Erika Asgeirsson's Blog

Afghan Rape Victim in Jail

Erika A — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:26:55 EDT

An AP story reported today that a woman in Afghanistan who was raped and abused was arrested and given a four year sentence for adultery and escaping her house. The young woman said she was kidnapped by a neighbor and delivered to an Afghan man along with her 3-year old son. The man raped her for three months. Afraid of losing her son, she attempted to run away. When she was found and brought home, the man beat her and her son. She reported it to the authorities, they came and arrested him (who is serving 20 years for the murder of the 3-year old boy he beat) and her. Given the four year sentence on December 5 and now in jail, she asks "Why am I here?" The chief prosecutor on the case, Abdul Qayum, said “She committed adultery. It was rape, but the woman is also guilty.”

After suggesting that she got a light sentence, Qayum said, "This is Afghanistan, not America.” While his comment suggests the difficulty of applying human rights standards, especially women’s rights, cross-culturally, this is a huge setback to the past improvements for Afghan women. Although the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission documented an increase in the number of women complaining of violence, this case threatens that improvement and could set a precedent for women to keep quiet despite horrific conditions and abuse.

Desperate to Hold On

Erika A — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:58:25 EDT

A senior official with Zimbabwe’s ruling party (ZANU-PF) announced that a run-off vote was needed to decide the country’s presidential election that originally took place on March 29. This sparked much anger among the opposition party because the current situation proves that Mugabe has been and will continue to rely on violence and intimidation to stay in control of the country. A spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, said that they will refuse to participate in a run-off because they claim they won the first election and the results being released are rigged. While protestors arrested last week as part of a crackdown were released, this is no indication of hope in Zimbabwe as the Human Rights Watch said that organized violence and terror against opposition supporters has intensified.

The UN Security Council had been divided in how to respond to the situation in Zimbabwe. President Bush called on Mugabe to respect the decision of the people of Zimbabwe and accept defeat. At a UN Security Council meeting (after turning away an MDC representative because he was not part of a government, therefore he was not allowed to join them), the U.S., Britain and France supported intervention (a U.N. special envoy and a voluntary arms embargo). But other members, particularly South Africa, were more reluctant to intervene. China, Russia, Libya, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, and Vietnam also agreed that international intervention was not appropriate until Zimbabwe asked for it. While the opposition party has been asking for intervention, it is highly unlikely Zimbabwe will because the ruling party is deeply suspicious of any US intervention.

I am also suspicious of intervention because, as history has taught us, it can be disastrous. But it’s hard to be an onlooker in this situation. How much more violence can Zimbabwe take? Mugabe’s presidency has overstayed its welcome. Because of the political intolerance that has plagued the country not just the past few months, but years, the fact that the opposition party even was able to get this close in some ways surprises me and gives me some hope, but I’m afraid that as the opposition gets stronger, Mugabe and the ruling party will get more and more desperate to hold onto control.

The Crisis of the American Man

Erika A — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:00:43 EDT

Vanity Fair recently published a very intriguing article on the state of the American man today. Compared to the man “that won the West,” today’s man is plagued by confusion, unrealistic and insatiable expectations of success, and an eroding ideal of fatherhood. Men are confused about their role and their relationships. And further worried by society’s pressures for economic success, men’s self esteem is driven solely on this. Even with huge success, it’s still easy to feel like a failure. James Wolcott, the author of the article, refers to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s reaction to a New York Times article about extreme success on Wall Street. He says “In a really good year, I can make a few hundred thousand dollars, which by any standard should be considered enough. But compared to these bonus billionaires, I was nothing. A big zero. I didn’t even rate.” And even worse to Wolcott is the failing image of fatherhood. Not only is there a perception that all men are destined to be “deadbeat dads,” but this attitude has trickled down into our legal system. Today, when men’s fulfillment comes from being a dad, our society has shortchanged men by deconstructing the idea.

While the article was thought-provoking and relevant, I’d have to say that while trying to escape some stereotypes of gender, the author fell into other ones just as harmful. For example, defining manhood as fatherhood is forcing men to fit into yet another box. In addition, Wolcott almost blames the rise in women’s power for this loss of masculinity. While he attempts to comment on stark gender inequalities, particularly in representation in government and business, he also says “in the shaky ground of the post-feminist era, gone is the gritty confidence that won the West.” Finally, some of the issues that the author raises (such as economic success) are not unique to men. Many women feel the some of the same pressures to succeed and face the same risk of failure heightened by breaking through barriers to achieving such success. Although the pressure may take a different toll on men, I think this suggests less about changing masculinity and more about the values of our society.

Just as women often are forced to have many roles (employee, wife, mother, etc.), men also face finding the same balance. But the bottom line is that as women’s roles are changing, both in the home and outside, men’s roles will inevitability change as well. But I’m not sure this should be seen as a loss in masculinity.

National Lie-In - In Memory of Virginia Tech

Erika A — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:33:02 EDT

On April 16, 2008, the year anniversary of Virginia Tech, I attended the National Lie-In . It was put on by the Brady Campaign and ProtestEasyGuns.com. After a few speeches in front of the Supreme Court, participants lied down in front of the Supreme Court for 3 minutes because that is how long it takes to buy a gun in the US. After that, they marched over to the lawn in front of the Capital to lie down for another 3 minutes. This was followed by more speeches by people affected by gun violence. A student injured at Virginia Tech spoke about her experience. Mothers who lost their children to gun violence spoke. All had similar messages – the urgency of the issue. We need to deal with it now because we can not lose any more of our children, brothers, sisters, or parents. Most focused on common sense measures that we need to take. For example, background checks. Any person who tries to buy a gun should need to have a license and be tested so that guns do not get into the hands of people who can not handle them responsibly. Also, advocates are asking the Supreme Court and Congress to close the Gun Show loophole that allows people to buy guns without being screened.

In addition to protesting easy gun access, the event was held to honor the Virginia Tech students lost last year. Students from Virginia Tech came and held signs saying “I’m here for the 32 Virginia Tech students who can not be here.”

But what was so inspiring to me was to see young people and old people coming together to fight for something they all believe in. There were people of all ages. Children with their parents, college students, mothers, and grandparents. As great as is it to see young people getting involved, sometimes, it’s even greater to see all people come together.

Waiting for Monday – When will the results of Zimbabwe’s election be released?

Erika A — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:20:38 EDT

The Zimbabwean people are still waiting for the results of the elections held almost two weeks ago. The opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, claim they won and that Robert Mugabe, the president who has been in power for 28 years, and his administration have been holding on to the results. The court is suppose to rule on whether or not the administration will be obligated to release the results, and the opposition party says that the people will act if the results are delayed even further. Mugabe has called for a run-off election, claiming that the opposition party did not get the necessary 50% of the vote to win in the first round election. The opposition party fears that in the meantime, Mugabe will continue to use violence to suppress opposition and intimidate voters leading up to the runoff. Mugabe has remained in power through sketchy means, to say the least. The 2002 elections ended with many accusations of widespread rigging and intimidation. Even this year’s elections are not without similar claims. Many expected the elections to be rigged. Attempts to skew the election went as far as outright force. In the time since the election, the opposition party, MDC, has announced that it won’t participate in the run-off because they already won a sufficient amount of the vote and Mugabe is trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation that will lead to unfair elections (the Washington Post has an article that details the implications of this). Indicators of military rule have already been established. Mugabe has continued to clamp down on the opposition. Key leaders have been arrested and opposition protests have been banned in Harare. Leaders from Southern Africa have agreed to meet for a Summit this weekend, including Tsvangirai as well as Thebo Mbeki, president of South Africa. Mugabe has pulled out of the summit last minute.

The situation in Zimbabwe raises questions of when problems in a country should be internationalized. Mbeki was slow to involve South Africa despite eagerness of other Southern African leaders. The opposition party has pushed for more involvement from southern Africa, referring to a history of slow response. MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said, "We cannot wait until dead bodies start littering Zimbabwe."

But what is appropriate action and who should be the first to get involved? My instinct is that other countries in southern Africa should definitely take the lead on this. They should continue to pressure Mugabe to resign. However, right now the situation is very unstable. If violence continues, passive support to the opposition party from a few countries may not be enough. The summit meeting this weekend may be a step towards international intervention. One thing is for sure, tensions will continue to run high leading up to Monday.

Before I end, I would like to point to a blog post by a Zimbabwean-born who now lives in Europe. I think it provides some important history behind the current situation and reminds us of how unpredictable the future always is. While Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, was fighting its liberation battle, Mugabe was the liberator. Today, he is the dictator that won’t let go. As he continues to clamp down on the opposition, we will have to wait for Monday.

A Progressive - Skeptical, not Cynical

Erika A — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:28:27 EDT

Earlier this week, I attended an event at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute co-sponsored by Campus Progress. The event, Conversations with Tom Daschle, was a conversation between Senator Daschle and Tim Russert from Meet the Press. The topic was media and the elections, which was a very interesting conversation. As a history major, I cheered (silently of course) when he talked about how important it is for us to look back at our history when considering today’s events. But the one thing he said that really stood to me was that it is important to not be cynical, but to be skeptical. I think this comment is rather insightful. It’s very easy to criticize anyone involved in politics – it always has been. There is always something we don’t like and something that could be done better. But what Russert is expressing here is that while we can dislike what our government does at times, our system really is something that we can have faith in. Maybe this idea is old to a lot of people, but it was something that I haven’t heard in a long time, and it was refreshing to see that we can approach our government with faith in it that is not destroyed by the criticisms we may have. And I think that it is this attitude that is an important mark of a true progressive.

How New Orleans restored my hope

Erika A — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:11:39 EDT

Over my spring break last week, I went on my school’s Alternative Spring Break Trip down to New Orleans. Honestly, I didn’t really think much about it before I went. I wasn’t going for a passion I had for New Orleans or a sense of duty to help the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. But all of that changed when I got there.

Although my leaders had prepared me, I was still shocked to see the number of empty houses and businesses driving into New Orleans. Even when people and families are returning, big companies haven’t come back because there is no incentive for them too. In some areas, they are still houses sitting there with destroyed belonging in them. As news coverage has stopped, it’s easy to underestimate the reality in New Orleans. I don’t think you can understand it until you’ve experienced it, but there is still so much more that needs to be done.

As hopeless as all of this seems, my trip was still very inspiring. My friends who had been last year said there were huge improvements between last year and this. And experiencing New Orleans gave me hope. It is a very special place and the way people there are fighting for their community to come back is incredible. People were very appreciative of our efforts. As I was checking out in Walgreens, the woman thanked me and said they really appreciate everyone coming down there. At our Habitat sites, other people would honk as the drove by. At dinner on night, a guy in the band came over and thanked us. The way the people in New Orleans love their community is truly inspiring and knowing that there were 700 other people there that week to help rebuild reminded me that so many other people care about New Orleans too.

As much as it’s easy for us to criticize our government for not doing anything or doing the wrong things, this trip reminded me that no matter what criticisms we have, we still have the responsibility to get involved. By doing the little that we can do, things will get better and I know it sounds cheesy, but this trip restored my faith in the American people.

Do we create fear?

Erika A — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:09:00 EDT

So I was on Facebook, procrastinating as usual, when I came across this group “Tips for all women… please join… and pass on.” The group has posted safety and self defense tips for women, like if someone asks for your wallet, throw it instead of hand it to them because you can run. Or, if you are ever locked in a trunk, kick out the back window and waive your arm like crazy. Or what to do if you are in a car with a gun held to your head.

I absolutely do not want to be insensitive to women who are victims of crime, and I definitely agree it is always better safe than sorry. Raising awareness of how to be safe is always a good thing. But I feel like I want to draw a line between being safe and being obsessed and having irrational fears. Reading this Facebook page, I couldn’t help to think about when we stop becoming safe and start becoming irrational. Advice for getting into a car in the parking garage: “If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.” I’m up for discussion, but I get the feeling that statements like this can create an irrational fear of serial killers in mall parking lots.

What do you all think? Do we create irrational fears?

Obsessed with hypothesizing

Erika A — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:28:01 EST

In Howard Kurtz’s Washington Post Media Notes column, yesterday’s article expresses the complainants of various reporters that this primary is taking way to long and they are sick of covering it. He quotes Ana Marie Cox, a Time reporter and blogger, saying: “Of course it's historic, it's amazing, I feel lucky to be covering it. But how many more stories do I have to read, or be forced to write, about when Hillary will drop out?”

Here’s an idea: stop writing about when candidates will drop out and cover more important things, like the issues. Granted it’s important to cover the developments of the race, but it is unnecessary to over-saturate coverage by hypothesizing over when she will drop out. These stories aren’t important. What’s the point in obsessing over the hypothetical – just wait until we find out and in the meantime, do your job and don’t complain about it.

We're number one... in prisons

Erika A — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:54:44 EST

A WP article on the front page today detailed a report released Thursday that found that not only is the US at an all-time high in the percentage of people we incarcerate, but we also lead the nation, both in numbers and percentages, in incarceration. More than 2.3 million people are behind bars, 1/100th of our population.

The report attributes the increase to stricter laws. The report also presents some statistics on more effective, and cheaper, alternatives. For instance, it suggests that for some non-violent offenders, community supervision is better option. The co-author of the report also suggests that even though imprisoning often reduces crime, other changes, such as in unemployment rate, wages and the ratio of police officers to residents may be more influential.

There was one statistic I found semi-misleading. At first it alarmed me when I read that five states (Vermont, Michigan, Oregon, Connecticut and Delaware) now spend as much or more on corrections as on higher education. My first thought was “shouldn’t we be spending more to invest in people rather than punish them? This is a very pessimistic approach.”

But then I realized the statistic compared it to higher education. Maybe we actually are investing more in people than we spend to punish them. I think a more appropriate statistic would include money we spend on all education. The statistic wouldn’t sound as persuasive, but I think just comparing to higher education paints a very different picture that is not reality.

So I went to the original full report. I found that there actually was a really good reason to compare spending on higher education and corrections – they represent “a roughly comparable portion of state expenditures” and both are funded almost entirely by state funds rather than federal funds. Other than higher education, the report also mentioned pre-k funding. However, this was tricky because it did not represent a similar portion of state spending. In 2007, states collectively spent $44 billion on incarceration and $4.8 billion on pre-k education. There were no statistics for spending between pre-k and higher.

That said, I still think it’s sad that these five states spend as much or more on corrections as higher education. Opening up opportunities for everyone would be a much more effective means of reducing crime than our over reliance on incarceration and moving away from this trend is very important.

So what do we do? Well, I think the report makes it very clear that we need to keep considering alternatives to incarceration. Also, I think the way to go is to invest in people by spending money on education and working on decreasing unemployment.

Dating Hot Spots

Erika A — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:52:07 EST

An article on Cosmopolitan’s webpage gives readers some suggestions on where to meet guys. Among the list are the Apple store (because “most guys are natural gadget lovers”); a Fortune 500 or tech company (“Hint: Once you’re in, join the office Super Bowl pool”); and a grad school coffee shop (because some grad programs have larger male programs, “the dearth of chicks, combined with the little free time these studious dudes have to play the field, means they’re thrilled when you seek them out. So stop by a café near campus during exam time.”) Desperate? (Although did I expect good advice?)

But the one place I really want to mention: a political rally or campaign (“The hottest political organization these days is the Save Darfur Coalition.”) And for a political campaign, Cosmo says:

“The best part: Many senatorial and gubernatorial campaign teams are male-dominated. The atmosphere is intense (you’re all working hard toward a goal: the candidate winning), and there’s a set end point (the election), which lends itself to a love-for-the-moment attitude that’s conducive to love connections.”

Reducing serious issues into a dating game - I think this should slightly offend any activist who takes their cause seriously.

Deadly Games

Erika A — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:29:33 EST

I think we’ve all heard about games like this, but now the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is doing something about it. They released a report which found that at least 82 youth have died since 1995 playing the “passout” game. (Check out the Reuters story - link).

Although initially worried that releasing the report would cause more children to engage in the game, CDC officials decided that it was more important to inform parents and other people that work with youth.

Panel to Vote on Road Construction Across a San Diego Beach

Erika A — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:15:34 EST

I’ve lived in five different states, although I tend to claim California because, well, it just sounds really cool to most people. While I only lived there for three years during high school, the thing I miss most about my adapted state is the beaches. I have many summer memories from the beach (just to clarify, I live in Sacramento, not really close to the beach, but most people don’t really care where in California I live. Anyways, I’ve done my fair share of day road trips to the beach.)

When I heard that there was some discussion about building a road through an oceanfront state park in San Diego, I was slightly outraged. And it’s not because of the many reasons why this would be bad for the environment (which I’m sure there are many reasons why this would be damaging to the environment), but I’m outraged because the beach has become a sort of refuge for me. While I understand the need in California for more roads due to more and more commercial and housing developments, I think that the beach is too treasured of a place for many people for us to destroy it. According to a New York Times article, a panel will consider the issue on Wednesday and many groups from as far away as Washington State are coming to protest. The commission will be held at the Fairgrounds in Del Mar because the interest in the vote is so great.

Creative Sentencing

Erika A — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:14:45 EST

Every job requires creativity – even a judge. A Painesville man was sentenced to living on the streets for a night as punishment for stealing money from a Salvation Army Christmas kettle (in addition to community service and a 3-day jail sentence). He was fitted with a GPS device to make sure he didn’t try to spend the night with any family or friends. (Check out the story - http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/759619,judge012508.article)

I have to admit, I did not know a judge could do this. In a system with often rigid punishment structures, the judge’s ability to administer such a creative punishment doesn’t seem consistent with today’s criminal justice system. While the sentence seems a bit too “eye for eye” for my taste, the judge does score some creativity points.