In the current climate of US-initiated or US-backed assaults on women in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we are deeply troubled by one kind of hypocritical Western feminist discourse that continues to be preoccupied with particular kinds of violence against Muslim or Middle Eastern women, while choosing to remain silent on the lethal violence inflicted on women and families by military occupation, F-16s, Apache helicopters, and missiles paid for by US tax payers.

This is a moment when US imperialism brazenly uses direct colonial occupation, masked in a civilizational discourse of bringing Western "freedom" and "democracy." Such acts echo the language of Manifest Dest...

In the current climate of US-initiated or US-backed assaults on women in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we are deeply troubled by one kind of hypocritical Western feminist discourse that continues to be preoccupied with particular kinds of violence against Muslim or Middle Eastern women, while choosing to remain silent on the lethal violence inflicted on women and families by military occupation, F-16s, Apache helicopters, and missiles paid for by US tax payers.

This is a moment when US imperialism brazenly uses direct colonial occupation, masked in a civilizational discourse of bringing Western "freedom" and "democracy." Such acts echo the language of Manifest Destiny that was used to justify US colonization of the Philippines and Pacific territories in the 19th century, not to mention the genocide of Native Americans. US covert, and not so covert, interventions in Central, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean have devastated the lives of countless indigenous peoples, and other civilians, in this region throughout the 20th century.

The US, as well its proxy militias or client regimes, has inflicted violence on women and girls from Vietnam, Okinawa, and Pakistan to Chile, El Salvador, and Somalia and has avenged the deaths of its soldiers by its own "honour killings" that lay siege to entire towns, such as Fallujah in Iraq.

While we too oppose abuses including domestic violence, "honour killings," forced marriage, and brutal punishment, we are disturbed that some US feminists are participating in a selective discourse of universal women's rights that ignores US war crimes and abuses of human rights.

While some progressive US feminists claim to oppose the hijacking of women's rights to justify US invasions, they simultaneously evade any mention about the plight of women in Palestine, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Their statements continue to focus only on female genital mutilation or dowry deaths under the guise of breaking the "politically correct" silence on abuses of women i...

While we too oppose abuses including domestic violence, "honour killings," forced marriage, and brutal punishment, we are disturbed that some US feminists are participating in a selective discourse of universal women's rights that ignores US war crimes and abuses of human rights.

While some progressive US feminists claim to oppose the hijacking of women's rights to justify US invasions, they simultaneously evade any mention about the plight of women in Palestine, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Their statements continue to focus only on female genital mutilation or dowry deaths under the guise of breaking the "politically correct" silence on abuses of women in the "Muslim world" that the Right disingenuously laments.

Some progressives may support such statements with good intentions, but these critiques ignore the fact that Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim feminists have been working on these issues for generations, focusing on the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationalism.

Their work is ignored by North American feminists who claim to advocate for a "global sisterhood" but are disillusioned to discover that women in the US military participated in the acts of torture at Abu Ghraib.