Pak Feminists, Free Your Colonized Minds Before 'Azadi' March

Chanting Chilean protest song "A Rapist In Your Path" in Karachi

Organizers of the upcoming Aurat March promoting Western solutions to Pakistani women's problems should be required to watch popular American tabloid talk shows from the turn of the century.  

These (addictive!) talk shows like Maury and Sally are available on the Internet and explore the horrendous problems that began seriously afflicting American families just a generation after the 1960's and 1970's women's liberation movement succeeded in mainstreaming miniskirts, sex outside of marriage, and abortion as part of their struggle for equal rights. 

Some of the episodes are "Five Men DNA Tested For My Daughter...Who's Her Dad?" "I'm Only 12...and I'm Pregnant," "Mom Stop Lying To Me...Is This Man My Father?" "Woman Needs Child Support, Man Insists He's Not the Child's Father," and "Abortion Survivor Meets Her Birth Mother" to name a few.

Maury

Of course, these issues are as old as time but they've become widespread now and guess who's suffering the most: women. Articles like "Liberated and Unhappy," "Gains In Women's Rights Haven't Made Women Happier," and "Has Modern Feminism Failed Us?" in the Western media reflect this reality.

It's unfortunate that 70 years on, organizers of the Aurat March in Pakistan are following in the footsteps of the failed sexual revolution of Western feminists. These Pakistani feminists want to create a society where women can wear whatever they want, have sex with whomever they want (male or female, married or unmarried), abort unwanted pregnancies whenever they want, all without any legal, religious, and social restrictions or judgment all the while ignoring the devastating consequences it will have on Pakistani society like it had on the West.

Indeed, Aurat March organizers have no qualms about shamelessly copying their Western counterparts to a T, from the date and name of the demonstration to the placards, lingo, and activities on display that day. 

For example, American socialists first commemorated Women's Day on March 8, 1907, and it was picked up later by the feminist movement in 1967 and then the United Nations in 1975. Even the name Aurat March, held for the first time in Pakistan last year, is the Urdu translation of Women's March, which was organized by American women in 2017 in response to the election of U.S. President Trump. 

While their manifesto incorporates some important local issues like ending enforced disappearances and freedom for Kashmiris, its demands for Pakistani society to accept the queer lifestyle and sanctify abortions completely contradicts the principles of most Pakistani women. In fact, slogans chanted last year like "Mera Jism, Meri Marzi" (My body, My choice) is from the mouths of American abortions rights organizations like Planned Parenthood and repulsive to most Pakistani women. Even the characters on last year's Aurat March placards, like Rosie the Rivetor who is an American cultural icon of WWII, were stolen from the West. Couldn't the organizers find any inspiring Pakistani sheroes to display on their posters?

"My Body, My Choice" placard at Women's March in Washington 2017

This year will likely be more of the same. In February the Aurat March team released an Urdu version of a Chilean protest song called "A Rapist In Your Path" and performed it in Karachi with the same style and movements done in the Americas and Europe. It's sad that they couldn't come up with their own original anthem.

Nothing can explain this self-destructive aping behavior other than that these women suffer from a severe case of Stockholm syndrome, where the oppressed fall head-over-heels in love with their oppressor. Aurat Marchers emulate everything related to their Western dominators, who not only once ruled, exploited, and raped their lands but continue to colonize their minds through education, language, and multi-media.

No doubt, like all women around the world, Pakistani women suffer tremendous difficulties that need proper solutions.  If Aurat Marchers only focused on offering organic fixes to issues afflicting the common Pakistani woman, they would gain more respect, support, and long-term success. One of their own, Pakistani feminist and poet Kishwar Naheed, made that same suggestion when she criticized last year's march for not reflecting Pakistani "culture and traditions." 

Hopefully, Pakistani women who have healthy decolonized minds, who honor their country's religious ideals, and who work year-round for the betterment of Pakistani society will come out on March 8 in a counter demonstration to show them how it's done.

If you look, you're sure gonna find
Throughout mankind's history
A Colonized Mind
The one in power makes law
Under which the colonized fall
Without God, it's just the blind leading the blind
--"Colonized Mind" by Prince