Iranian Elections

A bit afield from "law and social movements," but here's an interesting "photo essay" about the elections in Iran. The web page author argues, interestingly, that the news media is sexualizing democracy in Arab states.

It is true that when we're being pitched on how great it is that the US is bringing democracy to the Arab world, we are reminded of how horribly women are treated in their autocratic regimes. For example, in Bush's bash-fest of the Iranian election, he complained about how women are being excluded as candidates. So real democracy in the Middle East, we're being led to believe, will lead to a glorious day of women's liberation . . . I guess.

The role of women and Islamic feminists in Middle Eastern politics is so incredibly complicated, I'd never expect Bush and his neo-cons to have a clue (not to mention the gross hypocrisy of bashing Iran for excluding women from its political processes but condoning Saudi Arabia, which doesn't even bother with elections, except at the local level). But that doesn't stop them from using women to peddle their foreign policy.

Oh, and isn't it fun listening to George Bush lecturing other countries about the problems in *their* election systems. My sister calls it Irony Deficiency Syndrome.