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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.”
-First Amendment, United States Constitution
Afghan women forced to live in terror
By Jessica Nash
Staff Writer
jnash I @my.westga.edu
It is hard to fathom
that in the year 2007 there
are women who are being
thrown into prison for
violating the mere freedoms
that are taken for granted
by so many. However, it
is a very real situation that
is occurring every day
in Afghanistan. When a
woman is safer in prison,
there is something very
wrong with her society.
When the Taliban came
to power in Afghanistan,
with them came the
suppression of what few
rights that Afghan women
had. Since the United States
has become involved in
the removal of the Taliban,
there has been a slight
improvement for women in
some parts of the country.
However, in many areas
women still fear for their
safety.
The Taliban may not
be in power any longer,
but, in theory all that has
happened is one religious
fundamentalist group has
been replaced with another.
For example, in April
2(X)5, a 29-year-old Afghan
woman was stoned to
death in the province of
Badakhshan. Her crime:
adultery. However, it is
of interest to note that in
Afghan law, the testimony
of men far outweighs that
of women.
So, the woman may
in fact not have been guilty
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Despite American involvement, Afghan women still live a life of constant
terror from Afghan males.
Surely the student body has
something to complain about. The
West Georgian wants to hear
your thoughts on anything and
everything happening on campus.
Send comments with title “Rant and
Rave” to uwgpaper@westga.edu
of anything. Her husband
could have simply testified
that she had committed the
crime and as a result she
was found guilty.
In the United States,
if we heard of a man who
wouldn’t allow his wife to
wear a certain color shoes
and would publicly beat
her if he caught her wearing
them, more likely then not,
it would cause an outrage.
In Afghanistan, there
are women who this is a part
of their every day existence.
They face public whippings
as a disciplinary action for
wearing brightly colored
shoes. These whippings
have been so severe that
they have resulted in severe
dismemberment and even
death. A public whipping
is also the punishment for
an Afghan woman who
exposes her ankles when
she walks.
What would you think
if someone told you that
they traded their wife for a
cow? Would you laugh and
think to yourself, this guy
can’t be serious?
In Afghanistan,
women are property. They
can easily be traded for
this or that. They can be
used to settle debts. Women
are practically slaves in
their homes. They are not
permitted to leave the house
unless they have a suitable
male escort.
The windows of their
homes have to be painted so
that a male passerby cannot
see the women inside. The
men may not be able to see
Speak up!
inside, but this also means
that the women can’t see
outside.
Women are also
pledged to marriage as
young as three. She can
barely talk, but her family
has already promised her
off.
In the U.S., if a man
cut his wife’s fingers off
because she painted her
nails, he would be looking at
time in jail. In Afghanistan,
it is not uncommon for a
woman to be punished by
having her fingers chopped
off for painting her nails.
Women are not permitted
to wear makeup, and nail
polish is considered to be
makeup.
An Afghan woman
also can’t wear high-heeled
shoes because of the sound
they make when she walks.
A man is not permitted to
hear the footsteps of an
Afghan woman.
The list of w hat Afghan
woman are not permitted
to do is rather extensive,
and it goes far beyond the
examples presented here.
Afghan woman can't go
about their daily existence
without living in the fear
of breaking the law and
receivingaharshpunishment
as a repercussion.
As an American, we
should be thankful that either
ourselves, our mothers, our
sisters, and even our friends
can go to school, play
sports, wear what they want,
and basically have free will
without so much as giving it
a second thought.
Photo courtesy of www.googte.com
OPINION mt
The Madman's Lantern
By Joseph Benefield
-
I How WQftLp
1 * WAR'S START...
Open mic lawsuit? Kiss my ASCAP!
By Johnathan Davis
Staff Writer
jdavis23@my.westga.edu
The American
Society of Composers,
Actors and Publishers has
filed suit against Rome
Street Tavern for holding
“Open Mic” nights. I
would write here that I’m
surprised, but there’s no
way to convey sarcasm
in print, so I’ll simply
say this fits a larger
pattern of abuse from
entertainment unions,
such as the Recording
Industry Association of
America and the Motion
Picture Association of
America. These two
groups have been trying
to grab average people
by their jewels and are
looking to twist.
The RlAAand MPAA
have been suing people for
“copyright infringement”,
a nebulous term that
has mostly meant that
people are downloading
music or movies over
the internet. For the
most part, they’re just
trying to stop widespread
piracy, because by this
point it’s obvious that
it’s impossible to stop
piracy, as long as we are
entertained by varying
light and sound waves
that are projected for
viewing and listening
pleasure; those light
and sound waves are
always going to be able
to be captured by various
recording devices.
They aren’t able
to stop the pirates, the
big-name ones who
do the most damage,
because they are usually
based in countries like
Taiwan, China and
Russia which have
either no international
treaty obligations to
protect copyright or lax
enforcement of those
obligations. So, they’ve
decided instead to target
average people w ho might
download music from
the internet infrequently.
Often, these are people of
little or no means, such
as college students or the
elderly. Now, I’m sure
you wonder, why would
they sue Grandmas out
there for downloading
music, when many can
hardly operate a word
processor?
Well, they’ve
established through
court precedents and
lobbying, that it doesn’t
matter who actually
downloads something, as
long as they can pin it on
someone. They’ve filed
thousands of lawsuits
against “John Doe” and
used them to subpoena
private internet access
records. When they find
something suspicious,
they file suit; they don’t
need definitive evidence,
or really any evidence
at all. They merely
file and file en masse,
using a tactic commonly
called “shotgunning”;
firing off a wide spray of
lawsuits, and hoping one
of them pays off. These
suits usually cost the
defendants hundreds, if
not thousands.
Now, the ASCAP
is suing Rome Street
Tavern for holding “Open
Mic” nights, reasoning
that they are providing
a venue for people to
infringe on songwriting
copyrights by singing
cover songs of popular
bands. Now, the problem
with this is threefold:
1) “Open Mic”
nights are not exclusively
for cover songs. Many
artists are known to play
their own works. By
forcing venues like Rome
Street Tavern to either
pay up or shut down, the
ASCAP is preventing
future songwriters
and performers from
practicing their art.
This, to me, is the most
unacceptable part of this.
As I have many friends
in this city who used and
still use the Open Mic
venues as a way to get
their work out there.
2) ASCAP does
not merely represent
artists whose music is
used at these venues,
but thousands others.
By requesting a blanket
royalty to the ASCAP
to hold these “Open
Mic” events, ASCAP is
forcing Rome Street and
others to pay guys like
Harold Ramis (director
of “Groundhog Day”)
for the right to play
songs, regardless of if
someone sings “I’m
Your Weatherman” from
Ramis’ movie. This
seems stupid and unfair
to the artists whose music
is played, as their royalty
is decreased.
3) Finally, ASCAP’s
apparent policy of sending
people to sit around
various restaurants and
bars has a chilling effect:
if a business can now be
fined for the activities of
patrons, what else will
have to be restricted?. Jf
I go use the restroom at
the Tavern, will I have to
look at a sign that says,
“Whistling copyrighted
music prohibited by
law?” Will I have to
have a microphone in my
bathroom now, monitored
by ASCAP Special
Agents, to keep me from
singing in the shower?
If ASCAP wants to
get compensation for
their artists, they should
look into a more fair way
of ensuring their artists
get royalties without
decreasing their royalties
to benefit less popular
artists. Not to say Harold
Ramis isn’t a good guy,
I just don’t see why he
should get money because
some guy belts out Dave
Matthews on Open Mic.