{"id":16,"date":"2002-09-01T10:53:07","date_gmt":"2002-09-01T18:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2002\/09\/01\/foxnews-vs-rawa\/"},"modified":"2002-09-01T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2002-09-01T18:53:07","slug":"foxnews-vs-rawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Foxnews vs RAWA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wendy McElroy used her August 20th Foxnews column<\/a> for an attack on RAWA<\/a>, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. According to McElroy, American feminist groups like the Feminist Majority Foundation<\/a> (which McElroy mysteriously refers to as "FMN") "should be called to account for its role in funds directed toward the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan." That certainly sounds serious. So what has RAWA – know for running desperately-needed schools and hospitals for Afghan women – done, that’s so awful?<\/p>\n

First, McElroy worries that RAWA lacks fiscal accountability. This is a fair concern- but McElroy, who has expressed this concern before<\/a>, needs to display some journalistic accountability. In two columns attacking RAWA, McElroy doesn’t produce a shred of evidence to suggest that RAWA has ever misallocated funds. Isn’t it usual to have proof when demanding that people be "called to account"? Apparently, that’s not how journalism is done at Foxnews.<\/p>\n

Although fiscal accountability is a legitimate concern, it’s one that probably can’t be resolved in the real world – not unless we refuse to support indigenous third-world organizations like RAWA. As McElroy probably realizes, third-world organizations don’t have the resources to document finances the way most U.S. charities do. Even the tiny nonprofit I work for (a local historic site) requires specialized software, Western-educated employees to run the software, and the services of two CPAs to keep our financial records straight. RAWA hasn’t had access to any of that; furthermore, RAWA has been working in the midst of violent suppression and a war. No reasonable person thinks RAWA can meet American standards of fiscal accountability.<\/p>\n

Why donate to RAWA, then? It’s a tradeoff; donors lose some accountability, but gain the advantages of supporting an indigenous organization. Unlike any American organization, RAWA is Afghan women doin’ it for themselves; isn’t that better, in the long run, than Western NGOs doing it for Afghans? RAWA’s members know firsthand, in the way that no American can, where aid to Afghan women does the most good. And RAWA members, who have risked execution opposing the Taliban, have shown a commitment and (as even McElroy has admitted) heroism that cannot be matched.<\/p>\n

McElroy ignorantly suggests accountability can be provided by "letter writing" – the model of charity suggested in late-night commercials starring Sally Struthers, asking us to "sponsor" a starving child, in exchange for the child’s grateful letters. However, the accountability of letter-writing is an illusion – as the Chicago Tribune, ABC News<\/a>, writer Michael Marin<\/a>, and others have shown, letter-writing didn’t prevent Save the Children from badly mismanaging funds and decieving donors.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, as the New Internationalist<\/a> (among other critics) argues, letter-writing is a fundimentally flawed approach to charity. It’s a fundraising gimmick that doesn’t benefit people in need. When Westerners "sponsor" a child or a teacher, the primary beneficiary is the Western donor, who gets an ego-boost; meanwhile, the supposed beneficiary – in this case, teachers – get a needless addition to an already huge workload. "However well-intentioned such aid may be, the kernel is the creation of a paternalistic relationship which is unnecessary and potentially harmful." Rather than forcing teachers to waste time and money writing fundraising letters to Americans, I’d prefer RAWA’s resources to be used actually helping Afghan women – and I doubt I’m the only RAWA donor who feels that way.<\/p>\n

But don’t letters prove that some money is being spent in the right ways? Maybe. But better proof is already available, from Westerners who have seen RAWA’s operations firsthand, such as FemAid’s Carol Mann<\/a>, the Guardian’s<\/em> Natasha Walter<\/a>, and University of Maryland professor Anne Brodsky<\/a>. Is this accountability perfect? No, of course not; there is no absolute guarantee (with RAWA or any other charity) that no dollar has been misspent. But despite McElroy’s insinuations, there’s no evidence of RAWA misusing funds, and considerable evidence of the good RAWA does; for an American wanting to help Afghanistan women, donating to RAWA is a good bet.<\/p>\n

McElroy has a couple of other complaints about RAWA. She claims that a "prominent RAWA member… blasted" Ms<\/em> Magazine – but it seems extremely unlikely that Elizabeth Miller of Ohio<\/a> is a member of RAWA, prominent or otherwise. (Fact-checking, like having evidence before implying misuse of funds, is apparently not a Foxnews staple.) (Speaking of fact-checking, McElroy claims that the Feminist Majority Foundation, which owns Ms<\/em>, "has reacted with silence" to Elizabeth Miller’s letter – even though McElroy herself links to an article in American Prospect<\/em><\/a> quoting the president of FMF’s reaction).<\/p>\n

McElroy also complains<\/a> that RAWA "is not, as it claims, apolitical." But when has RAWA ever called itself apolitical? McElroy doesn’t say, and a google search<\/a> of RAWA’s website doesn’t find a single use of the word "apolitical." As McElroy knows, RAWA describes itself as "an independent political<\/strong>\/social organization"; and RAWA openly states<\/a> its political goals. So what mysterious "political" goal does McElroy fear RAWA is hiding?<\/p>\n

McElroy’s purpose here, it turns out, is red-baiting. McElroy mentions that "Other political goals can be discerned from RAWA’s activities. For example, at its 2000 celebration of International Women’s Day, one of RAWA’s featured speakers was Afzal Shah Khamosh, the heads of Pakistan’s openly Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party." (A paragraph later, McElroy admits this is meaningless – so why did she say that political goals could be discerned from it?) McElroy also slips in that RAWA’s founder attended a French Socialist Party Congress twenty years ago; in last week’s Foxnews entry, McElroy brings up unsubstantiated accusations of Maoism. For her coup de grace<\/em>, McElroy points out that RAWA has criticized the United States’ actions in Afghanistan (gasp!).<\/p>\n

Does any of this add up to the slightest proof of impropriety? No, of course not; but McElroy is here for unsubstantiated insinuations, not evidence.<\/p>\n

McElroy rightly criticizes RAWA for unfair attacks on other Afghan feminists, a legitimate point (albeit one swiped from The American Prospect<\/em>). Unfortunately, like the Prospect<\/em>, McElroy hypocritically does the same thing herself, quoting an anonymous wit who dubbed RAWA "the Talibabes." (Apparently unfair attacks by RAWA are bad, but unfair attacks on<\/em> RAWA are cool). But that RAWA has unfairly maligned other women’s groups doesn’t erase the real good RAWA’s funding of schools and hospitals has done Afghan women.<\/p>\n

All of McElroy’s concerns – name-calling and angry letters to Ms., <\/em>the pathetic red-baiting, the desire for Afghan teachers to waste time writing letters – miss the point. The bottom line is, or should be, helping the women of Afghanistan. As eyewitnesses have verified, RAWA uses its resources to help; and as long as that remains true, donating to RAWA is a sensible choice for Westerners who want to help Afghan women.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

For coverage of the RAWA flap worth reading, skip Foxnews and go to Noy Thrupkaew’s essay in The American Prospect<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Thrupkaew argues that, in a post-Taliban period in which the goal is reconstruction rather than revolution, more moderate women’s groups can accomplish more than RAWA. This may be true, but it’s a little simplistic. Western feminist history shows that both moderates and "extremists" have been needed; during the fight for emancipation, for example, Alice Paul’s uncompromising dedication to absolute equality both laid ground for reforms beyond the vote and made feminists like Susan B. Anthony seem moderate and reasonable by comparison.<\/p>\n

Of course, Afghanistan is not the pre-suffrage U.S., but it would have improved Thrupkaew’s essay if she had at least considered if a similar dynamic could be at work among Afghan women’s groups. It’s possible that RAWA, by demanding a level of women’s equality beyond what most Afghans are ready for, is creating more space in the national Afghan discourse for "moderate" reform groups like the Afghan Women’s Resource Center..<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wendy McElroy used her August 20th Foxnews column for an attack on RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. According to McElroy, American feminist groups like the Feminist Majority Foundation (which McElroy mysteriously refers to as "FMN") "should … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,40,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-feminists-and-their-pals","category-international-issues","category-wendy-mcelroy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}