Surviving War and Occupation

The Impact of Militarism on Women in the Middle East & North Africa

Context

A regular feature of the evening news is the deadly attacks in Iraq or bombings in Palestine. The wars on Iraq and on Palestine are deadly and have reverberations across the region. At the same time, however, the MENA region as a whole has had to deal with war and militarism. The entire region has been highly militarized, in part due to a long history of foreign occupations, political unrest, and ongoing wars.

A strong wave of anti-colonial liberation struggles swept the region between the 1940s and 1960s, but the outcome wasn’t greater human security or democracy. Instead, neocolonial political and economic policies have led the the region to become increasingly militarized. Today the people of the MENA region face tremendous wealth disparities, political unrest, repression by states, and a rise in violence, proliferation of arms and obscene military budgets.

Demonstrators protesting Israeli Wall

• The creation of the state of Israel by foreign powers has contributed significantly to conflicts in the MENA region. Israel has waged wars against Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and Tunisia and continues to occupy Palestine and parts of Lebanon and Syria. In 2006, over one million people were displaced by Israel’s war on Lebanon, which caused an estimated $3.5 billion in damages to buildings and infrastructure. In the three-week attack on Gaza, up to 1,400 Palestinians were killed and thousands of homes bombed. In Gaza, the Israeli military used white phosphorous on densely populated areas, and cluster bombs in Lebanon have prevented farmers from cultivating their land, while other villagers have already been killed or disabled. The United States has provided significant financial and military support to Israel. According to Congress Watch, a conservative estimate of U.S. aid to Israel over the past half century is $114 billion. President Obama has pledged more than $3 billion annually until 2018.
• In Iraq, the U.S. military occupation has devastated the country’s infrastructure, economy and any hope to advance women’s rights. According to the National Priorities Project, the United States has spent over $740 billion on the Iraq war. Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed and the entire fabric of Iraqi society has been completely destroyed. It is estimated that one million Iraqi widows have lost their partners and breadwinners. As of 2010, 4.8 million Iraqis have been displaced—2.6 million within Iraq and 2 million into neighboring countries. Before the invasion, Iraq was already weakened by years of economic sanctions and two major wars, which caused high rates of unemployment, widowhood, displacement, exile, illiteracy and violence. The U.S. occupation has emboldened sectarian and tribal leaders, further threatening the rights of women and minority populations. On top of ‘traditional’ occupying forces (armies), Iraqi women must now deal with private security contractors that are immune from international law.
• Algeria is still suffering gravely from years of civil war in which 200,000 people were killed and thousands disappeared. The Algerian President recently introduced a national amnesty pact, but it hasn’t yielded justice to women whose husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers continue to be disappeared. Rates of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women have been on the rise in Algeria.
• The region has also experienced severe crackdowns on political dissent in the name of the global “War on Terror.” Egypt’s Emergency Law reinforced since the seventies and the war with Israel, has been reshaped to be used currently to silence any political opposition, throw bloggers in jails, and prosecute labor organizers and protesters. The Israeli government is arresting, detaining and jailing critics of the state and is now considering a law that would criminalize calls for boycotts. Settlers would be able to sue any Israeli citizen or international entity that calls for boycotts against Israel or Israeli companies that service the military.

Impact on Women

In the midst of wars and conflicts, sustaining a women’s rights agenda is very difficult. Women activists may be labeled ‘traitors’ or ‘western’ if they insist on addressing women’s rights. Others are forced to drop their women’s rights agenda to provide emergency support to those traumatized by war. Women’s roles become one of survival rather than change. Women face daily violence, the destruction of infrastructure, undemocratic rule, and the rise of religious fundamentalism—all these make creating positive change in law, practice, and beliefs a challenging feat.

Ain el Hilwa, refugee camp in Lebanon. Photo courtesy Solidarity Association for Social and Cultural Development

While women from the MENA region have been saying that military invasions and occupations have been destroying their work to achieve gender equality, many U.S. officials have used saving women from “Islamic fundamentalism” to justify military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, women continue to resist militarism on a daily basis, working towards justice and equality in a diversity of ways, and speaking out against wars and violence. Women activists respond to crisis situations, address violence holistically, and work to ensure that women’s rights are protected even under the most trying of circumstances.

What are women in the Middle East & North Africa doing to confront and dismantle militarism? FIND OUT »