line to defend against the forces of military oppression.
The Pakistani people lost an advocate today.
Then the news came that Benazir Bhutto is dead.
What happens next will determine what the world lost today.
Freedom requires opposition…dissent and the passionate defense of the right to voice dissent…not religion, or constant agreement or any of the love it or leave it bullshit those who fear the masses toss out as if an argument where a terroristic threat.
Silence the opposition and you smother freedom.
Smother freedom and the will of the people will struggle to catch fire.
I think that’s why Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan despite all the risks....because of the risks...to nurture the fire.
Benazir Bhutto was 54 years old.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Gumdrop Stage of Grief ...
So many of you have shared condolences and support after the death of my beloved brother Bill from COVID-19. I wish I could thank you indiv...
-
I was slightly illish this weekend and took to my bed Saturday, but I did rally for Brother Rob Thurman’s fantabulous cookie decorating part...
-
So many of you have shared condolences and support after the death of my beloved brother Bill from COVID-19. I wish I could thank you indiv... -
Okay, so most of you know that this bitch has some evil assed fibroids . Most of them were successfully murdered with full premeditation se...
22 comments:
I hardly knew of this woman before her recent return to Pakistan and the flames it fueled...but I hope so much she will be remembered and her ideas and hopes progressed. What a miracle that a part of the world where oppression of women is at perhaps the worst it is in this world elected a woman like this as their leader...and even MORE remarkable that that same woman returned to her country, fully aware of the risks, because she loved her country and wanted to see it truly free.
This is now a test for our country, too...will we continue to spew forth rhetoric and sideways declarations of democracy and freedom or will we finally, as a country, put our foot down and demand that our fellow countries offer true freedom to their people and stop furthering the political and economic agendas of militant dictators?
I hope for the best while fearing the worst.
It's a tragic loss. Violence everywhere. Always tragic.
Sitting on the extreme edge of a country that I believe wants to have a freely elected leadership, this country today took one large step backwards. The current president Musaurif is playing both ends against the middle much like the Saudis are.
What is at stake in Pakistan is the hearts and minds of their people at the precipice of either being drawn completely into Jihad with the Taliban and Al-Qauida or deciding for themselves without coercion to have a open society coexisting in the Islamic teachings much like Egypt, Jordan, and hopefully Iraq. The Philippines, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon shall continue to interfere with how other countries govern with their peoples being totally free of religious oppression
I think of her 3 children; only one is ' of age.' How they were worried for her. I read about her; how she had her frivolous years at Harvard and Oxford. But, somewhere along the line, frivolity went away, and she grew up. She took the mantle from her father and brother and stepped up to the plate. Not liking what she saw, she came back to Pakistan, because of that pull of duty to her people. Was she perfect? Of course not. But, she believed in 'The Pakistani People' and wanted to help fight for her country against those that would clap down on her as a woman and strip her of any and all freedoms. She WAS a ' Moderate Muslim', and sadly, I believe she was killed because of it.
I was reminded on another blog that there must be one person in deeper agony than all others: Bhutto's mother. She has lost a husband, her eldest son was poisoned; another son imprisoned; one daughter died from drugs, and thus the family responsibility was placed on Benazir, who became Prime Minister, was imprisoned, got her out of Pakistan to 'safe exile', only to see her return to Pakistan and be assassinated. This woman has suffered so much.
Pray for us all.
Its hard to find the words to express how I feel about losing yet another voice of sanity in an insane world.
I hope her death will backfire on Musharraf and the Islamic extremists. That would be the best revenge for this heinous act.
With the terrible assassination of the Great Begum Benazair Bhutto, Feminism has become inextricably linked to the War on Terror. No longer is it permissable for Socialist to disgiuse themselves as Feminists by wearing Bras, just so they can spout the Bush is illigitimate and the War on Terror is Wrong. The Day of this Pseudo-Feminism has passed away, to be burried along with the body of Begum Bhutto.
Bhutto's Gift to Pakistan is that of Women's Rights. The Islamic World, where once the only Woman's Right was the Right to Bear Children, was hostile foreign soil to their own Great Daughter, a harvard Graduate. Make no mistake, if the Islamofascists had their way, Shari'a Law would become Universal Law,and Women who did not know their place, drove cars, practiced professions, and did not wear their burquas, would be meeeted swift "justice", a beating from a big stick weilded by Religious Police calling themselves the Mutawah.
Jonathan Edwards, who called the War on terror a Phoney War, may be effeminate, but he is no Feminist. Obama at least called a Spade a Spade and properly condemned the Assassination. Hillary Clinton profaned the not yet cold deceased body of Begum Bhutto by making claims to the effect that Benazair knew and liked her best. Huckabee did little better by weakly condemming the assassination while holding to his unpatriotic stance against the War on Terror. Only Romney and Guilliani, among the Presidential Candidates, have acted as True Feminists.
These Socialists who disguise themselves as Feminists by wearing skirts and bras and decry the War on Terror should either shut up and wear their saris and burquas or else get with the program and join in supporting the War on Terror. Not to do so would be to sacrifice ALL of the progress since Susan B. Anthony over Algore's snit that he doesn't have the place next to Abe Lincoln reserved for him on Mount Rushmore.
This is truly a sad moment in history! I remember when she went back to Pakistan & they tried to take her out but did not, I thought to myself as I am sure others did as well that it would only be a matter of time. The other sad fact is that those who wanted her dead by any means necessary killed & wounded so many others.
Pakistan needs some serious help to heal & move on in a positive direction.
Bygbaby
Merciful Gawd, please give me strength...because a link from CNN.com sure does bring out the freaks.
Sigh.
Socialists disguising themselves as Feminists in skirts and bras?
Chris Hitchens?
Is that you?
Not sure what to say, other than the Bhutto family must have the same curse on their heads as the Gandhi family does. Benazir Bhutto lived to see her father (who was also a PM of Pakistan) be hanged for corruption and crimes Mme. Bhutto was eventually alleged with doing. Mme. Bhutto also lived to see two of her brothers be murdered. I wonder if her mother is still living. Such sadness. It's a loss for progressive Pakistanis, as well as a loss for feminists.
Her assassination really touched me in a soft spot. Corruption charges? Well, that's politics. Let's clean our own fucking yard before we point fingers. And I'm sure most were trumped up, given politics and all, but that's beside the point.
My worst fear is that our own country is heading in that general direction.
We won't have to wait long to find out -- that my worser fear.
Shark-fu's Critique of me being a Crazy as well as likening me to CHristopher Hichens was one of the best laughs I've had in a long time! Firstly, it is clear that I am being compared to Hitchens because I used a few long words, those with three or more syllables of the very type that a Socialist who would wear a bra to disguise themself as a Feminist would not understand. Second, Hitchens unflatteringly psychoanalyzes Bhutto [Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2180952 ] .
Second, to call me crazy when I point out the position of al Qaida and the Islamofascists, who preach Shari'a Law, towards Feminism shows some sort of Death Wish. Shari'a Law requires the Liberal use of the Sword to remove the Hands of Thieves, the Heads of nfidels, the Tongues of Liars, and the Scrotums of Adulterers ( and if you don't have a scrotum, its your head instead!). Not only that, the Sacred Police will enforce on-the-spot Justice by using their big sticks against women who drive, drink, practice professions, or don't wear their veils and burquas.
How can anyone who calls themselves a Feminist be against the War on Terror, the Very War that protects us against Shari'a Justice? The difference between Shark-fu wearing a bra and Rush Limbaugh not wearing a bra is that Rush is more easily mistaken to be a Feminist, mostly because Rush IS the better Feminist!
Really Shark-fu, you shold get in touch with your Inner Woman!
The world has lost a woman of love and courage, but gained a martyr. God knows we've had quite enough of that process.
Bydlo, you are right. You're no Hitchens.
Mayhap if you weren't so ung up on bras and balls...
...no, that wouldn't do it.
As for my inner woman...well, comments like yours remind me why I'm a feminist.
Encouraging the trolls is a wasted endeavor Shark Fu. Especially ones that think they are smarter than they actually are.
It's quite funny on some level to read their blather, but then..the Marx brothers appealed to the masses too.
Thank you Dusty!
What the fuck got into me?
I know better than to engage a knave.
Sigh.
Blame it on two days of solid sleep and my general dislike of bras and skirts (wink)...
And I guess you saw today that Pakistan doesn't need any help in getting to the bottom of what happened with Bhutto, and who done it.
Of course not.
Nor should they need our aid and our support in the war on terrah at this point.
I'm going to predict that within two years (and it may be far less) we will no longer consider them to be our ally. Depending on who "them" turns out to be.
But I'll be surprised as hell if a true democracy emerges from all this.
Your most welcome!
I am with ya on the last sentence too Shark Fu ;)
konagod,
Sadly, I agree. A bitch has been most alarmed with the positioning and the video that refutes the positioning.
But I am reminded that democracy is chaotic and the will of the people is unpredictable.
As long as the west is meddling, though, I fear the worst even as I hope for the best.
Merciful jeebus, what if I want to eat a bacon cheesburger in a halter and pants?
The War on Terror isn't about feminism. The Saudi asswipes who planned 9/11, who keep W and the Administration on a short leash, the ones who've won so far with the high cost of oil, *like* the War on Terror because it diverts attention from all the retrograde bullshit they and their sheik compatriots have allowed during all the years they could have brought their countries to a level of respect regarding human rights.
Neither Al-Qaeda nor their privileged Arab backers have ever given a damn about women -- and I'm tired of women, feminists or not, who actually risked their lives for something different being used as puppets to prove a point.
After all she went through - the exile, the deaths, the imprisonment, she went back to Pakistan because "Democracy is the best revenge."
Goodbye, Pakistani Rose
By Yiyan HAN (copyright(c))
Last modified: 2008-01-01 (2007-12-29)
In remembrance of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated on 27 December 2007, in a combined shooting and suicide bomb attack during a political rally of the Pakistan People's Party in the Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi. Today, my surname is Khan, one of the most common surnames in Pakistan.
Disclaimer: The modified song lyrics in this blog is purely for my personal use. The copyright of 'Candle in the Wind' belongs to the original authors, and it must not be violated.
Goodbye, Pakistani rose
May you ever blossom in our hearts
You were a ray of sunshine
In a place of the darkest night
You called out to our country
And cried out for justice and freedom
Now the star Bhutto who's true to Benazir
Watches over our people from the heaven
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a torch in the storm
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footsteps will always fall here
On the longest road to Rawalpindi
Your leading figure's left long before
Your legend ever will
Bravery we've lost
These empty days without your voice
This torch we'll always carry
For one of our nation's greatest daughters
And even though we try
The truth brings us to tears
All our words cannot express
Your uphill struggle through the years
Goodbye, Pakistani rose
From a country lost without your soul
Who'll miss the wings of your compassion
More than you'll ever know
Goodbye, Pakistani rose
May you ever blossom in our hearts
Your leading figure's left long before
Your legend ever will
Goodbye, Pakistani rose
May you ever blossom in our hearts
Your leading figure's left long before
Your legend ever will
The origin of the song "Candle in the Wind" may be found at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/diana/lyrics.html
socialist feminist anti-sharia bras? what the hell? you sure do get the live ones, girl!
Post a Comment