I wrote the title for this blog post even before I read any of the news items on the topic. Just scanning through the headlines told me enough: I saw Al Qaeda fingerprints. They did not attack any ordinary mosque, but a rather historic one, so it would resonate among Muslims across India and beyond. They did not attack a temple. They attacked a mosque. They want the Muslims angry, and on their side.
To be fair, to be Muslim in India is to be African American in America. All the major socio-economic indicators indicate the Muslims in India lag behind. But religious riots and terrorism are a whole different ballgame. India has a Muslim president. The Hindi film industry has many top Muslim artists. Some of the top entrepreneurs in India are Muslim. India is a vibrant democracy. When the Muslims get angry at you, they vote against you to humble you, they don't fantasize about joining some terrorist organization. And they recently did in the largest Indian state of Utter Pradesh. They humbled the incumbent Chief Minister.
It is super important to make sure both the Hindus and the Muslims understand what the motive was behind this particular attack. If the result of this attack is some kind of a Hindu-Muslim riot, small or big, the Al Qaeda has won, and India has lost. The India Muslims are a smart bunch, but they do need to be fed the right information, the accurate information, the full-fledged information.
This incident also tells us how sick of an organization the Al Qaeda is. It kills Muslims. They kill people they claim to fight for. They did that in Iraq. Blasting Shia mosques would anger the Shia. So they did it. Is that their version of Islam? Go destroy mosques? Kill Muslims?
Indian Muslims instead will teach democracy to the Muslims across the world.
At least 13 killed in mosque bombing, riots in southern India International Herald Tribune, France killing 13 people — 11 in the blast and two in subsequent clashes between angry Muslim worshippers and ..... wounded 35 .... fears of wider Hindu-Muslim violence in the city, long been plagued by communal tensions — and occasional spasms of inter-religious bloodletting. .... 17th-century Mecca Masjid .... About 10,000 people usually attend Friday prayers at the mosque, and the blast sparked a panic. ...... a huge deafening blast sending bodies into the air .... People were bleeding, running around in a very bad condition ..... Muslims later clashed with security forces in at least three parts of Hyderabad city ..... Police fired live ammunition and tear gas to quell the riots ..... Authorities across India were told to be alert for any signs of Hindu-Muslim fighting, and top officials called for calm. ..... the city's police chief, Balwinder Singh, said the death toll could rise. ..... Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Andhra Pradesh's chief minister, appealed for calm between Hindus and Muslims. .... Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "has condemned the bomb blast in Hyderabad and has urged members of all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony" ..... one bomb went off about 1:30 p.m., and police found and defused two others afterward. ..... The explosion immediately drew comparisons to a Sept. 8 bombing of a mosque during a Muslim festival in Malegaon, a city in western India, that killed 31 people. ..... an estimated 130 million Muslims among India's 1.1 billion people. ..... India's worst religious violence in recent years was in 2002, in western Gujarat state. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in Hindu mob revenge attacks after a train fire killed 60 Hindus returning from a religious pilgrimage. Muslims were blamed for the train fire. ....... A series of terrorist attacks have hit India in the past year, including the July bombings of seven Mumbai commuter trains that killed more than 200 people. Most of the bombings have been blamed on Muslim militants based in neighboring Pakistan, India's longtime rival. 11 killed in bombing of historic mosque in India MSNBC Attack bears stamp of LeT Economic Times, India In what appears to be a frame-by-frame repeat of last year’s Jama Masjid blasts in New Delhi and Malegaon explosions in Maharashtra, jehadi outfits and their local links struck terror by exploding a low-intensity IED during Friday prayers at the historical Mecca mosque in Charminar area of Hyderabad. Though the IEDs were not very powerful, the explosion killed 12 and injured 50 as the congregation was quite large on Friday. ....... intelligence agencies feel the attack bears a stamp of the LeT-Simi network, also suspected behind the Malegaon blasts. This is evident both from the nature of the explosives suspected to have been used — ammonium nitrate with an attached timer device — and the motive of fomenting communal trouble by targeting members of a particular community. ..... the bombs were planted at the site where ablutions are performed before offering prayers. The explosives used were low-intensity just like those used in Malegaon, establishing that the central purpose was not to cause high casualties, but to create a scare as well as drive a communal wedge by pitching one community against the other. ........ The jehadis nearly seem to have succeeded on Friday as the blasts were followed by protests and stone-pelting by Muslims both in Hyderabad as well as in other parts of the country. .... fits into the pattern of jehadi groups like LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad attacking religious places in collusion with local outfits like Simi. ..... The earlier attacks have targeted key Hindu religious places including Raghunath temple in Jammu, Akshardham in Ahmedabad, Ram Lalla temple at Ayodhya and Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi. It is when none of these attacks were followed by communal riots that the jehadi outfits turned their attention to mosques. Mosque Explosion in India Kills 11 Arab News, Saudi Arabia India mosque bomb kills 13 Sydney Morning Herald, Australia 12 dead after bomb blast in Indian mosque NEWS.com.au, Australia 13 Die in Explosion, Clashes in India San Francisco Chronicle, CA 13 die in explosion, clashes in India San Jose Mercury News, CA 13 Die In Explosion, Clashes In India Guardian Unlimited, UK High alert in Delhi following Andhra mosque blast Hindustan Times, India 13 die in explosion, clashes in India Houston Chronicle, TX Mosque bombing kills 13 amid riots Ireland Online, Ireland Nine killed in Hyderabad mosque blast, 3 die in protests Reuters India, India Nine killed in India mosque bomb NEWS.com.au, Australia Five killed, 16 injured in blast at Hyderabad mosque Hindustan Times, India Explosion at historic mosque in southern India kills 7, wounds dozens San Diego Union Tribune, CA Seven killed in Hyderabad mosque bomb blast Reuters India, India Mecca Masjid has witnessed protests before, but never a blast Hindustan Times, India 6 killed, many hurt as bombs go off in Hyderabad mosque Times of India, India Delhi on high alert after Hyderabad blast Economic Times, India Five killed in bomb attack at historic Indian mosque Belfast Telegraph, UK
Verizon's Global BlackBerry The new Verizon phone is a breakthrough, the first BlackBerry that works on both of the world's major mobile technologies. ...... international data pricing ....voice calls are still a painful $1.29 or $2.49 a minute ..... You get unlimited e-mails and other data in 60 countries for a $20 surcharge to the $45 monthly BlackBerry Service, on top of a domestic voice plan. ..... if rock-solid e-mail is your top priority, the BlackBerry may be your smartphone of choice. Craigslist's Ongoing Success Story BusinessWeek among the Internet's most trafficked sites ..... the site has been profitable since late 1999 .... took in $25 million in revenues last year, but it's clear that that the site could be worth more—very much more. ...... our users aren't asking us for text ads so we don't have them ..... the more we can get out of the way and let users do things for themselves ..... The site has been hammered into shape by millions of requests over 12 years. ..... People aren't looking for the interface to be exciting. They're looking to it to be fast, reliable, and easy to use. ...... If enough users flag it, it comes down automatically. Inappropriate ads usually come down within a few minutes. ...... the law that insulates online service providers from being held responsible for content posted by users ...... We're in the top 10 companies in traffic with a staff of 24, whereas the other companies on that list have staffs of more than 10,000. ...... We invested in open source software from the beginning. ..... We don't have sales and marketing. We mainly have engineers. We don't have meetings. ..... We don't have meetings. People can work from wherever they are whenever they want. The tech team is managed on the alpha geek principle. ....... we manage to run a rapidly growing site with page load times that are among the fastest of any company. Open source is a big part of it. ........ We don't even look at what other companies are doing. ..... We're just following up on what our users want us to do. Microsoft Wants to 'Kill' Open Source Microsoft says the Linux kernel, which controls the software's most basic functions, as well as other elements of Linux and open-source productivity and e-mail software infringe on its patents ....... The GPL prohibits companies that sell or use Linux from paying royalties for technology embedded in its code. ...... Eben Moglen, a Columbia University law professor and former chief counsel for the Free Software Foundation, which controls the GPL ...... "Microsoft has more than 800 lawyers and it looks like they are going to make sure that they remain relevant through legal action." Its actions could affect Google (GOOG) and other companies that make heavy use of Linux ........ Microsoft is bullying other companies by making vague threats ..... Microsoft "wants to kill open source through whisper campaigns ..... "It's hard to get excited about paying Microsoft's poll tax when Microsoft refuses to substantiate its claims."
Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act New York Times a woman who has said she dislikes politics is assuming a starring role in her husband’s campaign ....... kneeling next to two little boys and their sister to inquire, “Which one of you is the troublemaker?” ....... “I’m sure this guy is weird,” she said, describing her initial reaction to her husband’s name. ....... She has a propensity for bluntness and a fierce competitive drive. ...... Nancy Reagan (regarded as too adoring of her husband) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (too eager to share his job), to say nothing of spouses of losing candidates, like Judith Steinberg Dean (too absent) and Teresa Heinz Kerry (too outspoken). ...... Mrs. Obama, 43, is trying a fresh approach: running as everywoman, a wife, professional, mother, volunteer. ...... Hawaiian-Indonesian-African-Midwestern sensation ...... her natural frankness ...... Daughter of a Chicago city pump operator who had multiple sclerosis, she graduated from Princeton and Harvard and juggles her job as a hospital executive with motherhood and civic work. ...... dislikes politics, friends and family confirmed, but not as much as she dislikes losing ........ brainy and warm.... also a force to be reckoned with. ...... she threw herself into her husband’s campaign from the start, asking to meet with aides running every aspect of it. Friends says she is decisive and pragmatic, perhaps more so than the candidate. ....... At a black church in Cincinnati last week, the audience mmm-hmmm-ed approval throughout her speech. ...... “I wake up every morning wondering how on the earth I am going to pull off that next minor miracle of getting through the day” ....... dinner-together-every-night childhood ..... 4:30 a.m. treadmill sessions and meals prepared at lightning speed. ....... To help out, Mrs. Obama’s mother will retire this summer from her job as a bank secretary and care for the girls more frequently. ..... now she is ceding her career to his, reducing her time at the hospital to a 20 percent commitment (and her paycheck to $42,436 from $212,180) ...... the hospital, where colleagues say she excels at tackling thorny problems Obama Disputes Claim of Sharing Clinton’s Stance on War New York Times a fundamental question of judgment was at issue. ...... we had a fundamentally different opinion on the wisdom of this war ..... until yesterday, Mr. Obama had not been so direct in contesting Mr. Clinton’s claims that there was little difference between the two hopefuls. .... she unequivocally supported the plan to end war financing next spring.
Use extensive human intelligence. Penetrate his organization. Could 1,000 Arab looking, Arab dressed US infiltrators not go into Pakistan's Northwest territory to do the job? If he is there, why can't you track him down? Let the thousand assimilate into the population. Equip them with the most sophisticated communications technology.
Don't just fight the symptom, fight the disease. Don't just fight the mosquitoes, drain the swamp. Spread democracy Arab country after Arab country after Arab country Nepal's April Revolution way. Organize a Matrix in New York City. The Arabs can do it themselves. Be consistent. All monarchies will have to go. And be fair to the Palestinians. Give them a state asap. Build political parties in all Arab countries.
Confront racism in the West. Democracy is not a form of government where non-whites are made to feel lesser.
Democracy in Pakistan will be a good thing for the War On Terror. Democracy i-s the cure. The love affair with Musharraf is misplaced, misguided.
Being able to predict his future attacks. That is very hard to do. It is hard to figure out where he will strike next. The whole world is his stage. But if governments across the world with their intelligence agencies working in cohorts with each other were to keep closely watching the Al Qaeda affiliated groups, preventing future attacks might not be rocket science. The world might be a big place, but the members of Al Qaeda are only so many. That finity is what should offer hope. You tackle the problem from the other end.
Summary: drain the swamp, but also kill mosquitoes.
Al Qaeda Strikes Back Foreign Affairs Bruce Riedel By rushing into Iraq instead of finishing off the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Washington has unwittingly helped its enemies: al Qaeda has more bases, more partners, and more followers today than it did on the eve of 9/11. Now the group is working to set up networks in the Middle East and Africa -- and may even try to lure the United States into a war with Iran. Washington must focus on attacking al Qaeda's leaders and ideas and altering the local conditions in which they thrive.
In The News
Australian Bin Laden plotter released early from jail Scotsman, UK Lawyer: Boca doc's case only al-Qaida innuendo The News-Press, FL British govt. negotiating with jailed Bin Laden associate to free ... Ha'aretz, Israel Foiled Terror Plot Update Saudi Arabia United States Relations, DC Apoorva Lakhia's next film on Osama Times of India, India Lakhia is not the only Bollywood director planning to bring global terrorism to Hindi cinema. Ram Gopal Verma has a mammoth project entitled Ek tackling international cross-border terrorism. Even his Gabbar in Ram Gopal Varma Key Sholay will be seen fraternising with international terrorists. Osama Bin Laden alive: Hekmatyar Daily Times, Pakistan The Al Qaeda leader’s long silence ..... The most recent video of bin Laden was released in late 2004 and the last audio recording surfaced in mid-2006. Is Osama bin Laden alive? Times Now.tv, India "According to my information, Osama is still alive. I believe it is good that he does not appear in the media, and that it is wise that no statements or tapes are issued even after a long while,” said Hekmatyar. ....... In January, there were reports that fighters loyal to his group had helped Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri escape a massive US-led hunt in eastern Afghanistan in late 2001. ..... he could be spinning a story to mislead the forces. Osama bin Laden laid low Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
THE REACH OF WAR; NEW GENERATION OF QAEDA CHIEFS IS SEEN ON RISE leaders have risen from within organization after death or capture of operatives that built Al Qaeda before Sept 11, 2001 ..... group has complex network of human couriers to evade electronic eavesdropping ...... officials believe Qaeda leadership is more diffuse, with several planning hubs working autonomously and not reliant on contact with bin Laden Qaeda Rebuilding in Pakistan, Intelligence Chief Tells Panelsenior leaders of Al Qaeda were steadily rebuilding the network's bases inside Pakistan and that future attacks against the United States could be planned from Pakistan's remote western mountains Al Qaeda Resurgent Taliban Leader Is Said to Promise More Afghan Warsuicide bombers who have carried out over 100 attacks in Afghanistan in last year acted on religious orders from Taliban ..... statements, if authentic, would be Mullah Omar's first exchange with journalist since he was driven from power in 2001 by American-led invasion of Afghanistan; he is thought to have taken sanctuary in Pakistan
Technology now makes possible DirectConnect. But the fundamentals do not change. And the fundamentals are money-message-organization. The particulars of each fundamentally change, but the fundamentals do not change.
Money
The first quarter was great. Keep beating the drum. And conserve the money. The month and a quarter to February 5, 2008 will be like one of those countries like India where that one month is where all the action is. You will need the money.
To raise more money than Hillary in the first quarter is a strong message to those who buy into this myth of a Clinton Machine. There is no Clinton Machine. There are voters, and there is you.
How many people donate to you matters. The more the better. Do you manage the money well? That is key. If you can't manage tens of millions, you sure can't manage trillions. That is what this is about. Show you can manage. Raise and conserve for now.
Message
Policy wonkiness can dazzle voters, but that does not always bring them along. And you seem to understand that more than anyone else. But that is no argument against policy wonkiness. Assemble the smartest people on all policy issues. Let them bang heads among each other off camera. You have to have ready access to the very best ideas, the very best arguments. They don't have to come from you, but they do have to come to you.
There's the stump speech. And there it is about connecting with voters, and bringing them along. And there is the speech you go give to a think tank, like this one above in Chicago. There you want to exude sheer substance. You don't have to worry about sounding too wonky. Both matter.
Debates matter. Hillary won two in a row. Poll numbers reflect that. Get on it. Prepare. Deliver.
Voulnteers will lead. You just have to provide broad guidelines, and empower them. They will do the work. They have been. The new technology makes it possible for people to self-organize. And they have been doing that. Look at Facebook, look at MySpace. People are thronging to you like to noone else. I mean, I have more MySpace friends than some Republicans running for president.
By the way, you have the best website of any candidate. That speaks volumes.
Obama is the poor man among the top tier contenders Chicago Tribune, USA Obama family income of $991,000 ..... Obama reported his family's net worth as between $456,000 and $1.14 million, not including the equity in the Kenwood home he bought two years ago for $1.65 million. ..... Giuliani, a Republican, earned more than $16.8 million last year from an array of firms he owns, including financial, business and security consulting companies, and from speeches. Giuliani received as much as $300,000 for his speaking appearances. ....... Giuliani is worth between $13 million and $45 million ...... Edwards .. reported income of more than $7.1 million, most of it investment returns on a fortune of $29.5 million ....... Bill Clinton earned about $10 million in speaking fees last year and collected nearly $40 million for appearances since leaving office. McCain previously has reported a $15 million family fortune, mostly through his wife, who is the daughter of an Arizona beer magnate. ........ Romney .... will report between $190 million and $250 million in assets. ...... Republican candidate Mike Huckabee earned considerably less from his $74,000-per-year day job as governor of Arkansas last year than from outside activities. He earned $162,000 in speaking fees and book royalties, another $40,000 as an officer of 12 Stops, Inc., a company set up to handle those royalties and fees, and $40,000 for consulting work for the National Association of Music Manufacturers.
Hillary Clinton Widens Her Lead Over Barack Obama PR Newswire (press release), USA In April, he trailed Clinton by only 5 percentage points with 32 percent, compared to her 37 percent. However, a new Harris Poll finds Senator Clinton has since strengthened her position and that Senator Obama has slipped. She now leads Obama by fully 13 points -- 40 percent to 27 percent. ....... Obama leads Clinton among Independents (by 39% to 34%) and among Republicans (by 14% to 7%). ....... 71 percent would consider voting for one of the Democrats and 58 percent would consider voting for one of the Republican leaders
Muscular Gender Agenda First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton The UN Fourth World Conference On Women Beijing, China
September 5, 1995
Mrs. Mongella, distinguished delegates and guests:
I would like to thank the Secretary General of the United Nations for inviting me to be part of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. This is truly a celebration -- a celebration on the contributions women make in every aspect of life: in the home, on the job, in their communities, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens and leaders.
It is also a coming together, much the way women come together every day in every country.
We come together in fields and in factories. In village markets and supermarkets. In living rooms and board rooms.
Whether it is while playing with our children in the park, or washing clothes in a river, or taking a break at the office water cooler, we come together and talk about our aspirations and concerns. And time and again, our talk turns to our children and our families.
However different we may be, there is far more that unites us than divides us. We share a common future. And we are here to find common ground so that we may help bring new dignity and respect to women and girls all over the world - - and in so doing, bring new strength and stability to families as well.
By gathering in Beijing, we are focusing world attention on issues that matter most in the lives of women and their families: access to education, health care, jobs, and credit, the chance to enjoy basic legal and human rights and participate fully in the political life of their countries.
There are some who question the reason for this conference. Let them listen to the voices of women in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
There are some who wonder whether the lives of women and girls matter to economic and political progress around the globe. . . Let them look at the women gathered here and at Huairou. . . the homemakers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, policymakers, and women who run their own businesses.
It is conferences like this that compel governments and peoples everywhere to listen, look and face the world's most pressing problems.
Wasn't it after the women's conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence?
Earlier today, I participated in a World Health Organization forum, where government officials, NGOs, and individual citizens are working on ways to address the health problems of women and girls.
Tomorrow, I will attend a gathering of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. There, the discussion will focus on local - - and highly successful -- programs that give hard-working women access to credit so they can improve their lives and the lives of their families.
What we are learning around the world is that, if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish.
And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish.
That is why every woman, every man, every child, every family, and every nation on our planet has a stake in the discussion that takes place here.
Over the past 25 years, I have worked persistently on issues relating to women, children and families. Over the past two-and-a-half years, I have had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges facing women in my country and around the world.
I have met new mothers in Jojakarta, Indonesia, who come together regularly in their village to discuss nutrition, family planning, and baby care.
I have met working parents in Denmark who talk about the comfort they feel in knowing that their children can be cared for in creative, safe, and nurturing after-school centers.
I have met women in South Africa who helped lead the struggle to end apartheid and are now helping build a new democracy.
I have met with the leading women of the Western Hemisphere who are working every day to promote literacy and better health care for the children of their countries.
I have met women in India and Bangladesh who are taking out small loans to buy milk cows, rickshaws, thread and other materials to create a livelihood for themselves and their families.
I have met doctors and nurses in Belarus and Ukraine who are trying to keep children alive in the aftermath of Chernobyl.
The great challenge of this conference is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences go unnoticed, whose words go unheard.
Women comprise more than half the world's population. Women are 70% percent of the world's poor, and two-thirds of those who are not taught to read and write.
Women are the primary caretakers for most of the world's children and elderly. Yet much of the work we do is not valued - - not by economists, not by historians, not by popular culture, not by government leaders.
At this very moment, as we sit here, women around the world are giving birth, raising children, cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines, running companies, and running countries.
Women are also dying from diseases that should have been prevented or treated; they are watching their children succumb to malnutrition caused by poverty and economic deprivation; they are being denied the right to go to school by their own fathers and brothers; they are being forced into prostitution, and they are being barred from the ballot box and the bank lending office.
Those of us with the opportunity to be here have the responsibility to speak for those who could not.
As an American, I want to speak up for women in my own country -- women who are raising children on the minimum wage, women who can't afford health care or child care, women whose lives are threatened by violence, including violence in their own homes.
I want to speak up for mothers who are fighting for good schools, safe neighborhoods, clean air and clean airwaves . . . for older women, some of them widows, who have raised their families and now find that their skills and life experiences are not valued in the workplace . . . for women who are working all night as nurses, hotel clerks, and fast food chefs so that they can be at home during the day with their kids . . . and for women everywhere who simply don't have enough time to do everything they are called upon to do each day.
Speaking to you today, I speak for them, just as each of us speaks for women around the world who are denied the chance to go to school, or see a doctor, or own property, or have a say about the direction of their lives, simply because they are women.
The truth is that most women around the world work both inside and outside the home, usually by necessity.
We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential.
We must also recognize that women will never gain full dignity until their human rights are respected and protected.
Our goals for this conference, to strengthen families and societies by empowering women to take greater control over their own destinies, cannot be fully achieved unless all governments - here and around the world - accept their responsibility to protect and promote internationally recognized human rights.
The international community has long acknowledged - - and recently affirmed at Vienna - - that both women and men are entitled to a range of protections and personal freedoms, from the right of personal security to the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear.
No one should be forced to remain silent for fear of religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse or torture.
Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated. Even in the late 20th century, the rape of women continues to be used as an instrument of armed conflict. Women and children make up a large majority of the world's refugees. And when women are excluded from the political process, they become even more vulnerable to abuse.
I believe that, on the eve of a new millennium, it is time to break our silence. It is time for us to say here in Beijing, and the world to hear, that is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights.
These abuses have continued because, for too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.
The voices of this conference and of the women at Huairou must be heard loud and clear.
It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are girls.
It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution.
It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small.
It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.
It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes.
It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful and degrading practice of genital mutilation.
It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, it is that human rights are women's rights . . . And women's rights are human rights.
Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely. And the right to be heard.
Women must enjoy the right to participate fully in the social and political lives of their countries if we want freedom and democracy to thrive and endure.
It is indefensible that many women in non-governmental organizations who wished to participate in this conference have not been able to attend - - or have been prohibited from fully taking part.
Let me be clear. Freedom means the right of people to assemble, organize, and debate openly. It means respecting the views of those who may disagree with the views of their governments. It means not taking citizens away from their loved ones and jailing them, mistreating them, or denying them their freedom or dignity because of the peaceful expression of their ideas and opinions.
In my country, we recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage. It took 150 years after the signing of our Declaration of Independence for women to win the right to vote. It took 72 years of organized struggle on the part of many courageous women and men.
It was one of America's most divisive philosophical wars. But it was also a bloodless war. Suffrage was achieved without a shot fired.
We have also have been reminded, in V-J Day observances last weekend, of the good that comes when men and women join together to combat the forces of tyranny and build a better world.
We have seen peace prevail in most places for a half century. We have avoided another world war.
But we have not solved older, deeply rooted problems that continue to diminish the potential of half the world's population.
Now it is time to act on behalf of women everywhere.
If we take bold steps to better the lives of women, we will be taking bold steps to better the lives of children and families too. Families rely on mothers and wives for emotional support and care; families rely on women for labor in the home; and increasingly, families rely on women for income needed to raise healthy children and care for other relatives.
As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace around the world - - as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes - - the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized.
Let this conference be our - - and the world's - - call to action.
And let us heed the call so that we can create a world in which every woman is treated with respect and dignity, every boy and girl is loved and cared for equally, and every family has the hope of a strong and stable future.
Thank you very much.
God's blessings on you, your work and all who benefit from it.
